Podcasts about Gotta

Gotta give the man responsible for Wiggy his flowers!

(00:00-18:38) You guys play Africa by Toto when you're on the golf course? Audio of Dabo Swinney on if Clemson wants to fire him, it won't change his drive to win elsewhere. LSU with a tough schedule the rest of the way. Audio from the Big 10 Network talking about Illinois vs. Indiana being a 'mock' playoff game. Bill Connelly's rankings. GamecockWill69. Doug needs a technology intervention.(18:46-41:10) Jeremy Rutherford joins us in studio. He drove off the road this morning when Jackson called out Logan Stanley. JeffCo car crashes. Expectations both locally and nationally for the Blues. Two-part questions with JR. Pantsing your wife. Craig Mactavish. Snuggy goal total. Wentzvillians in the lower bowl. JR's biggest question and guarantee going into the 2025 seasons.(41:20-47:09) Live buffering during that SportsCenter update. Gotta get to Clearing The Deck. Cinematic rock-pop. People have come around on Nickelback. The Chief Disdainer of Group Think. Taint McRae.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jon Cryer is a candid truthteller and conversationalist! If you saw the new Charlie Sheen Netflix documentary, aka Charlie Sheen, you know what I'm talking about. Hang out with the Pretty in Pink, Two and a Half Men, Supergirl actor and me for a talk filled with inside Hollywood stories about the Brat Pack, Charlie Sheen, Demi Moore and more. Find out who Jon dated, who rejected him, why he almost quit the business and why having a therapist as the host of this show is just perfect. This talk is from 2024. I'm re-releasing it today because of (1) the doc and (2) there's been wrinkle in my plan to kickoff my lineup of brand-new episodes starting today. It involves hiring a team to help and it not quite running according to plan. These things happen. It's frustrating. But it's life. Gotta fix it and move forward. The new lineup will indeed kick off soon. Just not today. So please enjoy Jon Cryer in the meantime. Coming soon: Many new episodes, including Cesar Millan, Eric Roberts and Kaja Sokola, who testified against Harvey Weinstein in his recent New York City trial. Thanks for listening. Subscribe on YouTube  ➤ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbR3_S40FqVaWfKhYOTneSQ   Bonus YouTube videos: Watch this interview in full on YouTube ➤    "Let's sit back, sweetie. Let's talk about stuff!" https://youtu.be/3R-7BbtYd_A   Watch Jon Cryer indulge me with stories about the Brat Pack ➤   "I didn't hang out with Andrew, Demi, Rob Lowe!" https://youtu.be/Em5KcW_hMko   Links to everything: Instagram | @karamayerrobinson TikTok | @karamayerrobinson Facebook | facebook.com/karamayerrobinson/ Therapy and coaching ➤ https://really-famous.com/therapy-sessions  Shop with my Amazon Influencer link ➤ https://www.amazon.com/shop/reallyfamous Share your thoughts ➤ mailto:reallyfamouspodcast@gmail.com Celebrity interview by Kara Mayer Robinson Music: Take a Chance by Kevin MacLeod - Incompetech - Creative Commons

"We have more games than we have non-disgraced broadcasters." Dildos on the field, the Ray Hudson Call of the Day, and Tony had a specific way he figured out he was listening to the call of the UM vs. USF game on The CW. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SVP and Stanford Steve recap Week 2 of the NFL, give their takes on Virginia Tech and UCLA's coaching decisions and preview Week 4 of CFB. The guys share their thoughts on Baker Mayfield's game-winning drive on MNF, the impressive Chargers, what to do with the tush push, an NFC West with three 2-0 teams, the lowly Panthers & Bears and more. Plus, will the Bengals be OK sans Joe Burrow? And are we worried about the Chiefs? Later, Steve gives a preview of Miami vs. Florida and other games he's interested in on Saturday. And finally, what's the deal with barn weddings? | SVPod Approximate Timecodes: (0:00) Intro (5:25) Va Tech & UCLA coaches fired reax (13:07) Bucs beat Texans – reaction (16:00) Colts look like a wagon (18:26) Thoughts on the Tush Push situation (26:07) Worried about KC? (33:36) Chargers stay hot (39:20) Lions bounced back in a BIG way (43:58) More NFL Wk 2 takeaways (46:25) Are the Bears bad? (49:05) Bengals outlook sans Joe Burrow (52:37) Final thoughts on NFL (1:05:30) CFB Week 4 preview (1:12:55) Barn Weddings? Really? (1:18:44) Thanks for watching Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gotta have a psychology degree.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Gotta look at the tape To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meet Dr. Tamir Qadree who grew up one of 11 children in a 2-bedroom apartment in Chicago. When I asked him how 11 children and two parents lived in an apartment with only 2 bedrooms his response was that it is all about family. We all made it worked, and we all learned to love each other. Tamir heard about California before high school and wanted to move to that state. A brother, 8 years older than Tamir, was recently married and agreed to take Tamir to California since this brother and his new wife were moving there. Tamir always had a “servant attitude” toward others. He felt that he could learn to help others and, after attending some community college courses he decided to go another route from school. Tamir always felt he was selling and in sales. He tells us about that and points out that we all sell and receive results from others who sell in whatever we do. Dr. Qadree eventually discovered metaphysics which is about self-help and learning to adopt a mindset of improvement through self-analysis. We discuss this in detail as you will hear. Tamir offers many good life pointers and lessons we all can adopt. This episode is pack with useful ideas that we all can use to better our lives. About the Guest: ‘The Dean of Dynamic Results' “The Dean of Dynamic Results” has a Double Doctorate in the field of Metaphysical Philosophy, specializing in personal development coaching, mentoring, mind, and mystical research. The Powers of the Mind, Influence and Attraction has captured the minds and imagination of the world over the past 35 years. Dr. Tamir Qadree is a leader in the field of this study, and says that, “WE Can All Achieve Dynamic Results”! Tamir is the author of several books, audio programs. He conducts workshops, 2 day retreats and does one on one, exclusive coaching. His clientele has ranged from business developers in the fields of Network Marketing, Direct Sales, Real Estate, Legal, the Medical Professions, and Self-Help enthusiastic individuals, both nationally and internationally. Dr. Tamir Qadree, (Also known as TQ) carefully guides his audience and clients through the vast field of sales psychology, effective closing skills, prospecting mastery and all of the necessary communication skills needed in today's world. He also teaches and demonstrates the connection between ‘The Results the Reader or Listener Gets,' and his or her ‘Emotional States and Habits.' Tamir teaches his students how to ‘Feel' rather than to simply ‘Reason' everything through. He teaches that, feeling is more about ‘Intuition' while reason is often about ‘Ego' and knowledge gleaned from books on one level; but when they are both combined (Feeling and Reason) you have your road map to success and contentment. Tamir Qadree, writes with clarity, precision, and direct language, that is easy to read, simple to follow and are full of great content. His podcast, (Dean-Cast) are usually not planned. They flow from inspiration and direct knowledge from experience. What you read and listen to in his array of programs are genuine, authentic, and straight from ‘The Dean of Dynamic Results himself.' The information Tamir delivers, whether from audio book, eBook, audio programs or Dean-Cast, or Live Events, are carefully select and digested to bring to the reader, the listener, the audience, the best information. Often there are differences of opinion in matters of, ‘what to eat,' or ‘how to lose weight' or ‘scientific and technology.' These are all necessary to grow, to develop and to keep the mind moving and expanding. Welcome To The World of The Dean! Ways to connect with Dr.Tamir: New Podcast, "Dynamic Results On Fire!' Every Monday! https://tamirqadree.com https://learn.tamirqadree.com Https://coach.thedeanofdynamicresults.com dynamicyou@gmail.com (17) Dr. Tamir Qadree | LinkedIn (20+) Facebook Dr Tamir Qadree (@theresultscoach1) | TikTok (381) The 'Results' Coach - YouTube https://www.Instagram.com Ebooks and an audio program: Clear Vision – Mastermind Mastery Click and Grow Rich – Mastermind Mastery Super Potential – Mastermind Mastery The Esteem Success Factor – Mastermind Mastery About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well, hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset. I've told you all in the past about a program that I attend every so often called Podapalooza. And on the 19th, excuse me, the 18th of June, we had number 16 in the patapalooza series. And one of the people I got a chance to speak with was Dr Tamir Qadree. And Tamir is is our guest today. He calls himself or I want to find out if he calls himself that, or somebody else calls him that, the Dean of dynamic results. I want to hear more about that, certainly, but we're really glad that he's here. He has been involved in dealing with metaphysical philosophy. He's a coach. He does a lot of things that I think are very relevant to what we hear from a lot of people on this podcast. So I'm really looking forward to having a chance to chat with you. So Tamir, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're glad you're here.   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 02:25 I'm glad to be here. Thank you very much for inviting me.   Michael Hingson ** 02:28 Well, we appreciate you coming and spending the time. We met Wednesday the 18th of June, and here it is the 24th and we're chatting. So that   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 02:37 works. That works out for me well,   Michael Hingson ** 02:41 so tell us a little bit about the early Tamir growing up.   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 02:46 The early Tamir growing up, sure, interesting story that's always fun, because I grew up in Chicago on the west side, and during time I grew up, I grew up in in the 70s, that was coming out of the turbulent 60s of the youngster, then coming out of that, coming out of the the other protests and the civil rights movement and all that stuff. So I grew up in the 70s. Basically, life to me was a lot of it was. I had a lot of happy times in my life, although we had so called very little. My mom had a home with a partner with 13 children, 13 people at all times, two bedrooms. I don't know how she made that work, but she did. We had, we stayed cleaned the house. My like bleach. We smell like bleach. We smell like pine. Saw and so I got my my my cleanliness from that. I don't know how she did it. And we all ate, okay. And what I got from my childhood, me, my brother, we we've always been innovative. We've always been results driven, going out, knocking on doors. Before there was a Door Dash, we were knocking on doors, taking buying people's groceries, going to store for them. We're cutting their yards and doing odd things to earn money. So I've always been go get a results. Driven guy, not afraid to ask and looking to get the results, not just for the money, but the money was good to have. But I've always been like that. That's in a nutshell. Where I've always been,   Michael Hingson ** 04:18 well, how did you all sleep? 13 people in the apartment?   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 04:22 Well, it was my mom, my dad, before they separated, and it was 11, and then plus cousins, so that's 14. Hey, you know, buddy Michael, you make it work? Yeah, people say how it's not how. I think why is a better question. Because you're a family and you can make it work. It can work easier than people think it can, because we have love and togetherness and closeness, and you have two parents that are on top of their game is doing the best they can do. It works. That's a very good question. And you're the first person to have asked me, how did that work? You're the first person.   Michael Hingson ** 04:56 Well, I can imagine that there are ways to make things work. Um. Um, as you said, you do have to be innovative, and you all have to learn that it's important to get along, and that's what family is really all about,   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 05:09 that that's true and that we did not we had to get along. We live in a house with that many children, five boys and six girls, no six boys and five girls. I reversed it. You have to learn to get along. You have to learn to respect the different genders. You have to learn respect authority. You have to learn to share how to care for other people. Interesting about that, my mom would always bring people in from the street. She'd find people less privileged than us, believe it or not, let's we'll have one bathroom, by the way, less privileged. She would buy them clothes and feed them, and we abuse that person any kind of way we get it, where we get it? Okay, so I got that from also that's and that that leads me into how I am now.   Michael Hingson ** 05:53 Well, we'll get there. So you went to school in Chicago, and how long did you live   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 05:58 there? Why would the school I started high school in California? Okay? So California, okay? My freshman year in Cali. Yeah, California.   Michael Hingson ** 06:07 So what caused you guys to move out to California?   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 06:10 Well, my aunt came out maybe 20 years before. Then my sister came out. Two years after that, my sister came back bragging about California. Everybody in those days, everybody thought California the land of milk and honey, back in the Midwest and back east California, Judas, land of milk and honey. It really is. People will go California represented freedom to us, the promised land. It really did sort of a promised land thing. And I was just determined to get to California. My story, if I can tell you about me getting to California, we're in the household. I was 14. My sister had came and promised she'd take me with her. And I said, Okay, I'll go. I was her favorite, she promised. So I told everybody on the block, I'm going to California. 13 going on, 14 year old kid, and have people excited. He's going to California. Some were jealous, and I was telling people I would knock on their door and go and go pick up groceries for them and cut yards. And after the summer passed, my sister couldn't get me any people started laughing at me, Jeremy behind my back. He's not going to California. And some of my siblings were, of course, probably a little jealous, little envious. He's not going some people, yeah, you're not going anywhere. You stay down here with us, in this area, with us. And so I said, No, I'm going to California. And I watched this story the weekend before going to high school. My mother said she lied to you. She's not going to get you. She lied to you. You can give it up. My cousin said she lied to you. I said, No, I'm going to California. I had two pair of pants, one pair of shoes, two pair underwear and two shirts. That's all I had. I was going to go to school. Well, that Friday came, I said, I'm going to California that Friday. This is all summer. I've been saying that people started doubting me. My brother walked in the door. My older brother, eight years old, to me, walked in the door about an hour later and said, I just got married, me and my wife decided to go to California. Monday. You can come with us. That's why I got to California.   Michael Hingson ** 07:52 There you go. Well, and again, it's really cool that family sticks together somehow, Too bad your sister misled you, but you you made it work.   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 08:05 Well, I don't think she so much misled me. She couldn't make it work. She wanted to do it. She couldn't find the finance, little time or the effort. She couldn't make it work. She didn't make it work. You know, she obviously lied to me. That's what they thought. But no, I don't think I never thought that.   Michael Hingson ** 08:19 Yeah, well, I understand. Well, at least you made it and you got to California. And so what did you find when you got out here?   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 08:27 I found it to be what I thought it's going to be okay. I saw I was driving, we're driving. And came over the mountains. We saw the little the little lights on the freeway, the little on the road, the little reflectors. We're like, wow, there's diamonds in the streets of that night, right? With those reflected, we never seen nothing like that before. Wow. They're diamonds in the street. And then we look around like at San Jose, and I would see the lights up in the air. It was the mountains, with people living in the mountains, yeah, with the lights, we I thought, Oh, my God, this is heaven. I didn't know. Yeah, please know those houses the lights. So anyway, it was what I thought was going to be. Here's the land of milk and honey.   Michael Hingson ** 09:05 For me, sure. I'm not sure what caused my parents to want to move to California. We moved in 1955 right? In fact, I mentioned earlier, we did patapalooza on the 18th of June, and today is the 24th that is the day we're recording this. So you'll see when this actually comes out. But June, 24 1955 was the day we arrived in California from Chicago. And I don't know what caused my father to want to sell his part in the television repair business that he and my uncle owned and wanted to get a job in California, whether they thought it was the land of milk and honey or what I've never, never did learn. But nevertheless, we moved out to California, and I think there was a lot to be said for they wanted to be out here. They felt that there were a lot of opportunity. And probably they wanted to get out of the city, but we did. So I have now been out here, other than living in other places as an adult. Part of the time I've lived out here 70 years. 70 years. Well, we came out in 1955 we got here on June 24 1955 so it's pretty cool. But anyway,   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 10:25 I wasn't born, but you beat me. Well, there you go.   Michael Hingson ** 10:28 Well, I think there's a lot to be said for California. It's, you know, I can make a lot of places work. I've lived in New Jersey, I've lived in Boston. I've lived in other places in Iowa for a little while and so on. And so I know there are places that are a lot colder than California, and where I even live in California, and there are places that are warmer but still enjoy it well. So you moved out to California when you went to high school here. And then did you did college. Where did you do college?   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 11:03 Well, I did some community college at De Anza. I did some courses over there. Most of my learning came from self study, community college courses, self study and university. Finally, University of metaphysics. I got involved in metaphysics over 20 years ago, which is, metaphysics is really philosophy. Philosophy comes from the Greek word, I believe metaphysical from from philosophy. So it's philosophy. It's what it is. I got involved in that about 25 years ago, when I met speakers like Anthony Robbins Les Brown, I started listening to Norman, Vincent, Peale, you've heard of him. People like that. People like that. And then I got into I've always been, I've always been a voracious reader, even in Chicago, I've always been a voracious reader, someone that wanted to know. So my educational track really started. See education in the United States and in a lot of places, is them pouring some menu. But true education is what you bring out of you, is what you learn about yourself internally. That's the true education, instead of pumping stuff in what's inside of you. So you take what's taken outside of you and mix it with what's inside of you, and there you go. So I've always been a self starter, but the University of metaphysics is really, really with the jewel to me. I said there's actually a place that reward or they give you a degree and what   Michael Hingson ** 12:21 you love. And where is that university?   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 12:25 It's in Arizona. It's the largest metaphysical university in the world, the oldest metaphysical university in the world. In fact, Harvard just start off in metaphysical degrees in my in my field, about four years ago, which is a great thing, great. They finally came around to it and and they recognized it. Wait, wait a minute, they start offering the same degrees, metaphysical degrees. Now, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 12:49 well, but still, so did you go there and actually study there, or did you study remotely, as it were,   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 12:56 instead of remotely, like Phoenix and all it's remote. I went there, of course, I graduated and going back and doing, get my third doctorate, to graduate, go across stage two. You have, we have ceremonies and all that. And we have, you know, we're renowned throughout the metaphysical world, throughout the world, as far as philosophy, right?   Michael Hingson ** 13:14 What got you to decide that you wanted to take up a study of metaphysics? You know, you went to community college. You studied some things there, and what did? Well, let me do this first. What did you do after Community College?   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 13:26 Community College, I was family man, working building. See, I've always been a self starter. I've never jobs. Never settle with me. See, so I've always been a student, a study here. I've always been someone to read the books. Mm hmm. Listen to the motivational thing. Listen to the philosophy. I've always wanted to know deeper knowledge. And I had my brother that brought me to California. He's always been a student too. He was in the service. He's always been a a person that study and contemplate. He studied politics, war, philosophies, religion, and I follow. I did the same thing. So it's something that's been inside of me, believe it or not, for a very long time. I've known this since I was like eight years old. I've actually known it, and people that knew me knew it. In fact, one lady told me this about four years ago. She knew because I was a baby. I hadn't talked to her in about 40 years. She said, Oh my God, she's really my cousin, but not blood. And she said, Oh my God. And she started telling me about myself. Hence, she told me. She said, when you were a baby in the crib, you would always stand up for what's right. How can I do that in the crib? She said, when somebody's done wrong, you let them know. When you're a baby, when you guys start to stand up, walking up, you'd always stand up for what's right. So I've always had this sense of me, of service to other people and a sense of justice. Okay, certainly, I've had my pitfalls too and all that. That's not the point, but I've always had that with me. I've always had that thing about service and helping others. So getting into self help, which is what metaphysics is, self help and self development gets it was right up my alley. It was right down my lane. It. Was a straight strike. When I did that, it's just a strike. It's a fit like a glove. The glove does fit, by the way.   Michael Hingson ** 15:08 Well, what did you What is but what did you do after college? You had to support yourself and so on, until you decided to take this up. What did you do?   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 15:16 No, no, I've been in sales all my life. Okay, I've been, I've been a salesman all my life. You've been sales, okay, yeah, sales, people, sales, good sales people will never starve. No, you always find a way to make it. That's it. I've been selling all my life, yeah? So that that that should answer that, yes, yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 15:32 Now I understand well, and there's nothing wrong with being a good salesperson. I think that so many people don't understand that and misunderstand sales, but there are also a lot of people who do truly understand it, and they know that sales is all about developing trust. Sales is all about guiding somebody who needs something to the best solution for them, not just to make money, but as you said, it's all about self help and and helping others.   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 16:01 Well, well, it's actually something real quick about sales. People that have issues with sales don't understand one thing you have issues with people that use sales in unethical way. Yeah, everything is sales, the phone you use and the headset using the house you get you to buy it from someone that sells the water that comes to your home is put there by somebody signing the contract. That's sales. Who going to bring the water to our home? What company? PG, e Edison cup, whatever. All everything is based on sales, sales communications. But because there's some people that are shysters, you blame the whole pot. You blame everybody. That's not the way it sells. Sales is sales is community. Sales is service. That's what sales   Michael Hingson ** 16:41 is. Sales is service. That's what it appear. And simple,   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 16:45 yeah, it's not some sheisty guy or woman trying to con you. And no, that's a con person.   Michael Hingson ** 16:51 There are too many of those. There are way too many of those, but never every field. Yeah, in every field, yeah, sure. But what you say is true, sales is service in every sense of the word. And the best sales people are people, people who really understand that and put service above basically anything, because they know that what they do, they can do well, and they can help other people and make money, which is also part of what they do need to do, and that's okay.   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 17:18 And without sales, nothing goes around. Sales is really communication. Sales connecting a product or service, fulfilling the need, getting rid of a pain or something you really don't want to bring you to what you want that sales is fulfilling, is uprooting the pain unfulfilled desire and bringing you to the pleasure side of getting what you need, whether it's food, clothing and shelter, all sales doing a bridging the gap, and the salesperson is a communicator that bridge that gap. And the reward is, once you have two satisfied sides, the company and the individual, the product, and the reward is you get paid to do it, right? So now it's like you're getting paid to do what you love, sure.   Michael Hingson ** 18:01 Well, and there you go, well. So you have, however, been a person who's been very focused on the whole concept of self improvement for quite a while. Yes. So what got you started down that road?   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 18:19 Here's what got me started down that road I'm gonna go way back to Chicago again. I remember I was 13 years old, and my uncle used to get he was a big beer drinker, and he just talked to me, invite me over and my auntie, and he wanted me to talk. He's wanted me he won't hear me talk. I always had these philosophical sayings, even I was 10 years old, philosophical quotes, these ideas that I didn't read, but just came to me, and one day I told him, life is a dream. We're here to play roles, and we leave the earth. You wake up. In other words, there's no real physical body passes on, but you wake up and you're boom, whatever. Anyway, these philosophies like that. And he was at the lake with me trying to catch fish. He was so busy drinking beer and talking, he wouldn't catch no fish. He told me, talk. Keep talking. I kept talking. And so one day, he brought out my other uncle with us, and we sit down at the lake. And my other uncle was saying, I wish he'd Shut up. He turned to me and say, Talk. Listen to this boy talk. He kept doing that. And one day my aunt said this, he brings Tamir over because he want him to talk. That's why he brings them over. So that kind of encouraged me to make me realize that I had something of value, not just talk, something to say, he would ask me. And then I knew, I knew, from then on that I had a place in life to assist and service others will not just talk, but practical ideas to get results. So I've been known that for a very long time, allowed me to be very successful in sales. I've been top producing billion dollar companies allow me to write books and to be on share the stage with some great people like Mark Victor, Hansen and Jim Rohn. It allowed me to get into a space to where I am now, where this flawless confidence that I can be doing half whatever I want to be but I. I'm able to show other people how to do the same. Those are receptive and those that afford me to show that I'm not for everybody. I understand that,   Michael Hingson ** 20:07 right? You can only do what you can do, right? So you started down this, this path of dealing with self improvement, and how did that lead you into metaphysics?   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 20:24 Well, remember now metaphysics and self is the same thing. It's just a different word. It's the same thing. Self improvement come from metaphysics.   Michael Hingson ** 20:31 But what made you decided that you wanted to get, like, an advanced degree in it, and actually get degreed in it   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 20:37 after studying over 1000 books in like a two year period. Literally, literally reading those books. Okay? After going through that kind of I went through a breakthrough in 2005 and I went to a breakthrough session called Breakthrough to success. And the gentleman told me something that's very interesting. I said, in this circle about 50 people around me, like I'm a fish in a fish bowl, he told me, I had high self confidence for low self esteem. In other words, I don't know what self esteem was. I had developed a Harvard vocabulary. I had spoken on stage and coached clients. I was top producing network marketing company. I don't know what self esteem I never thought about what self esteem was. He told me that if, for some reason, it really hit me, it really hit to the core of who I am. What do you mean low self esteem? You have had self confidence. And here's what I went home and I cried that night. I realized that what I realized what that meant, because I accept, I have to accept that, but I did. Here's what that meant. Self esteem is self confidence how you feel you can do outside of you. Self esteem is how you feel about yourself, okay, and there's no one like you. And I realized that self esteem by loving yourself and appreciating yourself, not trying to be anybody else, not trying to wish you with somebody else, not want anybody else, money, fame or fortune, but being you and loving you. When I got that, when I got that, my whole world shifted. Mm, hmm. It shifted from this having this confidence, knowing what I can do. I can communicate and speak and sell, but how do I I wasn't give enough attention to myself and appreciating who I was, my own value and that that go,   Michael Hingson ** 22:08 and that certainly is something that people around you would sense, who who understand how to do that, right?   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 22:16 Well, this guy certainly did, and, yeah, I guess he's the only one that says that, not just me, but other people. I said, Wait a minute. I said, is I never, had never thought about that. Then I wrote a book called from that. I mean, I must have cried for about 30 days straight, every day, tears of joy in my heart. I didn't care about fame or fortune or impressing nobody. I wasn't trying to be this big speaker, this big guy. I'm just being me. I'm I love me. I didn't care about none of that, but myself and what I call God. And from that point on, I begin to really get things come to me that I never have. My mind really opened up to why I didn't care about trying to please anybody I was enjoying every moment. And I wrote a book called reclining master, awaken one minute to healthy esteem. That's when I wrote that book. It talked about, it's like an autobiography. It talked about my journey to understanding that and what happened to me, what what caused me to have low self esteem, what caused not to even understand what self esteem was, and I was a child in that book. Remember the movie The Wolf Man, with Lon Chaney, Cheney, That movie scared be Jesus out of me. My siblings would take me and tell me I was The Wolf Man, Wally Wolf. They call me The Wolf Man, right? And That movie scared me, man, and it really had a psychological effect on my on me growing up, right? I was really, really afraid, and didn't know that that child in me was still afraid. It was afraid all that time. And that's the part that was really hurt by the low self esteem when I discovered that game was on. It was over as far as that. No, I love me. I'm good enough. I am that you're a bet, we're both that that's all there is that was it. Game was on after that.   Michael Hingson ** 23:53 So does the boyfriend scare you today? No, I   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 23:56 laugh at that. Okay, it's funny. That's funny as heck. I laugh at it. It's funny as heck to me and like, Wow. I look at again, like, wow, really, seriously, I can see how that could affect somebody. You tell a little kid something like that.   Michael Hingson ** 24:09 Lon Chaney in that movie, comes across as not having great self esteem. But that's another story.   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 24:16 Look well and i It's not to say I mimic that.   Michael Hingson ** 24:19 I manage that? Yeah,   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 24:23 people too. I get to fight side you bite, people too.   Michael Hingson ** 24:27 So when did you essentially start doing your own business and start working toward coaching and teaching and finding ways to work with clients?   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 24:39 2000 No, 1994 I began to really study the self improvement movement. And I would see guys like Les Brown, that's, wait a minute. Wait a minute. I like that. I was already that. I was already teaching. I was already doing that. I didn't know that was a field. I've told that. Years ago, a guy told me that, and I. The other field, like that. And I started to study those guys and see what they do. And I'm like, really interesting. They're doing their thing, they're talking they're assisting people. Okay, I can do that too. Then I get involved in network marketing. Network marketing is one of those fields where people are. They're some most open to self development I've ever seen out of all the fields, network marketing and direct sales, they are the most open people to self development. They will spend the money on themselves. People spend money on everything, on fancy cars, bigger housing, they need clothing, everything. But they lot of more spend money on good books and to self improve, right? So when I, when I, when I saw that, I said, Wait a minute. Hmm, here we go. Here we go. This is what I want to do. This what we'll do. So I took that with my sales ability, and I started to have that finance me as I go see sales and self improvement. The same thing, the best sales people have charmed character charisma and class. They have charm. Character charisma and class. They ask questions. They seek to see understand other people. They seek to appreciate other people. Those who appreciate it show appreciation. They seek to listen and to learn and to find out what the customer or client want. And they try to match that with that, out of all sincerity, and that's why I love sales. Sales and self improvement go together. Yeah, they go right together.   Michael Hingson ** 26:25 And the best sales people are the ones who will even say, if their product isn't the right product, it won't work,   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 26:32 it won't work. And that's the best coaches, the best anything. If I was coaching the client today, and she's a prospect and we're talking, and I told her that I don't want your money. No, no. This. This is a preliminary call. Okay, here's why. I don't know if I can assist you or not. I don't know what I have will assist your situation. I don't even know you yet. How can I ask you for money? She was so appreciative of that, because most people in our industry, they talk to you one time and offer you something. Wait a minute. You don't know what Michael needs. You haven't even diagnosed him. You heard what he's gonna say. You had a canned thing. You're gonna it was canned what you're gonna say to him. You do what you're gonna say. Well, me, I'm different, Michael, I don't know what I'm gonna say to you. That 30 minute call is really discovery call, sure. And if you qualify, if I qualify, let's set up another call in that call. Then at the end of that call, we may come to something, then I can make your offer. So I feel I can help you at if there's a match, boom. That's what a doctor does. No. Doctor, no. Doctor you go to is going to tell you your jaw hurt. You said, No. Doctor, my thigh hurts. Is a pain? No, your jaw hurts that doctor's a quack. That's a lot of coaches do. A lot of them are quacks. They just read something and they want to apply to micro plat. To Michael, apply to me. That may not even fit me. I may not be the one to help Michael, sure, and I have enough integrity and faith and confidence to command to know that in other way, I don't have commission breath. I'm going to get mine regardless. And nobody can stop   Michael Hingson ** 27:54 it, sure. Well, and again, it's how you operate, and it's the ethics you operate with which is very important. Ethics.   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 28:05 In fact, I it's, this is a shameless plug, but I'm gonna do it anyway. My third doctor I just finished, called conscious business ethics. Conscious business ethics. You see how we went from metaphysics to to the secular world, and Harvard went from the secular world to metaphysics, we both came together now. So we're doing one. I'm doing one now on conscious business ethics, which is a really big issue in business today. Oh yeah, business are more concerned about their bottom line than the people that work for them, until they treat their employees like customers. They always have those problems they don't need,   Michael Hingson ** 28:39 and it's unfortunate, but I think there have always certainly been people who weren't overly ethical, but I think it used to be that a larger number of businesses were more loyal to employees than we see today. Now the response always is, this is what the stockholders want. That's what we have to listen to, and that's all we listen to. And that's just not true.   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 29:05 Not only is it not true, is it not true? What a lot of companies are turned around, well, they begin to understand the value of self improvement, the value of treat the value of leadership versus management, the value of being a boss versus being a leader. There's a difference. Managers push leaders, pull managers tables. Do leaders encourage you. They change languages on how they talk to you, how to present to you. They that you understand. You have a family. This person has a family. Have needs and concerns outside this business, the way a lot of businesses do it now and have done in the past. This the business. This is our life. This what we want, regardless what you want if you fit in or you don't, well, they ran up on a I'm a rhino that never worked with me, brother. I am psychologically unemployable. I will work a job. I have to, even today, if I say it's quote, unquote, have to. I would do I gotta do to get what I gotta get. But I'm a rhino, I'm gonna I'm psychologically and terminally unemployable. I was taught by Yogananda, which is, you. One of my favorite teachers wrote Autobiography of a yoga you may have heard of yoga under and I've been his student for 15 years, and he said something very important that already knew, but he affirmed it, if you're, if you're, if you can't be subordinate to other people. Some, some of us are like that. That's not your style. Then do what you got to do until you get where you get where you got to go, be respectable who you with, take it and then move, but be working your way out of it. Yeah, but I, I've been terminally unemployable all my life. Brother, a renegade.   Michael Hingson ** 30:32 Well, but that doesn't mean that you're not useful part of the system, or trustworthy or reliable. It just means that you operate in a slightly different way than most people are used to doing.   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 30:46 Well, yeah, it means this You're right. It means this You're right. It means that you look into Apple to give you something. I'm going to create my own apple. That's what it means. I'm that kind of person. We need those kind of people. If we didn't, you wouldn't have this laptop. You wouldn't have the technology you have right now. Those people were innovators, entrepreneurs like me, you I'm an entrepreneur. I'm the entrepreneur solopreneur. They want to be apreneurs, and there's not a preneurs Don't even try go to work for somebody else. Don't even try to be apreneur. Some people just don't have it. So no, it doesn't mean anything that. It means that being psychologically employable. Mean that, okay? He is IBM, he is Apple, okay? He is Tesla, he is Cadillac, he is American airline. I'm like that. Whether I achieve that level, it's irrelevant. I'm one of those people that's all. That's it.   Michael Hingson ** 31:36 So for you, who are the typical people who would be your client, who are your typical clients or your target audience today, entrepreneurs.   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 31:49 I mean entrepreneurs in a real sense, those who understand sales and psychology, entertainers, athletes. Why say those people, those in network marketing and sales? Because those people traditionally understand mindset. They're coming to the mindset they they promote the books in their seminars and the reading and bringing the speakers. They're open to they're open to it, to what I have. They're ready for it. They're ready for it. That's my audience. That's my target. And I hold it on target, because people say, Well, my audience is everybody. Well, not true, not true. If you want to catch bass, you go to a bass lake. I have specific audience that I'm targeting, and I'm focused on the article that audience is open and receptive and to level I'm at. I don't teach kindergar. That's not my specialty. Okay, they gotta start too, okay. I teach those people that are in the field that want to get it, they have a glimpse of it, they want to get it now. They're ready. So with me, it's like a university level coaching. It doesn't mean you gotta, you have to, you have to have 10 years in the field. It means that you're open and receptive, to listen, to accept and to work. When I give somebody assignment, if you don't work it, don't talk to me about it, unless you have a question about it. If you didn't work it, I don't talk to you about it. I want you to. I'd rather you fail first, then come back to me, because the other side of failure is success. We got to tweak it or do something. But if you don't do the assignment I give you, let's talk about the next thing, not that we'll talk about that. When you do if you don't do it, I   Michael Hingson ** 33:17 won't talk about it, yeah, unless there's some real, substantial reason why you didn't or couldn't do it, but that's different, but that's a different story.   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 33:26 Amen. I agree with you that that's that's true, brother,   Michael Hingson ** 33:30 that's always a different story, right, right? So you, at the same time, you have to earn money and survive. What are your thoughts about the whole concept of money?   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 33:44 Money is a terrible master, but a wonderful servant. Yeah, money is money is necessary. Money has this place. Money is good, money is not bad, money is not evil, it's not wicked, and nothing like that. Money is neutral. Money serves you according to your level of service and how you expected to serve you, how you think about it. Money is a terrible masculine it's a wonderful servant. Money is that thing where can serve you, but it can be the one of the worst tyrants, second to sex, lust, that is the worst. But let me get back to Money. Money is a tool. Money is energy. That's why they call it currency. And it must flow. If it's not flowing, it ain't growing. If it ain't growing, you ain't knowing you feel me and that mean, that mean you ain't sowing the seed that rhymed. I just made that up, by the way. Good job. I just made that up, dude, off the top of my head, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 34:37 good job.   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 34:38 This came to me. It happened to rhyme, we learning rhymes. Hickory Dickory Dock, the mouse went up the clock and all that kind of stuff. So that's what I think that's that's money. The concept of money is very fascinating, because money is the most easy thing I've ever manifested. See, money is actually easy to manifest, but people make it hard. Here's why, because they're running. After it. While you're running after it, it's right there in front of you, but you're chasing after it, and you want to knock on other people, to get with a light sheet and still to get it. Some people, some willing to con someone, to do unethical things, to get you to do it like the old commercial. What's this taste good? Like a cigarette should? Well, there's nothing good tasting about tobacco. I always   Michael Hingson ** 35:21 wondered that myself, having never smoked, but yeah, I hear you,   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 35:24 yeah, yeah, but telling you that, telling you that, getting your mind that frame gets you to spend your money. And we're so money conscious. You want to get money. I want to spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend. How about respecting the money? How can I make this money circulate? How can I one give something to somebody else in a service or calls? Okay, it's very good to do that, whether you call it tithing or just giving. That doesn't matter with the percentage. It doesn't matter. Give from the heart someone else. And then find a way to circulate that money. That money is actually energy. It will, it comes back to you. It actually comes back to it circulates. You create. You create a universal energy, a Goodwill has nothing to do with religion, politics or nothing, but I just said nothing. I just said has something to do with life and the laws of the universe, albeit which works the same for everybody, for everybody. Mm, hmm.   Michael Hingson ** 36:17 Well, you clearly want to help people, and you want people to obtain results. What do you do? Or how do you how are you able to consistently help entrepreneurs and your clients and so on to achieve dynamic results and positive results? Another way of saying is, what do you do anyway? Go ahead,   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 36:38 right? What do you Well, I'm a content creator. I create content. Okay? I create content. I have a course that's coming out really soon called create dynamic results, and it's a seven transformational steps to show people how to make these subtle mind shifts that become permanent. Okay? And I'm fortunate enough to be the guide through this program. In that program, what they learn to do is how to take those habits, those nagging, nagging habits. See, habits are what make us what we are. Habits. Period, you brush your teeth in the morning. It's a hat bleeding. You gotta think about you're gonna brush your teeth. You're not gonna think about it. You gotta get up and go do it. Period, in the story, you're not gonna more about it. Not gonna say maybe I don't feel like today, you gotta do it Okay. More like them do it okay. And because the habit, because that little bit happens, ingraining your brain, it's like a fluid. It's been ingrained, and it's like a track. Now, as soon as you wake up, soon as you wake up, waking up and open your eyes and get out of bed, is actually a trigger to go brush your teeth. Now it's a trigger, so you got to do it. Well, bad habits are the same way you have habits you don't want. They're the same way those habits you hear certain words or certain things that trigger anger certainly trigger hunger, certain thing will trigger lust, greed or violence or just whatever. Okay, so in order to have the habits that, that, that that that that support you, that benefits you, you have to transmute those by setting yourself on like a seven days. I'm just using seven days right now. Say, say, You tell yourself today I'm not going to get angry, period. Imma, remain calm. Now, when you say that, I guarantee you, I will guarantee you, I'll bet you $25 to a bucket of beans that you're going to get plenty opportunities to get angry that day. People going to say things. They're going to do things you're angry. Now here's the thing. The test is to remember what you said, what you said when it comes, ignore it, and then replace that with a different you keep doing that, you're going to change that habit. Eventually, it may take a year you're going to change that habit. So you've got a habit of procrastinating, not following up on your goals, your plans, not prospecting. You can change that habit by going through certain steps, by changing those grooves in the brain, okay to have that record play. One good example is that is the mother Turkey. The mother Turkey is one of the best mothers in creation. The mother Turkey love that baby, cleans that nurtures that baby. Just really, really, really, really, really, okay. And when that baby chirps, that baby chirps, that baby chirp that the turkey hearts melt. That mother Turkey heart will melt when that baby chirp, period. So now you have let me change some you have this pole cat. Pole cat is the universal enemy of a turkey. When Turkey see a pole cat, that Turkey go crazy and get crazy and want to kill. It this hard to death. Well, there's a spirit one day where they put a pole cat near the turkey, and the turkey went crazy, gonna kill it to protect his young. Well, they had a little walkie, a little radio inside of the a little device inside, the inside of stuffed turkey. That shirt like little baby birds, red Turkey chirp that Turkey. When that pole cat shirt, that Turkey was disarmed, that Turkey nurtured the phony pole cat. Cause of that chirp, nurtured it. Heard that shirt. That's what habits are. You're a certain sound, and you act like a robot. So actually, we're puppets on a string. This is getting a little deeper that. That's, in essence, what it is. So in assisting people how to change those habits and. Then how to concentrate Focus. Focus is so big in self improvement. All people great success have great focus skills, but very few people teach you how to focus. Have anyone ever taught you how to focus? Very few people have techniques like that how to focus. Then there's self analysis. When you self analysis, you analyze yourself. Then there's willpower, which is creative power. Then there's transportation and sexual energy, and then the words you speak to yourself, those six or seven things I just named, are the key and foundational to all of our success.   Michael Hingson ** 40:31 The only thing I would add to that are the words that your inner voice is saying to you, and you need to learn to listen to them.   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 40:36 That's and that's what I said about that self analysis. Yeah, right, right. And that's where you come in, concentrate and meditation, yeah. And so one thing about meditation really quickly, real quick meditation people, especially a lot of religious people, think, well, I'm this or that. I'm a Christian, Muslim or Judas or Jew or Buddhist. I don't do that meditation stuff. Stop, stop, stop. Here's where knowledge becomes power when you understand and use it. When you want to get stronger arms, you can do push ups when you want to shoot. Be a better shooter in basketball, you practice the shots anything you want. You practice Okay, in order to strengthen your mind, where you have the one point of focus on where you're calm you meditation is an exercise of the mind. That's it. No matter what religion you are, be quiet and learn how to calm down, to quiet the thoughts, all distracting thoughts. Once you quiet the thoughts, and then that lake becomes clear without any ripples, and you see the pure reflects of the moon, that's gonna become calm. That's when you get some stuff done. Now you can focus on that thing with laser focus and get it done. Nothing great was ever done without laser focus, ever? There are no accidents,   Michael Hingson ** 41:46 right? Well, and also just the whole idea of clearing your mind, letting yourself calm down. It's perfectly okay to ask yourself, How do I accomplish this? The problem with most people is they won't listen for the answer, no. And whether you want to say it's God telling you your inner voice or whatever, it's really all the same thing. But the problem is, people won't listen. And then when they get the answer, they go, it can't be that simple. People don't listen to that inner voice.   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 42:20 It's very powerful. I meant to the inner voice thing. I love meditation. I love doing it as once a little girl in the church, she's a Catholic, and she was she whenever, I believe the church, she'd sit there about 10 or 15 minutes every week. And so the cardinal, whoever given the service, came here and said, How you doing, little girl, when she stopped, Hi, how are you? I noticed after every service, everybody leave the chapel. Your parents leave outside too. But every Sunday, little girl, you sit here, I think she's about 12 years old, you sit here, and you keep praying. And he asked her, why may I ask? Why? Why? Why you do it like that? She said, Because. Now, watch this out of the mouth of babes, because everybody's praying to God. I want to hear what God has to say to has to say to me. Mm hmm. I want to listen. Bam. Mic drop. That's it. Mm hmm. Mic drop. That's how powerful being quiet in meditation is meditation exercising the mind. So if you say, Well, I'm a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew, I'm a Baha that doesn't matter. Meditation had nothing to do with that. It has nothing to do with that. Has them do it like you said, Brother internally, who you are, your inner self. This is that still small voice. And by the way, all those religions say that, but few people understand that. They all say the same. They all said the same thing. I know because I study them. I studied the world religions. I studied Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Kabbalah. I studied new thought. I studied that stuff. I love it, but I understood something about it that we're all actually one. We're what we're actually one,   Michael Hingson ** 43:56 viewed as the many. Do you generally find that you can get through to people who want to be your clients. Or how does that work?   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 44:06 Can you repeat that, please?   Michael Hingson ** 44:07 Okay, so somebody comes to you and says, I really want to hear what you have to say. I want to learn from you. And you've talked about the fact you don't teach kindergarteners. You you teach people who are further along the process. Do you? Do you ever miss assess or find that you're not teaching the right person or they just don't want to listen to you once you get started and working with them?   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 44:29 I've never had that happen. I thank God never. I'll tell you why. When people come to me, okay, people want to make money, they want to increase their sale, they want to increase their contact, they want to increase their network. They will increase their productivity by me showing them how to increase their transformative value, to enhance their performative value, to get to the results they want. Here are the results we talk about. We talk about what they want. Now see when I'm talking to you right. Now, give me the philosophy, but the coaching is very different. The floats, the culture is actually the philosophy in action with what they're doing. You. I use the language they're doing, interacting what they're doing, how their prospect, who they're talking to, the attitude they have, the ideas how to shift certain things. What goals you hitting right now? Okay, what do you do? What what's what's the top person in the company doing? What are you doing? How do you rate yourself to that? What are you doing right now? Let me show you how to increase that by 25% 50% in the next month. Let me show you how to increase that. So I'll take what they're doing and I'll remember now all what I'm saying is good, but if you can't take it to fit the people and make it practical, it's just talk. All books, all books, religious or whatever, are just dead writings. Until you make them come alive, we have to make them come alive. So I take what I'm take talking now, and I apply it to the network marketing, the sales, the people, into coaching, the mind technology, you have to apply it. So I never had that problem. I haven't I thank the Creator for that. Never had that issue. Never, never had that because anyone even hit   Michael Hingson ** 45:59 that, yeah, because you've had people that that when you accept them as a client, you've you've communicated with them, you've assessed what their needs are. They tell you what their needs are, and you come to agreement as to they're going to listen to you to deal with fulfilling those needs, right?   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 46:17 You're going to follow it like in my in my course, that I'm at the part of the course creator. I'm court doing the videos right now, the intro and outro and all that. This one thing my class got to understand. When you get this course, if you don't do the work, don't talk to me about it. Now, if something come up where you can't get it done, you need a way to get it done. Let's talk. But you just didn't do it. You have not earned the right to come to me and tell me that, which is what I have to work before, right? Yeah, talk about before. So, so I'm really into getting you to move and to feel that result. See, everything is result of something, and you need to prove that to yourself. And no one can do that, but you, no one's gonna do but you, no one can do but you, no one should do but you, damn it. You should do it, but you can be guided,   Michael Hingson ** 47:07 that's right, to how to do it. But then you have to make, but you have to make the choice to do it.   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 47:14 That's right, see, and I don't care if it's Warren Buffett, I'll give you example about here's what coaching is all about, and mentoring is all about it's all about human beings having two things that they want to do. They want to avoid pain and suffering and gain pleasure, reach the desire. There's only two motivators we have. There are no other motivators, no other motivators in the universe. We only have two motivators, to avoid suffering and pain and to seek happiness and feel the desire. Okay? The idea is to solve the pain puzzle so that the person, place or thing, can enjoy the pleasure principle. If I can solve I don't give a warren buffett right now. If Warren Buffett, with all his billions, would approach me right now, if he had a problem that no one could solve all his life and it gnaws at him, he won't answer to it. He's dreamed about all these years. And if he met me right now and he felt that that's the one he can solve that problem. He would hire me right now. He would hire me right now. That's right, yep. Well, it doesn't matter how much money you have. When I learned that, when that dawn upon me, game on for anybody. There are people out there that are my clients, and I know it. I don't care how what your status is. I'll give you the king of England or the pet the United States. I don't care if you the Grand Poobah. I don't care if you have a trillion dollars in the bank. If you got an issue, and I'm the one you see can solve it, you're going to pay me, and I'm going to work with you, period. That's the commitment, though, there are no boundaries, right?   Michael Hingson ** 48:39 That's That's the commitment. You are committing to do it. You're committing to help. You're committing to bring your skills to it. Bring my   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 48:47 skill set to it. I don't have to have as much money as you to do it. I ain't got to have a bigger home than you to do that. I ain't got to be Michael Jordan to help. Michael Jordan if he had the problem of pain. So I don't have to be that. Once people that coach and teach get past that. A lot of my scared, why that person can't? Oh, hold on, I might have a answer to a thing that Anthony Robbins need help with. We all need some growth and development. We all do until we reach that level of a certain level where we're there and we're just helping other people. But most of us, most of us, 99% of us or more, have pain problems, get who you are and give you a story about Joseph in the Bible. You've heard the story about Joseph in the Bible, how Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. Okay? He sold slavery by his brothers into prison, something he didn't do. And while he was in prison, he began to be known as his philosophy and his work and his spirituality. And people would talk to him. So one guy got out, Joseph said, Please tell the king, yada ya, or whatever. The guy got out and forgot about Joseph. Then tell Well, years more, more years passed by. Another guy got out. He went and told the king, or whatever, about Joseph. I know a guy can solve your dreams. I'm paraphrasing the story. And the king asked Joseph to come out. He's, I heard you can solve my problems. And. Joseph told him how to solve his problem. Well, Joseph became a billionaire overnight. Yeah, he solved the king's problem. That's not the exact story, but you see, no. So it doesn't matter who you are or your status in life, once you get past that thinking, well, I ain't, I can't do this. I only live in No, no, no, no, no, no. They do it work. It's like, it's like, it's like, needing, getting to car accident, okay? And your stomach is you got a gas in your stomach, okay? And say you're multi billionaire, okay? Or say you the biggest athlete in the planet or the richest king in the world, you're not going to say how much money that doctor make, or nothing like that. You're going to say, Please heal me. You don't care about that. That doctor had the skill to heal you to take care, and that's you want to take care. That's all you want. Gotta say, I don't want that doctor flying so and so from so and so. You're not gonna do that. And a lot of people understand that when you have something to give, you give it. You hone your skills, you bunker down, you walk with thoughtless confidence, command, you have the self esteem, doing the ambient maybe move forward. That's why I work with entrepreneurs and I will work with people that are not on that low. Get me wrong. Now, I'm not saying I will work with people that are newbies. All depends on the newbie. If they want sales training, I'll give it to them. Yes, I'll give it to them. They want sales training. They want training on how to close, how to be better communicated. Sales are the communication daughter, a daughter of charm character, Chris man, class, and the more charm character, charisma and class you add in appropriate form, you're able to connect, communicate and close. That's seven C's, yep, sell the seven C's.   Michael Hingson ** 51:36 I counted four. Where are the other three? Charm, charm characterism   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 51:40 in class. That's four, communicate, connect and close.   Michael Hingson ** 51:44 Okay, just checking on you, because once   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 51:47 you have those four, you open to bed. Line of communication. Add some more things in there. As far as you know, psychology and persuasion tools. Now you're connecting. Once you connect, then you can close.   Michael Hingson ** 51:59 There you go. Just wanted to make sure we got to all seven.   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 52:02 We got all Thank you. Thank you for holding me to that.   Michael Hingson ** 52:06 No, I hear exactly what you're saying, and it is, it is so important to do that. So tell me what you know, with all the things that you're doing, you're clearly a person who cares, what's your take on giving back and charity and so on?   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 52:26 Everything, everything, everything. And I'll tell you why I say everything, everything is a result of something the universe and life is always giving me something. Mm, hmm. See, life is what I call the creator's gift to us. What we give back is our gift to the creator for being on this planet. We are creators. Giving is a natural part of your being, who you are, your power. When you're your power, you can give from the heart, okay? And when you give, believe me, it's going to come back to you anyway. Now you don't give it for it to come back. You give it because you want to service and love because you you realize that we're one giving, giving from the heart empowers you. You want to feel empowered give you want to feel empowered every time somebody get paid, give something. I don't care if it's 10% of 5% give from your heart and keep it to yourself. Yeah, much as you can. Keep it to yourself, because you spoil your own goods. Keep it to yourself and let it flow the way it's going to flow, and then you will grow, and then you'll know, yep, how it goes. That Ryan too. I just made that up. That pretty   Michael Hingson ** 53:36 well rhymes, yeah, but, but it's true. It's true. Too many people have to show off. Oh, I gave a million dollars to this charity. The problem is, you're not you shouldn't be doing it for notoriety. You should be doing it because it's the right thing to do. It's what you want to do.   Dr Tamir Qadree ** 53:55 If somebody found out that's different, like Warren Buffett is one of my favorite. Warren Buffet is one of my favorites. Warren Buffett is one of the most humble giving people. His money 70 billion he gave out. It got out there because there's so much money. I bet he didn't, he didn't promote that. Okay, now I look, I look at one athlete. I won't mention a name here, always, they always say about how much he gives and how much he gives. And build this and build that. Always talk about that, about that guy, the other guy they compare him to, never opens his mouth about his giving. He gives all the time. Never opens his mouth. One guy always told me what he gives, and I said to myself, dude, that that that's taboo. This the opposite of giving. I'm not saying your heart ain't in it, but you're allowing this narrative to be there without comment on the narrative that's it's that is personal, that, in fact, giving to me is sacred. It is sacred. You're giving to help humanity, other people, my gift, my charity, which I have to do today, by the wa

Zig Ziglar shares the timeless lesson of “priming the pump.” Success, he reminds us, never comes before effort—you must put something in before you can get anything out. Through his classic storytelling, Zig inspires us to keep pumping with persistence, patience, and enthusiasm until the rewards flow abundantly. This is a powerful reminder that lasting success belongs to those who don't quit too soon.Grab your FREE "28 Books" list!Source: Zig Ziglar - Prime the PumpHosted by Sean CroxtonFollow me on Instagram Check out the NEW Black Excellence Daily podcast. Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and Amazon.

Schick and Nick discuss the latest Husker win.  No drama with Nebraska football.  The pump-up songs fell flat.  Schick is moving.  Tweet from Fairbury.  Recapping Nick's pain.  Archie Wilson never punts.  Gus Johnson listens to the pod.  Sipple does it again.  Clemson gets skunked.  Arch Manning isn't good.  Bud Crawford is fighting.  Kohlls Polls. Connect with us! SchickandNick.com Facebook, Twitter, or email  We would hate it if you missed an episode! So PLEASE subscribe, rate the pod, and throw us a review. It helps us out so much! We'd likey that.  This is another Hurrdat Media Production. Hurrdat Media is a podcast network and digital media production company based in Omaha, NE. Find more podcasts on the Hurrdat Media Network by going to HurrdatMedia.com or Hurrdat Media YouTube channel! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are more public bathrooms on the horizon in Salt Lake City? Host Ali Vallarta asks Tyler Murdock, deputy director of Salt Lake City Public Lands, when it will get easier to find clean, unlocked bathrooms city-wide. Get more from City Cast Salt Lake when you become a City Cast Salt Lake Neighbor. You'll enjoy perks like ad-free listening, invitations to members only events and more. Join now at membership.citycast.fm.  Subscribe to Hey Salt Lake, our daily morning newsletter. You can also find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC. Text or leave us a voicemail with your name and neighborhood, and you might hear it on the show: (801) 203-0137 Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads. Learn more about the sponsors of this episode:  Visit Walla Walla Salt Lake City Corp Red Butte ICO Salt Lake City Co Arts

Adam Hawk and Ryan Engle discuss the need for rest, why youth sports parents are the worst, and the origin story of the phrase, "Gotta make plans."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You all asked for it... literally. In part one of our accidentally two-part series, we're breaking down the case that has shocked the nation... or at least those of us with a Netflix account. It all starts with a small-town high school golden couple, Owen and Lauryn. Little did they know, their young love would end in a 2-year cyberbullying nightmare that would make their entire town suspects, rope in the FBI, and eventually lead to one of the most shocking reveals in recent history. Buckle up babes, this one's a ride! 

Show Open: "From OMG to WTF" - Gordon Damer says the 2025 Mets season is disintegrating in front of our eyes in the most unbelievable ways imaginable. The team with the second highest payroll in MLB, off a magical run to the NLCS, after signing Juan Soo in the offseason, has now fallen out of the playoffs by inventing new ways to lose on a nightly basis.

Josh Rodriguez and Matt Carlson talk about the Late Pick 3 at Sha Tin on 09/14/25!Check out DRF's new AI tool at chat.drf.comHelp support OTWL by signing up for AMWager and get a 100% First Deposit Match up to $150 for new account holders. Click the link to sign up: https://link.amwager.com/OTWLFollow us on Twitter @wrong_lead​​​​​​ Follow us on Instagram and Threads! @otwleadRead our articles and check out our shirts and other merch at www.onthewronglead.com

Follow along as Kevin Clancy (aka KFC Barstool) and Clem (aka The Clem Report) battle through another season with The New York Mets. Will the Mets finally make history with Uncle Stevie (Steve Cohen) at the helm of the franchise? Or did the Wilpons curse the team and ruin all hope of ever winning a World Series? We can't think that way. Uncle Stevie is the bright light in the middle of the dark. We're going to be an amazing (or at the very least respectable) team this team. We Gotta Believe. Subscribe to the youtube here: https://barstool.link/WGB Get Coors Light delivered straight to your door. Visit https://coorslight.com/BELIEVE Download the Gametime app today and use code BELIEVE for $20 off your first purchase GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER, (800) 327-5050 or visit gamblinghelplinema.org (MA). Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Please Gamble Responsibly. 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org (CT), or visit www.mdgamblinghelp.org (MD). 21+ and present in most states. (18+ DC/KY/NH/WY). Void in ONT. Eligibility restrictions apply. Terms: draftkings.com/sportsbook. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino & Resort (KS). 1 per new customer. $5+ first-time bet req. Max. $150 issued as non-withdrawable Bonus Bets that expire in 7 days (168 hours). Stake removed from payout. Terms: sportsbook.draftkings.com/promos. Ends 8/3/25 at 11:59 PM ET. Sponsored by DK. Follow along on social: Twitter: https://twitter.com/GottaBelievePod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wegottabelieve/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3611081542306391 Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wegottabelieveYou can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/wegottabelieve

Y'all. Kaya is back to talk the irony of the Justin Baldoni V Blake Lively new case findings and is suspicious about what's going on. She then moves on to what tf we really need to talk about -- the Summer I Turned Pretty!Please donate to the Sickle Cell Awareness Fundraiser - https://gofund.me/f0d7c1dbbFOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM HERESUBSCRIBE TO OUR PATREON HEREOH YEAH WE ON THREADS HEREWHAT? YOU WANT OUR FACEBOOK? I GOT YOU RIGHT HERE

(00:00-19:11) Where's Paranormal George? They're still only 4.5 out, how is this possible? Gotta love late night flights to Milwaukee. Get on a plane and end this baby. Why is Jackson holding rights? John Mozeliak will be in-studio on the 24th for his exit interview. First three game series Doug hasn't watched in a long time. Oli likes that backwards hat. Jackson is considering opening a haberdashery. Tip of the cap to Sully.(19:19-47:11) How disappointed would you be if the Cardinals won the World Series? Audio of Foul Territory discussing whether MLB expanding the playoffs would make teams care less. Grey skies, 52 degrees, and win that will hit your cheek like a mother. People coming around on realizing just how hot the garbage is. Expanding rosters increases expenses. The ice is down at Enterprise Center. Gabe's new snack has a hell of a mustache. Dennis Gates, time to give JB some tick. Where were you when Bader got traded? (47:21-1:09:08) Follow me, Doug. Florida has a gauntlet of a schedule and Billy Nappier may find himself on the hot seat. Audio of Frank Frangie on Jon Gruden being the possible new Florida head coach. Could Drink be on the Gators' radar? NIL rules in Missouri are beneficial to a college football coach. Doug likes Gruden to Florida. What is Kentucky fans' constitution like? Some days you feel like putting on a little snazzy number. Two hour QFTA yesterday.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Is Kawhi really the ONLY player getting money under the table? What do Angel Reese and Andrea Bargnani have in common? Potsi and Terrence are answering the big questions as they chop it up on this week's pod. FOLLOW US ON SOCIALS: Instagram: off.the.rip.podTikTok: off.the.rip.podX: OffTheRipPodcastSUBSCRIBE on Youtube and wherever you get your podcasts!

00:00 – 10:51 – Colts prep for the Broncos, Week 2 kicks off tonight with Commanders/Packers, Jeff rants on Adam Silver’s comments about the NBA being a “highlight reel league”, 10:52 – 20:35 – Morning Checkdown 20:36 – 42:56 – Colts-Broncos preview: Tyler Warren’s debut, injury updates, the white out at Lucas Oil on Sunday 42:57 – 1:04:45 – Do people prefer 1pm kickoff times over other kickoff times?, Kevin’s Reds are rising from the ashes, we play I GOTTA KNOW: Week 1 hot takes, bigger surprise in Colts-Dolphins, rather go to the Swift/Kelce wedding or Kelce bachelor party, first and current celebrity crush, Morning Checkdown 1:04:46 – 1:16:03 – Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files joins us to discuss potential playoff seedings for the Fever, end to the regular season, big roster questions for the Fever following the end of their season, the upcoming CBA negotiations, Caitlin Clark off-season plans, the Kelsey Mitchell move yesterday 1:16:04 – 1:24:16 – Mariah Carey, Kevin throws out a weird NFL stat from Week 1 and tries to get an explanation behind it 1:24:17 – 1:47:19– The lack of tape says a lot for a high school athlete, is this version of Daniel Jones or a result of the Dolphins being terrible, latest Colts injury report, Tyreek Hill, Morning Checkdown 1:47:20 – 1:57:47– Jason Hammer of Degenerates Next Door joins us and recaps his Week 1 bets, Commanders/Packers tonight and some bets for the game, Purdue/USC and the three-touchdown line, props for TNF, why he’s not a parlay guy, Colts-Broncos bets 1:57:48 – 2:06:23 – How long is appropriate shower time?, Colts-Broncos thoughtsSupport the show: https://1075thefan.com/the-wake-up-call-1075-the-fan/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:00 – 22:25 – Colts-Broncos preview: Tyler Warren’s debut, injury updates, the white out at Lucas Oil on Sunday 22:26 – 36:59 – We play I GOTTA KNOW: Week 1 hot takes, bigger surprise in Colts-Dolphins, rather go to the Swift/Kelce wedding or Kelce bachelor party, first and current celebrity crush 37:00 – 47:06 - Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files joins us to discuss potential playoff seedings for the Fever, end to the regular season, big roster questions for the Fever following the end of their season, the upcoming CBA negotiations, Caitlin Clark off-season plans, the Kelsey Mitchell move yesterday 47:07 – 57:13 - Jason Hammer of Degenerates Next Door joins us and recaps his Week 1 bets, Commanders/Packers tonight and some bets for the game, Purdue/USC and the three-touchdown line, props for TNF, why he’s not a parlay guy, Colts-Broncos betsSupport the show: https://1075thefan.com/the-wake-up-call-1075-the-fan/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode we discuss: 21st Amendment is closing Sugar Creek is expanding They had a 3rd one, take 3 Gotta do something after football It's a major award The post Episode 603 – Stuck in the Middle (James Version) With You first appeared on The Craft Beercast.

Dave tells a story of Sarah pushing her boyfriend out the door. 

(00:00-15:13) It means business when you tuck in your shirt. Not horny yet, but the day is young. Doug found Thursday's night NFL game on YouTube without issue. Audio from Chris Long on the Green Light Podcast talking about struggling with the broadcast. Time to die, Boomer. Broncos getting a new stadium? Tim McKernan: The Barrel Man. People tuning in just to see Mr. Beast. Doug's not buying it.(15:21-35:30) Tim hates this song (so I hate it too). Jackson says Tim is semi-split on pop music from the aughts. Tim's dry-humping era. Holliday's on board with the DHE. Ed Sheeran. Fat Joe. Joined by Cardinal pitcher Andre Pallante. Talking some Big League Impact Fantasy Football League. Did he play any football growing up? His recent performances and the vibe in the Cardinal clubhouse.(35:40-45:28) Little Fat Joe bringing us back. Gotta play it. What time do you guys eat supper? Don't say supper. What spurred this question? Tim's leadership gives him a heavy sweater. The AVN flu. Doug's not happy with Gen Z's eating habits.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Could less waiting time reduce stress on a marriage and how can couples strengthen their relationships in the face of life challenges? Synopsis: Every second Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times takes a hard look at Singapore's social issues of the day with guests. With HDB planning to introduce more Shorter Waiting Time (SWT) Build-To-Order (BTO) flats, buyers can expect to collect keys in under three years, reducing the amount of stress on the couple relationship, say an economist and a counsellor. How can young couples decide if they have found the right life partners to take on the wait for a BTO flat? In this episode, ST assistant podcast editor Lynda Hong hosts two guests. Thr first is National University of Singapore's Professor of Real Estate and Economics Sumit Agarwal. He penned a study on the correlation between early marriages, a higher propensity for divorce and waiting times for a BTO, that was featured in the third book in a series - Kiasunomics 3: Economic Insights For Everyday Life. The book overall, analyses the influence and consequences of economic decisions in Singapore. The second is Mr Neo Eng Huat, a counsellor with over 20 years of experience with helping couples. Highlights (click/tap above): 2:10 Post-Covid: BTO one of the few affordable options for young couples 4:00 The effect of BTO-waiting on marriage 14:11 Is it good to have 'effective fighting' between couples? 18:07 When is it time to cut short your losses? 24:15 Money matters in a marriage Read ST’s Opinion section: https://str.sg/w7sH Host: Lynda Hong (lyndahong@sph.com.sg) Produced and edited by: Natasha Liew and Hadyu Rahim Executive producers: Ernest Luis & Lynda Hong Follow In Your Opinion Podcast here and get notified for new episode drops: Channel: https://str.sg/w7Qt Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/wukb Spotify: https://str.sg/w7sV Feedback to: podcast@sph.com.sg SPH Awedio app: https://www.awedio.sg --- Follow more ST podcast channels: All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7 Get more updates: http://str.sg/stpodcasts The Usual Place Podcast YouTube: https://str.sg/4Vwsa --- Get The Straits Times app, which has a dedicated podcast player section: The App Store: https://str.sg/icyB Google Play: https://str.sg/icyX --- #inyouropinionSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

František Jirásek byl přes 40 let dvorním fotografem Karla Gotta. Spolupracuje také s dalšími předními umělci. V chystané autobiografii odhaluje spoustu veselých historek.

František Jirásek byl přes 40 let dvorním fotografem Karla Gotta. Spolupracuje také s dalšími předními umělci. V chystané autobiografii odhaluje spoustu veselých historek.

People matter more than position, and leadership starts with taking care of others. Doing that right means a million acts. SUMMARY Those are lessons Lt. Col. Steven “Meathead” Mount '08 shares with listeners in the Season 4 premier of Long Blue Leadership. For Col. Mount, becoming a pilot was a major milestone, but becoming a husband and father had the biggest impact. Don't wait, listen today and become a better leader tomorrow.   SHARE THIS PODCAST FACEBOOK  |  LINKEDIN   COL. MOUNT'S TOP LEADERSHIP TAKEAWAYS Adoption shaped my understanding of support and love. Leadership is about lifting others to achieve their best. Mentorship plays a crucial role in personal and professional growth. Balancing family and career is a continuous challenge. It's important to have tough conversations as a leader. Resilience is key to overcoming setbacks in life and career. Listening more than talking is essential for effective leadership. Recognizing the importance of support systems can enhance leadership effectiveness. Leadership is defined by consistent, everyday actions. The military community thrives on teamwork and mutual support.   CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction to Leadership Lessons 06:43 The Impact of Adoption on Leadership 14:53 Navigating Challenges at the Academy 22:49 Career Path and Opportunities in Aviation 33:31 Balancing Family and Military Career 44:18 Continuous Improvement as a Leader     ABOUT COL. MOUNT BIO Lt. Col. Steven “Meathead” Mount is a decorated officer in the United States Air Force with a career marked by leadership, operational excellence, and a deep commitment to mentoring the next generation. A command pilot with thousands of flight hours, he has served in a variety of demanding roles across multiple aircraft and theaters, bringing a wealth of experience in both combat and peacetime operations. Beyond the cockpit, Lt. Col. Mount is widely recognized for his ability to lead diverse teams through complex challenges, foster innovation, and develop leaders at every level. His career reflects not only technical expertise but also a people-first leadership philosophy that emphasizes accountability, resilience, and service. Known by his call sign “Meathead,” he brings both humility and humor to the serious business of leading Airmen. His story is one of dedication to mission and country, but also of shaping culture, inspiring others, and leaving a lasting impact on the Air Force community.   CONNECT WITH THE LONG BLUE LEADERSHIP PODCAST NETWORK TEAM Send your feedback or nominate a guest: socialmedia@usafa.org Ted Robertson | Producer and Editor:  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     TRANSCRIPT SPEAKERS Guest, Lt. Col. Steven Mount '08  |  Host, Lt. Col. Naviere Walkewicz '99   Naviere Walkewicz Welcome to the first episode of Season 4 of 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. We're kicking off this season with a story that shows how our earliest experiences can shape the kind of leaders we become. Lt. Col. Steve Mount, Class of 2008, call sign “Meathead,” didn't fully realize that truth until later in life. Adopted as an infant, he came to understand that love and support aren't guaranteed. They're gifts. Over his 17-year career, Col. Mount has flown missions across a wide range of aircraft, from the C-130 to special operations to the U-2. And today, he's in command. But through every stage, one belief has stayed with him: People succeed not only through their own efforts, but because someone believed in them. In this conversation, we'll talk about how those early lessons have shaped criminal mom's approach to leading airmen, mentoring the next generation of pilots, balancing mission and family and building teams that are rooted in trust. His story is a powerful reminder that leadership isn't about the me game, it's about lifting others so they can achieve their best. So what better way to start our new season? Col. Mount, welcome to Long Blue Leadership. Lt. Col. Steven Mount Thank you so much, ma'am for having me. I really do appreciate this opportunity to at least try to share some of my stories, experiences and honestly, if anything touches base with those who listen in and resonates, that's why I'm glad to be here. Naviere Walkewicz Well, let's start right with a way for them to connect with you. You mentioned your call sign is Meathead. Let's start there. Lt. Col. Steven Mount OK, I'll do my best to tell the story as quickly as I can. And the fun thing about being a pilot — but also I think this plays true in any type of storytelling environment — is, you know, only 10% of the story has to be true when it comes to your call signs. So to start… Oh my gosh— I know there's some friends out there who are going to laugh at this, especially of mine. Going through pilot training… The last part of the pilot training, when I was in the T-1s, when you get to that last part, you know, after you've gone through all the ups and downs, you kind of celebrate a little bit more. And that's what I've done. I had gone out with a couple of my rugby brothers that I played with at the Academy, and we'd gone out to just a country, a little country dance hall, and, you know, we're just enjoying and celebrating. And one of my rugby brothers introduced me to one of his friends through his wife, and this individual, who I didn't know much about at the time, had said— I said, “Yeah, I'm starting T-1s here and all that good stuff. And I immediately, immediately — especially in the celebratory mood I was in — thought, “Oh, this is another awesome student that's coming through. Like, hey, let me start giving you the tidbits. Let me start laying out what to expect.” And that's how I treated this individual for the rest of that evening. You know, we're dancing and having fun and just talking it up. And it was a good evening. It was really good evening. Come Monday morning, I get the word I'm flying with this new instructor in the T- 1s. And I had no idea who this individual was. I did not recognize the name at all. And I asked our flight schedule, like, “Who's this?” Is like, “Oh, it's a new person coming in. I think you're one of his first flights back in the T-1s training wise.” And I was like, “Well, OK, I'm ready to go.” And I sit down, and then this instructor sits down right across from me, and it's a major and sure enough, it's this, the person I thought was a student at the Texas dance, the country dance hall that we were at.   Naviere Walkewicz Oh boy!   Lt. Col. Steven Mount He looks me up and down. Oh, it was one of those moments of shock, of like, “What do I… Where do I go from here?” And he looks me up and down, he goes, and he laughs, and he goes, “Man, you are just such a meathead.” And so that's where it started. And call signs and nicknames— sometimes, some people like, wanna try change it throughout their careers and try to like, “No, that's not who I am. I don't want that to define me.” So as I'm leaving pilot training at Laughlin Air Force Base, Del Rio, I'm heading towards my first assignment in Tucson, Arizona for the EC-130 and I'm like, “OK, here we go. I'm gonna start fresh. I'm not that meathead that went through the Academy playing rugby. I'm not that meathead in pilot training to I just like to have fun. Just like to have fun. I do my own thing, and I'm gonna start fresh.” And I get out, and one of the very first meetings I had in the new squadron was with the DO, Lt. Col. Reimer. He sits down with me, and he says, “Come on in, because I'm in blues. He goes, come on in. Sit down. And then he's just quiet. I'm like, this is interesting. He looks me up and down and goes, “Yeah, you definitely look like a meathead.” And I'm like, “Whoa.” So sure enough, the major that I flew with was really good friends and had flown with this squadron, told this DO about me, and the DO got through his spiel, introduced me to my first flight commander before I deployed in Afghanistan, and goes, “Hey, this is Meathead. Take care of him. He's a good one.” I was like, “No, no, everyone, please, let's stop.” And then throughout the years, things kept happening that just reinforced the call sign, Meathead. I got into U-2s, me and a buddy, also pilots. We popped both tires on a T-38 at Long Beach Airport, and we closed down the airport for about five hours. It was on the local news. Not happy about that. And then there were multiple times where I tried to, like, get rid of the Meathead persona, the callsign, but I think it was finally solidified on a CNN interview on one of my U-2 deployments, where the lady interviewing us goes, “OK, we can't use your real name. So what name should we use? And before I could even say anything, one of my buddies just pops up and goes, “ It's Meathead.CNN lady, use Meathead.” And I was like, “OK.” And then international news in that interview, I am Capt. Meathead. And I never got away from the call sign, Meathead.   Naviere Walkewicz We are gonna find that clip of Capt. Meathead.   Lt. Col. Steven Mount It is out there, just U-2… I think the article under CNN: “U-2 spy plane carries out the mission against terrorist organizations.” You know, not that I didn't remember what it was called.   Naviere Walkewicz Well, I would say you heard it here first, but you didn't. You heard it maybe, if you heard it in the U-2 world or what have you. But we're gonna find it again. And so we're gonna resurrect here first, but we're so glad you're here. Yes, yes, this is awesome. And you know, I think one of the things I really enjoyed in our early conversation, and what we're gonna share today is how you kind of look back and you are very grateful and thankful for the upbringing you have. And so let's kind of go back to the fact, you know, not a lot of our guests share kind of their background, and the fact that you share that you were adopted. What did that kind of, what role did that play in your life? And, you know, was it insignificant? Or, you know, what did you glean from that? Lt. Col. Steven Mount Yeah, I really appreciate that question. And honestly, I really appreciate you giving the opportunity to kind of share that. It has played a huge role in my life. Adopted 11 months. And what it did for me is set the foundation of the family. It may not necessarily be one you have, it's the one who who's there for you, who supports you, who loves you. And then, honestly, the other part about being adopted, which I kind of— there were struggles, like, it wasn't perfect, but there were struggles in my mind where I wanted to show that those who adopted me, I wanted to show them that I could be more and thank them, you know, on a daily basis, for everything they had done for me, supporting me. So that drove me, that motivated me to get into the Academy, or even— back up, even like, do well in high school, get into the Academy, become a pilot. All of that was the basis of— I want to show that in a weird way, I want to show that your investment was worth it. You know, you found me, you gave me the love and support. So I'm going to give back to you by showing you what you were able to, you know, give a second chance, small, little child. And then the— but the other side of that, and I don't know how many of those who are adopted, who feel like this sometimes. Can't be the only one, but I can at least convey it here. There's a sense of, you know, “Why? Why was I adopted?” You know, what really happened in the sense that those who biologically brought me into this world, was I not worthy enough? Was I just a bad situation. And so there's that part I keep motivational wise to be like, “Well, I'm going to show them what they're missing out on.” And I know that's more of the negative kind of side of the whole internal conflict of being adopted. But I would be lying if I didn't say that that was part of the drive that kept me going throughout those years.   Naviere Walkewicz Something that came to my mind when you were saying that was, you know— when did you find out? And how old were you to kind of start having those, those thoughts and questions, you know, not only why, but how do I show that I am worthy?   Lt. Col. Steven Mount Yes, so my mother and father did an amazing job of, I remember, I can't remember the name of this particular book, but there was a book that she had given me that she read to me, and that, throughout the years, as I she utilized, helped me start reading and whatnot. And the basis of the book was, you know, cartoon with a little bit of words, is, “You were not purchased, you know, you were not bought at a store. You know you were, you were brought in and chosen and to be a part of a family.” So she, she wanted to have this idea that I always knew, that was adopted. She never wanted to surprise me, or she never wanted to be like, one day, like, “Hey, just so you know…” She did an awesome job of leading into that, Hey, you were adopted. But don't look at it as this, ‘We went to the store and we picked out the one we liked.' It's more of a, ‘We wanted you in our family.' And that's where it started.” It started, “We wanted a bigger family.” Whether they were, at the time, not able to grow or have themselves, they decided that, “We still want to grow a family. So let's look through adoption as a means.” So she had that book, I remember that book, and then the other book, which I still love to this day, and I got a copy for my kids, I Love You Forever, and how she would read that book to me every single night with the words, “…and I love you forever, like you for always. As long as you're living, my baby, you'll be.” That showed me that it didn't matter where I came from. This was my mom, you know, this was my family. So she did a really good job laying that foundation for me, for who I've become to be.   Naviere Walkewicz So would you put your parents in that bucket of inspirational leaders for you that have shaped you? And are there others?   Lt. Col. Steven Mount One-hundred percent. Like I said, the foundational piece of being that inspirational leader, to me in the sense of working on it all the time, right? It's not simple but accepting people for who they are. Where they're at in life. Accept them for their faults, accept them for the things that they don't like about themselves, but just accepting them and giving them the support, giving them the love that they need to show them, that they can do anything, I like to think for the most part, I'm an example of that because of what my parents did for me.   Naviere Walkewicz So, as a young boy, and you talked a little bit about this, you wanted to prove to them. So Was that something you feel over time, you continue to develop this desire to show your worth? And where have you seen that show up I guess even throughout your going— maybe even at the Academy, how has that kind of formed you as a leader individually?   Lt. Col. Steven Mount Yes, yes. So the showing the worth, the showing the value, or paying it back and showing my parents, once again, I use the word “investment” like it was good— I was good investment. Like I was a good return on investment. But it's helped when I've gone through those struggles, when I've gone— because the first time I put in for the Academy and… back up just a little bit. My dad likes to tell a story that I even told my fifth-grade teacher that she was, you know, “What do you want to do?” I was like, “I'm gonna be a pilot.” I said nothing else. Like, I want to be pilot. I want to fly. And then I had had an awesome mentor whose son, at the time, was going through the process of the Academy, sophomore year in high school, and she helped me with that. Good ol' Mrs. Williams, amazing. When I first initially applied for the Academy, I did not get it. I got a “Sorry, you are not competitive at this time.” Here starts some of those moments in your life to where, like, “OK. How can I bounce back? Do I accept the rejection, or do I find another means?” And even when that happened, that first time, my parents, they were like, “It's OK, it's OK. You don't need to…” They were always like, “You don't need to prove anything else. We love you, regardless.” I was like, “No, I need to prove this.” So I found other means, and I was, I will say, blessed in the sense that at that time, my running back coach for the high school reached out to the Academy. This happened early my senior year, and reached out and was like, “Hey, we have, I have someone who I think might do well for your program.” And then, sure enough, I got invited to come out for a football recruiting visit and I sat down with Fisher Deberry, and he just goes, “Would you like to play for this program?” And once again, I was like, “Wait a minute. No, no. I already got rejected. You know, I already gotten the…” But obviously I was going through my head, but all I said was, “Yes, sir, I would love to play for this program. I'd love to go the Academy.” And he made it happen. And I got recruited, and I got the invite to come out, to go the United States Air Force Academy. Wow. And once again, that only happened because my parents, they said, “Hey, we don't care what happens. We love you. Support you. You make the decision and we're here behind you.” And then I had a coach who was like, “I got you. I've seen what you do. I support this.” And went out on a limb for me. And then, in a sense, I guess Fisher DeBerry was also like, “I'm taking this football recruit, I hope he makes it through the Academy. So the love and support is, was there throughout.   Naviere Walkewicz What a path, I mean, that is quite unique. And, yeah, that's something to just kind of sit in a little bit, right? You know, the path of to your point, it just comes from support. And obviously you have to do the things to make sure that when the opportunity presents itself, you're ready to take that step, but what an incredible story of those who have supported you. Let's talk about a little bit before we kind of get into I think, what I think is the next real moment in your life — when you talk about becoming a father in your family. But while you're at the Academy, I'm just curious what more you learned about yourself as a leader, because you no longer had to prove to your parents that you were worthy of their investment, right? Like this is investment, right? Like this is a new season of your life. What did that look like for you as a leader?   Lt. Col. Steven Mount The challenges and the experiences I had the Academy — and I know I talked about this in one of my interviews previously with the foundation — was that I had to I went through my sophomore year and the rigors of academics, of the military side, of sports. It was taking this toll. I will say this many times. I'll continue to say I'm not the smartest crayon in the shed.   Naviere Walkewicz Wait, did you say crayon in the shed?   Lt. Col. Steven Mount I did. A little mixture of the sharpest tool in the box, exactly. I love it! I'm glad someone caught it. That's perfect! But yes, hard work was probably the foundation of what the Academy taught me was you persevere by hard work. You do the day in; you do the day out. You get after it. Because I was not getting after it after sophomore year. My GPA was not the best, and I had to approach my sophomore year, which very fortunate, because I had done my best to put in the time with the football program. But obviously I was losing ground in the academic side and that came back to almost biting, in the sense that I could have failed out. So I had had one of those— Once again, my father being an amazing mentor himself, whether he knows it or not. And I talked to him, and I said, “Dad, I think I have to quit football. I don't think I can continue with this, the rigors of all of this with the Academy.” And he goes, “Well, what was your dream?” I was like, “My dream was to fly.” He goes, “Well, did you go there to play football? Or did you go there to fly?” And that was an easy answer. But then I was thinking about all those coaches and mentors and those who helped me get to where I was, and I never really quit at something, and that's what it felt like. It really felt like I was quitting. I was quitting my teammates. I was quitting my coaches. And that weighs heavy on your soul, for all those out there who just are struggling, like, “Should I continue?” But my dad was right. My priorities weren't to become a football player, because I wasn't gonna be. I wasn't going to be. I wasn't going to become, you know, some — who can I name drop? — Chad Hall, you know, going to the NFL, doing amazing things. I wasn't going to be out there starting on, maybe third if they still have fourth string… maybe fourth string. So my dad helped me with those priorities by, once again, just being supportive. He never said one way or the other. He said, “What do you want to do?” And so I had that hard conversation with him, and went down to the Field House, and I said, “I apologize. I have to quit so I can concentrate on what I want to do for my dreams.” And once we had that was hard, that was very difficult. So that was one of the challenges at the Academy presented, and how I bounced back from that was you always go two ways. You always go into the woe is me and you know, just kind of beat yourself up and just hold on to that, that pride and ego being shattered. Or you can find a community, a support group, that will be there with you. And I found that almost immediately with my rugby brothers. They're just like me. They're like, “Hey, we just like to hang out at our own little table at Mitchell Hall. We like to just come out, play the sport, do what you love to do, athletic wise, and you'll have some more free time, obviously, for academics.” Not that I'd utilize that correctly still, but that's what it took to get me through those next couple years, that and my amazing roommates. I think all of us Academy grads and those who are going through right now, a support of a good roommate is huge. I that, uh, I appreciate the question, because now it's just dawning on me how much I just really appreciate my roommates at the Academy for their support as well. Very similar to my parents, it's like, “Hey, I don't care what you do, but I'm here to support you, love you regardless.” So I got a lot of that the Academy, and that's what helped get me through.   Naviere Walkewicz That's amazing. I think there's a couple of things I want to dig into a little bit. The first one is, you know, I think deciding to have that tough conversation where, one, you felt like you're already prideful, and you're having to, I'm putting in air quotes, “quit.” Can you talk about how you approached that, other than, I know you went and did it. But I think sometimes one of the most challenging things we can do as leaders is have a tough conversation when it involves us either stepping back or taking a step down from what seems to be the trajectory of what's next. And so I'm just— if you could just share a little bit more about that, I think that would be helpful.   Lt. Col. Steven Mount So, and I just want to clarify: As leaders, we have to recognize and we have to have the courage to have the tough conversations, because that wouldn't be the first time that I'd have to make a decision in that regard, or have the tough conversations to where it was gonna affect me personally or those around me. You deal with it understanding, one, give yourself a little bit of grace. Give yourself a little bit of grace in the sense that whatever tough decision you have to make, you're not alone. And I imagine you might not always be the first person who had either to make that decision or was going through something like that. I was not the only one going through something at that time like that. I didn't know that. And so I've had other conversations where others were like, “Yeah, I also, you know how to make that type of call to not play anymore or give up something, because my priority was this...” You know, what was driving me to succeed was something else, and that followed me well throughout my career, because I've had many, many tough conversations. I've had the tough talk as a leader. I've had to tell someone that, “I'm sorry, your dreams to become a pilot…” It's not going to happen because of their performance. I've had conversations on how to get through those tough moments and said how to get on the other side. And I know it's like a broken record, but it just comes through with the support of being there for that individual or being there to guide them to the next step. And I had that. I had that when I made that tough decision. I had someone want to give myself grace. Two, I realized I was not alone. And three, I had the support to get from this side of that tough decision bridge to the other side. And because that support was there, I learned that, and I learned to pass that on from all my leadership opportunities, to be like, “Let me be the one who guides you over this bridge. It's not gonna be fun. There's gonna be parts are gonna hurt. It's gonna be painful. But I will be next to you to get to the other side, to where we can get back to a good place. We get back to what really matters and get back to succeed in maybe another sense.” So the tough convos as leaders, you have to have those tough convos. Do not shy away from them. They're gonna happen, whether you like it or not.   Naviere Walkewicz I'm really glad you shared it that way, because I think it created a pathway to how to approach it, to your point. You know, it they're not comfortable, they're not designed to be that way. But if you start it with, you know, being that support in mind, and how to get someone, even if you're giving the worst news, the worst news where, “This was your dream, you're not gonna be able to do it because of this. And here's now where we're at, and how can I help you succeed through that?” I think that's what a wonderful lesson you just shared. And so I want to dive now into your career, because you had a really broad career, one that's not a traditional path, and I want to understand why it looked that way. So C-130, EC-130, Special Ops, you— talk a little bit about how you navigated that and what was the driving reasons behind that navigation?   Lt. Col. Steven Mount Yes, ma'am. So something you said earlier, which I really liked, I really love to try to convey to those around me, and actually, I've gone through some of these conversations over the last month and a half with younger instructor pilots. Luck is just the crossroad of opportunity and being prepared, and I'm pretty sure someone super smarter than me said that. I barely remembered. But the opportunities that present themselves to me for what I wanted to do, for my goals in the Air Force. So thankfully, even getting through pilot training, that was, in itself, amazing, transformational. Getting those wings, right? Getting those wings because pilot training, just like my Academy career, I had some ups and downs and some challenges but was able to get through because the sense of me becoming a pilot was first and foremost to fly. I want to be up there in the sky. I want to rush past the clouds. I want to touch the highest point I can. I want to be a pilot's pilot. And then right behind that was I want to accomplish the mission for whatever platform or whatever weapon system I'm given, aircraft wise. So those are my two biggest priorities. And that helped me understand that I had some failures of pilot training when I got to my first assignment, EC-130s. But that was perfect for me. That was— I never knew that. I never knew that in pilot training, that the EC-130 would fulfill me in that sense of my sense of purpose as much as it did. And I'm and getting out there, like said, four or five deployments to Afghanistan, as well as multiple TDYs. I was doing the mission, and I was happy, because I was— that's exactly what I wanted to do. That's exactly what young Meathead Mount was built for. But there were parts of me that still wanted to do more. Like, I felt like I could do more. I could be— I could help out more. I could— it's just itching, or not itching, but just burning in the back. It's like, “Hey, you are built for so much more. You can do more. Let's look for those opportunities.” So, funny enough, the first opportunity I had at that time, or I thought I had, was I reached out to— it's no longer around — but the 6th Special Operations Squadron at Duke Field. It was a combat aviation advisory mission. These individuals got to travel the world. I got to learn languages. Literally, they were sent to school to learn languages, to embed with other nations, to build those relationships, to be on the ground but still flying multiple different aircraft. I was like, “That's awesome. That sounds like me. That sounds like something I can do, and I can bring value to the table, and all the above.” So I put in my application; it was immediately rejected. In their eyes, I did not have the experience yet. I did not have what they were looking for, understandable. So here I am in another situation to where, like, “OK, well, what do I— is there any other means or ways that I can continue to fulfill my purpose as a pilot and get after the mission? Because that's what I really wanted to do, get after mission, whatever that looks like. I thought the sticks was an opportunity. They had said no to me, that's fine. And then I had an amazing friend reach out. He goes, “Hey, I heard you're getting a little long winded out there at EC-130s. You should put an application in for the U-2.” And I was like, “What are you talking about? I have no jet experience, other than the T-1. I don't have that background to be that type of caliber pilot.” He goes, “Nope, nope. They're looking for good guys and girls. They're looking for those who are motivated to do the mission. And if you could fly, you can fly, if you can't, well, you know, they'll figure that out, and they'll send you home.” And I was like, “OK.” And so I submitted for the U-2, put my application in, they call me out, and it's a two-week interview. The first week they have you in service dress, and you meet all the leadership, and you meet all the other pilots, and just have conversations. That's all, they just wanna get to know you. You know, “What's your true motivation for being here?” And I explained it, just like I've explained to you: “I wanna fly. I wanna do the mission. I wanna be a pilot's pilot. I wanna do all the cool stuff.” And they go, “OK.” Well, week two, they put you in U-2, a two-seater. They have two-seater trainers. They put you in a U-2. They give you all the weekend prior to study, and they say, “Cool, let's see what you got.” And they have an instructor, he instructs, he does his best to give you tidbits on how to safely land the U-2. And you have three days. You have two training flights and then a sort of assessment evaluation flight on that third day, and oh my gosh, did I ever humble myself as a pilot when I realized how horrible I truly was. I felt like I could not land the U-2 safely. I felt like I was messing everything up. I felt like— as soon as we got done with that third day of flying, and we got back into the squadron, and I remember the IP just being like, and then, you know, walks away because they have to talk to the squadron commanders. They have to go talk to the other leadership there. And once again, I find myself like, “OK, I 100% failed. I mean, I gave it my best. I gave it everything I had. But, you know, here I am gonna fall short again.” And they do this. And I realized this afterwards, that they do this, they do that like wait game, you know, they keep you in suspense for a reason. And I waited, it felt like hours and hours and hours. I imagine it probably might only be like hour, hour and a half. And a squadron commander called me in. He goes, “Yeah, the IP definitely didn't like some of this, some of these, these type of landings, some of this airmanship you're showing. I didn't really like this. But overall, he says you're a nice enough guy, so do you want the job?” And I was like, “Whoa.” And it blew my mind. And that was awesome. That was awesome because once again, leading up to that moment, it was the support of my friend who reached out. It was the support of my wife being like, “Yeah, I think you can do this.” And I had even called, my parents were like, “I had this opportunity to fly this really unique aircraft. It's going to be challenging. What do y'all think?” They're like, “Hey, we love you. Go get it.” And I was like, no other words of advice, no other like, inspiring — you know, my dad, a Florida farm man, was just like, “No, I think he'll do fine. We love you and just let us know how it goes.” I was like, man, I'm really missing out in motivational speeches. But you know what? The sentiment is there, and that's all I need. So I got that position, did a few years with the U-2. And then towards the end of the U-2 career, I got word from another friend saying the 6th Special Operations Squadron is growing. “We are looking for readily qualified and experienced people.”   Naviere Walkewicz And this is the one that rejected you.   Lt. Col. Steven Mount Yes, ma'am, I got rejected last time. He goes, “It's OK. Put in another application. You know, you're a little more experienced now, you've got a little bit more under your belt.” And I said, “OK,” and I put in an application, it got rejected again, and here I am, like, “What is going on?” My buddy reached out to me—   Naviere Walkewicz Your name is blacklisted in that group across the board. Like, “Oh, there's that Mount guy. Cross it out.”   Lt. Col. Steven Mount But I think that ended up being somewhat of a blessing. It was like, “Wow, This guy is motivated to come out here.” Because they had seen the last application years ago. They'd seen this one. And I think the word finally got around that's like, “Hey, he's actually really motivated to come try out, at least for this mission.” And so once again, from good mentors, they're like, “Go ahead, try it out. Put the application in one more time, see what happens.” I did, got picked up for assessment selection. It's another week, week and a half interview. They challenge you mentally, they challenge you physically. They put you in situations to see how you react. I don't wanna give too much away for that process, even though, you know, unfortunately that process is not there anymore. But after that grueling week, they once again, here I am in front of another squadron commander, and here they are opening my life in front of them, and they're saying, “Well, we don't like this. We definitely don't like this. Tell us a little more about this,” you know. And that was about an hour interview, sit down, and it's not just the squadron commander. It was leadership — four or five individuals. It was an Army lieutenant colonel's flight doc behind them, you know, kind of doing that very watching, waiting, assessing, and another one of the situations, I'm like, oh, “Here we go. I don't think it's gonna happen.” But then at the end of that interview, they sit down, squadron commander stands up and goes, “Welcome to the 6th.” And the only things I can think of — and I know a lot of listeners or viewers out there do the same thing, and I tell this to my young when they get their wings, I tell them this as well — think of that first person, or persons, that when something amazing happens to you, you immediately reach out to them and you tell them, “Thank you for the support, thank you for the love, thank you for believing in me when others didn't.” And that's exactly what I did after that one. I called my wife, and I called my parents. I said, “It happened. We got it. I got it,” you know, because it wasn't just me, and I know those experiences going from one mission to the next, and those setbacks have— I get to share these stories all the time with these young instructor pilots that I'm with, as well as students, because I get to utilize it as a leadership tool to be like, “Don't give up on yourself. That's first and foremost. And then even if you believe you might give up on yourself, trust me, there's someone like me or your family members or your squadmates, they won't give up on you. And just remember that.” And that's why I get to share these stories throughout my career, of like, “Hey, I failed at this. Look where I'm at now, because I had the support and because I kept going, Hey, I failed at this. Look how it played out. I'm here.” So a lot of my transition from different platforms and different experiences has helped shape that leadership side of me to say, simply put, “It's OK to fail, all right?” I mean, you're never going to succeed if you have this tried and failed a couple times, right? So, right,   Naviere Walkewicz Wow. Well, I want to go into— because you've mentioned this a couple times. We've talked about your parents, but you know, to have a career that's successful and to navigate that, you talked about your wife. So I'm curious if you can share with listeners who have to maybe the word is not choose between. But how do you navigate the importance of your marriage and that relationship with your profession, and trying to succeed in that trajectory, whatever that trajectory is for you. So maybe you can talk a little bit about how that, how that worked throughout all of those transitions.   Lt. Col. Steven Mount Oh, OK. I usually do better at this from a better half nearby, which she is, in a sense. She's trying to work out and give me her working space right now, which I love. I'm gonna start with this. It's not easy. It is work. It is reps, the day in, the day out. It's not easy. I don't believe I've ever had a convo with someone when they're trying to balance the work and family life to where it's like, “Oh, that was easy, you know, I just do this and they do this, and we're good to go.” No, it is constant conflict of schedules. It is sharing what's going on. It's the ups and downs. So I'd like to start with that: It's not easy. And if anyone ever tells you it is easy, please ask them how they're doing it, and then spread their wise words of wisdom to all of us. Because that's probably the first thing: It's not easy. Once you recognize that you can get past understanding like, “OK, I'm not alone in this, that this is not easy, and I can start talking and sharing my experiences and seeing from those who seem to have it together. What are they doing to make it work? So I start there. It's not easy. Second, you have to be a team. I think there's a lot of us that think that, and my wife definitely did initially, and that was on me, that she thought that my career was the most important, that what I did and how I executed the mission and where I was going, that that was the No. 1 priority. And I found it that's not the case. I found that's not the case, because, sure, when we didn't have kids yet, and we were in Tucson, it's a little easier, because I would go on my deployments, and she would go to the job, she would go to work, and she had and she supported that, because I was out there, you know, fighting the good fight, accomplishing a mission, doing everything the Air Force needed me to do. And that's what she knew was important for me. So she supported that through and throughout, and she supported it to where I imagined, to the sense of she didn't feel like she could speak to say things that maybe I would like in the sense of me doing my mission, or coming home from Afghanistan with some of my experiences. Ahe felt that maybe sometimes, that she didn't have a word to convey to like, “Hey, this really scared me.” Or, “Hey, when you were gone, I saw the news and I was frightened. And you know, when I saw this happen, I just wanted to reach out to you, and I just want to make sure you're OK.” And she never felt initially like that she could convey those feelings, because it might affect me. It might affect my, you know, mentality while being overseas and down range. So she held that in, she held it in. She kept strong. She put on the “I'm here to support you” and I feel bad, you know, thinking back on that, that I should have given her the space to like, “Tell me what you're feeling. Tell me what you're going through. I don't want you to, I don't want you to struggle in silence. If you know you see something or there's something that scares you, let me know.” And unfortunately, I didn't learn that lesson until way, way later in my career, because she'd always kept that strength in and even when we started having kids, she still did. I kick myself all the time now that— we got to California, in the U-2s, we had an incident down range to where they needed me to bump up my deployment out there, to get out there to take care of the situation. And I'd asked, I was like, “Well, how much sooner do you need me?” Because we had just had our first son. You know, the dynamic's changing. The family dynamic is changing, and especially with your first born. And they said, “We need you to leave in about a week.” Here I was once again. And I know we have kind of kind of mentioned that I was I was in the mean mentality I was in. I was gonna be a pilot's pilot. I was gonna get the mission done. I was going to do everything I could to prove myself, and if my country needs me to be out there in a week to take care of this mission, that my family and my wife will understand. And that was that was not the way I should look at it. It really wasn't. But because I was not seeing her as a teammate, and she held it in — and thank goodness we had her mother-in-law. We had some family come out and support with a new baby. But I could tell that was one of the first times to where looking back on it now that maybe I could have said, “Can you find someone else?” You know, maybe I should have what I'm doing, hopefully you're doing now and teaching others. You have to balance that family with mission and the prioritize what is truly important at that moment. And that's something I failed to do at that time. It would happen again later on, but thankfully— so when I got to the 6th Special Operations Squadron, and at this time, especially after we had our second child in California, the wife had mentioned more. She started coming out of the shell like, “Hey, I do need you a little bit more now. I need you, and I need to be able to express and convey what I do and don't like.” And I was listening, but I was not listening the way she needed me to listen. I was not being that teammate on my side. So I heard, “Hey, I just need more support with the family. So whatever career decision we make next, let's align that.” And I was in my head, I was like, “Yes, you're absolutely right.” That's why the 6th Special Operations Squadron, when I got that interview and I picked up, it was so important, because I had family in that area, and family could get to us easier. So I was thinking, “Awesome. I have the support system for you there. I got the assignment. You're going to be taken care of.” I can tell that's not yet what she was wanting. And I will credit good old Col. Valentino. I was spinning up to go to Lebanon with the team, and we're about to have our third child. And here I was once again, like, “Yep, gotta get back to the mission. Gotta show my value. Gotta get in there, do it.” And the wife understands. We have two kids already. We're gonna have a third. So we've already had two. We kind of know how this goes. We're good to go. But I could tell, once again, looking back, everything's— that she wasn't happy, but she was ready to put up that wall again, to be like, “OK, I have to support him. Have to support what he does, and I have to, because that's what the military is asking me. That's what this new community…” And then Col Valentino, he came down. He goes, “Hey, are you about to have another child?” And I was like, “Yes, sir.” He goes, “When?” And I gave him the date. And he goes, “Your deployment date is like, a month after that.” I was like, “Yes, sir. This is our third child. We'll be good to go. I have the support system for the wife now, and she'll be taken care of. Good to go.” And he goes, “No, you're staying home. I don't need you.” He goes, “Did you want to ask me if there's anyone else wants to go so you can be there for your wife and your family?” And that blew my mind, that just, I don't know. It came out of nowhere for someone in a leadership role to say, “No, I'm not gonna send you on this deployment. I want you to be there with your family.” And that held in tight, and from then on, everything changed, and how I led and how I would push the mission. But I wouldn't do it to the extent of, could I not help someone balance their family life with their mission? And that took too long for me to realize. So what I say to everyone out there, it's not easy, but you come home from a long day and you're mentally exhausted and the mission is not going good, or you're getting ready for deployment, take a moment, sit down and just talk with your teammate at home. You have to look at it as teammates. They are your partner. They will be just like I mentioned before. They will be your support system through thick and thin, because they've probably seen you at your worst, and they want you to be at your best. But you can't do that unless you take care of that home front and treat them as your teammate. Because I am still, to this day, trying my best to become the man that I hope that she sees in me and that she wants me to be one day, but I had to fail in seeing it back then so that could see it now. And I think that's one of these things I want to convey. Not easy, and they have to be your teammates.   Naviere Walkewicz Thank you for sharing that. And I think to have a leader that showed you that, which is, now you've imprinted that in your leadership style. You're thinking about the airmen that you come across and how to help them navigate some of those tough choices, but doing it with a, you know, a bigger view of not just the mission, but, like, how do you fit in that with your family? I think that's so powerful, and I'm really glad you shared that, because I know that some of our listeners and our viewers, that's gonna resonate with them as well, because they're gonna remember a time when, “Wow, I didn't even ask if I didn't have to go, or if I didn't have to do this, just because I'm so used to jumping when you say, jump,” right? And I think sometimes it's OK. It's OK. Just a question, like, I'm willing and ready to jump. I just want to make sure is someone else able to do it too because of these reasons, right? So I love that you share that.   Lt. Col. Steven Mount And those leaders have to know their people enough in that regard to also know because ultimately, when you get the mission, then yes, that's what we signed up for, yes. But those leaders know their people, and they know what situation they're in. For example, there's a few times in Special Operations to where we're going on another deployment. But we knew our people, and we knew that some did not have the balance at home, and things were not looking the best they could. “Hey, we can help you out. We can give you all the resources you need. We don't need you on this deployment.” But that takes good leaders, recognizing and taking care of their people and understanding that these individuals cannot be effective down range or where they go if their home life is not taken care of. So, I know that is something that's been talked about for all my leadership training for all the years, but actually applying it is going to start with our future leaders coming up to realize, know your people, know where you can take care of them so that they can take care of the mission.   Naviere Walkewicz That's right. That's right. So this has been incredible. I think the underlying lesson that you shared with us is, obviously having belief in yourself and doing the work and proving your worth, so to speak. But I think it's also recognizing that support network. So if I may ask, you, I have two questions. The first one is, what are you doing to be a better leader every day? Yourself, like, what is something you are actually doing to be a better leader?   Lt. Col. Steven Mount Oh my gosh. Well, I'm recognizing I know I'm not doing it right. Knowing that I'm about taking command already has the underlying nervousness and anxiety, and I realized taking command, why I have these emotions is because I'm afraid to fail, which that makes sense. That makes sense to any logical human being out there. That's like, yeah, I get that. But I have to realize, in that same token, it's OK to fail. It's OK to make mistakes. It's OK that some days you go in there, you're not gonna get it all right. This last year as a director of operations, I've walked out of that building, and there's days been like I didn't accomplish anything. I've messed things up. I didn't do this right. Why am I here? They could have found someone better. And then there were days where, like, yes, I did it, right? I got something accomplished. And on those days, I realized it's because I was taking care of the people and people's needs. And once again, when that happened, they were able to take care of the mission. And that's one of the things that every day I go into work and I ask myself, “Who can I help out? Who needs the motivational kick? Who needs someone to just talk with them? Who needs to share their story?” Because that's what leaders, ultimately, are. We take care of the people. And if I can go in there and just help one person every single day, I would like to think that that's a small success. So that's one thing I'm constantly working on. And it is an effort. It's not easy. It's not easy because you are taking so much and leaders, I don't care what level you're on, all the way from your very first flight command, all the way to your mission command, aircraft commander, all the way to where I am now. You're going to take a lot on your shoulders. You're going to bear, you know, the burden of others, pains, their grief, their successes, their failures. So I guess that's also answer that question. Get ready for that. OK? Because a good leader will do that. They will bear they will help hold the weight. They will support those who need it the most. And we got to do it day in, day out, the reps they have to. So I think I answered the first question, I apologize, was it was.   Naviere Walkewicz The second question is coming. So you're good, you're good. OK. What's something that you know now after having your 17-plus years in the in the military, but also just your life experience — but what's something you know now that you would share with a leader to kind of shorten that timeframe of, like learning those painful things to be better, right? So what would be something you'd share?   Lt. Col. Steven Mount Something I'd share to close that learning gap? Because once again, my call sign is Meathead— I learned lessons the hard way. Do your best to listen more than you talk. Do your best to just take the experiences of others, talk to others, but just listen. Just hear them. Just hear them. I believe that a lot of the things that I could have prevented may have already been told to me, or may have already been, you know, mentored to me, but I just didn't listen. Maybe they said something and “I was like, well, that doesn't jive with being cool or being a pilot, so I'm not gonna listen to that.” I'm pretty sure all of these lessons that hopefully either conveying or passing on, in a sense, I think I learned them early on. I just, I just didn't listen. So for all the leaders out there, do your best to listen, listen more than you talk. It will be wonders. Naviere Walkewicz Oh my gosh, that's just outstanding. And I what I really appreciate about that is, you know, you talked about how you're doing things to get better every day, but even just in the moment, you recognize like that's such an important piece of that is taking the time to listen and reflect so that you can actually really pick up on those cues, maybe, that someone needs your support. So yes, well, this has been incredible. As we wrap up today's episode, I keep coming back to something you said, which was all someone needs to do is just support you. Yeah. So here's the takeaway, leadership is found in how we show up for our people and how we believe in them, and how we remind them that they are capable for more than what they think they are. The question we can always ask ourselves today is, who needs me to believe in them right now? And you actually said that really well. So Col. Mount, I just want to thank you for joining us for this episode of Long Blue Leadership. Is there anything else you want to leave with our listeners today? Lt. Col. Steven Mount Yes. I don't think I'll ever be that leader that does one great act, and everyone's like, that's a great leader. I don't think I'll ever be that leader that gives like, one great speech, like, that's it. He nailed it. He's a great leader. No, if I'm gonna leave something with all of those you know at the Academy and the leaders in the Air Force now — which, by the way, thanks all of you. Me too, man, thank you for your service. You have no idea how much the world needs us right now, so you get out there and see it. So sorry. That was an aside. But thank you to everyone who's at the Academy now, who have served, whose families have served and will continue to serve. But one thing I'll leave to all those young leaders: Your leadership is defined by the acts, the million acts every day, not just by one act, not just by, like I said, not just by one amazing thing that you do. It's defined on you being there, and a million acts per day over a lifetime of your career, of showing up, showing that you care. That's huge, showing that you're fair and consistent. And they will see that your people will see that that those million acts day in day out, of how you treat them, and how you present yourself as a leader. And they will watch. They will watch, and if they can see that you care, and if they can see that you are doing those million acts day in, day out, and you're in there and you're in the grind and you're in the mud with them, they will give you everything, they will, and it's amazing to see, it really is, but that starts with you as the leader. So yeah, that's it, it's those million acts every day of a lifetime career that shows that you're a leader.   Naviere Walkewicz Well, we are so glad that you're out there leading and influencing so many. We're grateful for all of your years and more that you will do. Thank you so much.   Lt. Col. Steven Mount Thank you so much for the opportunity. I really, really enjoyed this. Thank you.   Naviere Walkewicz Good. Thank you for joining us for this edition of Long Blue Leadership. The podcast drops every two weeks on Tuesdays and is available on all your favorite podcast apps. Send your comments and guest ideas to us at socialmedia@usafa.org, and listen to past episodes at longblueleadership.org.   KEYWORDS Leadership, Resilience, Mentorship, Adoption / Family Foundation, Support Network, Perseverance, Tough Conversations, Mission & Family Balance, Trust, Listening       The Long Blue Line Podcast Network is presented by the U.S. Air Force Academy Association & Foundation      

Both Marybeth and Robin suffered unexpected medical events that derailed their lives and could have derailed them long-term. Yet, both continue today to live their lives under their terms. Support Groups were key to both in achieving what they couldn't do alone.

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Our guest this time is Aaron Wolpoff who has spent his professional career as a marketing strategist and consultant to help companies develop strategic brands and enhance their audience growth. He owns the marketing firm, Double Zebra. He tells us about the name and how his company has helped a number of large and small companies grow and better serve their clients.   Aaron grew up in the San Diego area. He describes himself as a curious person and he says he always has been such. He loves to ask questions. He says as a child he was somewhat quiet, but always wanted to know more. He received his Bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of California at San Diego. After working for a firm for some four and a half years he and his wife moved up to the bay area in Northern California where attended San Francisco State University and obtained a Master's degree in Business.   In addition to his day job functioning as a business advisor and strategist Aaron also hosts a podcast entitled, We Fixed it, You're Welcome. I had the honor to appear on his podcast to discuss Uber and some of its accessibility issues especially concerning access by blind persons who use guide dogs to Uber's fleet. His podcast is quite fascinating and one I hope you will follow.   Aaron provides us in this episode many business insights. We talk about a number of challenges and successes marketing has brought to the business arena. I hope you like what Aaron offers.     About the Guest:   Aaron Wolpoff is a seasoned marketing strategist and communications consultant with a track record of positioning companies, products, and thought leadership for maximum impact. Throughout his career, Aaron has been somewhat of a trendspotter, getting involved in early initiatives around online banking, SaaS, EVs, IoT, and now AI, His ability to bridge complex industry dynamics and technology-driven solutions underscores his role as a forward-thinking consultant, podcaster, and business advisor, committed to enhancing organizational effectiveness and fostering strategic growth.   As the driving force behind the Double Zebra marketing company, Aaron excels in identifying untapped marketing assets, refining brand narratives, and orchestrating strategic pivots from paid advertising to organic audience growth. His insights have guided notable campaigns for consumer brands, technology firms, and professional service providers, always with a keen eye for differentiating messages that resonate deeply with target audiences. In addition to his strategic marketing expertise, Aaron hosts the Top 20 business management podcast, We Fixed It, You're Welcome, known for its sharp, humorous analysis of major corporate challenges and missteps. Each episode brings listeners inside complex business scenarios, unfolding like real-time case studies where Aaron and his panel of experts dissect high-profile decisions, offering insightful and actionable solutions. His ability to distill complex business issues into relatable, engaging discussions has garnered widespread acclaim and a dedicated following among executives and decision-makers.   Ways to connect with Aaron:   Marketing company: https://doublezebra.com Podcast: https://wefixeditpod.com LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/marketingaaron     About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes:   Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:20 Hi there, and welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset. Today, we get to chat with Aaron Wolpoff, who is a marketing strategist and expert in a lot of different ways. I've read his bio, which you can find in the show notes. It seems to me that he is every bit as much of an expert is his bio says he is, but we're going to find out over the next hour or so for sure. We'll we'll not pick on him too much, but, but nevertheless, it's fun to be here. Aaron, so I want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset. I'm glad you're here, and we're glad that we get a chance to do   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 01:58 this. Thanks, Michael, thanks for having me. You're gonna grill me for an hour, huh?   Michael Hingson ** 02:04 Oh, sure. Why not? You're used to it. You're a marketing expert.   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 02:08 That's what we do. Yeah, we're always, uh, scrutiny for one thing or another.   Michael Hingson ** 02:13 I remember, I think it was back in was it 82 or 1982 or 1984 when they had the big Tylenol incident. You remember that? You know about   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 02:25 that? I do? Yeah, there's a Netflix documentary happening right now. Is there? Well, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 02:31 a bottle of Tylenol was, for those who don't know, contaminated and someone died from it. But the manufacturer of Tylenol, the CEO the next day, just got right out in front of it and said what they were going to do about removing all Tylenol from the shelves until it could be they could all be examined and so on. Just did a number of things. It was a wonderful case, it seemed to me, for how to deal with a crisis when it came up. And I find that all too many companies and organizations don't necessarily know how to do that. Do they now?   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 03:09 And a lot of times they operate in crisis mode. That's the default. And no one likes to be around that, you know. So that's, I guess, step one is dealing even you know, deal with a crisis when it comes up, and make sure that your your day to day is not crisis fire as much as possible,   Michael Hingson ** 03:26 but know how to deal with a crisis, which is kind of the issue, and that's, that's what business continuity, of course, is, is really all about. I spoke at the Business Continuity Institute hybrid conference in London last October, and as one of the people who asked me to come and speak, explained, business continuity, people are the what if people that are always looking at, how do we deal with any kind of an emergency that comes up in an organization, knowing full well that nobody's really going to listen to them until there's really an emergency, and then, of course, they're indispensable, but The rest of the time they're not for   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 04:02 sure. Yeah, it's definitely that, you know, good. You bring up a good point about knowing how to deal with a crisis, because it will, it, will you run a business for long enough you have a company, no matter how big, eventually something bad is going to happen, and it's Tylenol. Was, is pre internet or, you know, we oh, yeah, good while ago they had time to formulate a response and craft it and and do a well presented, you know, public reassurance nowadays it's you'd have five seconds before you have to get something out there.   Michael Hingson ** 04:35 Well, even so, the CEO did it within, like, a day or so, just immediately came out and said what, what was initially going to be done. Of course, there was a whole lot more to it, but still, he got right out in front of it and dealt with it in a calm way, which I think is really important for businesses to do, and and I do find that so many don't and they they deal with so many different kinds of stress. Horrible things in the world, and they create more than they really should about fear anyway,   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 05:07 yeah, for sure, and now I think that Tylenol wasn't ultimately responsible. I haven't watched to the end, but if I remember correctly, but sometimes these crisis, crises that companies find themselves embroiled in, are self perpetuated? Yeah?   Michael Hingson ** 05:23 Well, Tylenol wasn't responsible. Somebody did it. Somebody put what, cyanide or something in into a Tylenol bottle. So they weren't responsible, but they sure dealt with it, which is the important thing. And you know, they're, they're still with us. Yeah?   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 05:38 No, they dealt with it. Well, their sales are great, everyday household product. No one can dispute it. But what I say is, with the with the instantaneousness of reach to your to your public, and to you know, consumers and public at large, a lot of crises are, can be self perpetuated, like you tweet the wrong thing, or is it called a tweet anymore? I don't know, but you know, you post something a little bit a little bit out of step with what people are think about you or thinking in general, and and now, all of a sudden, you're in the middle of something that you didn't want to be in the middle of, as a company well,   Michael Hingson ** 06:15 and I also noticed that, like the media will, so often they hear something, they report it, and they haven't necessarily checked to see the facts behind it, only to find out within an hour or two that what they reported was wrong. And they helped to sometimes promote the fear and promote the uncertainty, rather than waiting a little bit until they get all the information reasonably correct. And of course, part of the problem is they say, well, but everybody else is going to report it. So each station says everybody else is going to report it, so we have to keep up. Well, I'm not so sure about that all the time. Oh, that's very true, too, Michael, especially with, you know, off brand media outlets I'll spend with AI like, I'll be halfway through an article now, and I'll see something that's extremely generated and and I'll realize I've just wasted a whole bunch of time on a, you know, on a fake article, yeah, yeah, yeah, way, way too much. But even the mainstream media will report things very quickly to get it out there, but they don't necessarily have all the data, right. And I understand you can't wait for days to deal with things, but you should wait at least a little bit to make sure you've got data enough to report in a cogent way. And it just doesn't always happen.   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 07:33 Yeah, well, I don't know who the watch keepers of that are. I'm not a conspiracy theorist in that way by any means?   Michael Hingson ** 07:41 No, no, it isn't a conspiracy. But yeah,   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 07:44 yeah, no, no, I know, but it's again. I think it goes back to that tight the shortness of the cycle, like again. Tylenol waited a day to respond back in the day, which is great. But now, would you have you know, if Tylenol didn't say   Michael Hingson ** 07:59 anything for a day. If they were faced with a similar situation, people would vilify them and say, Well, wait, you waited a day to tell us something we wanted it in the first 30 seconds, yeah, oh, yeah. And that makes it more difficult, but I would hope that Tylenol would say, yeah. We waited a day because we were getting our facts together. 30 seconds is great in the media, but that doesn't work for reality, and in most cases, it doesn't. But yeah, I know what you're saying,   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 08:30 Yeah, but the appetite in the 24 hour news cycle, if people are hungry for new more information, so it does push news outlets, media outlets into let's respond as quick as possible and figure out the facts along the way. Yeah, yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 08:46 Well, for fun, why don't you tell us about sort of the early era and growing up, and how you got to doing the sorts of things that you're doing now. Well, I grew up in San Diego, California. I best weather in the country. I don't care what anyone says, Yeah,   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 09:03 you can't really beat it. No, I don't think anyone's gonna debate you on it. They call it the sunshine tax, because things cost a lot out here, but they do, you know, he grew up here, you put up with it. But yeah, so I grew up, grew up San Diego, college, San Diego. Life in San Diego, I've been elsewhere. I've traveled. I've seen some of the world. I like it. I've always wanted to come back, but I grew up really curious. I read a lot, I asked a lot of questions. And I also wanted, wanting to know, well, I want to know. Well, I wanted to know a lot of things about a lot of things, and I also was really scared. Is the wrong word, but I looked up to adults when I was a kid, and I didn't want to be put in a position where I was expected to know something that I didn't know. So it led to times where I'd pretend like I need you. Know, do you know? You know what this is, right? And I'd pretend like I knew, and early career, career even, and then I get called out on something, and it just was like a gut punch, like, but I'm supposed to know that, you know,   Michael Hingson ** 10:13 what did your parents think of you being so curious as you were growing up?   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 10:17 They they liked it, but I was quiet, okay? Quiet, quiet, quietly, confident and curious. It's just an interesting, I guess, an interesting mix. Yeah, but no, they Oh, they indulged it. I, you know, they answered my questions. They like I said, I read a lot, so frequent trips to the library to read a lot about a lot of things, but I think, you know, professionally, you take something that's kind of a grab bag, and what do I do with all these different interests? And when I started college undeclared, I realized, you know, communications, marketing, you kind of can make a discipline out of a bunch of interests, and call it something professional. Where did you go to college? I went to UCSD. UCSD, here in San Diego, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 11:12 well, I was just up the road from you at UC Irvine. So here two good campuses,   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 11:18 they are, they are and UCSD. I was back recently. It's like a it's like a city. Now, every time we go back, we see these, these kids. They're babies. They get they get food every you know, they have, like, a food nice food court. There's parking, an abundance of parking, there's theaters, there's all the things we didn't have. Of course, we had some of it, but they just have, like, what if we had one of something or 50 parking spaces, they've got 5000 you know. And if we had, you know, one one food option, they got 35 Yeah, they don't know how good they have it.   Michael Hingson ** 11:53 When I was at UC urban, I think we had 3200 undergraduates. It wasn't huge. It was in that area. Now, I think there's 31,000 or 32,000 undergrads. Oh, wow. And as one of my former physics professors joked, he's retired, but I got to meet him. I was there, and last year I was inducted as an alumni member of Phi, beta, kappa. And so we were talking, and he said, You know what UCI really stands for, don't you? Well, I didn't, I said, What? And he said, under construction indefinitely. And there's, they're always building, sure, and that's that started when I was there, but, but they are always building. And it's just an amazing place today, with so many students and graduate students, undergrads and faculty, and it's, it's an amazing place. I think I'd have a little bit more of a challenge of learning where everything is, although I could do it, if I had to go back, I could do it. Yeah, UCI is nice. But I think you could say, you could say that about any of the UCs are constantly under, under development. And, you know, that's the old one. That's the old area. And I'm like, oh, that's I went to school in the old area. I know the old area. I remember Central Park. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So you ended up majoring in Marketing and Communications,   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 13:15 yeah. So I undergrad in communications. They have a really nice business school now that they did not have at the time. So I predated that, but I probably would have ended up there. I got out with a very, not knocking the school. It's a great, wonderful school. I got out with a very theory, theoretical based degree. So I knew a lot about communications from a theory based perspective. I knew about brain cognition. I took maybe one quarter of practical use it professionally. It was like a video, like a video production course, so I I learned hands on, 111, quarter out of my entire academic career. But a lot of it was learning. The learning not necessarily applied, but just a lot of theory. And I started school at 17, and I got out just shortly after my 21st birthday, so I don't know what my hurry was, but, but there I was with a lot of theory, some some internships, but not a ton of professional experience. And, you know, trying to figure it out in the work world at that point. Did you get a graduate degree or just undergrad? I did. I went back. So I did it for almost five years in in financial marketing, and then, and I wear a suit and tie to work every day, which I don't think anyone does anymore. And I'm suddenly like, like, I'm from the 30s. I'm not that old, but, but no, seriously, we, you know, to work at the at the headquarters of a international credit union. Of course, I wear a suit, no after four and a half. Years there, I went back to graduate school up in the bay the Bay Area, Bay Area, and that's when I got my masters in in marketing. Oh, where'd you go in the Bay Area? San Francisco, state. Okay, okay, yeah, really nice school. It's got one of the biggest International MBA programs in the country, I think. And got to live in that city for a couple years.   Michael Hingson ** 15:24 We lived in Novato, so North Bay, for 12 years, from 2002 to the end of June 2014 Yeah, I like that area. That's, that's the, oh, the weather isn't San Diego's. That area is still a really nice area to live as well. Again, it is pretty expensive, but still it   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 15:44 is, yeah, I it's not San Diego weather, a beautiful day. There is like nothing else. But when we first got there, I said, I want to live by the beach. That's what I know. And we got out to the beach, which is like at the end of the outer sunset, and it's in the 40s streets, and it feels like the end of the universe. It just, it just like, feels apocalyptic. And I said, I don't want to live by the beach anymore, but, but no, it was. It was a great, great learning experience, getting an MBA. I always say it's kind of like a backpack or a toolkit you walk around with, because it is all that's all application. You know, everything that I learned about theory put into practice, you got to put into practice. And so I was, I was really glad that I that I got to do that. And like I said, Live, live in, live in the Bay. For a couple years, I'd always wanted   Michael Hingson ** 16:36 to, yeah, well, that's a nice area to live. If you got to live somewhere that is one of the nicer places. So glad you got that opportunity. And having done it, as I said for 12 years, I appreciate it too. And yeah, so much to offer there.   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 16:51 The only problem I had was it was in between the two.com bubbles. So literally, nothing was happening. The good side was that the apartment I was living in went for something like $5,500 before I got there, and then the draw everything dropped, you know, the bottom dropped out, and I was able to squeak by and afford living in the city. But, you know, you go for look, seeking your fortune. And there's, there's, I had just missed it. And then I left, and then it just came back. So I was, I was there during a lull. So you're the one, huh? Okay, I didn't do it, just the way Miami worked out. Did you then go back to San Diego? I did, yeah. So I've met my wife here. We moved up to the bay together, and when we were debating, when I graduated, we were thinking, do we want to drive, you know, an hour and a half Silicon Valley or someone, you know, somewhere further out just to stay in the area? Or do we want to go back to where we where we know and like, and start a life there and we, you know, send, like you said at the beginning, San Diego is not a bad place to be. So as it was never a fallback, but as a place to, you know, come back home to, yeah, I welcomed it.   Michael Hingson ** 18:08 And so what did you do when you came back to San Diego?   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 18:12 So I have my best friend from childhood was starting as a photography company still does, and it was starting like a sister company, as an agency to serve the photography company, which was growing really fast, and then also, like picking up clients and building a book out of so he said, you know you're, I see you're applying for jobs, and I know that you're, you know, you're getting some offers and things, but just say no To all of them and come work with me and and at the time it was, it was running out of a was like a loft of an apartment, but it, you know, it grew to us, a small staff, and then a bigger staff, and spun off on its own. And so that's, that's what I did right out of, right out of grad school. I said no to a few things, and said there's a lot, lot worse fates than you know, spending your work day with your best friend and and growing a company out and so what exactly did you do for them? So it was like, we'll call it a boutique creative agency. It was around the time of I'm making myself sound so old. See, so there was flash, flash technology, like web banners were made with Flash. It had moved to be flash, Adobe, Flash, yeah. So companies were making these web banners, and what you call interactive we got a proficiency of making full website experiences with Flash, which not a lot of companies were doing. So because of that, it led to some really interesting opportunities and clients and being able to take on a capability, a proficiency that you know for a time. Uh was, was uh as a differentiator, say, you know, you could have a web banner and an old website, or you could have a flash, interactive website where you take your users on an experience with music and all the things that seem so dated now,   Michael Hingson ** 20:14 well, and of course, unfortunately, a lot of that content wasn't very accessible, so some of us didn't really get access to a lot of it, and I don't remember whether Adobe really worked to make flash all that accessible. They dealt with other things, but I'm not sure that flash ever really was. Yeah, I'm with you on that. I really, I don't think so.   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 20:38 What we would wind up doing is making parallel websites, but, but then mobile became a thing, and then you'd make a third version of a website, and it just got tedious. And really it's when the iPhone came out. It just it flash got stopped in its tracks, like it was like a week, and then action script, which is the language that it runs on, and all the all the capabilities and proficiencies, just there was no use for it anymore.   Michael Hingson ** 21:07 Well, and and the iPhone came out, as you said, and one of the things that happened fairly early on was that, because they were going to be sued, Apple agreed to make the I devices accessible, and they did something that hadn't really been done up to that time. They set the trend for it. They built accessibility into the operating systems, and they built the ability to have accessibility into the operating systems. The one thing that I wish that Apple would do even a little bit more of than they do, than they do today, although it's better than it used to be, is I wish they would mandate, or require people who are going to put apps in the App Store, for example, to make sure that the apps are accessible. They have guidelines. They have all sorts of information about how to do it, but they don't really require it, and so you can still get inaccessible apps, which is unfortunate,   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 22:09 that is Yeah, and like you said, with Flash, an entire you know, ecosystem had limited to no accessibility, so   Michael Hingson ** 22:16 and making additional on another website, Yeah, a lot of places did that, but they weren't totally equal, because they would make enough of the website, well, they would make the website have enough content to be able to do things, but they didn't have everything that they had on the graphical or flash website, and so It was definitely there, but it wasn't really, truly equal, which is unfortunate, and so now it's a lot better.   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 22:46 Yeah, it is no and I hate to say it, but if it came down to limited time, limited budget, limited everything you want to make something that is usable and efficient, but no, I mean, I can't speak for all developers, but no, it would be hard. You'd be hard pressed to create a an equally parallel experience with full accessibility at the time.   Michael Hingson ** 23:16 Yeah, yeah, you would. And it is a lot better. And there's, there's still stuff that needs to be done, but I think over time, AI is going to help some of that. And it is already made. It isn't perfect yet, but even some graphics and so on can be described by AI. And we're seeing things improve over, over, kind of what they were. So we're making progress, which is good,   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 23:44 yeah, no, I'm really happy about that. And with with AI and AI can go through and parse your code and build in all you know, everything that that needs to happen, there's a lot less excuse for for not making something as accessible as it can   Michael Hingson ** 23:59 be, yeah, but people still ignore it to a large degree. Still, only about 3% of all websites really have taken the time to put some level of accessibility into them. So there's still a lot to be done, and it's just not that magical or that hard, but it's mostly, I think, education. People don't know, they don't know that it can be done. They don't think about it being done, or they don't do it initially, and so then it becomes a lot more expensive to do later on, because you got to go back and redo   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 24:28 it, all right, yeah, anything, anytime you have to do something, something retroactive or rebuild, you're, yeah, you're starting from not a great place.   Michael Hingson ** 24:37 So how long did you work with your friend?   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 24:42 A really long time, because I did the studio, and then I wound up keeping that alive. But going over to the photography side, the company really grew. Had a team of staff photographers, had a team of, like a network of photographers, and. And was doing quite, quite a lot, an abundance of events every year, weddings and corporate and all types of things. So all in, I was with the company till, gosh, I want to say, like, 2014 or so. Wow. Yeah. Yeah.   Michael Hingson ** 25:21 And then what did you go off and do?   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 25:25 So then I worked for an agency, so I got started with creative and, well, rewinding, I got started with financial marketing, with the suit and tie. But then I went into creative, and I've tried pretty much every aspect of marketing I hadn't done marketing automation and email sequences and CRMs and outreach and those types of things. So that was the agency I worked for that was their specialization, which I like, to a degree, but it's, it's not my, not my home base. Yeah, there's, there's people that love and breathe automation. I like having interjecting some, you know, some type of personal aspect into the what you're putting out there. And I have to wrestle with that as ai, ai keeps growing in prominence, like, Where's the place for the human, creative? But I did that for a little while, and then I've been on my own for the past six or seven years.   Michael Hingson ** 26:26 So what is it you do today? Exactly?   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 26:30 So I'm, we'll call it a fractional CMO, or a fractional marketing advisor. So I come in and help companies grow their their marketing and figure themselves out. I've gone I work with large companies. I've kind of gone back to early stage startups and and tech companies. I just find that they're doing really more, a lot more interesting things right now with the market the way it is. They're taking more chances and and they're they're moving faster. I like to move pretty quick, so that's where my head's at. And I'm doing more. We'll call em like CO entrepreneurial ventures with my clients, as opposed to just a pure agency service model, which is interesting. And and I got my own podcast. There you go. Yeah. What's your podcast called? Not to keep you busy, it's called, we fixed it. You're welcome. There you   Michael Hingson ** 27:25 go. And it seems to me, if my memory hasn't failed me, even though I don't take one of those memory or brain supplements, we were on it not too long ago, talking about Uber, which was fun.   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 27:39 We had you on there. I don't know which episode will drop first, this one or or the one you were on, but we sure enjoyed having you on there.   Michael Hingson ** 27:46 Well, it was fun. Well, we'll have to do more of it, and I think it'd be fun to but so you own your own business. Then today,   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 27:53 I do, yeah, it's called Double zebra.   Michael Hingson ** 27:56 Now, how did you come up with that name?   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 27:59 It's two basic elements, so basic, black and white, something unremarkable, but if you can take it and multiply it or repeat it, then you're onto something interesting.   Michael Hingson ** 28:13 Lots of stripes. Yeah, lots of stripes.   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 28:17 And it's always fun when I talk to someone in the UK or Australia, or then they say zebra or zebra, right? I get to hear the way they say it. It's that's fun. Occasionally I get double double zero. People will miss misname it and double zero. That's his   Michael Hingson ** 28:34 company's that. But has anybody called it double Zed yet?   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 28:39 No, that's a new one.   Michael Hingson ** 28:41 Yeah? Well, you never know. Maybe we've given somebody the idea now. Yeah, yeah. Well, so I'm I'm curious. You obviously do a lot to analyze and help people in critique in corporate mishaps. Have you ever seen a particular business mistake that you really admire and just really love, its audacity,   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 29:07 where it came out wrong, but I liked it anyway, yeah, oh, man,   Michael Hingson ** 29:13 let's see, or one maybe, where they learned from their mistake and fixed it. But still, yeah, sure.   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 29:23 Yeah, that's a good one. I like, I like bold moves, even if they're wrong, as long as they don't, you know, they're not harmful to people I don't know. Let's go. I'm I'm making myself old. Let's go back to Crystal crystal. Pepsi, there you go for that. But that was just such a fun idea at the time. You know, we're the new generation and, and this is the 90s, and everything's new now, and we're going to take the color out of out of soda, I know we're and we're going to take it and just make it what you know, but a little unfamiliar, right? Right? It's Crystal Pepsi, and the ads were cool, and it was just very of the moment. Now, that moment didn't last very long, no, and the public didn't, didn't hold on to it very long. But there's, you know, it was, it let you question, and I in a good way, what you thought about what is even a Pepsi. And it worked. It was they brought it back, like for a very short time, five, I want to say five or six years ago, just because people had a nostalgia for it. But yeah, big, big, bold, we're confident this is the new everyone's going to be talking about this for a long time, and we're going to put a huge budget behind it, Crystal Pepsi. And it it didn't, but yeah, I liked it.   Michael Hingson ** 30:45 So why is that that is clearly somebody had to put a lot of effort into the concept, and must have gotten some sort of message that it would be very successful, but then it wasn't,   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 31:00 yeah, yeah. For something like that, you have to get buy in at so many levels. You know, you have an agency saying, this is the right thing to do. You have CD, your leadership saying, No, I don't know. Let's pull back. Whenever an agency gets away with something and and spends a bunch of client money and it's just audacious, and I can't believe they did it. I know how many levels of buy in they had to get, yeah, to say, Trust me. Trust me. And a lot of times it works, you know, if they do something that just no one else had had thought of or wasn't willing to do, and then you see that they got through all those levels of bureaucracy and they were able to pull it off.   Michael Hingson ** 31:39 When it works. I love it. When it doesn't work. I love it, you know, just, just the fact that they did it, yeah, you got to admire that. Gotta admire it. They pulled it off, yeah. My favorite is still ranch flavored Fritos. They disappeared, and I've never understood why I love ranch flavored Fritos. And we had them in New Jersey and so on. And then we got, I think, out to California. But by that time, they had started to fade away, and I still have never understood why. Since people love ranch food so   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 32:06 much, that's a good one. I don't know that. I know those because it does, it does that one actually fill a market need. If there's Doritos, there's, you know, the ranch, I don't know if they were, they different.   Michael Hingson ** 32:17 They were Fritos, but they they did have ranch you know they were, they were ranch flavored, and I thought they were great. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know that one didn't hit because they have, I think they have chili flavor. They have regular. Do they have anything else honey barbecue? I don't know. I don't know, but I do still like regular, but I love ranch flavored the best. Now, I heard last week that Honey Nut Cheerios are going away. General Mills is getting rid of honey nut cheerios. No, is that real? That's what I heard on the news. Okay, I believe you, but I'll look it up anyway. Well, it's interesting. I don't know why, after so many years, they would but there have been other examples of cereals and so on that were around for a while and left and, well, Captain Crunch was Captain Crunch was one, and I'm not sure if lucky charms are still around. And then there was one called twinkles.   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 33:13 And I know all those except twinkles, but I would if you asked me, I would say, Honey Nut Cheerios. There's I would say their sales are better than Cheerios, or at least I would think so, yeah, at least a good portfolio company. Well, who knows, who knows, but I do know that Gen Z and millennials eat cereal a lot less than us older folks, because it takes work to put milk and cereal into a bowl, and it's not pre made, yeah. So maybe it's got to do with, you know, changing eating habits and consumer preferences   Michael Hingson ** 33:48 must be Yeah, and they're not enough of us, older, more experienced people to to counteract that. But you know, well, we'll see Yeah, as long as they don't get rid of the formula because it may come back. Yeah, well, now   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 34:03 Yeah, exactly between nostalgia and reboots and remakes and nothing's gone forever, everything comes back eventually.   Michael Hingson ** 34:10 Yeah, it does in all the work that you've done. Have you ever had to completely rethink and remake your approach and do something different?   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 34:24 Yeah, well, there's been times where I've been on uncharted territory. I worked with an EV company before EVs were a thing, and it was going, actually going head to head with with Tesla. But the thing there's they keep trying to bring it back and crowd sourcing it and all that stuff. It's, but at the time, it was like, I said it was like, which is gonna make it first this company, or Tesla, but, but this one looks like a, it looks, it feels like a spaceship. It's got, like space. It's a, it's, it's really. Be really unique. So the one that that is more like a family car one out probably rightly so. But there was no consumer understanding of not, let alone our preference, like there is now for an EV and what do I do? I have to plug it in somewhere and and all those things. So I had to rethink, you know what? There's no playbook for that yet. I guess I have to kind of work on it. And they were only in prototyping at the point where we came in and had to launch this, you know, teaser and teaser campaign for it, and build up awareness and demand for this thing that existed on a computer at the time.   Michael Hingson ** 35:43 What? Why is Tesla so successful?   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 35:48 Because they spent a bunch of money. Okay, that helps? Yeah, they were playing the long game. They could outspend competitors. They've got the unique distribution model. And they kind of like, I said, retrained consumers into how you buy a car, why you buy a car, and, and I think politics aside, people love their people love their teslas. You don't. My understanding is you don't have to do a whole lot once you buy it. And, and they they, like I said, they had the money to throw at it, that they could wait, wait it out and wait out that when you do anything with retraining consumers or behavior change or telling them you know, your old car is bad, your new this new one's good, that's the most. We'll call it costly and and difficult forms of marketing is retraining behavior. But they, they had the money to write it out and and their products great, you know, again, I'm not a Tesla enthusiast, but it's, it looks good. People love it. I you know, they run great from everything that I know, but so did a lot of other companies. So I think they just had the confidence in what they were doing to throw money at it and wait, be patient and well,   Michael Hingson ** 37:19 they're around there again the the Tesla is another example of not nearly as accessible as it should be and and I recognize that I'm not going to be the primary driver of a Tesla today, although I have driven a Tesla down Interstate 15, about 15 miles the driver was in the car, but, but I did it for about 15 miles going down I 15 and fully appreciate what autonomous vehicles will be able to do. We're way too much still on the cusp, and I think that people who just poo poo them are missing it. But I also know we're not there yet, but the day is going to come when there's going to be a lot more reliability, a lot less potential for accidents. But the thing that I find, like with the Tesla from a passenger standpoint, is I can't do any of the things that a that a sighted passenger can do. I can't unless it's changed in the last couple of years. I can't manipulate the radio. I can't do the other things that that that passengers might do in the Tesla, and I should be able to do that, and of all the vehicles where they ought to have access and could, the Tesla would be one, and they could do it even still using touch screens. I mean, the iPhone, for example, is all touch screen. But Apple was very creative about creating a mechanism to allow a person to not need to look at the screen using VoiceOver, the screen reader on the iPhone, but having a new set of gestures that were created that work with VoiceOver so that I could interact with that screen just as well as you can.   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 38:59 That's interesting that you say that, you know, Apple was working on a car for a while, and I don't know to a fact, but I bet they were thinking through accessibility and building that into every turn, or at least planning to,   Michael Hingson ** 39:13 oh, I'm sure they were. And the reality is, it isn't again. It isn't that magical to do. It would be simple for the Teslas and and other vehicles to do it. But, you know, we're we're not there mentally. And that's of course, the whole issue is that we just societally don't tend to really look at accessibility like we should. My view of of, say, the apple the iPhone, still is that they could be marketing the screen reader software that I use, which is built into the system already. They could, they could do some things to mark market that a whole lot more than they already do for sighted people. Your iPhone rings, um. You have to tap it a lot of times to be able to answer it. Why can't they create a mode when you're in a vehicle where a lot more of that is verbally, spoken and handled through voice output from the phone and voice input from you, without ever having to look at or interact with the screen.   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 40:19 I bet you're right, yeah, it's just another app at that point   Michael Hingson ** 40:22 well, and it's what I do. I mean, it's the way I operate with it. So I just think that they could, they could be more creative. There's so many examples of things that begin in one way and alter themselves or become altered. The typewriter, for example, was originally developed for a blind Countess to be able to communicate with her lover without her husband finding out her husband wasn't very attentive to her anyway. But the point is that the, I think the lover, created the this device where she could actually sit down and type a letter and seal it and give it to a maid or someone to give to, to her, her friend. And that's how the typewriter other other people had created, some examples, but the typewriter from her was probably the thing that most led to what we have today.   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 41:17 Oh, I didn't know that. But let me Michael, let me ask you. So I was in LA not too long ago, and they have, you know, driverless vehicles are not the form yet, but they we, I saw them around the city. What do you think about driverless vehicles in terms of accessibility or otherwise?   Michael Hingson ** 41:32 Well, again, so, so the most basic challenge that, fortunately, they haven't really pushed which is great, is okay, you're driving along in an autonomous vehicle and you lose connection, or whatever. How are you going to be able to pull it off to the side of the road? Now, some people have talked about saying that there, there has to be a law that only sighted people could well the sighted people a sighted person has to be in the vehicle. The reality is, the technology has already been developed to allow a blind person to get behind the wheel of a car and have enough information to be able to drive that vehicle just as well, or nearly as well, as a sighted person. But I think for this, from the standpoint of autonomousness, I'm all for it. I think we're going to continue to see it. It's going to continue to get better. It is getting better daily. So I haven't ridden in a fully autonomous vehicle, but I do believe that that those vehicles need to make sure, or the manufacturers need to make sure that they really do put accessibility into it. I should be able to give the vehicle all the instructions and get all the information that any sighted person would get from the vehicle, and the technology absolutely exists to do that today. So I think we will continue to see that, and I think it will get better all the way around. I don't know whether, well, I think they that actually there have been examples of blind people who've gotten into an autonomous vehicle where there wasn't a sighted person, and they've been able to function with it pretty well. So I don't see why it should be a problem at all, and it's only going to get   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 43:22 better. Yeah, for sure. And I keep thinking, you know, accessibility would be a prior priority in autonomous vehicles, but I keep learning from you, you know you were on our show and and our discussions, that the priorities are not always in line and not always where they necessarily should   Michael Hingson ** 43:39 be. Well. And again, there are reasons for it, and while I might not like it, I understand it, and that is, a lot of it is education, and a lot of it is is awareness. Most schools that teach people how to code to develop websites don't spend a lot of time dealing with accessibility, even though putting all the codes in and creating accessible websites is not a magically difficult thing to do, but it's an awareness issue. And so yeah, we're just going to have to continue to fight the fight and work toward getting people to be more aware of why it's necessary. And in reality, I do believe that there is a lot of truth to this fact that making things more accessible for me will help other people as well, because by having not well, voice input, certainly in a vehicle, but voice output and so on, and a way for me to accessibly, be able to input information into an autonomous vehicle to take to have it take me where I want to go, is only going to help everyone else as well. A lot of things that I need would benefit sighted people so well, so much.   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 44:56 Yeah, you're exactly right. Yeah, AI assisted. And voice input and all those things, they are universally loved and accepted now, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 45:07 it's getting better. The unemployment rate is still very high among, for example, employable blind people, because all too many people still think blind people can't work, even though they can. So it's all based on prejudice rather than reality, and we're, we're, we're just going to have to continue to work to try to deal with the issues. I wrote an article a couple of years ago. One of the things where we're constantly identified in the world is we're blind or visually impaired. And the problem with visually impaired is visually we're not different simply because we don't see and impaired, we are not we're getting people slowly to switch to blind and low vision, deaf people and hard of hearing people did that years ago. If you tell a deaf person they're hearing impaired, they're liable to deck you on the spot. Yeah, and blind people haven't progressed to that point, but it's getting there, and the reality is blind and low vision is a much more appropriate terminology to use, and it's not equating us to not having eyesight by saying we're impaired, you know. So it's it's an ongoing process, and all we can do is continue to work at it?   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 46:21 Yeah, no. And I appreciate that you do. Like I said, education and retraining is, is call it marketing or call it, you know, just the way people should behave. But it's, that's, it's hard. It's one of the hardest things to do.   Michael Hingson ** 46:36 But, you know, we're making progress, and we'll, we'll continue to do that, and I think over time we'll we'll see things improve. It may not happen as quickly as we'd like, but I also believe that I and other people who are blind do need to be educators. We need to teach people. We need to be patient enough to do that. And you know, I see so often articles written about Me who talk about how my guide dog led me out of the World Trade Center. The guide dog doesn't lead anybody anywhere. That's not the job of the dog. The dog's job is to make sure that we walk safely. It's my job to know where to go and how to get there. So a guide dog guides and will make sure that we walk safely. But I'm the one that has to tell the dog, step by step, where I want the dog to go, and that story is really the crux of what I talk about many times when I travel and speak to talk to the public about what happened in the World Trade Center, because I spent a lot of time learning what I needed to do in order to escape safely and on September 11, not ever Having anticipated that we would need that kind of information, but still preparing for it, the mindset kicked in, and it all worked well.   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 47:49 You You and I talked about Uber on on my show, when you came on, and we gave them a little ding and figured out some stuff for them, what in terms of accessibility, and, you know, just general corporate citizenship, what's what's a company that, let's give them a give, give, call them out for a good reason? What's a company that's doing a good job, in your eyes, in your mind, for accessibility, maybe an unexpected one.   Michael Hingson ** 48:20 Well, as I mentioned before, I think Apple is doing a lot of good things. I think Microsoft is doing some good I think they could do better than they are in in some ways, but they're working at it. I wish Google would put a little bit more emphasis on making its you its interface more more usable to you really use the like with Google Docs and so on. You have to hurt learn a whole lot of different commands to make part of that system work, rather than it being as straightforward as it should be, there's some new companies coming up. There's a new company called inno search. Inno search.ai, it was primarily designed at this point for blind and low vision people. The idea behind inner search is to have any a way of dealing with E commerce and getting people to be able to help get help shopping and so on. So they actually have a a phone number. It's, I think it's 855, shop, G, P, T, and you can go in, and you can talk to the bot and tell it what you want, and it can help fill up a shopping cart. It's using artificial intelligence, but it understands really well. I have yet to hear it tell me I don't understand what you want. Sometimes it gives me a lot of things that more than I than I'm searching for. So there, there's work that needs to be done, but in a search is really a very clever company that is spending a lot of time working to make. Sure that everything that it does to make a shopping experience enjoyable is also making sure that it's accessible.   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 50:08 Oh, that's really interesting. Now, with with my podcast, and just in general, I spend a lot of time critiquing companies and and not taking them to test, but figuring out how to make them better. But I always like the opportunity to say you did something well, like even quietly, or you're, you know, people are finding you because of a certain something you didn't you took it upon yourselves to do and figure out   Michael Hingson ** 50:34 there's an audio editor, and we use it some unstoppable mindset called Reaper. And Reaper is a really great digital audio workstation product. And there is a whole series of scripts that have been written that make Reaper incredibly accessible as an audio editing tool. It's really great. It's about one of the most accessible products that I think I have seen is because they've done so well with it, which is kind of cool.   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 51:06 Oh, very nice. Okay, good. It's not even expensive. You gave me two to look, to pay attention to, and, you know, Track, track, along with,   Michael Hingson ** 51:16 yeah, they're, they're, they're fun. So what do people assume about you that isn't true or that you don't think is true?   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 51:25 People say, I'm quiet at times, guess going back to childhood, but there's time, there's situation. It's it's situational. There's times where I don't have to be the loudest person in the room or or be the one to talk the most, I can hang back and observe, but I would not categorize myself as quiet, you know, like I said, it's environmental. But now I've got plenty to say. You just have to engage me, I guess.   Michael Hingson ** 51:56 Yeah, well, you know, it's interesting. I'm trying to remember   Michael Hingson ** 52:04 on Shark Tank, what's Mark's last name, Cuban. Cuban. It's interesting to watch Mark on Shark Tank. I don't know whether he's really a quiet person normally, but I see when I watch Shark Tank. The other guys, like Mr. Wonderful with Kevin are talking all the time, and Mark just sits back and doesn't say anything for the longest period of time, and then he drops a bomb and bids and wins. Right? He's just really clever about the way he does it. I think there's a lot to be said for not just having to speak up every single time, but rather really thinking things through. And he clearly does that,   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 52:46 yeah, yeah, you have to appreciate that. And I think that's part of the reason that you know, when I came time to do a podcast, I did a panel show, because I'm surrounded by bright, interesting, articulate people, you included as coming on with us and and I don't have to fill every second. I can, I can, I, you know, I can intake information and think for a second and then maybe have a   Michael Hingson ** 53:15 response. Well, I think that makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? I mean, it's the way it really ought to be.   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 53:20 Yeah, if you got to fill an hour by yourself, you're always on, right?   Michael Hingson ** 53:26 Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I know when I travel to speak. I figure that when I land somewhere, I'm on until I leave again. So I always enjoy reading books, especially going and coming on airplanes. And then I can be on the whole time. I am wherever I have to be, and then when I get on the airplane to come home, I can relax again.   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 53:45 Now, I like that. And I know, you keynote, I think I'd rather moderate, you know, I'll say something when I have something to say, and let other people talk for a while. Well, you gotta, you have a great story, and you're, you know, I'm glad you're getting it out there.   Michael Hingson ** 53:58 Well, if anybody needs a keynote speaker. Just saying, for everybody listening, feel free to email me. I'd love to hear from you. You can email me at Michael H i@accessibe.com or speaker at Michael hingson.com always looking for speaking engagements. Then we got that one in. I'm glad, but, but you know, for you, is there a podcast episode that you haven't done, that you really want to do, that just seems to be eluding you?   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 54:28 There are a couple that got away. I wanted to do one about Sesame Street because it was without a it was looking like it was going to be without a home. And that's such a hallmark of my childhood. And so many, yeah, I think they worked out a deal, which is probably what I was going to propose with. It's like a CO production deal with Netflix. So it seems like they're safe for the foreseeable future. But what was the other I think there's, there's at least one or two more where maybe the guests didn't line up, or. Or the timeliness didn't work. I was going to have someone connected to Big Lots. You remember Big Lots? I think they're still around to some degree, but I think they are, come on and tell me their story, because they've, you know, they've been on the brink of extinction for a little while. So it's usually, it's either a timing thing, with the with with the guest, or the news cycle has just maybe gone on and moved past us.   Michael Hingson ** 55:28 But, yeah, I know people wrote off Red Lobster for a while, but they're still around.   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 55:35 They're still around. That would be a good one. Yeah, their endless shrimp didn't do them any favors. No, that didn't help a whole lot, but it's the companies, even the ones we've done already, you know, they they're still six months later. Toilet hasn't been even a full year of our show yet, but in a year, I bet there's, you know, we could revisit them all over again, and they're still going to find themselves in, I don't know, hot water, but some kind of controversy for one reason or another. And we'll, we'll try to help them out again.   Michael Hingson ** 56:06 Have you seen any successes from the podcast episodes where a company did listen to you and has made some changes?   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 56:15 I don't know that. I can correlate one to one. We know that they listen. We can look at the metrics and where the where the list listens, are coming from, especially with LinkedIn, gives you some engagement and tells you which companies are paying attention. So we know that they are and they have now, whether they took that and, you know, implemented it, we have a disclaimer saying, Don't do it. You know, we're not there to give you unfiltered legal advice. You know, don't hold us accountable for anything we say. But if we said something good and you like it, do it. So, you know, I don't know to a T if they have then we probably given away billions of dollars worth of fixes. But, you know, I don't know the correlation between those who have listened and those who have acted on something that we might have, you know, alluded to or set out, right? But it has. We've been the times that we take it really seriously. We've we've predicted some things that have come come to pass.   Michael Hingson ** 57:13 That's cool, yeah. Well, you certainly had a great career, and you've done a lot of interesting things. If you had to suddenly change careers and do something entirely different from what you're doing, what would it be?   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 57:26 Oh, man, my family laughs at me, but I think it would be a furniture salesman. There you go. Yeah, I don't know why. There's something about it's just enough repetition and just enough creativity. I guess, where people come in, you tell them, you know you, they tell you their story, you know, you get to know them. And then you say, Oh, well, this sofa would be amazing, you know, and not, not one with endless varieties, not one with with two models somewhere in between. Yeah, I think that would be it keeps you on your feet.   Michael Hingson ** 58:05 Furniture salesman, well, if you, you know, if you get too bored, math is homes and Bob's furniture probably looking for people.   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 58:12 Yeah, I could probably do that at night.   Michael Hingson ** 58:18 What advice do you give to people who are just starting out, or what kinds of things do you would you give to people we have ideas and thoughts?   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 58:27 So I've done a lot of mentoring. I've done a lot of one on one calls. They told I always work with an organization. They told me I did 100 plus calls. I always tell people to take use the create their own momentum, so you can apply for things, you can stand in line, you can wait, or you can come up with your own idea and test it out and say, I'm doing this. Who wants in? And the minute you have an idea, people are interested. You know, you're on to something. Let me see what that's all about. You know, I want to be one of the three that you're looking for. So I tell them, create their own momentum. Try to flip the power dynamic. So if you're asking for a job, how do you get the person that you're asking to want something from you and and do things that are take on, things that are within your control?   Michael Hingson ** 59:18 Right? Right? Well, if you had to go back and tell the younger Aaron something from years ago, what would you give him in the way of advice?   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 59:30 Be more vulnerable. Don't pretend you know everything. There you go. And you don't need to know everything. You need to know what you know. And then get a little better and get a little better.   Michael Hingson ** 59:43 One of the things that I constantly tell people who I hire as salespeople is you can be a student, at least for a year. Don't hesitate to ask your customers questions because they're not out to. Get you. They want you to succeed. And if you interact with your customers and you're willing to learn from them, they're willing to teach, and you'll learn so much that you never would have thought you would learn. I just think that's such a great concept.   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 1:00:12 Oh, exactly right. Yeah. As soon as I started saying that to clients, you know, they would throw out an industry term. As soon as I've said I don't know what that is, can you explain it to me? Yeah? And they did, and the world didn't fall apart. And I didn't, you know, didn't look like the idiot that I thought I would when we went on with our day. Yeah, that whole protective barrier that I worked so hard to keep up as a facade, I didn't have to do it, and it was so freeing. Yeah, yeah, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:41 I hear you. Well, this has been fun. We've been doing it for an hour. Can you believe it? Oh, hey, that was a quick hour. I know it was a lot of fun. Well, I want to thank you for being here, and I want to thank you all for listening. Please give us a five star rating wherever you're listening or watching. We really appreciate it. We value your thoughts. I'd love to hear from you and get your thoughts on our episode today. And I'm sure Aaron would like that as well, and I'll give you an email address in a moment. But Aaron, if people want to reach out to you and maybe use your services, how do they do that?   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 1:01:12 Yeah, so two ways you can check me out, at double zebra, z, E, B, R, A, double zebra.com and the podcast, I encourage you to check out too. We fixed it. Pod.com, we fixed it.   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:25 Pod.com, there you go. So reach out to Aaron and get marketing stuff done and again. Thank you all. My email address, if you'd like to talk to us, is Michael, H, I m, I C, H, A, E, L, H, I at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, i, b, e.com, and if you know anyone else who you think ought to be a guest on our podcast, we'd love it if you give us an introduction. We're always looking for people, so please do and again. Aaron, I just want to thank you for being here. This has been a lot of fun.   Aaron Wolpoff, ** 1:01:58 That was great. Thanks for having me. Michael,   **Michael Hingson ** 1:02:05 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

This week Will, Ian & Nora are invited to a dinner party. Someone is MURDERED! Who dun it!? There's only Three of them, and one of them is dead, so there's a 50/50 it's one of the other two. But WHO is dead? WHO is the Murdered? And WHO just had a lovely dinner RUINED!? Gotta find that-CLUE (1985) PG 94 minutesDirected by: Jonathan Lynn. Starring: Tim Curry, Eileen Brennan, Madeline Kahn, Michael McKean, Martin Mull, Christopher Lloyd, Leslie Ann Warren, Colleen Camp, Lee Ving, Bill Henderson, Jane Wiedlin, Jeffery Kramer, Kellye Nakahara, Howard Hesseman, 00:03:30- First Thoughts00:13:30- CLUE (1985)00:17:30- Tasty Morsels00:22:30- Rating/Review00:57:00- Totals00:58:00- Next Week/Bye (we lie, it will be Executive Decision)Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/THELastActionCritics⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram: @TheLastActionCriticsemail:   Thelastactioncritics@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Next Week: Executive Decision (1996)

It’s hard to plan for the future, when you don’t really know what’s in the immediate present.

(00:00-29:03) Jackson is freshly shorn. The lede's gotta be Mizzou. Jackson's wedding weekend in Chi Town. How about Beau Pribula. Dual threat at runningback. Could College Gameday be in CoMo in two weeks? Audio of Oregon coach Dan Lanning talking about being motivated to put it on OK State. NIL envy. The Pribula haircut. Tim battled thru and made it The Border War. People were concerned if he got the table. Gotta be undefeated going into the Bama game.(29:11-53:25) Bills win in a big comeback. Betting the NFL. Matt Prater plucked out of obscurity to win the game. Missouri's ceiling higher than originally thought, floor is lower. Kevin Coleman can play. Audio of Gabe explaining to his new colleague why people are asking them to take their shirts off. The secondary got burned a little bit at times. My House was packed. Two inches of raw sewage is standard. The Morning After Tavern & Grill. Mizzou dominated statistically.(53:35-1:07:09) Jackson felt empowered to yell profanity at the wedding. What if Mizzou traveled to Champaign for a first-round playoff matchup? Bill Connelly has Mizzou hosting Utah in an 8/9 matchup with the winner getting Oregon. Mizzou and Illinois fans going back and forth in the YouTube chat. Audio of the father who gave up the homerun ball to Phillies Fan Karen. Shoutout Miami PR and Harrison Bader.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The kid who was slapping Ravens players on the head as they walked off the field got a lesson from Lamar Jackson - and a lifetime ban from NFL games for his trouble

Welcome back to another episode! We apologize as we know this content was filmed in the dark. However, this is another funny episode that's packed with some motivation! Do something well for yourselves, see you in the next and enjoy!!! Instagrams: -Podcast: theofficialmantomoonpod-Benny: world.of.benny_-Len: Ilovelennie

This episode of Focus, the podcast of Catholic Answers, the featured guest is Dr. Tommy Heyne. Support the show

Josh Rodriguez and Matt Carlson talk about the Late Pick 3 at Sha Tin on 09/7/25!Check out DRF's new AI tool at chat.drf.comHelp support OTWL by signing up for AMWager and get a 100% First Deposit Match up to $150 for new account holders. Click the link to sign up: https://link.amwager.com/OTWLFollow us on Twitter @wrong_lead​​​​​​ Follow us on Instagram and Threads! @otwleadRead our articles and check out our shirts and other merch at www.onthewronglead.com

Welcome back to another amazing episode of your favorite paranormal interview show and what a show I have for you this week. I am being joined by Ramiz King, Host of iTimeTalk podcast and a vivid experiencer of the paranormal. We had a fascinating conversation about his experiences with a shadow person, an extraterrestrial, a djinn, and well i'm not ruining the last experience by giving hints. You'll have to tune in if you want to hear more. Ramiz's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamramizzz Uncensored, Untamed & Unapologetic U^3 Podcast Collective: https://www.facebook.com/groups/545827736965770/?ref=share Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@juggalobastardpodcasts?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8xJ2KnRBKlYvyo8CMR7jMg

Greg got a email that we gotta answer, its a tough one. What would you do?

QOTD: What are some things you gotta do, whether you want to or not?

Some days I don't know whether to rage in fury, weep quietly, or just throw up.This, however, is definitely a throw-up day. That's because our US Secretary of State (a once-honorable position that advocated humanitarian values) has just decreed that war-torn Palestinian children from Gaza will be denied medical visas that would let them come here for life-saving surgeries. Yes, innocent children horribly maimed by the US bombs, bullets, and billions of our tax dollars that our government sends to prop up the corrupt Israeli regime of Netanyahu, have now had America's door slammed in their faces by Trump's nutball extremists.How extreme? Even bulldog right-winger Marjorie Taylor Greene is appalled that top USA officials have turned so cold as to reject common decency for “Palestinian kids who had their limbs and bodies blown apart.” But Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who reportedly once had a smidgeon of political integrity, immediately snapped to attention when someone named Laura Loomer – one of Trump's loopy “influencers” – proclaimed that these Palestinian medical seekers were “pro-Hamas.”Hello… they're children! To which the Loomer lady summoned this piece of ignorance from deep within her dark soul: “They are not that sick if they can sit on a plane for 22 hours to get to America.”Okay, she's just a doofus, but Rubio? He's a practicing Catholic, so he surely knows Jesus' biblical admonition: “Suffer the little children to come unto me.” Yet, he has officially banned them from the compassionate arms of the American people, darkly warning: “It's not just kids… a bunch of adults are accompanying them.”Yeah – their parents, guardians, good Samaritans. Gotta watch out for those types.To stay on top of everything happening to Gaza, and to find solid actions you can take to fight and end the genocide, we recommend following Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-American organizer and strategist who was also a surrogate for Bernie Sanders during his 2016 campaign.Jim Hightower's Lowdown is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jimhightower.substack.com/subscribe

We're diving into Heat (1995), Michael Mann's sprawling crime saga where Al Pacino's relentless detective and Robert De Niro's meticulous thief circle each other in a deadly dance of professionalism, obsession, and inevitability. It's a masterclass in tension and style—where bank heists roar, downtown streets crackle, and two cinematic titans meet across a diner table for one of film's great showdowns. Did you enjoy the episode? Don't forget to hit that subscribe button and join us for more retro movie discussions! Want even more? Get bonus content and connect with us directly by supporting the show on Patreon. For additional episodes and exclusive insights, head to www.30podcast.com. And if you love what you hear, leave us a glowing review on your favorite podcast app—especially Apple Podcasts. Your support keeps the show going!

Gotta get to a few things we missed today!

GOTTA PICCEM: The Poisonous Mushroom Card Game

Hooked on LinkedIn's Queens? Gotta extend your Wordle streak in the New York Times games app before you start your day? You're in good company on today's Vergecast episode. Allison Johnson is joined by Simon Anthony and Mark Goodliffe, world-class puzzle champs and hosts of the delightful Cracking the Cryptic, a YouTube channel where they solve a puzzle on camera every single day. They specialize in Sudoku — and not just the classic number games you might be familiar with. Simon and Mark tackle mind-bending, seemingly impossible puzzles, working through it all in realtime, sometimes over the course of several hours. What happens when you get stuck? How can you tell the difference between a puzzle made by a human and a computer-generated one? Why are we addicted to puzzle games all of a sudden? They help us crack the clues. Then Allison sits down with Marc Levoy, one of the pioneers of computational photography, to talk about his new camera app: Project Indigo. Levoy is known for his earlier work on the Pixel camera, and was a driving force in shaping phone photography into what it is now. We last caught up with him in 2020 when he left Google for Adobe, so we got up to speed on what the heck he's been doing for the last five years — and the important difference between HDR and an HDR-ish photo. Finally, Allison takes a hotline question from someone who is not particular about their phone camera's image quality, but does have a beef with camera bumps. Cracking the Cryptic — YouTube This 25-minute video is the most riveting sudoku puzzle you will ever watch The Atlantic is making a big push into games I regret to inform you that LinkedIn's games are very fun The mastermind of Google's Pixel camera quietly left the company in March The brain behind the Google Pixel camera is building a universal camera app for Adobe Marc Levoy on the balance of camera hardware, software, and artistic expression Adobe launches a new ‘computational photography' camera app for iPhones Adobe's new camera app is making me rethink phone photography Email us at vergecast@theverge.com or call us at 866-VERGE11, we love hearing from you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices