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The Gang gets more information about these strange thefts, and stranger people. Lucky already knows all this, Mina leads with her thighs, and Webbie crosses himself. The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within.Join the PCN Discord: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQA special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! Steve, Mel Cen, Mason D., Scazar, Sly Changeling, Bangarang, Craig S., Scumcat, Necromeat, Carlos, Okey A., Thomas S., theneilharris, Nemo R., Jari S., Manuel, Irishstu, Matthew, Anthony P., James J., Kyndra C., jay_dilf, Chris D., Oskar A., Handsome Andy, lil_willy, Kuaku, RandomGuy, Neckro, Bryan F., TheHarbingerPulsar, Ookfark, Thomas F., Therealmcasshole, Exile Creations, Tony M., KordixVR, Andrew W., Kilted Sparky, Oga, Astyria, BrooksHW, Cyril S., Josh, R Man, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R.Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)https://throne.com/professionalcasual
Today Ashley Rudolph is an executive coach working with high-achieving and executives who are at a “crossroad” as they look GREAT on paper, but tend to exhibit fears and have other problems that effect their confidence and performance. Ashley was not always a coach and, in fact, did not view herself as a coach during most of her career. She grew up in the Bronx in New York City. She attributes her high confidence level to the high bar her parents set for her as well as to the environment where she grew up. After high school Ashley enrolled in Babson College where she quickly had to learn much about business and working as a team. She will tell us that story. After graduation she secured a job, but was layed off and then went back to Babson to secure her Master's degree. Ashley began working and quickly rose through the corporate ranks of tech companies. She tells us how, while not really tech savy at first, she pushed herself to learn what she needed to know to work as part of a team and then eventually to lead high tech teams. In 2023 her high tech employment world took a change which she will describe. Bottom line is that she was laid off from her vice presidential position and after pondering what to do she realized that she had actually been coaching her employees for some time and so she began hirering herself out as an executive coach. We will get the benefit of receiving a number of her insights on leadership, confidence building and how to become better mentally with anything life throughs at us. What Ashley says during our episode time makes a great deal of sense and I believe you will gain a lot from what she has to say. You can reach out to Ashley through the contact information in the show notes for this Unstoppable Mindset episode. About the Guest: Ashley Rudolph is an executive coach for high-achieving leaders and executives at a crossroads—those who have built success on paper but are ready to step into something greater. Her work is grounded in a bold belief: true transformation isn't about doing more—it's about leading differently. A former tech executive, she scaled from IC to VP in just five years, leading $75M+ deals and teams of 250+ at high-growth companies. She knows what it takes to succeed in high-stakes environments—not just in execution, but in the deeper, often invisible work of leadership: making bold decisions, navigating uncertainty, and owning your impact. Her signature methodology, The Three Dimensions of Transformation, helps leaders unlock their full potential by focusing on: mindset, strategy, and elite execution. Whether guiding clients through reinvention, leadership evolution, or high-stakes career moves, Ashley helps them break free from outdated success metrics and create momentum that lasts. Her insights have been featured in Inc., U.S. News & World Report, The New York Post, Success Magazine, Apartment Therapy, and more. She also writes The Operator's Edge, a newsletter on the unseen shifts that drive real momentum in leadership and career growth. Because true leadership isn't about following a path. It's about defining your own. Ways to connect with Ashley: My website which has details about me, my programs, and insights about high achievers in the workplace: www.workwithashleyr.com My newsletter which gets published every single Monday morning with my expert advice for high achievers on how to succeed in the workplace. newsletter.workwithashleyr.com My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyrudolph/ 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 Well, hello, everyone, wherever you happen to be today, I am Michael Hingson, and you are listening to or watching or both, unstoppable mindset today, our guest is Ashley Rudolph, who is a coach, and I like something Ashley put in her bio that I thought was really interesting, and that is that Ashley's work is grounded in the belief that true transportation is not really about doing more, but rather it's doing things differently. And I want, I'm going to want to learn about that. I think that's fascinating, and I also think it is correct, but we will, we will definitely get to that and talk about that. Ashley approached me a little while ago and said, I'd like to explore coming on your content, your podcast. And I said, Well, sure, except I told her the same thing that I tell everyone who comes on the podcast, there is one hard and fast rule you got to follow, and that is, you got to have fun, or you can't come on the podcast, so you got to have fun. Ashley, just Ashley Rudolph ** 02:26 reminding you, I'm ready. I am ready. I'm coming into the podcast today with all of my best jokes, all of my best tricks. Oh, good. Speaker 1 ** 02:35 Well, we want to hear them all. Well, thank you for being here, and it's a pleasure to have you on unstoppable mindset. Ashley Rudolph ** 02:42 Yes, thank you so much for having me. I was just really taken by your entire background story, and I took a risk and sent you a message. So thank you so much for having me on the podcast. Speaker 1 ** 02:55 Well, I have always been of the opinion that everyone has stories to tell, and a lot of people just don't believe they do, but that's because they don't think about it. And so what I tell people who say that to me when we talk about them coming on the podcast, my job is to help bring out the stories. Now, you didn't say that, and I'm not surprised, but still, a lot of people say that. And the reality is, I believe everyone is more unstoppable than they think they are, and that they undersell themselves, they underrate what they are and what they can do, Ashley Rudolph ** 03:28 yeah, and honestly, I 100% agree with you, and that's why, and maybe I'm jumping ahead a little bit, but you triggered a thought. That's why I spend every single one of my first coaching meetings with a client, having them talk me through either their professional history or their wins from the past year. And in those conversations, my feedback is also is always Hey, you're not giving yourself enough credit for the things that you're doing. Like, these are amazing stories, or like, repeating things back to them a little bit differently than they would have phrased it, but that's 100% accurate. We don't sell ourselves enough, Speaker 1 ** 04:08 even to ourselves. We don't sell ourselves enough, especially to ourselves. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, tell me a little about kind of the early Ashley growing up and all that, and you know where you came from, and all that sort of stuff, Ashley Rudolph ** 04:23 yeah. So I grew up in New York. I'm from the Bronx. Oh and yeah, yeah. So, so is my Michael Hingson ** 04:30 mom Ashley Rudolph ** 04:31 Aqua? Oh my gosh, I had no idea. So I grew up in the Bronx and grew up with my mom. My dad was around too, and, oh, it's interesting, and I'm sure this will make sense, but I grew up going to Catholic schools from first grade to senior year of high school, and something about me, it was like I was always a very self assured. Determined person, and that carried through all the way through my adulthood. And maybe that comes from me being a New Yorker. Maybe that comes from my mom being a an immigrant. She's from the Caribbean. She's from the Bahamas, and she had a very high bar for what success looked like I don't know where it comes from, but yeah, yeah. So that's a little bit about me growing up and kind of who I was Speaker 1 ** 05:28 as a kid. So now, where are you living? Now? Ashley Rudolph ** 05:32 I am in New York again, so I moved back to New York in 2020, Speaker 1 ** 05:38 okay, wow, just in time for the pandemic. Lucky you? Ashley Rudolph ** 05:43 Yeah, I actually moved back to New York on election day in 2020 so I missed the early pandemic. But yeah, yeah, yeah, Speaker 1 ** 05:53 I was in New York speaking on March 5, and that night, I got back to the hotel, and my flight was supposed to go out at like, 415 in the afternoon, yeah. And I said, when I started hearing that they were talking about closing down the city, I think I better leave earlier. So I was on a 730 flight out the next day. Oh my gosh, Ashley Rudolph ** 06:18 wow. So you just made it out and that yeah, and at the time, I was living in Boston, and I actually was went on a vacation with a friend, and we flew back the day before they shut down the airports in Boston. So Speaker 1 ** 06:36 that was lucky. Yeah, did you live in Boston itself or a suburb? Ashley Rudolph ** 06:42 Yeah, I lived in Boston for two years, I think, yeah, I lived in the city, yeah. I Speaker 1 ** 06:50 lived in Winthrop for three years, and commuted across Boston to Cambridge every day, Ashley Rudolph ** 06:55 yeah, oh, my god, yeah. So I worked in Cambridge and I lived in the West End, right above TD Garden. Speaker 1 ** 07:03 Oh, okay, yeah, I hear that Durgan Park closed in, in near Faneuil Hall. Ashley Rudolph ** 07:13 Oh, yeah, well, I have to admit, I didn't go there that much. Was living in Boston. Speaker 1 ** 07:19 It was a fun place. It was a family style thing, and they had tables for four around the outer edges inside the restaurant. But you couldn't sit at one of those unless you had four people. And the serving staff was trained to be a little bit on the snotty side. And I went in fun. Oh, wait. Oh, absolutely. They made it fun. But I went in and the hostess, there were three of us, and my guide dog at the time, Holland, who was a wonderful, cute golden retriever, and she said, Oh, we're going to put you at one of the tables for four. And I said, Well, okay, we appreciate that. And Holland was under the table. This waitress comes up and she says, you're not supposed to be sitting here. This is a table for four, and there are only three of you. And I said, but they told us we could. No Nobody told you you could sit here. You got to go back over to the big tables. And I said, Look, we have a guide dog under the table, and he's really happy. And they told us we could be here because of the dog. And she's, I don't believe that at all. I'm, I'm gonna go check. I don't believe you. She goes away and she comes back a little bit later. No, you're not supposed to sit here. And I said, Look, lift up the tablecloth and look under the table. I'm not going to fall for that. Just do it. She finally did. And there's Holland staring out with these big brown eyes. And she just melted. She goes away and comes back. And one of the things about Durgan Park is they have big plates of prime rib. And she brought this plate of prime ribs somebody hadn't eaten at all, and she said, can I give this to the dog? And so, you know, normally, I would say no, but we were trying to make peace in our time, so I said, Oh, sure. And she and Holland had a great time. So it was fun. Ashley Rudolph ** 08:59 Oh, and Holland got prime rib. Holland Speaker 1 ** 09:03 got prime rib. What a treat. And so did and so did the rest of us, but, but we had to pay for ours. But I missed Durgin Park. It was a fun place to go, but I understand that it is closed, and I don't know whether it's oh, well, oh, that's unfortunate, but Quincy market's a wonderful place to go. It's not a lot of interesting things. So you, so you went through high school. So you went through high school in New York, went in in the Bronx tough neighborhood, and then what did you do? So Ashley Rudolph ** 09:34 I then went to college. So I went to Babson College, which is, well, it's in Massachusetts, it's in Wellesley, and it's actually right next door to Wellesley College. Yeah, yeah. So I went there and I studied business, and that was basically where I learned how to be successful in the workplace, which is kind. Funny, because I found that over the years, a lot of people will say, you know, I went to college, but by the end of it, maybe I didn't know what my transferable skills were, or I studied something that isn't related to what I was doing or what I did as a professional, and I always felt the opposite, like in freshman year at Babson, they gave us $3,000 to, like, start a company as a as a students. So all of us just had to start this company. We had our business ideas. There was a CEO, a CMO, a CFO. We had like rules assigned. And that was my first experience of what a workplace could be like, although it was with 18 year olds, so maybe not totally reflective, but we had performance reviews, we had a head of HR, we had like, company meetings, so we were doing things within a framework, and they all kind of translated into the workplace, different players. So Babson basically kind of turned me into the business person that I am Speaker 1 ** 11:09 today. Now, did each person get $3,000 and they started their own company? Ashley Rudolph ** 11:14 Oh, no. So there were, there were maybe 30 of us, and we started a company with that with $3,000 Okay? Exactly with that investment, it was managed quite tightly. There's not a lot that you can do with $3,000 right? So you can probably guess that a lot of the businesses turned out to be the same. So there was always a T Shirt Company or a company the when the LIVESTRONG wristbands were popular, then we were like, oh, let's customize these wristbands. So yeah, yeah. The the company ideas basically ended up being the same, because there's not that much that you could do with that, yeah, Speaker 1 ** 11:56 yeah, yeah. So much you can do unless you start making a bunch of money, Ashley Rudolph ** 12:00 yeah, yeah, yeah. And in today's landscape, I guess there's more that you can do with digital products and stuff like that. But yeah, yeah, we, we had to do physical so we were pretty limited, yeah, well, that's Speaker 1 ** 12:13 okay, but still, if the company is successful, and was it successful? Yeah, Ashley Rudolph ** 12:19 we, did turn a profit, and then for all of the businesses that did turn a profit, you had to donate the profits to a local charity. So we did. We donated ours to a local organization. We threw an event in partnership with the organization. It was just, it was nice. So, yeah, oh, Speaker 1 ** 12:43 cool. So, how, how long did the company last? Essentially, was it all four years? Ashley Rudolph ** 12:50 It was the first Speaker 2 ** 12:52 year, just the first year, okay, yeah, okay, yeah, that's still, that's pretty cool. Ashley Rudolph ** 12:58 Yeah, it is. I have to say that I learned a lot, Speaker 1 ** 13:02 yeah, well, you're you're kind of forced to or you don't succeed. So I was going to ask you why you felt that you learned how to be successful. But now it's pretty clear, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ashley Rudolph ** 13:13 So we started there in freshman year, and then sophomore, junior and senior year was kind of more of a deep dive on specific skills. So that you take our accounting classes, finance marketing, if you were into retail, there was like a retail management class at the core classes. So we had, you know, liberal arts courses, so art history, yeah, philosophy, things like that. But yeah, everything was mostly centered around business and cool, yeah, yeah. Well, that's Speaker 1 ** 13:47 pretty exciting. Did you did you go do any graduate work anywhere? Ashley Rudolph ** 13:52 It's funny, yes, I did. So I graduated from Babson, and my first job was in a creative agency, and I was doing media buying, and at the time it was 2008 and we were buying ads in school newspapers, which was dying like it was pretty much On on its last leg, and I just had this thought when I was doing it, and that I wasn't inspired by the work, because it wasn't growing, it was going away. And it was clear, yeah, and that. And actually my first job, I got laid off because it was a dying industry, and the team needed to be smaller, and at that point, it's my first job. So it was very devastating to me. I had never gone through anything like that before. So then I decided to go back to school. So I did my masters. I actually. Went back to Babson, but in an international program. So I spent my first semester in France, my second semester in China, and then my final semester at Babson. Ah, Speaker 1 ** 15:13 so why was the newspaper industry going away? Just because everything was going online? Ashley Rudolph ** 15:18 Exactly, yeah, things were shifting more digital. Yeah, it's exactly Speaker 1 ** 15:23 that, so they didn't need as many people selling and doing other things as they did before. Yeah, Ashley Rudolph ** 15:28 yeah, exactly. Or companies were figuring out different ways to reach college students that wasn't dependent on getting in the school newspaper. 15:39 Yeah? Yeah, yeah, Speaker 1 ** 15:42 yeah. So you got your master's degree from Babson, and then what did you Ashley Rudolph ** 15:47 do? I got my master's degree from Babson, and I'll fast forward a little bit, because what's funny is that after I graduated, I still didn't quite know what I wanted to do, but I figured it out. I ended up going back into marketing. But if you remember, what I described was, in that first job, I wasn't connected to the mission. I wasn't inspired by where the industry was going. So I ended up pivoting into nonprofits. And my first job after graduating from my masters was running digital media, so not physical media, so I shifted into social media and online marketing. Had a nonprofit, right? So I was connected to the mission. I felt like the work that I was doing was for a good cause, and it was an industry that was new and that was growing, and that was ever changing and exciting. So I did that for about three years, so first at a nonprofit, and then at an a charter school network that was in New York and New Jersey at the time, but has since expanded far beyond that. So, yeah, I went into mission driven work, and I went into digital marketing and digital media. And I think what I took away from that chapter of my career was that I want to be in an industry that is ever evolving. So, yeah, so after my experience in the nonprofit and education space, that's when I jumped into tech. So I jumped into tech after that, and spent a decade in the tech industry. And obviously, tech is ever changing. I had access to so many different opportunities. I grew really fast. I started at the first company, the first tech company that I worked for. I was a program manager, and five years later I was a vice president, right? So, like, I was able to seize opportunities and work really hard and get to the level that I wanted to get to I was very ambitious, so I think tech just kind of gave me everything I wanted. Career wise, how Speaker 1 ** 18:09 did you progress so fast to go from being a program manager to the level of Vice President in what generally would be defined as a pretty short time? Yeah, Ashley Rudolph ** 18:20 yeah, yeah. So some of it was hard work, and I think the other factor was luck, and the other factor was going after whatever it was that was in front of me. So taking risks. So I would say, with the hard work part, I worked a lot. See when I first, when I started that job, I was actually a Program Manager for Back End Web Development, which was Ruby on Rails, coding a coding language. And then I was also a program manager for data science. I had no experience in either I was not technical. I did not have the technical skills or technical aptitude to do this, but I did have the desire to learn. So my first month at that job, I worked seven days a week. I went to workshops on the weekend. I did coding workshops, I read through all of the documentation. I sat in all of the programs that I was managing. I just dug deep. And I think that first year of immersing myself in everything kind of set the foundation for me. Speaker 1 ** 19:38 So you made yourself pretty technical by the time it was all said and done, Ashley Rudolph ** 19:42 yeah, yes, yes, and not on the level of any of my instructors or the students that actually took the programs. But I cared about learning, and I cared about having a certain level of fluency in order to I had to hire instructors for the program so I couldn't fumble my. Words, right? So, yeah, yeah. So I taught myself, yeah, Speaker 1 ** 20:05 you learned. You learned enough. You You weren't trying to be the most technical person, but you learned enough to be able to interact with people and hold your own. Yeah, which, which is the important thing, I think. And for me, I know at one point, I had a job that was phased out when Xerox bought the company and I couldn't find another job. And it wasn't because of a lack of trying, and it wasn't because I didn't have the skills, but rather, as societal norms typically go, the belief is blind people can't work, as opposed to what we really can and can't do. So I eventually started my own company selling computer aided design systems, and for me, as a blind person, of course, I'm not going to sit in front of a CAD computer or even a PC based CAD system, which is what we sold. So I had to learn, however, all about how to operate the system. Learn about PCs. So I learned how to how to build PCs. I learned about CAD so I could actually walk someone through the process of drawing without actually having to do it, so I understand what, exactly what you're saying. Yeah, and it was important to do that. Yeah. Yeah, Ashley Rudolph ** 21:21 it was important, and no one told me to do that, right? And I'm sure that no one told you to do that too, but there was just something in me that knew that I was excited about this work, or I wanted opportunities, and this was the best way that I knew how to go after it. Yeah, yeah. Speaker 1 ** 21:43 Well, and, and it is the way you still have you do have to learn enough to be able to hold your own, but I Yeah, but I think it's also important in learning that that you're also not trying to threaten anyone else. You're just trying to be able to communicate with them Ashley Rudolph ** 22:00 exactly, exactly, yes, Speaker 1 ** 22:05 yeah. All too often, people view others as threats when they really shouldn't. But you know, Speaker 2 ** 22:12 that's Yeah, another story gonna do Yeah, right, right. Speaker 1 ** 22:16 Well, so for within five years, you became a vice president. What was the tech that y'all were really developing? Ashley Rudolph ** 22:22 Yeah, great question. So what's interesting about this is that it wasn't so the first company I worked for wasn't a tech company, and that they were building tech it's actually a coding boot camp. So they were teaching people either how to code or how to become a UX designer, or how to become a product manager. So that was the product after a while. And I think long after I left the company, they did develop their own tech. So they developed an online an LMS learning management system, and there was digital content. But when I started, it was really about the boot camp era and teaching people how to code, because there were all these engineering jobs and web development jobs that were available and not enough, not enough talent, not Speaker 2 ** 23:13 enough talent to go around. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ashley Rudolph ** 23:17 Which is when you think about today's market and where we're, where we are, that was only 10 years ago, and it's a completely different story. Now, the market is flooded with too many web developers. Yeah, Speaker 1 ** 23:29 it is, but I would say, from my standpoint of seeing what they produce in terms of making web content accessible, not nearly enough of them know how to do that, which is another story, Ashley Rudolph ** 23:41 yeah, yeah, yeah, which is so interesting. And yeah, unacceptable, unfortunate, because there were always teams that were in charge of accessibility at the companies that I worked for, but then having someone be in charge of it, and then properly resourcing the accessibility team is a whole other story. And I think so many companies view it as just oh yeah, I checked the box. My website is accessible. But did you really build with your end users in mind, and the answer is probably no, Speaker 1 ** 24:23 probably not, yeah, and all too often that ended up being the case. Well, so what did you do after you became vice president? Ashley Rudolph ** 24:32 Yeah, so that was tough. You said it, and you said, I climbed really fast. And that's true, I did, and because I climbed fast, there were a lot of lessons to learn. So after I became vice president, I really had to own that leadership seat, or that executive leadership seat, and recognize that what had got me there. Here is was not what was going to keep me there. So the thing that I did after I became a vice president was really understanding how to be an effective executive. So that means really understanding the business side, which I already knew I had been doing that I've been thinking about that since college, so that wasn't something that I was concerned about, but the biggest thing was forming executive level relationships and really understanding how to form allies, and understanding that at that level, it's less of I have the right answer, and listen to me, because I'm a vice president and more of a okay. How am I influencing the people around me to listen to my idea, accept my idea, champion and support my idea. And it's not enough to just have something that's right on paper. Speaker 1 ** 26:06 The others the other side of that, of course, could be that maybe you have an idea that may or may not be the right idea, which also means you need to learn to listen, Ashley Rudolph ** 26:13 yes, exactly, exactly, and that was absolutely the other side of it. So me coming into things and being like, I understand what needs to happen, and not having all the context either way, right? So, yeah, yeah, yeah, Speaker 1 ** 26:31 but you must have done pretty well at doing all that. Ashley Rudolph ** 26:34 I figured it out eventually. Yes, I did figure it out eventually, and it wasn't easy, but I was able to grow a team and scale a team, and I was able to move from maybe the business side of running operations to the product and technology side of it, so being able to see two different sides of the coin. And yeah, it did. It did work. Well, I was able to create my own department, which was a product project management office that oversaw all of the work of the entire product and design and technology teams, 250 people. I I'm not sure that I would have thought I was capable of doing something like that, and building something from the ground up, and hiring a team of, I think, 15 people, and leading that department. And, yeah, yeah, and it was great. I did learn a lot. And then 2023 happened. And that was the major turning point in Tech where I think the dominant story shifted from, or at least in education technology, which I think you know something a lot about, but the dominant story shifted from this is great. This is growing. Distance Learning is fueling growth. There's so much opportunity here to it's too big. We need to, you know, do layoffs. We need to find a way to right size the business. There's actually not a lot of growth happening. So 2023 happened, and I ended up getting laid off with my entire department that I built. And that was such a huge lesson, a huge leadership lesson for me, for sure. So I'll pause so that I'm not not talking at you, but hanger, yeah, yeah, Speaker 1 ** 28:46 well, so you got laid off. I've been there. I've had that happen. And, yeah, it isn't fun, but it's like anything else. You may not have been able to control it happening, but no, you are the one who has to deal with it. So you may not have control over it happening, but you always have control over how you deal with what happened. Ashley Rudolph ** 29:09 Yes, yes, 29:11 yes. And what did you do? Ashley Rudolph ** 29:14 And that's exactly what was so different about this time. So I will say I had two months notice. I had an amazing leader, such a technology officer. When the decision was made, he said, Okay, we can make this decision, but I have to tell Ashley immediately. So he told me, and it wasn't surprising, right? Because I saw how the business what direction the business was going in. So I can't say I was shocked, but the big question that I had was, Oh, my God, what am I going to do about my team? And I felt such immense responsibility because I had hired many of them I came to. Care about them and their careers and their livelihoods, and, yeah, I just felt responsible for it. So you said it, you said it beautifully, and that it was about what I decided to do. So from that moment, I shifted my focus, maybe, maybe to my own detriment, but whatever, I came out on the upside, but I shifted my focus to my team, and I thought the best thing that I could do in that moment was preparing them for their next chapters without going directly to the team and damaging the trust of the Chief Technology Officer and saying, in two months, we're all going to get laid off. That's also not reflective of the type of leader I wanted to be. So I figured out that, because we were a project management office and because there wasn't a lot of new work at the company, we had downtime. So I implemented a meeting on the calendar, which was a project review, and every single week, someone on my team had the opportunity to present their projects and talk about what they learned, what was challenging for them, and what their successes were, right, some combination of those things, and they all did it, and that was my way of helping to start prepare them for the interview process, because now you know your work, you know what your impact was, and you've gotten my feedback as someone who's a leader, who knows what hiring managers are looking for, you got my feedback on the best ways to present yourself, and they were able to ask questions. There were some people who approached me or the director on my team privately and asked us to review their resumes, because they kind of saw the writings on the wall without me ever having to say it, and I did. And what ended up happening is, at that two month mark, or whenever, when the layoffs did happen, no one on my team was shocked, and there were people who actually within a month after the layoff happened, they had found new jobs because they had that time to prepare and felt confident in their job search and the stories that they were telling about themselves. So I all that to say that I did exactly that. I chose the type of leader that I wanted to be, and the thing that felt important to me was preparing my team for their next chapter, Michael Hingson ** 32:32 which I would say is the right thing to do, Ashley Rudolph ** 32:34 yeah, yes, exactly, because it Speaker 1 ** 32:37 isn't, no matter what a lot of people might think, it isn't about you, it's about the team. It's about you and the rest of the team, because you're all a team, Ashley Rudolph ** 32:45 yeah? Except Yes, yes. And I very much viewed my team as an extension of myself, an extension of them. I you know, it wasn't just about them doing a job for me, quote, unquote, like that's not the type of leader that I am. We are a team, Speaker 1 ** 33:04 right? So meanwhile, while you were doing that and helping the team, what were you also doing for you? And Ashley Rudolph ** 33:12 that's why I said to my detriment, I didn't do a lot of thought. I put no thought into what I wanted to do. Okay? At all. I just And you know what? It's not to my detriment. I think what I needed at that time was a distraction, and this was a really good distraction for me, from sorting through what I wanted to do next, but also in navigating that with my team and supporting them through that, I think the answer became very clear once I was ready to ask my question, I just coached my team. So yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Speaker 1 ** 33:51 And so you sort of, as you would say, pivoted to being a coach, Ashley Rudolph ** 33:57 yes, yes. And I want to be clear that this wasn't a decision that was like, you know, that I just fell into coaching, you know, I I made the decision to so I took some time to think about what were the pieces of my work that I really loved when I was a VP at multi, you know, at multiple companies, and the answer was clear, and that I really loved coaching and helping people become better at their work, and I really loved mentorship. And those were the parts of the work that if I could just do that all day, that's what I would want to do. And I was like, Well, I have the I can make a decision to do that all day, every day now, because I'm not doing anything, I just got laid off. So I can choose to do this work. So that's exactly how I ended up being a coach. Speaker 1 ** 34:58 Well, so you. Ever originally planned on being a coach. So was it that work with your team that really was the sort of pivotal decision for you, that although you never thought you were going to be a coach, that led you to coaching, or was there something else that really helped move you there? There was something else. Okay, yeah, more to the story. Ashley Rudolph ** 35:21 There is always you're peeling all the layers so, so initially, what I thought I would do, because I was an operations person, I was like, I'll just be an operations consultant. I'll go out on my own, and people will hire me to be their ops person. So let me, you know, run with that as an idea. And I started having conversations with former colleagues. And what was funny in that so many of their conversations were kind of like, oh yeah, I want to support you. And that sounds nice. I understand why you would want to be an operations consultant. But there's something more interesting about you being a coach. Or I want to hire you to be a coach for my team. Or, Hey, you did really amazing things in your career. You should help other people do those things. And that was the theme that people kept telling me, so I finally decided, decided to listen. That's how I landed on coaching. And instead of it being like, oh my god, I'm trying to sell the value of myself as an operations consultant, once I just owned the coach title, people just started saying, okay, yep, Sign me up. Or I'll refer you to someone who needs a coach right now. Or, hey, you coach just one person on my team, and they're great. Here's more. So it just became easy, and it became less of a I'm trying to sell people, and I'm trying to, like, convince them that they need me in this role, it was just easy. Speaker 1 ** 37:04 So do you think you talked about being ambitious when you were in college and starting that business at Babson and so on? Do you think you've always continued to try to be, if you will, ambitious, or did you sort of shift in terms of mindsets over time? Ashley Rudolph ** 37:22 Yeah, that's a really good question. I do think I have always been ambitious, and when I visited my mom last year or the year before last for Thanksgiving, I found a fake report card that I wrote myself, that I wrote for myself in fourth grade. And there was a prompt that said, what would you want your teacher to write on your report card at the end of this year? And I wrote, Ashley is excelling at excellence. Well, there you go, fourth grade. So I think it's always been there. Speaker 1 ** 38:02 So is it, but is it ambition? Is it ambition, or is it being industrious and being being confident? You know? Ashley Rudolph ** 38:10 Yeah, yeah. Oh, that is such a good question, right? So there was a version of me when I was in the corporate world where I would have just said, yeah, it's ambition, right? Because I'm always motivated to, you know, go after the next level, and that's what's driving me. And now, now that you put that question out there, it is, it is that confidence, because I'm not chasing a thing or the next level right now, in this phase, I'm chasing quote, unquote impact like the thing that drives me is helping people, helping people probably achieve things for themselves that They also didn't think that they could in their careers, and I'm just helping them get there, yeah, Speaker 1 ** 39:06 and that's why I asked the question, because ambition, the way you normally would think of it, yeah, can be construed as being negative, but clearly what you're doing is is different than that. Yeah, you know, at this at the same time for you, now that you're coaching and so on, and you shifted to doing something different, yeah, did you have to let something go to allow you to be open to deciding to be a coach? Yeah, Ashley Rudolph ** 39:38 and the thing that I had to let go was exactly what you just pointed out. So you are very intuitive. The thing I had to let go was that the traditional construct of what success looks like. So it looks like, okay, I'm a VP, so I next need to be an SVP. And then after that I need to be at the sea level. And no, and I guess there could have always been questions about, was that what I really wanted, or was it just the next level that I was after? Yeah, yeah. And there was that, I think it was just the next level for quite some time, but now, like I said, the thing that I let go of was that and wanting to grasp for what the next level is. And now for me, it looks like, okay, well, I only have so many hours in the day, so I can't coach unlimited people, but I still want to impact many people. So what does that mean? Okay, well, I'm writing a newsletter, and I put out a newsletter every week with my thoughts, and that can reach many more people than I can one to one or podcast. I'm talking to you on this podcast, and maybe me sharing more of my story will inspire someone else, or I'll learn from you and your community, Michael, but yeah, I think the thing, the thing that determines what success looks like for me is my ability to impact Speaker 1 ** 41:14 and and the result of that is what happens with the people that you're working with, and so you, you do get feedback because of that, Ashley Rudolph ** 41:25 yes, yes, I do get, I get lots of feedback, and it is, it's transformational feedback. And I think one of the things that I love, and I do this for every client that I work with, is on day one, we established a baseline, which I don't necessarily have to always say that to them like we're establishing the baseline, it's understood. And then in our last session, I put a presentation together, and I talked to them about where they were when we started, and what they wanted for themselves, and over the course of us coaching together, what they were able to accomplish, so what their wins were, and then where they land, and just me taking them on that journey every single or when they work with me, is eye opening, because they don't even see the change as it's happening. And I'm like, Hey, you did this. You're not that person that you walked into this room as on day one, and maybe by the end, you have a new job, or you got promoted, or you feel more confident and assured in your role. But whatever it is, you've changed, and you should be proud of yourself for that. Speaker 1 ** 42:43 Yeah, yeah. And it's, I am sure, pretty cool when you get to point that out to people and they realize it, they realize how far they've come. Ashley Rudolph ** 42:55 Yeah, yeah, it is. It's, it's really awesome to be able to share that with people and to also be on the journey with them, and when they think that maybe they're not ready to do something just gently reminding them that they are. And sometimes I think about what, you know, what managers have done for me, because I've, I had the privilege of working with really great managers some in my career, and yeah, they did that to me, and that that's how I was able to accomplish the things that I did. So yeah, Speaker 1 ** 43:34 well, it's great that you're able to carry those lessons forward and help other people. That's pretty cool. Ashley Rudolph ** 43:38 Yeah, yeah. And honestly, I hope that my clients can do the same. So if there are things that they learn in coaching, any frameworks or things like that, if they're able to help people, then that's great. And the cycle continues, you know? So, yeah, yeah. Speaker 1 ** 43:57 You know, a question that comes to mind is that when we talk about leadership, there are certainly times that leaders face uncertainty, especially when there are transitions going on and you've experienced a lot of transitions. What would you say is the unconventional truth about leadership in times of change and transition? Ashley Rudolph ** 44:20 Yeah, yeah. So I think the thing that I see the most is that in times of transition, especially if it's a transition that maybe you have no control over, right? You're not choosing to leave your job, for example, the the inclination is to over control, right, and try to assert control over the situation in any way that you can, and in more cases than not, that backfires to some degree. So the thing that I try to focus on with my clients is getting to a point where you accept the fact that what is happening is happening. I'm kind of like my layoff, right? I didn't fight the decision or try to change the decision. I just had to accept it for what it was. And then the thing that we focus on is now that we know the thing is happening, whatever the transition or change is, it doesn't have to be as extreme as a layoff, but now that we know that it's happening, what can you control and what can you focus on? And that's what we need to spend our time on. And it can be anything, you know, sometimes people are put on performance improvement plan, and you kind of just if, if this is a situation where you're like, Oh yeah, I could see where this came from, and I wish that I was not in this situation. Okay, well, you kind of have to accept that you are, and what can you do about it now, it's really, yeah, Speaker 1 ** 45:58 what's the hardest lesson you've learned about leadership and being a leader, not just being an executive, but coaching people. Ashley Rudolph ** 46:10 Yeah, and I get this all the time as a coach too. It's it's in me, but the lesson that I've learned is I don't have to know everything. That's Michael Hingson ** 46:21 a hard lesson. To learn, isn't Ashley Rudolph ** 46:25 it? It is, especially when you feel like as a leader, like people are relying on you, or you think they are, they're relying on you to know the answers or to know what to do next, or as a coach, they're relying on you to ask the right questions or to guide them in the right direction, right? And sometimes you just don't know, and that's okay, and it's also okay to say that. And I was just going to say that, yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. It took me a long time to get comfortable with that, but now, now I am more comfortable with it, for sure. Do you feel like you struggled with that too? Or Yeah? Speaker 1 ** 47:06 Well, I have, but I was blessed early on, when I was a student teacher in getting my secondary teaching credential, I was a student teacher in an algebra one class in high school, and one of the students came in one day, and he asked a question in the course of the day, and it should have been a question I knew the answer to, but I didn't. But when I when I realized I didn't, I also, and I guess this is my makeup, thought to myself, but I can't blow smoke about it, so I just said, you know, I don't know the answer, but I'm going to look it up and I will bring you the answer tomorrow. Is that okay? And he said, Yeah. And my master teacher after class cornered me, and he said, That was absolutely the best thing you could do, because if you try to psych out these kids and fake them out, they're going to see through you, and you're never going to get their trust. Yeah, and of course, he was absolutely right. So I did the right thing, but I also learned the value of doing the right thing. And Mr. Redman, my master teacher, certainly put it in perspective. And I think that's so important. We don't have to necessarily have all the right answers. And even if we do have the right answer, the question is, Is it our job to just say the right answer or try to guide people to get to the right answer? Ashley Rudolph ** 48:41 Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's another leadership lesson, right? It's and it's so much more powerful when people do get to the answers themselves, yeah. And I think that kind of helps with them being less dependent on coming to you for the answers moving forward, right? If they're able to go on that path of discovery Speaker 1 ** 49:04 well, and if they are able to do that and you encouraged it, they're going to sense it, and when they get the right answer, they're going to be as high as a kite, and they're going to come and tell you that they did it. So, yeah, Ashley Rudolph ** 49:15 exactly. Yeah, yeah. What a good feeling. Speaker 1 ** 49:19 Yeah, it is, what do you do? Or what are your thoughts about somebody who just comes to you and says, I'm stuck? Ashley Rudolph ** 49:27 Ooh, that happens all the time. Michael, it happens all the time. And I'll tell you, there's two things. So if someone says I'm stuck, they either don't have the confidence to pursue the thing that they know they want to do, but they're just saying they're stuck, which is it is being stuck, right? If you can't take action, then you're stuck. But sometimes they frame that as I don't know where what I want to do or where I want to go, and then I ask. Couple of questions, and it's like, oh, well, you actually do know what you want to do and where you want to go. You just don't have the confidence yet to pursue that path. So part of the time, it's a confidence issue, or the other time, the thing that they're grappling with, or the other cases, what they're grappling with is, I haven't connected with like my values or the things that motivate me or my strengths even right? So maybe they're the ambitious person who was compelled to just chase the next level and the next level and the next level, but now they're asking, Is this really important to me, or do I really want this? As I spoke to another coach, and she ended up leaving what she thought was a dream job at Google, because every day she was kind of like, I still want to be here, and it wasn't her dream job, and she left to become a coach. So it's either one of those two things, most times, for the clients that I work with, and I ask a lot of questions, so I get to the answers, or I help them get to the answers by asking them the right questions. Yeah, Speaker 1 ** 51:14 and that's the issue. And sometimes you may not know the right question right off the bat, but by the same token, you can search for it by asking other questions. Ashley Rudolph ** 51:23 Exactly, exactly, exactly, yeah, yeah, that's it. Speaker 1 ** 51:27 So what is, what is a transformation of a client that you experienced and kind of what really shifted, that changed everything to them, something that just really gave you chills, and was an AHA kind of thing. Yeah, Ashley Rudolph ** 51:44 there are. There's so many one, okay, so one that I want to share is and basically the client went from, this isn't the job for me. I don't like the role I'm in. I don't think I can be successful, and I don't think my work is valued here. And I would say, over the course of eight months, she went from that to getting one of few perfect performance reviews in the company like it's a company that doesn't give a perfect performance review, right? So, right, going from that and being like, I need to find a new job. I've got to get out to I am excelling at this job, and it wasn't just anyone that gave her the perfect performance review. It was one of the co founders of the company. So like, top person is saying, Yeah, this is great. You're doing amazing work. There is value, and I think you're incredible. So in that transformation, the thing that she had to connect to, or reconnect to, was her values and understanding what are the things that she enjoys about her work and what are the things that she really didn't enjoy, and understanding the why behind that, and then the other two things for her, or developing her confidence, which sounds very fluffy, because it's like, How do you help someone do that? And I help people do that by helping them feel really good about their work product. So with her, with her, what we ended up doing was focusing on helping her prepare for some presentations. Me giving her feedback on her decks, or her talking to me about how she wanted to prepare for a meeting and the points that she wanted to make, and me helping her, you know, craft really compelling talking points, and having that feedback loop with me of being like, Okay, here's how the meeting went, and this was the feedback I got, and also being like, Oh, wow, the meeting went really well. And like feeling her confidence build over time by helping her get better at her work, and gradually over time, it just built to that amazing end point for her. But that's that's a transformation for me that will always stick out, because I just remember that first meeting and me just being like, okay, you know this, this might end up being a journey where we help her find a role that is better suited for her. And, you know, just kind of thinking about that, and it just didn't end up being that at all. Speaker 1 ** 54:35 Well, the other thing that, in one way or another, probably plays into some of that is the people her bosses, the people who she worked for, probably sensed that something was going on, yeah, and she had to be honest enough to to deal with that. But as she progressed, they had to sense the improvement, and that. Had to help a lot. Ashley Rudolph ** 55:01 Yes, for sure. And I think maybe there is confusion from her boss and in him thinking that she was ready to take on the work that he knew that she could take on, but she didn't quite feel ready yet. Yeah, so there was something she had to sort through, and she finally, not finally, that wasn't a lot of time at all, but she got there, and yeah, yeah. Speaker 1 ** 55:26 And I'll bet they were better. I'll bet they were better communicators with each other by the time it was all said and done, too Ashley Rudolph ** 55:31 Exactly, yes, yeah, yeah. They developed a shorthand, you know? And, yeah, yep. Speaker 1 ** 55:39 So there are a lot of leaders who look great on paper, but when it really comes down to it, they just aren't really doing all that they ought to be doing. They feel restless or whatever. What's the real reason that they need to deal with to find momentum and move forward? Ashley Rudolph ** 55:58 Yeah, so I'm going to take a I'm going to take a different approach to answering this question. And because of the people that I work with, again, they're high achievers. Yeah, right. And sometimes I see that what happens is maybe people have described them as restless, or people have said, Why aren't you happy? You have this amazing career, you should be happy. And I think, like that projection, they end up taking that on and feeling guilty about the fact that they want more. But at the core of it, when I talk to them or get to the level of, you know, Hey, what is happening here? What's causing this sense of restlessness? Surprisingly, the answer is, yeah, I have this great job or this great title, but I feel like I could be doing so much more. So it's an impact. It's an impact thing that is driving the people that I work with. So what we end up doing is trying to figure out, to some degree, like I have no control over what happens at work, so I don't want to pretend that I do, but if it is an impact question, then what we get to the core of is, okay, well, how do you increase your impact? And that's what I work with them on? Speaker 1 ** 57:24 Well, here's a question. So I have been in sales for a long time, and of course, as far as I'm concerned, I still am being a public speaker. I sell more life and philosophy than anything else. But one thing a lot of people face is rejection. A lot that was redundant, but a lot of people face rejection. How do you get people to understand that rejection isn't a bad thing, and that it actually is a sign of success more often than not? And I agree with it. And you had given me this question, I think it's a great question and relevant to answer. Ashley Rudolph ** 57:58 Yeah, so I just try to flip the thinking. So I make it less about the person rejecting you, or you receiving a rejection. And to me, if you get rejected, it's a signal that you try, and that's what we focus on, right? So if you're not getting rejected and you're in the same place that you were, it's probably an indication that you're not trying, or you're not taking big enough swings, or you're not pushing yourself. So, yeah, I just try to help my clients. You know, think about the fact that, hey, you got rejected because you tried and you put yourself out there, and that's great. And then the other thing I like to think about with rejection is really just like rejection is someone placing a bet, and if you know about bets, you know that they're not 100% right, and sometimes the person just decided they weren't going to place their bet on you. And it's not that you're not capable, or it's not that it wasn't a great idea, maybe it wasn't the right time, maybe whatever, you don't know what the why is, but it's just a bet, and someone could take a different bet, and it can be on you, or you can bet on yourself even, right? So once you start to think about rejection as just the choice that someone made on a day, and that person isn't all people, and they're certainly not representative of, you know, the person who could decide to take a chance on you and your idea or your initiative, then I think the rejection stings a lot less. Speaker 1 ** 59:31 Yeah, one of the expressions I've heard regularly is the selling really begins. And I and I think whether it's selling a product or whatever you're doing, but the selling really begins when the objections begin or the rejection. Yeah, and I think there's, there's so much truth to that one of the things, one of the things that I used to do when I was selling products, is I would play a game with myself. Is this person. Going to give me a new objection or a new reason for rejection that I haven't heard before, and I always loved it when somebody came up with something that truly I hadn't heard before, and that was absolutely relevant to bring up, because then it's my job to go off and deal with that, but it was fun to put my own mindset in that sort of framework, because it's all about it's it's not me, unless I really am screwing up, it's other things. And no matter whether it's me screwing up or not, it's my job to figure out how to deal with whatever the other person has on their mind. Yeah, and when the new things come up, those are so much fun to deal with. And I even praised people, you know, I've never heard that one before. That's really good. Let's talk about it. Ashley Rudolph ** 1:00:50 So great, yeah, yeah. They were probably like, oh, okay, wow. Well, yeah, let's talk about it, yeah. Speaker 1 ** 1:01:00 But I didn't show fear, and didn't need to, because I I went into a learning mode. I want to learn what's on their mind and what's going on, Ashley Rudolph ** 1:01:09 yeah, and that's what it's about. It's about understanding what's important to the other person, or understanding their concerns. And I think if you come at it like you did, from a place of really wanting to understand them and find common ground, then sometimes you can even shift the rejection right often. Speaker 1 ** 1:01:27 If you do it right often you can. Yeah, you can. You can reverse it, because most rejections and objections are really based on perception and not necessarily reality Ashley Rudolph ** 1:01:41 at all? Yes, exactly yes, yes, which is Speaker 1 ** 1:01:45 important? Well, if you could go back and talk to a younger version of yourself, what moment would you choose and who? What would you say that they should learn? Oh, Ashley Rudolph ** 1:01:54 this is so this is such a Speaker 1 ** 1:01:57 great fun question. Yeah, Ashley Rudolph ** 1:02:03 if I could go back, I would probably tell myself that you you don't necessarily have to run away to find the things that you're looking for in your career, right? And I think in life too. Sometimes you think, Oh, I just have to move to a different city, or I just have to buy a new outfit, or I just have to, I have to, I have to, I have to change this thing. And sometimes you just don't have to. Sometimes you can have a conversation about thing that you want or the thing that you're not getting. So if this is a boss right, talking about the thing that you want or that you're not getting, and coming up with a solution together, and I think for quite some time, I was too afraid to do that, and if I wasn't getting what I needed or what I wanted, I just thought the best thing to do was to find it elsewhere, and I would just go back and tell myself to ask for what I wanted first, and then get the information and then leave if I had to. But leaving doesn't have to be the default. Speaker 1 ** 1:03:21 Yeah. Cool. Well, Ashley, this has been a lot of fun. We've been doing this an hour. Can you believe Ashley Rudolph ** 1:03:29 it? We have, we have the time flew by. Fun. Yeah, I could have kept going. Michael Hingson ** 1:03:36 Well, then we'll just have to do another one. Yeah, Ashley Rudolph ** 1:03:39 we do. It, I will always come back. You are amazing. Michael, Speaker 1 ** 1:03:43 well, this has been fun, and maybe one of the things that you could do to help spread the word about what you do and so on is do your own podcast. Ashley Rudolph ** 1:03:50 Yes, something else to think about, yeah, yeah, that's a great idea. And then if I do then I will invite you on there. I'd Speaker 1 ** 1:04:00 love it, I'll come absolutely well. I want to thank you again, and I want to thank all of you for listening and watching today. This has been very enjoyable and a lot of fun, and I appreciate you taking the time to be with us. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Please feel free to email me at Michael H i@accessibe.com so accessibi is spelled A, C, C, E, S, S i, B, E, so Michael M, I C H, A, E, L, H i@accessibe.com or go to our podcast page, www, dot Michael hingson.com/podcast and Michael hingson is m, I C H, A, E, L, H, I N, G, s o n.com/podcast, love to hear from you, and certainly I hope that whenever you're listening or watching, give us a five star rating. We value your reviews, and we really want to know that we're doing good by you, so please give us good reviews, and if you have thoughts or things that you want us to know about, don't hesitate to reach out. It. And for all of you, and Ashley, including you, if you know of other people who ought to be guests on our podcast, it's so much fun to meet more people from those who have been on before. But for anyone, if you know someone who ought to be a guest, please let me know. Reach out, and we will honor your interest and we will bring them on, because I think everyone has, as I told Ashley earlier, stories to tell. So hope that you will do that and that we'll get to see you on our next episode. And again, Ashley, I just want to thank you for being here. This has been so much fun. All Ashley Rudolph ** 1:05:37 right, thank you, Michael. **Michael Hingson ** 1:05:42 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.
SHOWNOTES:In dieser Folge geht „Geschichten, die wirken“ weiter.Jeden Dienstag teile ich eine kurze Geschichte – und was wir daraus für Kommunikation, Rhetorik und Führung mitnehmen können. Heute: Ein verlorener Schlüssel. Ein Lichtkegel. Und die Frage, warum wir oft dort suchen, wo es bequem ist – statt dort, wo echte Wirkung beginnt.-----------------------------------------------------------------Interessierst du dich für ein 1:1 - Coaching oder ein Workshop-Angebot?Buche hier jetzt dein kostenlose Kennenlerngespräch mit MichaelMöchtest du schlagfertig auf verbale Angriffe reagieren?Schlagfertig in 3 Schritten (E-Book für 0€) runterladenDu möchtest mehr erfahren?Hier gehts zu Michaels Website
An artifact has gone missing, who better to find it than the Gang? Lucky never heard of her, Mina will flee quickly, and Webbie is NOT a cultist. The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within.Join the PCN Discord: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQA special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! Steve, Mel Cen, Mason D., Scazar, Sly Changeling, Bangarang, Craig S., Scumcat, Necromeat, Carlos, Okey A., Thomas S., theneilharris, Nemo R., Jari S., Manuel, Irishstu, Matthew, Anthony P., James J., Kyndra C., jay_dilf, Chris D., Oskar A., Handsome Andy, lil_willy, Kuaku, RandomGuy, Neckro, Bryan F., TheHarbingerPulsar, Ookfark, Thomas F., Therealmcasshole, Exile Creations, Tony M., KordixVR, Andrew W., Kilted Sparky, Oga, Astyria, BrooksHW, Cyril S., Josh, R Man, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R.Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)https://throne.com/professionalcasual
SHOWNOTES:In dieser Folge startet meine Sommerreihe „Geschichten, die wirken“.Jeden Dienstag teile ich eine kurze Geschichte – und was wir daraus für Kommunikation, Rhetorik und Führung lernen können.Heute: Ein wütender Mann. Ein stiller Buddha. Und die Frage, was passiert, wenn wir nicht reagieren.-----------------------------------------------------------------Interessierst du dich für ein 1:1 - Coaching oder ein Workshop-Angebot?Buche hier jetzt dein kostenlose Kennenlerngespräch mit MichaelMöchtest du schlagfertig auf verbale Angriffe reagieren?Schlagfertig in 3 Schritten (E-Book für 0€) runterladenDu möchtest mehr erfahren?Hier gehts zu Michaels Website
Keeping track of an old lady should be a breeze! Lucky hides under a bed, Mina saw it and thought of him, and Webbie loves gifts. The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within.Join the PCN Discord: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQA special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! Steve, Mel Cen, Mason D., Scazar, Sly Changeling, Bangarang, Craig S., Scumcat, Necromeat, Carlos, Okey A., Thomas S., theneilharris, Nemo R., Jari S., Manuel, Irishstu, Matthew, Anthony P., James J., Kyndra C., jay_dilf, Chris D., Oskar A., Handsome Andy, lil_willy, Kuaku, RandomGuy, Neckro, Bryan F., TheHarbingerPulsar, Ookfark, Thomas F., Therealmcasshole, Exile Creations, Tony M., KordixVR, Andrew W., Kilted Sparky, Oga, Astyria, BrooksHW, Cyril S., Josh, R Man, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R.Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)https://throne.com/professionalcasual
SHOWNOTES:Vom Azubi zum CEO – und zurück zur Klarheit.Sven Odia war 27 Jahre bei Engel & Völkers, 9 davon CEO eines globalen Unternehmens mit über 16.000 Mitarbeitenden.In dieser Folge sprechen wir über mutige Entscheidungen, über Kommunikation in Krisen, über Führungsprinzipien – und darüber, warum Menschen Menschen folgen, nicht Titeln.Ein Gespräch über Haltung, Sprache und die Kunst, zur richtigen Zeit das Richtige zu sagen.---------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Meier präsentiert ausgewählte Beiträge aus „Kontrafunk aktuell“ im Wochenrückblick. In dieser Woche sprachen wir mit dem Journalisten Ramon Schack über den Ausbau der U-Boot-Flotte in Großbritannien, mit dem Oberstleutnant a. D. im Generalstab der Schweizer Armee, Ralph Bosshard, über die Militärantwort Russlands nach dem Drohnenangriff der Ukraine und mit dem ehemaligen parlamentarischen Staatssekretär Michael Müller über das SPD-Manifest für Verhandlungen und Abrüstung im Russland-Ukraine-Krieg. Außerdem zu Gast waren die Journalistin Susanne Heger, der österreichische Umwelttechniker und Hobby-Landwirt Gerhard Fallent, die „Nius“-Redakteurin Pauline Voss, der ehemalige Inspekteur der Deutschen Marine Kay-Achim Schönbach, der Rechtsphilosoph Prof. Andreas Kinneging und Prof. Hans Demanowski, während der Euro-Einführung Leiter der Banknotenabteilung der Bundesdruckerei Berlin.
Sie waren Minister, Parteichefs und Fraktionsvorsitzende. Heute wenden sie sich gegen die Politik der Parteispitze: In der SPD rumort es wegen der Pläne zur deutschen Aufrüstung. Über 2000 Unterstützer haben ein Manifest für Friedenssicherung unterschrieben. Wir sprechen mit Michael Müller, einem der Initiatoren des Papiers. Bulgarien bekommt den Euro. Wie das Land die Währungsumstellung organisiert, erklärt Prof. Hans Demanowski, während der Euro-Einführung Leiter der Banknotenabteilung der Bundesdruckerei Berlin. Ist die noch recht unerfahrene Bauministerin Verena Hubertz reif für den Posten im Ministerium? Hören Sie eine Einschätzung des Architekten Rocco Buggraf. Michael Müller: Aufruhr in der SPD – Manifest für FriedenspolitikHans Demanowski: Euro-Einführung in BulgarienRocco Burggraf: Bauturbo oder Rohrkrepierer – die neue Baupolitik auf dem Prüfstand
Benjamin Gollme im Gespräch mit Ramon Schack, Michael Müller und Prof. Hans Demanowski In dieser aktualisierten Ausgabe von Kontrafunk aktuell sprechen wir mit dem Journalisten Ramon Schack über den Nahen Osten. In der Nacht hat Israel das iranische Atomprogramm angegriffen und iranische Führungsfiguren liquidiert. Wie wird der Iran antworten? Steht nun ein großer Krieg bevor? Sie waren Minister, Parteichefs und Fraktionsvorsitzende. Heute wenden sie sich gegen die Politik der Parteispitze: In der SPD rumort es wegen der Pläne zur deutschen Aufrüstung. Über 2000 Unterstützer haben ein Manifest für Friedenssicherung unterschrieben. Wir sprechen mit Michael Müller, einem der Initiatoren des Papiers. Bulgarien bekommt den Euro. Wie das Land die Währungsumstellung organisiert, erklärt Prof. Hans Demanowski, während der Euro-Einführung Leiter der Banknotenabteilung der Bundesdruckerei Berlin. Ramon Schack: Israel greift iranisches Atomprogramm an Michael Müller: Aufruhr in der SPD – Manifest für Friedenspolitik Hans Demanowski: Euro-Einführung in BulgarienWeitere Einzelheiten
The Gang splits up in Middenheim- again! Lucky can't concentrate, Mina checks Scooby-doo style, and Webbie makes a fort. The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within.Join the PCN Discord: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQA special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! Steve, Mel Cen, Mason D., Scazar, Sly Changeling, Bangarang, Craig S., Scumcat, Necromeat, Carlos, Okey A., Thomas S., theneilharris, Nemo R., Jari S., Manuel, Irishstu, Matthew, Anthony P., James J., Kyndra C., jay_dilf, Chris D., Oskar A., Handsome Andy, lil_willy, Kuaku, RandomGuy, Neckro, Bryan F., TheHarbingerPulsar, Ookfark, Thomas F., Therealmcasshole, Exile Creations, Tony M., KordixVR, Andrew W., Kilted Sparky, Oga, Astyria, BrooksHW, Cyril S., Josh, R Man, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R.Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)https://throne.com/professionalcasual
"Welche Geschichten erzählen wir uns vom Ruhestand und Älterwerden?"In dieser Folge von „Gelassen älter werden“ spricht Bertram Kasper mit Professor Michael Müller über ein Thema, das viele Menschen beschäftigt: Welche Geschichten erzählen wir uns selbst über den Ruhestand – und wie prägen diese Erzählungen unser Älterwerden?Gemeinsam tauchen sie ein in die Macht von Narrativen, zeigen auf, wie hinderliche Vorstellungen entstehen und wie wir sie wandeln können. Michael Müller erzählt, wie er beim Laufen eine neue Sichtweise auf seinen Übergang in den Ruhestand fand – und warum es oft nicht darum geht, etwas völlig Neues zu erfinden, sondern das eigene Erleben neu zu erzählen. Bertram Kasper berichtet von seiner persönlichen Strategie, durch grüne und rote Wochen bewusst Balance zwischen Aktivität und Ruhe zu schaffen.Eine warmherzige, inspirierende Episode darüber, wie wir mehr Leichtigkeit und Selbstwirksamkeit in unsere dritte Lebensphase bringen können.Hauptpunkte:Ruhestand als Rückkehr zur Selbstständigkeit: Warum eine neue Erzählung den Übergang erleichtern kann.Von hinderlichen zu stärkenden Narrativen: Wie wir Störgeschichten erkennen und umschreiben.Akzeptanz als lebenslange Übung: Alter als dynamischer Prozess der Selbstneuerfindung verstehen.Freundschaftliche Momente und Offenheit: Warum kleine Begegnungen so kostbar werden.Mit dem Schieberegler jonglieren: Wie kleine Verschiebungen unser Lebensgefühl verändern können.Zitat:„Es geht nicht darum, eine völlig neue Geschichte zu erfinden – sondern die in uns verborgenen Erzählungen wiederzuentdecken.“ – Michael MüllerZum Weiterlesen:Buch von Michael Müller: „In Aktanz gehen: Wie wir hinderliche Geschichten loswerden“Weitere Impulse: www.gelassen-aelter-werden.de/podcastWelche Geschichte über deinen Ruhestand möchtest du dir erzählen? Lass dich inspirieren und höre auch in die nächste Episode rein, wenn wir neuen Narrativen auf die Spur kommen!Eine Bitte an unsere Hörerinnen und Hörer:Wir freuen uns über eine Bewertung unseres Podcasts. Holt für uns die 5 Sterne vom Himmel und schreibt gerne, was euch besonders gefällt.Das schenkt noch mehr Menschen unsere Inhalte, da es durch das bessere Ranking öfter vorgeschlagen wird. Herzlichen Dank.Für mehr Informationen zum Thema "gelassen älter werden" gibt es auf unserer Homepage ein Magazin zum Lesen. Hier der Link: https://gelassen-aelter-werden.de/magazin-gelassen-aelter-werden/Die Musik im Intro und Outro ist von Stefan Kissel und wurde von Nico Lange gesprochen.
Who knows the meaning of the term “Business Continuity management” without looking it up? Our guest this week, Alex Fullick, is intimately familiar with the term and its ramifications. I first met Alex when we were connected as participants in a conference in London this past October sponsored by Business Continuity International. The people involved with “Business Continuity management” were described to me as the “what if people”. They are the people no one pays attention to, but who plan for emergency and unexpected situations and events that especially can cause interruptions with the flow or continuity of business. Of course, everyone wants the services of the business continuity experts once something unforeseen or horrific occurs. Alex was assigned to introduce me at the conference. Since the conference I have even had the pleasure to appear on his podcast and now, he agreed to reciprocate. Our conversation covers many topics related to emergencies, business continuity and the mindsets people really have concerning business flow and even fear. Needless to say, this topic interests me since I directly participated in the greatest business interruption event we have faced in the world, the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Alex freely discusses fear, emergency planning and how we all can improve our chances of dealing with any kind of emergency, personal or business related, by developing the proper mindset. He points out how so often people may well plan for emergencies at work and sometimes they even take the step of developing their own business continuity mindset, but they rarely do the same for their personal lives. Alex is the author of eight books on the subject and he now is working on book 9. You can learn more about them in our podcast show notes. I think you will gain a lot of insight from what Alex has to say and I hope his thoughts and comments will help you as you think more now about the whole idea of business continuity. About the Guest: Alex Fullick has been working in the Business Continuity Management, Disaster Recovery, and Operational Resilience industries as a consultant/contractor for just over 28 years. Alex is also the founder and Managing Director of StoneRoad, a consulting and training firm specializing in BCM and Resilience and is the author of eight books…and working on number nine. He has numerous industry certifications and has presented at prestigious conferences around the globe including Manila, Seoul, Bucharest, Brisbane, Toronto, and London (to name a few). In July of 2017 he created the highly successful and top-rated podcast focusing on Business Continuity and Resilience ‘Preparing for the Unexpected'. The show aims to touch on any subject that directly or indirectly touches on the world of disasters, crises, well-being, continuity management, and resilience. The first of its kind in the BCM and Resilience world and is still going strong after thirty plus seasons, reaching an audience around the globe. Alex was born in England but now calls the city of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, his home. Ways to connect Alex: www.linkedin.com/in/alex-fullick-826a694 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, hello, everyone, wherever you happen to be, welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet and unexpected is anything that has nothing to do with inclusion or diversity. As I've said many times today, our guest is someone I got to meet last year, and we'll talk about that. His name is Alex Bullock, and Alex and I met because we both attended a conference in London in October about business continuity. And I'm going to let Alex define that and describe what that is all about. But Alex introduced me at the conference, and among other things, I convinced him that he had to come on unstoppable mindset. And so we get to do that today. He says he's nervous. So you know, all I gotta say is just keep staring at your screens and your speakers and and just keep him nervous. Keep him on edge. Alex, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're really glad you're Alex Fullick ** 02:19 here. Thanks, Michael. I really appreciate the invite, and I'm glad to be here today. And yeah, a little nervous, because usually it's me on the other side of the microphone interviewing people. So I don't fit in this chair too often Michael Hingson ** 02:33 I've been there and done that as I recall, yes, Alex Fullick ** 02:37 yes, you were a guest of mine. Oh, I guess when did we do that show? A month and a half, two months ago? Or something, at least, Michael Hingson ** 02:45 I forget, yeah. And I said the only charge for me coming on your podcast was you had to come on this one. So there you go. Here I am. Yeah, several people ask me, Is there a charge for coming on your podcast? And I have just never done that. I've never felt that I should charge somebody to come on the podcast, other than we do have the one rule, which is, you gotta have fun. If you can't have fun, then there's no sense being on the podcast. So, you know, that works out. Well, tell us about the early Alex, growing up and, you know, all that sort of stuff, so that people get to know you a little bit. Alex Fullick ** 03:16 Oh, the early Alex, sure. The early Alex, okay, well, a lot of people don't know I was actually born in England myself, uh, Farnam Surrey, southwest of London, so until I was about eight, and then we came to Canada. Grew up in Thunder Bay, Northwestern Ontario, and then moved to the Greater Toronto Area, and I've lived all around here, north of the city, right downtown in the city, and now I live an hour west of it, in a city called Guelph. So that's how I got here. Younger me was typical, I guess, nothing Michael Hingson ** 03:56 special. Went to school, high school and all that sort of stuff. Yeah, yeah, no. Alex Fullick ** 04:02 Brainiac. I was working my first job was in hospitality, and I thought that's where I was going to be for a long time, because I worked my way up to I did all the positions, kitchen manager, Assistant Manager, cooks, bartender, server, did everything in there was even a company trainer at one point for a restaurant chain, and then did some general managing. But I got to a point where computers were going to start coming in to the industry, and I thought, well, I guess I should learn how to use these things, shouldn't I? And I went to school, learned how to use them, basic using, I'm not talking about building computers and networks and things like that, just the user side of things. And that was, did that for six months, and then I thought I was going back into the industry. And no fate had. Something different for me. What happened? Well, my best friend, who is still my best friend, 30 years later, he was working for a large financial institution, and he said, Hey, we need some help on this big program to build some call trees. When you're finished, he goes, get your foot in the door, and you could find something else within the bank. So I went, Okay, fine. Well, they called the position business recovery planner, and I knew absolutely nothing about business recovery or business continuity. Not a single thing. I'd never even heard the term yeah and but for some reason, I just took to it. I don't know what it was at the time, but I just went, this is kind of neat. And I think it was the fact that I was learning something different, you know, I wasn't memorizing a recipe for Alfredo sauce or something like that, you know, it was completely different. And I was meeting and working with people at every level, sitting in meetings with senior vice presidents and CEOs and giving them updates, and, you know, a data analyst, data entry clerk, and just talking. And I went, This is so much fun, you know, and that's I've been doing that now for over 28 years. Michael Hingson ** 06:14 Well, I I had not really heard much of the term business continuity, although I understand emergency preparedness and such things, because I did that, of course, going into the World Trade Center, and I did it for, well, partly to be prepared for an emergency, but also partly because I was a leader of an office, and I felt that I needed to know What to do if there were ever an emergency, and how to behave, because I couldn't necessarily rely on other people, and also, in reality, I might even be the only person in the office. So it was a survival issue to a degree, but I learned what to do. And of course, we know the history of September 11 and me and all that, but the reality is that what I realized many years later was that the knowledge that I learned and gained that helped me on September 11 really created a mindset that allowed me to be able to function and not be as I Put it to people blinded or paralyzed by fear, the fear was there. I would be dumb to say I wasn't concerned, but the fear helped me focus, as opposed to being something that overwhelmed and completely blocked me from being capable and being able to function. So I know what you're saying. Well, what exactly is business continuity? Alex Fullick ** 07:44 You know, there are people who are going to watch this and listen and they're going to want me to give a really perfect definition, but depending on the organization, depending on leadership, depending on the guiding industry organization out there, business continuity, Institute, Disaster Recovery Institute, ISO NIST and so many other groups out there. I'm not going to quote any of them as a definition, because if I if I say one the others, are going to be mad at me, yell at you, yeah, yeah. Or if I quote it wrong, they'll get mad at me. So I'm going to explain it the way I usually do it to people when I'm talking in the dog park, yeah, when they ask what I'm doing, I'll say Business Continuity Management is, how do you keep your business going? What do you need? Who do you need the resources when you've been hit by an event and and with the least impact to your customers and your delivery of services, yeah, and it's simple, they all get it. They all understand it. So if anyone doesn't like that, please feel free send me an email. I can hit the delete key just as fast as you can write it. So you know, but that's what a lot of people understand, and that's really what business continuity management is, right from the very beginning when you identify something, all the way to why we made it through, we're done. The incident's over. Michael Hingson ** 09:16 Both worked with at the Business Continuity international hybrid convention in October was Sergio Garcia, who kind of coordinated things. And I think it was he who I asked, what, what is it that you do? What's the purpose of all of the people getting together and having this conference? And he said, I think it was he who said it not you, that the the best way to think about it is that the people who go to this conference are the what if people, they're the ones who have to think about having an event, and what happens if there's an event, and how do you deal with it? But so the what if people, they're the people that nobody ever pays any attention to until such time as there is something that. Happens, and then they're in high demand. Alex Fullick ** 10:03 Yeah, that that's especially that being ignored part until something happened. Yeah, yeah. Well, well, the nice thing, one of the things I love about this position, and I've been doing it like I said, for 28 years, written books, podcasts, you've been on my show, YouTube channel, etc, etc, is that I do get to learn and from so many people and show the value of what we do, and I'm in a position to reach out and talk to so many different people, like I mentioned earlier. You know, CEOs. I can sit in front of the CEO and tell them you're not ready. If something happens, you're not ready because you haven't attended any training, or your team hasn't attended training, or nobody's contributing to crisis management or the business continuity or whatever you want to talk about. And I find that empowering, and it's amazing to sit there and not tell a CEO to their face, you know you're screwed. Not. You know, you don't say those kinds of things. No, but being able to sit there and just have a moment with them to to say that, however you term it, you might have a good relationship with them where you can't say that for all I know, but it being able to sit in front of a CEO or a vice president and say, hey, you know, this is where things are. This is where I need your help. You know, I don't think a lot of people get that luxury to be able to do it. And I'm lucky enough that I've worked with a lot of clients where I can't. This is where I need your help. You know. What's your expectation? Let's make it happen, you know, and having that behind you is it's kind of empowering, Michael Hingson ** 11:47 yeah, well, one of the things that I have start talking a little bit about with people when talk about emergency preparedness is, if you're really going to talk about being prepared for an emergency. One of the things that you need to do is recognize that probably the biggest part of emergency preparedness, or business continuity, however you want to term, it, isn't physical it's the mental preparation that you need to make that people generally don't make. You know, I've been watching for the last now, five or six weeks, all the flyers and things down here in California, which have been so horrible, and people talk about being prepared physically. You should have a go bag so that you can grab it and go. You should do this. You should do that. But the problem is nobody ever talks about or or helps people really deal with the mental preparation for something unexpected. And I'm going to, I'm going to put it that way, as opposed to saying something negative, because it could be a positive thing. But the bottom line is, we don't really learn to prepare ourselves for unexpected things that happen in our lives and how to react to them, and so especially when it's a negative thing, the fear just completely overwhelms us. Alex Fullick ** 13:09 Yeah, I agree with you. You know, fear can be what's that to fight, flight or freeze? Yeah, and a lot of people don't know how to respond when an event happens. And I think I'm going to take a step back, and I think that goes back to when we're young as well, because we have our parents, our grandparents, our teachers, our principals. You know, you can go achieve your goals, like everything is positive. You can go do that. Go do that. They don't teach you that, yeah, to achieve those goals, you're going to hit some roadblocks, and you need to understand how to deal with that when things occur. And use your example with the fires in California. If you don't know how to prepare for some of those small things, then when a big fire like that occurs, you're even less prepared. I have no idea how to deal with that, and it is. It's a really change in mindset and understanding that not everything is rosy. And unfortunately, a lot of people get told, or they get told, Oh, don't worry about it. It'll never happen. So great when it does happen. Well, then was that advice? Michael Hingson ** 14:25 Yeah, I remember after September 11, a couple of months after, I called somebody who had expressed an interest in purchasing some tape backup products for from us at Quantum. And I hadn't heard from them, and so I reached out, and I said, So what's going on? How would you guys like to proceed? And this was an IT guy, and he said, Oh, well, the president of the company said September 11 happened, and so since they did, we're not going to have to worry about that anymore. So we're not going to go forward. Or worth doing anything to back up our data, and I'm sitting there going, you missed the whole point of what backup is all about. I didn't dare say that to him, but it isn't just about an emergency, but it's also about, what if you accidentally delete a file? Do you have a way to go back and get it? I mean, there's so many other parts to it, but this guy's boss just basically said, Well, it happened, so it's not going to happen now we don't have to worry about it. Yeah, Alex Fullick ** 15:27 like you hear on the news. Well, it feels like daily, oh, once in 100 year storm, once in 100 year event, once in 100 year this. Well, take a look at the news. It's happening weekly, daily, yeah, yeah. One in 100 Michael Hingson ** 15:44 years thing, yeah. Nowadays, absolutely, there's so many things that are happening. California is going through a couple of major atmospheric rivers right now, as they're now calling it. And so Southern California is getting a lot of rain because of of one of the rivers, and of course, it has all the burn areas from the fires. So I don't know what we'll see in the way of mudslides, but the rain is picking up. Even here, where I live, we're going to get an inch or more of rain, and usually we don't get the rain that a lot of other places get. The clouds have to go over a lot of mountains to get to us, and they lose their moisture before they do that. Yeah, Alex Fullick ** 16:23 yeah. We just had a whole pile of snow here. So we had a snowstorm yesterday. So we've got about 20 centimeters of snow out there that hasn't been plowed yet. So bit of Michael Hingson ** 16:36 a mess. There you go. Well, you know, go out and play on the snow. Well, Alex Fullick ** 16:41 the dog loves it, that's for sure. Like troubling it, but, yeah, Michael Hingson ** 16:46 I don't think my cat would like it, but the animal would like it. He'd go out and play in it. If it were here, we don't get much snow here, but Yeah, he'd play it. But, but it is. It is so interesting to really talk about this whole issue of of business continuity, emergency preparedness, whatever you want to consider it, because it's it's more than anything. It's a mindset, and it is something that people should learn to do in their lives in general, because it would help people be a lot more prepared. If people really created a mindset in themselves about dealing with unexpected things, probably they'd be a little bit more prepared physically for an emergency, but they would certainly be in a lot better shape to deal with something as like the fires are approaching, but they don't, but we don't do that. We don't teach that. Alex Fullick ** 17:43 No, we it's interesting too, that a lot of those people, they'll work on projects in their organization, you know, and they will look at things well, what can go wrong, you know, and try to mitigate it and fix, you know, whatever issues are in the way or remove roadblocks. They're actually doing that as part of their project. But when it comes to themselves, and they have to think about fires or something like that, is now that won't happen, you know. And wait a minute, how come you've got the right mindset when it comes to your projects at work, but you don't have that same mindset when it comes to your own well being, or your families, or whatever the case may be. How come it's different? You go from one side to the other and it I've noticed that a few times with people and like, I don't get it. Why? Why are you so you have the right mindset under one circumstance and the other circumstance, you completely ignore it and don't have the mindset, Michael Hingson ** 18:45 yeah, which, which makes you wonder, how much of a mindset Do you really have when it comes to work in all aspects of it? And so one of the things that I remember after September 11, people constantly asked me is, who helped you down the stairs, or was there somebody who was responsible for coming to get you, to take you downstairs and and the reality is, as I said, I was the leader. I was helping other people go downstairs. But by the same token, I'm of the opinion that in buildings like the World Trade Center towers, there is people talk about the buddy system. So if somebody is is in the building, you should have a buddy. And it doesn't even need to be necessarily, in the same office, but there should be an arrangement so that there is somebody looking out for each each other person. So everybody should have a buddy. I'm of the opinion it isn't a buddy. There should be two buddies, and at least one of them has to be outside of the office, so that you have three people who have to communicate and develop those lines of communications and work through it. And by that way, you you have a. Better chance of making sure that more people get whatever communications are necessary. Alex Fullick ** 20:06 Yeah, you create your like a support network, absolutely, Michael Hingson ** 20:10 and I think at least a triumvirate makes a lot more sense than just a buddy. Yeah, Alex Fullick ** 20:14 you you might be freaked out, you know, nervous shaking, but with a couple of people standing there, you know, talking to you, you're going to come right back hopefully. You know, with that, the calmer, you know, stop shaking when a couple of people are there. Yeah, you a lot of times when you have the same one person doing it, usually, oh, you're just saying that because you have to. But when you two people doing it, it's like, okay, thank thanks team. You know, like you're really helping. You know, this is much better. Michael Hingson ** 20:48 Yeah, I think it makes a lot more sense, and especially if one of them isn't necessarily a person who's normally in your work pattern that brings somebody in from someone with the outside who approaches things differently because they don't necessarily know you or as well or in the same way as your buddy who's maybe next door to you in the office, right across the hall or next door, or whatever. Yeah, yeah. I agree. I think it makes sense well, the conference that we were at a lot to well, to a large degree, and at least for my presentation, was all about resilience. What is resilience to you? How's that for a general question that Alex Fullick ** 21:31 has become such a buzzword, I know it Michael Hingson ** 21:35 really is, and it's unfortunate, because when, when we start hearing, you know, resilience, or I hear all the time amazing and so many times we get all these buzzwords, and they they really lose a lot of their value when that happens. But still, that's a fair question. I Alex Fullick ** 21:53 do think the word resilience is overused, and it's losing its meaning. You know, dictionary meaning, because it's just used for everything these days. Yeah, you know, my neighbor left her keys. Sorry. Her daughter took her house keys this morning by accident. She couldn't get into her house when she got him back, and she had a comment where she said, you know, oh, well, I'm resilient, but really, you just went and got some Keith, how was that so? So I'm, I'm starting to get to the point now, when people ask me, you know, what's resilience to you? What's it mean to you? I just, I start to say, Now, does it matter? Yeah, my definition is fine for me, if you have a definition of it for yourself that you understand you you know what it means, or your organization has a definition, we'll take it and run. Yeah, you know what it means. You're all behind that. Meaning. We don't need a vendor or some other guiding industry organization to say this is, this must be your definition of resilience. It's like, well, no, you're just wordsmithing and making it sound fancy. You know, do it means what it means to you? You know, how, how do you define it? If that's how you define it, that's what it means, and that's all that matters. My definition doesn't matter. Nobody else's definition matters, you know, because, and it's become that way because the term used, you know, for everything these days. Yeah, I Michael Hingson ** 23:30 think that there's a lot of value in if a person is, if we use the dictionary definition, resilient, they they Well, again, from my definition, it gets back to the mindset you establish. You establish a mindset where you can be flexible, where you can adapt, and where you can sometimes think outside the box that you would normally think out of, but you don't panic to do that. You've learned how to address different things and be able to focus, to develop what you need to do to accomplish, whatever you need to accomplish at any unexpected time. Alex Fullick ** 24:06 Yeah, and you're calm, level headed, you know, you've got that right mindset. You don't freak out over the small things, you know, you see the bigger picture. You understand it. You know, I'm here. That's where I need to go, and that's where you focus and, you know, sweat all those little things, you know. And I think, I think it's, it's kind of reminds me that the definitions that are being thrown out there now reminds me of some of those mission and vision statements that leadership comes up with in their organizations, with all this, oh, that, you know, you read the sentence and it makes no sense whatsoever, yeah, you know, like, what? Michael Hingson ** 24:45 What's so, what's the wackiest definition of resilience that you can think of that you've heard? Alex Fullick ** 24:51 Um, I don't know if there's a wacky one or an unusual one. Um, oh, geez. I. I know I've heard definitions of bounce forward, bounce back, you know, agility, adaptability. Well, your Michael Hingson ** 25:07 car keys, lady this morning, your house key, your house key, lady this morning, the same thing, yeah, yeah. I don't resilient just because she got her keys back. Yeah, really, yeah. Well, Alex Fullick ** 25:17 that's kind of a wacky example. Yeah, of one, but I don't think there's, I've heard any weird definitions yet. I'm sure that's probably some out there coming. Yeah, we'll get to the point where, how the heck did are you defining resilience with that? Yeah? And if you're looking at from that way, then yeah, my neighbor with the keys that would fit in right there. That's not resilient. You just went and picked up some keys. Michael Hingson ** 25:45 Yeah. Where's the resilience? How did you adapt? You the resilience might be if you didn't, the resilience might be if you didn't panic, although I'm sure that didn't happen. But that would, that would lean toward the concept of resilience. If you didn't panic and just went, Well, I I'll go get them. Everything will be fine, but that's not what people do, Alex Fullick ** 26:08 yeah? Well, that that is what she did, actually. She just as I was shoveling snow this morning, she goes, Oh, well, I'll just go get her, get them, okay, yeah. Does that really mean resilience, or Does that just mean you went to pick up the keys that your daughter accidentally took Michael Hingson ** 26:24 and and you stayed reasonably level headed about it, Alex Fullick ** 26:28 you know, you know. So, you know, I don't know, yeah, if, if I would count that as a definition of resilience, but, or even I agree resilience, it's more of okay, yeah, yeah. If, if it's something like that, then that must mean I'm resilient when I forget to pull the laundry out after the buzzer. Oh yeah, I gotta pull the laundry out. Did that make me resilient? Yeah, Michael Hingson ** 26:52 absolutely, once you pulled it out, you weren't resilient, not until then, Alex Fullick ** 26:57 you know. So, so I guess it's you know, how people but then it comes down to how people want to define it too. Yeah, if they're happy with that definition, well, if it makes you happy, I'm not going to tell you to change Michael Hingson ** 27:11 it. Yeah, has but, but I think ultimately there are some some basic standards that get back to what we talked about earlier, which is establishing a mindset and being able to deal with things that come out of the ordinary well, and you're in an industry that, by and large, is probably viewed as pretty negative, you're always anticipating the emergencies and and all the unexpected horrible things that can happen, the what if people again, but that's that's got to be, from a mindset standpoint, a little bit tough to deal with it. You're always dealing with this negative industry. How do you do that? You're resilient, I know. But anyway, yeah, Alex Fullick ** 27:56 really, I just look at it from a risk perspective. Oh, could that happen to us? You know, no, it wouldn't, you know, we're we're in the middle of a Canadian Shield, or at least where I am. We're in the middle of Canadian Shield. There's not going to be two plates rubbing against each other and having an earthquake. So I just look at it from risk where we are, snowstorms, yep, that could hit us and has. What do we do? Okay, well, we close our facility, we have everyone work from home, you know, etc, etc. So I don't look at it from the perspective of doom and gloom. I look at it more of opportunity to make us better at what we do and how we prepare and how we respond and how we overcome, you know, situations that happen out there, and I don't look at it from the oh, here comes, you know, the disaster guy you know, always pointing out everything that's wrong. You know, I'd rather point out opportunities that we have to become as a team, organization or a person stronger. Yeah, Michael Hingson ** 29:01 I guess it's not necessarily a disaster. And as I said earlier, it could very well be that some unexpected thing will happen that could be a very positive thing. But again, if we don't have the mindset to deal with that, then we don't and the reality is, the more that we work to develop a mindset to deal with unexpected things, the more quickly we can make a correct analysis of whatever is going on and move forward from it, as opposed to letting fear again overwhelm us, we can if we practice creating This mindset that says we really understand how to deal with unexpected situations, then we are in a position to be able to the more we practice it, deal with it, and move forward in a positive way. So it doesn't need to be a disaster. September 11 was a disaster by any standard, but as I tell people. People. While I am still convinced that no matter what anyone might think, we couldn't figure out that September 11 was going to happen, I'm not convinced that even if all the agencies communicated, they would have gotten it because and I talk about trust and teamwork a lot, as I point out, a team of 19 people kept their mouth shut, or a few more who were helping in the planning of it, and they pulled off something that basically brought the world to its knees. So I'm not convinced that we could have stopped September 11 from happening. At least I haven't heard something that convinces me of that yet. But what each of us has the ability to do is to determine how we deal with September 11. So we couldn't prevent it, but we can certainly all deal with or address the issue of, how do we deal with it going forward? Yeah, Alex Fullick ** 30:52 I agree. I I was actually in a conversation with my niece a couple of months ago. We were up at the cottage, and she was talking about school, and, you know, some of the people that she goes to school with, and I said, Well, you're never going to be able to change other people. You know, what they think or what they do. I said, what you can control is your response. You know, if, if they're always picking on you, the reason they're picking on you is because they know they can get a rise out of you. They know they it. Whatever they're saying or doing is getting to you, so they're going to keep doing it because it's empowering for them. But you can take away that empowerment if you make the right choices on how you respond, if you just shrug and walk away. I'm simplifying it, of course, yeah, if you just shrug and walk away. Well, after a while, they're going to realize nothing I'm saying is getting through, and they'll move away from you. They'll they won't bug you anymore, because they can't get a rise out. They can't get a rise out of you. So the only thing you can control is how you respond, you know. And as you keep saying, it's the mindset. Change your mindset from response to, you know, I'm prepared for what this person's going to say, and I'm not going to let it bother me. Yeah? Michael Hingson ** 32:08 Well, bullying is really all about that. Yeah, people can't bully if you don't let yourself be bullied. Yep, and whether it's social media and so many other things, you can't be bullied if you don't allow it and if you ignore it or move on or get help to deal with the issue if it gets serious enough, but you don't need to approach it from a shame or fear standpoint, or you or you shouldn't anyway, but that's unfortunately, again, all too often. What happens when we see a lot of teenage suicides and so on, because people are letting the bullies get a rise out of them, and the bullies win. Alex Fullick ** 32:51 Yep, yep. And as I told her, I said, you just mentioned it too. If it gets out of hand or becomes physical, I said, then you have to take action. I don't mean turning around and swinging back. I said, No, step up. Go get someone who is has authority and can do something about it. Yeah, don't, don't run away. Just deal with it differently, you know. And don't, don't start the fight, because then you're just confirming that I'm the bully. I can do this again. Yeah, you're, you're giving them license to do what they want. Yeah, but stand up to them, or tell, depending on the situation, tell someone higher up in authority that can do something and make make a change, but you have to be calm when you do it. Michael Hingson ** 33:39 I remember when I was at UC Irvine, when I was going to college, my had my first guide dog, Squire. He was a golden retriever, 64 pounds, the most gentle, wonderful dog you could ever imagine. And unfortunately, other students on campus would bring their dogs. It was a very big campus, pretty, in a sense, rural, and there were only about 2700 students. And a bunch of students would bring their dogs to school, and they would just turn the dogs loose, and they go off to class, and then they find their dogs at the end of the day. Unfortunately, some of the dogs developed into a pack, and one day, they decided they were going to come after my guide dog. I think I've told this story a couple times on on this podcast, but what happened was we were walking down a sidewalk, and the dogs were coming up from behind, and they were growling and so on. And squire, my guide dog, jerked away from me. I still held his leash, but he jerked out of his harness, out of my hand, and literally jumped up in the air, turned around and came down on all fours, hunkered down and growled at these dogs all in this the well, about a two second time frame, totally shocked the dogs. They just slunked away. Somebody was describing it to me later, and you know, the dog was very deliberate about what he did. Of course, after they left, he comes over and He's wagging his tail. Did I do good or what? But, but he was very deliberate, and it's a lesson to to deal with things. And he never attacked any of the dogs, but he wasn't going to let anything happen to him or me, and that's what loyalty is really all about. But if something had happened and that hadn't worked out the way expected, then I would have had to have gone off and and I, in fact, I did talk to school officials about the fact that these dogs were doing that. And I don't even remember whether anybody did anything, but I know I was also a day or so later going into one of the the buildings. Before he got inside, there was a guy I knew who was in a wheelchair, and another dog did come up and started to try to attack squire, this guy with in the wheelchair, pulled one of the arms off his chair and just lambasted the dog right across the head, made him back up. Yeah, you know. But it was that people shouldn't be doing what they allowed their dog. You know, shouldn't be doing that, but. But the bottom line is, it's still a lesson that you don't let yourself be bullied. Yeah, yep, and there's no need to do that, but it is a it's a pretty fascinating thing to to see and to deal with, but it's all about preparation. And again, if we teach ourselves to think strategically and develop that skill, it becomes just second nature to do it, which is, unfortunately, what we don't learn. Alex Fullick ** 36:48 Yeah, I didn't know that as a kid, because when I was a little kid and first came to Canada, especially, I was bullied because, well, I had a funny voice. Michael Hingson ** 36:57 You did? You don't have that anymore, by the way, no, Alex Fullick ** 37:01 if I, if I'm with my mom or relatives, especially when I'm back in England, words will start coming back. Yeah, there are words that I do say differently, garage or garage, yeah. You know, I hate garage, but garage, yeah, I still say some words like that, Michael Hingson ** 37:18 or process, as opposed to process. Alex Fullick ** 37:21 Yeah, so, you know, there's something like that, but as a kid, I was bullied and I there was, was no talk of mindset or how to deal with it. It's either put up with it or, you know, you really couldn't turn to anybody back then, because nobody really knew themselves how to deal with it. Yeah, bullies had always been around. They were always in the playground. So the the mechanisms to deal with it weren't there either. It wasn't till much later that I'm able to to deal with that if someone said some of the things now, right away, I can turn around because I've trained myself to have a different mindset and say that, no, that's unacceptable. You can't talk to that person, or you can't talk to me that way. Yeah, you know, if you say it again, I will, you know, call the police or whatever. Never anything where I'm going to punch you in the chin, you know, or something like that. Never. That doesn't solve anything. No, stand up saying, you know, no, I'm not going to accept that. You know, which is easier now, and maybe that just comes with age or something, I don't know, but back then, no, it was, you know, that that kind of mechanism to deal with it, or finding that inner strength and mindset to do that wasn't there, Michael Hingson ** 38:43 right? But when you started to work on developing that mindset, the more you worked on it, the easier it became to make it happen. Yep, agreed. And so now it's a way of life, and it's something that I think we all really could learn and should learn. And my book live like a guide dog is really all about that developing that mindset to control fear. And I just think it's so important that we really deal with it. And you know, in this country right now, we've got a government administration that's all about chaos and fear, and unfortunately, not nearly enough people have learned how to deal with that, which is too bad, yep, although, Alex Fullick ** 39:30 go ahead, I was going to say it's a shame that, you know, some a lot of people haven't learned how to deal with that. Part of it, again, is we don't teach that as well. So sometimes the only thing some people know is fear and bullying, because that's all they've experienced, yeah, either as the bully or being bullied. So they they don't see anything different. So when it happens on a scale, what we see right now it. It's, well, that's normal, yeah, it's not normal, actually. You know, it's not something we should be doing. You know, you should be able to stand up to your bully, or stand up when you see something wrong, you know, and help because it's human nature to want to help other people. You know, there's been so many accidents people falling, or you'll need their snow removed, where I am, and people jump in and help, yeah? You know, without sometimes, a lot of times, they don't even ask. It's like, oh, let me give you a hand, Michael Hingson ** 40:33 yeah. And we had that when we lived in New Jersey, like snow removal. We had a Boy Scout who started a business, and every year he'd come around and clear everybody's snow. He cleared our snow. He said, I am absolutely happy to do it. We we wanted to pay him for it, but he was, he was great, and we always had a nice, clean driveway. But you know, the other side of this whole issue with the mindset is if we take it in a more positive direction, look at people like Sully Sullenberger, the pilot and the airplane on the Hudson, how he stayed focused. He had developed the mindset and stayed focused so that he could deal with that airplane. That doesn't mean that he wasn't afraid and had concerns, but he was able to do something that was was definitely pretty fantastic, because he kept his cool, yeah, Alex Fullick ** 41:23 I think he knew, and others in other situations know that if you're freaking out yourself, you're not going to fix the issue, you're going to make it worse. We see that in Hollywood tends to do that a lot. In their movies, there's always a character who's flipping out, you know, panicking, going crazy and making everything worse. Well, that does happen, you know, if you act that way, you're not going to resolve your situation, whatever you find yourself in, you know. And I tell people that in business continuity when we're having meetings, well, we'll figure it out when it happens. No, you don't know how you'll behave. You don't know how you'll respond when, oh, I don't know an active shooter or something. You have no idea when you hear that someone you know just got shot down in the lobby. Are you going to tell me you're going to be calm? You sorry? You know you're going to be calm and just okay, yeah, we can deal with it. No, you're going to get a wave of panic, yeah, or other emotions coming over you, you know. And you have to have that mindset. You can still be panicked and upset and freaked out, or however you want to describe that, but you know, I have to stay in control. I can't let that fear take over, or I'm going to get myself in that situation as well. Yeah, I have to be able to manage it. Okay, what do I have to do? I gotta go hide. You know, I'm not saying you're not sweating, you know, with nervousness like that, but you understand, gotta think beyond this if I want to get out of this situation. You know, I'm going to take these people that are sitting with me, we're going to go lock ourselves in the storage closet, or, you know, whatever, right? But have that wherewithal to be able to understand that and, you know, be be safe, you know, but freaking out, you're only contributing to the situation, and then you end up freaking out other people and getting them panicked. Course, you do. They're not, you know, they don't have the right mindset to deal with issues. And then you've got everyone going in every direction, nobody's helping each other. And then you're creating, you know, bigger issues, and Michael Hingson ** 43:37 you lose more lives, and you create more catastrophes all the way around. I remember when I was going down the stairs at the World Trade Center, I kept telling Roselle what a good job she was doing, good girl. And I did that for a couple of reasons. The main reason was I wanted her to know that I was okay and I'm not going to be influenced by fear. But I wanted her to feel comfortable what what happened, though, as a result of that, and was a lesson for me. I got contacted several years later one time, specifically when I went to Kansas City to do a speech, and a woman said she wanted to come and hear me because she had come into the stairwell just after, or as we were passing her floor, which was, I think, the 54th floor. Then she said, I heard you just praising your dog and being very calm. And she said, I and other people just decided we're going to follow you down the stairs. And it was, it was a great lesson to understand that staying focused, no matter what the fear level was, really otherwise, staying focused and encouraging was a much more positive thing to do, and today, people still don't imagine how, in a sense, comet was going down the stairs, which doesn't mean that people weren't afraid. But several of us worked to really keep panic out of the stairwell as we were going down. My friend David did he panicked, but then he. He walked a floor below me and started shouting up to me whatever he saw on the stairwell, and that was really for his benefit. He said to have something to do other than thinking about what was going on, because he was getting pretty scared about it. But what David did by shouting up to me was he acted as a focal point for anyone on the stairs who could hear him, and they would hear him say things like, Hey, Mike, I'm at the 43rd floor. All's good here. Everyone who could hear him had someone on the stairs who was focused, sounded calm, and that they could listen to to know that everybody was okay, which was so cool, and Alex Fullick ** 45:38 that that probably helped them realize, okay, we're in the right direction. We're going the right way. Someone is, you know, sending a positive comments. So if, if we've got, you know, three, if he's three floors below us, we know at least on the next three floors, everything is okay. Michael Hingson ** 45:56 Well, even if they didn't know where he wasn't right, but even if he they didn't know where he was in relation to them, the fact is, they heard somebody on the stairs saying, I'm okay, yeah, whether he felt it, he did sound it all the way down the stairs. Yeah, and I know that he was panicking, because he did it originally, but he got over that. I snapped at him. I just said, Stop it, David, if Rosell and I can go down these stairs, so can you. And then he did. He focused, and I'm sure that he had to have helped 1000s of people going down the stairs, and helped with his words, keeping them calm. Alex Fullick ** 46:32 Yeah, yeah. It makes a difference, you know. Like I said earlier, you doesn't mean you're still not afraid. Doesn't mean that, you know, you're not aware of the negative situation around you. It's and you can't change it, but you can change, like I said earlier, you can change how you respond to it. You can be in control that way, right? And that's eventually what, what he did, and you you were, you know, you were controlled going downstairs, you know, with with your guide dog, and with all these people following you, and because of the way you were, like, then they were following you, yeah, and they remained calm. It's like there's someone calling up from below who's safe. I can hear that. I'm listening to Michael. He'll tell his dog how well behaved they are. And he's going down calmly. Okay, you know, I can do this. And they start calming down, Michael Hingson ** 47:28 yeah, what's the riskiest thing you've ever done? Oh, word. Must have taken a risk somewhere in the world, other than public speaking. Oh, yeah, public speaking. Alex Fullick ** 47:40 I still get nervous the first minute. I'm still nervous when I go up, but you get used to it after a while. But that first minute, yeah, I'm nervous. Oh, that there's, I have a fear of heights and the so the the two, two things that still surprised me that I did is I climbed the Sydney bridge, Harbor Bridge, and, oh, there's another bridge. Where is it? Is it a Brisbane? They're both in Australia. Anyway. Climb them both and have a fear of heights. But I thought, no, I gotta, I gotta do this. You know, I can't be afraid of this my entire life. And I kept seeing all these people go up there in groups, you know, on tours. And so I said, Okay, I'm going to do this. And I was shaking nervous like crazy, and went, What if I fall off, you know, and there's so many different measures in place for to keep you safe. But that that was risky, you know, for me, it felt risky. I was exhilarated when I did it. Though, would you do it again? Oh, yeah, in a heartbeat. Now, there you go. I'm still afraid of heights, but I would do that again because I just felt fantastic. The other I guess going out and being self employed years ago was another risky thing. I had no idea, you know about incorporating myself, and, you know, submitting taxes, you know, business taxes, and, you know, government documents and all this and that, and invoicing and things like that. I had no idea about that. So that was kind of risky, because I had no idea how long I'd be doing it. Well, I started in what 2007, 2007, I think so, 18 years, yeah, so now it's like, I can't imagine myself not doing it, you know, so I'm but I'm always willing to try something new these days. You know, even starting the podcast seven and a half years ago was risky, right? I had no idea. Nobody was talking about my industry or resilience or business continuity or anything back then, I was the first one doing it, and I'm the longest one doing it. Um, I've outlived a lot of people who thought they could do it. I'm still going. So that started out risky, but now I. Imagine not doing it, yeah, you know. And you know, it's, you know, I guess it's, it's just fun to keep trying new things. You know, I keep growing and, you know, I've got other plans in the works. I can't give anything away, but, you know, I've got other plans to try. And they'll, they'll be risky as well. But it's like, Michael Hingson ** 50:21 no, let's go for it. Have you ever done skydiving or anything like that? No, I haven't done that. I haven't either. I know some blind people who have, but I just, I've never done that. I wouldn't Alex Fullick ** 50:32 mind it. It's that might be one of those lines where should I? I'm not sure about this one, you know, but it is something that I I think I wouldn't do it on my own. I think I would have to be one of those people who's connected with someone else, with someone Michael Hingson ** 50:51 else, and that's usually the way blind people do it, needless to say, but, and that's fine, I just have never done it. I haven't ever had a need to do it, but I know I can sit here and say, I'm not afraid to do it. That is, I could do it if it came along, if there was a need to do it, but I don't. I don't have a great need to make that happen. But you know, I've had enough challenges in my life. As I tell people, I think I learned how to deal with surprises pretty early, because I've been to a lot of cities and like, like Boston used to have a rep of being a very accident prone city. Just the way people drive, I could start to cross the street and suddenly I hear a car coming around the corner, and I have to move one way or the other and draw a conclusion very quickly. Do I back up or do I go forward? Because the car is not doing what it's supposed to do, which is to stop, and I have to deal with that. So I think those kinds of experiences have helped me learn to deal with surprise a little bit too. Alex Fullick ** 51:52 Yeah, well, with the skydiving, I don't think I'd go out of my way to do it, but exactly came along, I think I would, you know, just for the thrill of saying, I did it, Michael Hingson ** 52:03 I did it, yeah, I went ice skating once, and I sprained my ankle as we were coming off the ice after being on the ice for three hours. And I haven't gone ice skating again since. I'm not really afraid to, but I don't need to do it. I've done it. I understand what it feels like. Yeah, yeah. So it's okay. Have you had any really significant aha moments in your life, things that just suddenly, something happened and went, Ah, that's that's what that is, or whatever. Alex Fullick ** 52:30 Well, it does happen at work a lot, dealing with clients and people provide different perspectives, and you just, Oh, that's interesting, though, that happens all the time. Aha moments. Sometimes they're not always good. Aha moments, yeah, like the one I always remember that the most is when I wrote my first book, heads in the sand. I was so proud of it, and, you know, excited and sent off all these letters and marketing material to all the chambers of commerce across Canada, you know, thinking that, you know, everyone's going to want me to speak or present or buy my book. Well, ah, it doesn't happen that way. You know, I got no responses. But that didn't stop me from writing seven more books and working on nine. Now, there you go, but it was that was kind of a negative aha moment so, but I just learned, okay, that's not the way I should be doing that. Michael Hingson ** 53:34 Put you in your place, but that's fair. I kind Alex Fullick ** 53:37 of, I laugh at it now, a joke, but you know, aha, things you know, I You never know when they're going to happen. Michael Hingson ** 53:47 No, that's why they're Aha, yeah. Alex Fullick ** 53:51 And one of one, I guess another one would have been when I worked out first went out on my own. I had a manager who kept pushing me like, go, go work for yourself. You know this better than a lot of other people. Go, go do this. And I was too nervous. And then I got a phone call from a recruiting agency who was offering me a role to do where I wanted to take this company, but that I was working for full time for that weren't ready to go. They weren't ready yet. And it was kind of an aha moment of, do I stay where I am and maybe not be happy? Or have I just been given an opportunity to go forward? So when I looked at it that way, it did become an aha moment, like, Ah, here's my path forward. Yeah, so, you know. And that was way back in 2007 or or so somewhere around there, you know. So the aha moments can be good. They can be bad, and, you know, but as long as you learn from them, that's exactly Michael Hingson ** 54:57 right. The that's the neat thing about. Aha moments. You don't expect them, but they're some of the best learning opportunities that you'll ever get. Alex Fullick ** 55:06 Yeah, yeah, I agree completely, because you never know that. That's the nice thing, and I think that's also part of what I do when I'm working with so many different people of different levels is they all have different experiences. They all have different backgrounds. You they can all be CEOs, but they all come from a different direction and different backgrounds. So they're all going to be offering something new that's going to make you sit there and go, Oh, yeah. And thought of that before, Michael Hingson ** 55:38 yeah. So that's, that's so cool, yeah, Alex Fullick ** 55:42 but you have to, you know, be able to listen and pick up on those kind of things. Michael Hingson ** 55:46 But you've been very successful. What are some of the secrets of success that that that you've discovered, or that you put to use? Alex Fullick ** 55:55 For me, I'll put it bluntly, shut up and listen. Michael Hingson ** 55:59 There you are. Yeah. Well, that is so true. That's true. Yeah. Alex Fullick ** 56:03 I think I've learned more by just using my two ears rather than my one mouth, instead of telling people everything they you should be doing. And you know, this is what I think you should do. And like talking at people, it's so much better just talk with people, and then they'll, even if you're trying to, you know, really, really, really, get them to see your side, they will come onto your side easier and probably better if you let them realize it themselves. So you just listen, and you ask the odd probing question, and eventually comes around, goes, Oh, yeah, I get it. What you mean now by doing this and going, Yeah, that's where I was going. I guess I just wasn't saying it right, you know. And have being humble enough to, you know, even though I, I know I did say it right, maybe I just wasn't saying it right to that person, to that person, yeah, right way. So listening to them, and, you know, I think, is one of the big keys to success for me, it has, you know, and I've learned twice as much that way. And maybe that's why I enjoy answering people on the podcast, is because I ask a couple of questions and then just let people talk, Michael Hingson ** 57:18 which is what makes it fun. Yeah, Alex Fullick ** 57:21 yeah. It's sometimes it's fun to just sit there, not say anything, just let someone else do all the talking. Michael Hingson ** 57:29 What you know your industry is, I would assume, evolved and changed over the years. What are some of the major changes, some of the ways that the industry has evolved. You've been in it a long time, and certainly, business continuity, disaster recovery, whatever you want to call it, has, in some sense, has become a little bit more of a visible thing, although I think people, as both said earlier, ignore it a lot. But how's the industry changed over time? Alex Fullick ** 57:54 Well, when I started, it was before y 2k, yes, 96 and back then, when I first started, everything was it focused. If your mainframe went down, your computer broke. That's the direction everyone came from. And then it was you added business continuity on top of that. Okay, now, what do we do with our business operations. You know, other things we can do manually while they fix the computer or rebuild the mainframe. And then it went to, okay, well, let's bring in, you know, our help desk. You know, who people call I've got a problem with a computer, and here's our priority and severity. Okay, so we'll get, we'll respond to your query in 12 hours, because it's only one person, but if there's 10 people who have the issue, now it becomes six hours and bringing in those different aspects. So we went from it disaster recovery to business continuity to then bringing in other disciplines and linking to them, like emergency management, crisis management, business continuity, incident management, cyber, information security. Now we've got business continuity management, you know, bringing all these different teams together and now, or at least on some level, not really integrating very well with each other, but just having an awareness of each other, then we've moved to operational resilience, and again, that buzzword where all these teams do have to work together and understand what each other is delivering and the value of each of them. And so it just keeps growing in that direction where it started off with rebuild a mainframe to getting everybody working together to keep your operations going, to keep your partners happy, to keep your customers happy. You know, ensuring life safety is priority number one. When, when I started, life safety was, wasn't really thrown into the business continuity realm that much. It was always the focus on the business. So the these. The sky, the size and scope has gotten a lot bigger and more encompassing of other areas. And I wouldn't necessarily all call that business continuity, you know it, but it is. I see business continuity as a the hub and a wheel, rather than a spoke, to bring all the different teams together to help them understand, you know, hey, here's, here's how you've Incident Management, you know, help desk, service desk, here's how you help the Disaster Recovery Team. Here's how you can help the cyber team. Cyber, here's how you can actually help this team, you know, and being able to understand. And that's where the biggest change of things is going is now, more and more people are understanding how they really need to work together, rather than a silo, which you know, a lot of organizations still do, but it's those walls are starting to come down, because they can understand no One can do it alone. You have to work together with your internal departments, leadership, data analysts, who have to be able to figure out how to rebuild data, or your third parties. We need to talk with them. We have to have a relationship with them our supply chain, and understand where they're going, what they have in place, if we or they experience something. So it's definitely grown in size and scope Michael Hingson ** 1:01:27 well, and we're seeing enough challenges that I think some people are catching on to the fact that they have to learn to work together, and they have to think in a broader base than they have in the past, and that's probably a good thing. Yeah, well, if, if you had the opportunity, what would you tell the younger Alex? Alex Fullick ** 1:01:50 Run, run for the hills. Yeah, really, no, seriously, I kind of mentioned a couple of them already. Don't sweat the small things. You know, sometimes, yeah, and I think that comes down to our mindset thing as well. You know, understand your priorities and what's important. If it's not a priority or important, don't sweat it. Don't be afraid to take risks if you if you do your planning, whether it be jumping out of a plane or whatever, you know the first thing you want to do is what safety measures are in place to ensure that my jump will be successful. You know, those kind of things. Once you understand that, then you can make knowledgeable decisions. Don't be afraid to take those risks. And it's one of the big things. It's it's okay to fail, like I said about the book thing where you all those that marketing material I sent out, it's okay to fail. Learn from it. Move on. I can laugh at those kind of things now. You know, for years, I couldn't I was really like, oh my god, what I do wrong? It's like, No, I didn't do anything wrong. It just wasn't the right time. Didn't do it the right way. Okay, fine, move on. You know, you know, don't be afraid to fail. If, if you, if you fail and get up, well then is it really a failure? You learned, you got back up and you kept going. And that's the part of resilience too, right? Yeah, if you trip and fall, you get up and keep going. But if you trip and fall and stay down, well then maybe you are Michael Hingson ** 1:03:30 failing. That's the failure. I mean, the reality is that it isn't failure if you learn from it and move on. It was something that set you back, but that's okay, yeah, Alex Fullick ** 1:03:41 my my favorite band, Marillion, has a line in one of their songs rich. Failure isn't about falling down. Failure is staying down. Yeah, Michael Hingson ** 1:03:50 I would agree with that. Completely agree Alex Fullick ** 1:03:53 with it. He'll stand by it. W
Die Präsidenten der deutschsprachigen gesangspädagogischen Verbände Prof. Martin Vacha (EVTA Austria), Prof. Hans-Jürg Rickenbacher (EVTA Schweiz) und Michael Müller-Kasztelan (Bundesverband Deutscher Gesangspädagogen) treffen sich mit "Vocaltalker" Eddy Schulz und Manuela Gebetsroither um über die Verbandsarbeit, Berufsethos & Mehrwert zu sprechen.www.evta.atwww.evta.chwww.bdg-online.org
SHOWNOTES: Die 3 Siebe des Sokrates – Gut, Wahr, NotwendigWas wäre, wenn du vor dem nächsten Satz kurz innehältst?Sokrates stellte drei einfache Fragen – und legte damit den Grundstein für bewusste, klare Kommunikation.In dieser Folge erfährst du, wie du diesen Denkansatz für Gespräche, Meetings und Führung nutzen kannst.-----------------------------------------------------------------Interessierst du dich für ein 1:1 - Coaching oder ein Workshop-Angebot?Buche hier jetzt dein kostenlose Kennenlerngespräch mit MichaelMöchtest du schlagfertig auf verbale Angriffe reagieren?Schlagfertig in 3 Schritten (E-Book für 0€) runterladenDu möchtest mehr erfahren?Hier gehts zu Michaels Website
In the fall of 1940, an employ of the Consolidated Edison Company in Manhattan discovered a bomb in the company's main offices, along with a note that read “Con Edison crooks – this is for you.” The bomb was discovered before it detonated and no one was harmed, but a year later the company received a second bomb, followed by a note to NYPD in which the bomber announced he would make no bombs for the duration of WWII, but would begin again as the war ended.As promised, a new series of bombings began across New York in the winter of 1951, beginning with an explosion at Grand Central Station. In the five years that followed, “The Mad Bomber,” as he would come to be known, would place explosives at some of New York's most iconic locations including Radio City Music Hall, Penn Station, and the New York Public Library. The bombs were often followed by cryptic letters sent to the press, usually referencing the Consolidated Edison Company.Th Mad Bomber's reign of terror finally came to an end with his capture in 1957, and neither the suspect nor his motives made much sense to the New Yorkers who'd lived in fear for five years.Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!ReferencesAssociated Press. 1955. "The 'Mad Bomber' threatens Macy's." Buffalo News, May 5: 47.—. 1957. "'Bomber' sick but innocent, sisters say." Newsday, Janaury 22: 3.Baird, John, and Harry Schlegal. 1956. "Mad Bomber blast in B'klyn movie; 6 hurt." Daily News, December 3: 2.Berger, Meyer. 1957. "Bomber is booked; sent to Bellevue for mental tests." New York Times, January 23: 1.Demeusy, Gerald. 1981. "'Bomber' says life all broken dreams." Hartford Courant, November 16: 15.Greenburg, Michael M. 2011. The Mad Bomber of New York: The Extraordinary True Story of the Manhunt That Paralyzed a City. New York, NY: Union Square Press.Kaufman, Michael. 1973. "'Mad Bomber,' now 70, goes free." New York Times, December 13: 1.New York Times. 1957. "2d 'Bomber' note cites old injury." New York Times, January 16: 25.—. 1953. "A homemade bomb rips station locker." New York Times, May 7: 28.—. 1951. "Bomb blast in terminal: Homemade device explodes in Grand Central--no one is hurt." New York Times, March 30: 24.—. 1954. "Bomb in music hall injures 4 in crowd." New York Times, November 8: 1.—. 1951. "Bomb laid to prankster." New York Times, September 13: 33.—. 1957. "'Bomber' ordered to state hospital." New York Times, April 19: 44.—. 1957. "'Bomber' presses threat on utility." New York Times, January 11: 16.—. 1951. "Ex-Edison worker held in bomb case." New York Times, November 7: 32.—. 1966. "'Mad Bomber' to get hearing on sanity." New York Times, April 29: 17.—. 1957. "Metesky indicted on bomb charges." New York Times, January 31: 29.—. 1955. "Penn Station bomb blast is ignored by commuters." New York Times, Janaury 12: 11.—. 1951. "Police find bomb in Paramount Lounge; note spurs search for one at Penn Station." New York Times, October 23: 30.—. 1957. "Suspect is held as 'Mad Bomber'; he admits role." New York Times, January 22: 1.—. 1956. "The Mad Bomber." New York Times, December 30: B2.O'Kane, Lawrence. 1955. "Bomb left in Roxy; linked to 22 others." New York Times, August 12: 1.Parke, Richard. 1957. "Sisters shocked, loyal to brother." New York Times, January 23: 20.Sheridan, Mike. 1977. "Former Mad Bomber now a homebody." Hartford Courant, May 1: 22.Stay in the know - wondery.fm/morbid-wondery.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Jeffrey Madoff is, as you will discover, quite a fascinating and engaging person. Jeff is quite the creative entrepreneur as this episode's title says. But he really is so much more. He tells us that he came by his entrepreneurial spirit and mindset honestly. His parents were both entrepreneurs and passed their attitude onto him and his older sister. Even Jeffrey's children have their own businesses. There is, however, so much more to Jeffrey Madoff. He has written a book and is working on another one. He also has created a play based on the life of Lloyd Price. Who is Lloyd Price? Listen and find out. Clue, the name of the play is “Personality”. Jeff's next book, “Casting Not Hiring”, with Dan Sullivan, is about the transformational power of theater and how you can build a company based on the principles of theater. It will be published by Hay House and available in November of this year. My conversation with Jeff is a far ranging as you can imagine. We talk about everything from the meaning of Creativity to Imposture's Syndrome. I always tell my guests that Unstoppable Mindset is not a podcast to interview people, but instead I want to have real conversations. I really got my wish with Jeff Madoff. I hope you like listening to this episode as much as I liked being involved in it. About the Guest: Jeffrey Madoff's career straddles the creative and business side of the arts. He has been a successful entrepreneur in fashion design and film, and as an author, playwright, producer, and adjunct professor at Parsons School of Design. He created and taught a course for sixteen years called “Creative Careers Making A Living With Your Ideas”, which led to a bestselling book of the same name . Madoff has been a keynote speaker at Princeton, Wharton, NYU and Yale where he curated and moderated a series of panels entitled "Reframing The Arts As Entrepreneurship”. His play “Personality” was a critical and audience success in it's commercial runs at People's Light Theater in Pennsylvania and in Chicago and currently waiting for a theater on The West End in London. Madoff's next book, “Casting Not Hiring”, with Dan Sullivan, is about the transformational power of theater and how you can build a company based on the principles of theater. It will be published by Hay House and available in November of this year. Ways to connect Jeffrey: company website: www.madoffproductions.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/b-jeffrey-madoff-5baa8074/ www.acreativecareer.com Instagram: @acreativecareer 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. Well, hi everyone. Welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset. We're glad to have you on board with us, wherever you happen to be. Hope the day is going well for you. Our guest today is Jeffrey Madoff, who is an a very creative kind of person. He has done a number of things in the entrepreneurial world. He has dealt with a lot of things regarding the creative side of the arts. He's written plays. He taught a course for 16 years, and he'll tell us about that. He's been a speaker in a variety of places. And I'm not going to go into all of that, because I think it'll be more fun if Jeffrey does it. So welcome to unstoppable mindset. We are really glad you're here and looking forward to having an hour of fun. And you know, as I mentioned to you once before, the only rule on the podcast is we both have to have fun, or it's not worth doing, right? So here Jeffrey Madoff ** 02:13 we are. Well, thanks for having me on. Michael, well, we're really glad Michael Hingson ** 02:17 you're here. Why don't we start as I love to do tell us kind of about the early Jeffrey growing up, and you know how you got where you are, a little bit or whatever. Jeffrey Madoff ** 02:28 Well, I was born in Akron, Ohio, which at that time was the rubber capital of the world. Ah, so that might explain some of my bounce and resilience. There Michael Hingson ** 02:40 you go. I was in Sandusky, Ohio last weekend, nice and cold, or last week, Jeffrey Madoff ** 02:44 yeah, I remember you were, you were going to be heading there. And, you know, Ohio, Akron, which is in northern Ohio, was a great place to grow up and then leave, you know, so my my childhood. I have many, many friends from my childhood, some who still live there. So it's actually I always enjoy going back, which doesn't happen all that often anymore, you know, because certain chapters in one's life close, like you know, when my when my parents died, there wasn't as much reason to go back, and because the friends that I had there preferred to come to New York rather than me go to Akron. But, you know, Akron was a great place to live, and I'm very fortunate. I think what makes a great place a great place is the people you meet, the experiences you have. Mm, hmm, and I met a lot of really good people, and I was very close with my parents, who were entrepreneurs. My mom and dad both were so I come by that aspect of my life very honestly, because they modeled the behavior. And I have an older sister, and she's also an entrepreneur, so I think that's part of the genetic code of our family is doing that. And actually, both of my kids have their own business, and my wife was entrepreneurial. So some of those things just carry forward, because it's kind of what, you know, what did your parents do? My parents were independent retailers, and so they started by working in other stores, and then gradually, both of them, who were also very independent people, you know, started, started their own store, and then when they got married, they opened one together, and it was Women's and Children's retail clothing. And so I learned, I learned a lot from my folks, mainly from the. Behavior that I saw growing up. I don't think you can really lecture kids and teach them anything, yeah, but you can be a very powerful teacher through example, both bad and good. Fortunately, my parents were good examples. I think Michael Hingson ** 05:14 that kids really are a whole lot more perceptive than than people think sometimes, and you're absolutely right, lecturing them and telling them things, especially when you go off and do something different than you tell them to do, never works. They're going to see right through it. Jeffrey Madoff ** 05:31 That's right. That's right. And you know, my kids are very bright, and there was never anything we couldn't talk about. And I had that same thing with my parents, you know, particularly my dad. But I had the same thing with both my parents. There was just this kind of understanding that community, open communication is the best communication and dealing with things as they came up was the best way to deal with things. And so it was, it was, it was really good, because my kids are the same way. You know, there was always discussions and questioning. And to this day, and I have twins, I have a boy and girl that are 31 years old and very I'm very proud of them and the people that they have become, and are still becoming, Michael Hingson ** 06:31 well and still becoming is really the operative part of that. I think we all should constantly be learning, and we should, should never decide we've learned all there is to learn, because that won't happen. There's always something new, Jeffrey Madoff ** 06:44 and that's really what's fun. I think that you know for creativity and life at large, that constant curiosity and learning is fuel that keeps things moving forward, and can kindle the flame that lights up into inspiration, whether you're writing a book or a song or whatever it is, whatever expression one may have, I think that's where it originates. Is curiosity. You're trying to answer a question or solve a problem or something. Yeah, Michael Hingson ** 07:20 and sometimes you're not, and it's just a matter of doing. And it doesn't always have to be some agenda somewhere, but it's good to just be able to continue to grow. And all too often, we get so locked into agendas that we don't look at the rest of the world around us. Jeffrey Madoff ** 07:41 I Well, I would say the the agenda in and of itself, staying curious, I guess an overarching part of my agenda, but it's not to try to get something from somebody else, right, other than knowledge, right? And so I guess I do have an agenda in that. That's what I find interesting. Michael Hingson ** 08:02 I can accept that that makes sense. Jeffrey Madoff ** 08:06 Well, maybe one of the few things I say that does so thank you. Michael Hingson ** 08:10 I wasn't even thinking of that as an agenda, but just a way of life. But I hear what you're saying. It makes sense. Oh, there are Jeffrey Madoff ** 08:17 people that I've certainly met you may have, and your listeners may have, also that there always is some kind of, I wouldn't call it agenda, a transactional aspect to what they're doing. And that transactional aspect one could call an agenda, which isn't about mutual interest, it's more what I can get and or what I can sell you, or what I can convince you of, or whatever. And I to me, it's the the process is what's so interesting, the process of questioning, the process of learning, the process of expressing, all of those things I think are very powerful, yeah, Michael Hingson ** 09:03 yeah, I hear what you're saying. So for you, you were an Akron did you go to college there? Or what did you do after high school? So Jeffrey Madoff ** 09:11 after high school, I went to the University of Wisconsin, ah, Madison, which is a fantastic place. That's right, badgers, that's right. And, and what really cinched the deal was when I went to visit the school. I mean, it was so different when I was a kid, because, you know, nowadays, the kids that my kids grew up with, you know, the parents would visit 18 schools, and they would, you know, they would, they would file for admission to 15 schools. And I did one in my parents. I said to them, can I take the car? I want to go check out the University. I was actually looking at Northwestern and the University of Wisconsin. And. And I was in Evanston, where Northwestern is located. I didn't see any kids around, and, you know, I had my parents car, and I finally saw a group of kids, and I said, where is everybody? I said, Well, it's exam week. Everybody's in studying. Oh, I rolled up the window, and without getting out of the car, continued on to Madison. And when I got to Madison, I was meeting somebody behind the Student Union. And my favorite band at that time, which was the Paul Butterfield blues band, was giving a free concert. So I went behind the Student Union, and it's a beautiful, idyllic place, lakes and sailboats and just really gorgeous. And my favorite band is giving a free concert. So decision made, I'm going University of Wisconsin, and it was a great place. Michael Hingson ** 10:51 I remember when I was looking at colleges. We got several letters. Got I wanted to major in physics. I was always science oriented. Got a letter from Dartmouth saying you ought to consider applying, and got some other letters. We looked at some catalogs, and I don't even remember how the subject came up, but we discovered this University California campus, University California at Irvine, and it was a new campus, and that attracted me, because although physically, it was very large, there were only a few buildings on it. The total population of undergraduates was 2700 students, not that way today, but it was back when I went there, and that attracted me. So we reached out to the chair of the physics department, whose name we got out of the catalog, and asked Dr Ford if we could come and meet with him and see if he thought it would be a good fit. And it was over the summer between my junior and senior year, and we went down, and we chatted with him for about an hour, and he he talked a little physics to me and asked a few questions, and I answered them, and he said, you know, you would do great here. You should apply. And I did, and I was accepted, and that was it, and I've never regretted that. And I actually went all the way through and got my master's degree staying at UC Irvine, because it was a great campus. There were some professors who weren't overly teaching oriented, because they were so you research oriented, but mostly the teachers were pretty good, and we had a lot of fun, and there were a lot of good other activities, like I worked with the campus radio station and so on. So I hear what you're saying, and it's the things that attract you to a campus. Those count. Oh, Jeffrey Madoff ** 12:35 yeah. I mean, because what can you really do on a visit? You know, it's like kicking the tires of a car, right? You know? Does it feel right? Is there something that I mean, sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you do meet a faculty member or someone that you really connect with, and that causes you to really like the place, but you don't really know until you're kind of there, right? And Madison ended up being a wonderful choice. I loved it. I had a double major in philosophy and psychology. You know, my my reasoning being, what two things do I find really interesting that there is no path to making a good income from Oh, philosophy and psychology. That works Michael Hingson ** 13:22 well you possibly can from psychology, but philosophy, not hardly Jeffrey Madoff ** 13:26 No, no. But, you know, the thing that was so great about it, going back to the term we used earlier, curiosity in the fuel, what I loved about both, you know, philosophy and psychology used to be cross listed. They were this under the same heading. It was in 1932 when the Encyclopedia Britannica approached Sigmund Freud to write a separate entry for psychology, and that was the first time the two disciplines, philosophy and psychology, were split apart, and Freud wrote that entry, and forever since, it became its own discipline, but the questions that one asks, or the questions that are posed in Both philosophy and psychology, I still, to this day, find fascinating. And, you know, thinking about thinking and how you think about things, I always find very, very interesting. Michael Hingson ** 14:33 Yeah, and the whole, the whole process, how do you get from here to there? How do you deal with anything that comes up, whether it's a challenge or just fulfilling the life choices that you make and so on. And philosophy and psychology, in a sense, I think, really are significantly different, but they're both very much thinking oriented. Jeffrey Madoff ** 14:57 Oh, absolutely, it. And you know, philosophy means study of life, right? What psychology is, yeah, so I understand why they were bonded, and now, you know, understand why they also separated. Yeah, Michael Hingson ** 15:15 I'll have to go look up what Freud said. I have never read that, but I will go find it. I'm curious. Yeah, Jeffrey Madoff ** 15:23 it's it's so interesting. It's so interesting to me, because whether you believe in Freud or not, you if you are knowledgeable at all, the impact that he had on the world to this day is staggeringly significant. Yeah, because nobody was at posing those questions before, yeah, Michael Hingson ** 15:46 yeah. And there's, there's no doubt that that he has had a major contribution to a lot of things regarding life, and you're right, whether you buy into the view that he had of a lot of things isn't, isn't really the issue, but it still is that he had a lot of relevant and interesting things to say, and he helps people think that's right, that's right. Well, so what did you do? So you had a double major? Did you go on and do any advanced degree work? No, Jeffrey Madoff ** 16:17 you know it was interesting because I had thought about it because I liked philosophy so much. And I approached this professor who was very noted, Ivan Saul, who was one of the world Hegelian scholars, and I approached him to be my advisor. And he said, Why do you want me to be your advisor? And I said, because you're one of the most published and respected authors on that subject. And if I'm going to have an advisor, I might as well go for the person that might help me the most and mean the most if I apply to graduate schools. So I did in that case certainly had an agenda. Yeah, and, and he said, you know, Jeff, I just got back from the world Hegelian conference in Munich, and I found it very depressing as and he just paused, and I said, why'd you find it depressing? And he said, Well, there's only one or two other people in the world that I can speak to about Hegel. And I said, Well, maybe you want to choose a different topic so you can make more friends. That depressing. That doesn't sound like it's a mix, you know, good fit for life, right? But so I didn't continue to graduate studies. I took graduate courses. I started graduate courses the second semester of my sophomore year. But I thought, I don't know. I don't want to, I don't want to gain this knowledge that the only thing I can do is pass it on to others. It's kind of like breathing stale air or leaving the windows shut. I wanted to be in a world where there was an idea exchange, which I thought would be a lot more interesting. Yeah. And so there was a brief period where I thought I would get a doctorate and do that, and I love teaching, but I never wanted to. That's not what I wanted to pursue for those reasons. Michael Hingson ** 18:35 So what did you end up doing then, once you got Jeffrey Madoff ** 18:37 out of college? Well, there was a must have done something I did. And there's a little boutique, and in Madison that I did the buying for. And it was this very hip little clothing store. And Madison, because it was a big campus, you know, in the major rock bands would tour, they would come into the store because we had unusual things that I would find in New York, you know, when I was doing the buying for it, and I get a phone call from a friend of mine, a kid that I grew up with, and he was a year older, he had graduated school a year before me, and he said, Can you think of a gig that would earn more than bank interest? You know, I've saved up this money. Can you think of anything? And I said, Well, I see what we design. I mean, I see what we sell, and I could always draw. So I felt like I could design. I said, I'll start a clothing company. And Michael, I had not a clue in terms of what I was committing myself to. I was very naive, but not stupid. You know, was ignorant, but not stupid. And different. The difference between being ignorant and being stupid is ignorant. You can. Learn stupids forever, yeah, and that started me on this learning lesson, an entrepreneurial learning lesson, and there was, you know, quite formative for me. And the company was doubling in size every four months, every three months, and it was getting pretty big pretty quick. And you know, I was flying by the seat of my pants. I didn't really know what I was doing, but what I discovered is I had, you know, saleable taste. And I mean, when I was working in this store, I got some of the sewers who did the alterations to make some of my drawings, and I cut apart a shirt that I liked the way it fit, so I could see what the pieces are, and kind of figure out how this all worked. So but when I would go to a store and I would see fabric on the bolt, meaning it hadn't been made into anything, I was so naive. I thought that was wholesale, you know, which it wasn't and but I learned quickly, because it was like you learn quickly, or you go off the edge of a cliff, you go out of business. So it taught me a lot of things. And you know the title of your podcast, the unstoppable, that's part of what you learn in business. If you're going to survive, you've gotta be resilient enough to get up, because you're going to get knocked down. You have to persevere, because there are people that are going to that you're competing with, and there are things that are things that are going to happen that are going to make you want to give up, but that perseverance, that resilience, I think probably creativity, is third. I think it's a close call between perseverance and resilience, because those are really important criteria for a personality profile to have if you're going to succeed in business as an entrepreneur. Michael Hingson ** 22:05 You know, Einstein once said, or at least he's credited with saying, that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results, right and and the reality is that good, resilient. People will look at things that didn't go right, and if they really look at them, they'll go, I didn't fail. Yeah, maybe I didn't go right. I may have made a mistake, or something wasn't quite right. What do I do to fix it so that the next time, we won't have the same problem? And I think that's so important. I wrote my book last year, live like a guide dog, true stories from a blind man and his dogs about being brave, overcoming adversity and moving forward in faith. And it's all about learning to control fear, but it's also all about learning from dogs. I've had eight guide dogs, and my wife had a service dog, and it's all about learning from dogs and seeing why they live in an environment where we are and they feed off of us, if you will. But at the same time, what they don't do is fear like we do. They're open to trust, and we tend not to be because we worry about so many things, rather than just looking at the world and just dealing with our part of it. So it is, it is interesting to to hear you talk about resilience. I think you're absolutely right that resilience is extremely important. Perseverance is important, and they do go together, but you you have to analyze what it is that makes you resilient, or what it is that you need to do to keep being resilient. Jeffrey Madoff ** 23:48 Well, you're right. And one of the questions that you alluded to the course that I taught for 16 years at Parsons School of Design, which was my course, was called creative careers, making a living with your ideas. And I would ask the students, how many of you are afraid of failing? And probably more than three quarters of the class, their hands went up, and I said to them, you know, if that fear stops you, you'll never do anything interesting, because creativity, true creativity, by necessity, takes you up to and beyond the boundaries. And so it's not going to be always embraced. And you know, failure, I think everyone has to define it for themselves. But I think failure, to me, is and you hear that, you know, failure is a great way to learn. I mean, it's a way. To learn, but it's never not painful, you know, and it, but it is a way to learn if you're paying attention and if you are open to that notion, which I am and was, because, you know, that kind of risk is a necessary part of creativity, going where you hadn't gone before, to try to find solutions that you hadn't done before, and seeing what works. And of course, there's going to be things that don't, but it's only failure if you stop doing what is important to you. Yeah, Michael Hingson ** 25:39 well, I think you're absolutely right. And one of the things that I used to do and still do, but it started when I was working as program director of our radio station at UC Irvine, was I wanted people to hear what they sounded like on the radio, because I always listened to what I said, and I know it helped me, but getting the other radio personalities to listen to themselves was was well, like herding cats, it just wasn't doable. And what we finally did is we set up, I and the engineer of the radio station, set up a recorder in a locked cabinet, and whenever the board went on in the main studio, the microphone went on, it recorded. So we didn't need to worry about the music. All we wanted was what the people said, and then we would give people the cassettes. And one of the things that I started saying then, and I said it until, like about a year ago, was, you know, you're your own worst critic, if you can learn to grow from it, or if you can learn to see what's a problem and go on, then that's great. What I learned over the last year and thought about is I'm really not my own worst critic. I'm my own best teacher, because I'm the only one who can really teach me anything, and it's better to shape it in a positive way. So I am my own best teacher. And so I think you're right. If you really want to talk about the concept of failure, failure is when you won't get back up. Failure is when you won't do anything to learn and grow from whatever happens to you, even the good stuff. Could I have done it better? Those are all very important things to do. Jeffrey Madoff ** 27:19 No, I agree. So why did you think it was important for them to hear their voice? Michael Hingson ** 27:25 Because I wanted them to hear what everyone else heard. I wanted them to hear what they sounded like to their listeners. And the reality is, when we got them to do that, it was, I say it was incredible, but it wasn't a surprise to me how much better they got. And some of those people ended up going into radio broadcasting, going into other kinds of things, but they really learned to hear what everyone else heard. And they they learned how to talk better. They learn what they really needed to improve upon, or they learn what wasn't sounding very good to everyone else, and they changed their habits. Jeffrey Madoff ** 28:13 Interesting, interesting. So, so part of that also helps them establish a certain on air identity. I would imagine finding their own voice, so to speak, right, Michael Hingson ** 28:30 or finding a better voice than they than they had, and certainly a better voice than they thought they had. Well, they thought they had a good voice, and they realized maybe it could be better. And the ones who learned, and most of them really did learn from it, came out the better for it. Jeffrey Madoff ** 28:49 So let me ask you a personal question. You have been sightless since birth? Is that correct? Michael Hingson ** 28:56 Yeah, I've been blind since birth. And Jeffrey Madoff ** 28:59 so on a certain level, I was trying to think about this the other night, and how can I phrase this? On a certain level, you don't know what you look like, Michael Hingson ** 29:15 and from the standpoint of how you look at it, yeah, yeah. Jeffrey Madoff ** 29:19 And so, so two, that's two questions. One is so many of us for good and bad, our identity has to do with visual first, how do you assess that new person? Michael Hingson ** 29:39 I don't look at it from a visual standpoint as such. I look at it from all the other senses that I have and use, but I also listen to the person and see how we interact and react to. Each other, and from that, I can draw pretty good conclusions about what an individual is like, so that I can decide if that's a a lovely person, male or female, because I'm using lovely in the sense of it's the kind of person I want to know or not, and so I don't obviously look at it from a visual standpoint. And although I know Helen Keller did it some, I'm not into feeling faces. When I was in college, I tried to convince girls that they should let me teach them Braille, but they had no interest in me showing them Braille, so we didn't do that. I actually a friend of mine and I once went to a girls dorm, and we put up a sign. Wanted young female assistant to aid in scientific Braille research, but that didn't go anywhere either. So we didn't do it. But so Braille pickup. Oh, Braille pickup. On the other hand, I had my guide dog who was in in my current guide dog is just the same chick magnet right from the get go, but, but the the reality is that visual is, I think there's a lot to be said for beauty is only skin deep in a lot of ways. And I think that it's important that we go far beyond just what one person looks like. People ask me all the time, well, if you could see again, would you? Or if you could see, would you? And my response is, I don't need to. I think there's value in it. It is a sense. I think it would be a great adventure, but I'm not going to spend my life worrying about that. Blindness isn't what defines me, and what defines me is how I behave, how I am, how I learn and grow, and what I do to be a part of society and and hopefully help society. I think that's more important. Jeffrey Madoff ** 31:53 You know, I agree with you, and it's it's also having been blind since birth. It's not like you had a you had an aspect that you lost for some reason, right? Michael Hingson ** 32:04 But I know some people who became blind later in life, who attended centers where they could learn about what it was like to be blind and learn to be a blind person and and really adapted to that philosophy and continue to do what they did even before they lost their their eyesight, and were just as successful as they ever were, because it wasn't so much about having eyesight, although that is a challenge when you lose it, but it was more important to learn that you could find alternatives to do the same things that you did before. So Jeffrey Madoff ** 32:41 if you ever have read Marvel Comics, and you know Daredevil has a heightened sense of a vision, or you know that certain things turn into a different advantage, is there that kind of in real life, compensatory heightened awareness of other senses. Michael Hingson ** 33:08 And the answer is not directly. The answer is, if you choose to heighten those senses and learn to use them, then they can be a help. It's like SEAL Team Six, or Rangers, or whatever, they learn how to observe. And for them, observing goes far beyond just using their eyesight to be able to spot things, although they they certainly use that, but they have heightened all of their other senses because they've trained them and they've taught themselves how to use those senses. It's not an automatic process by any definition at all. It's not automatic. You have to learn to do it. There are some blind people who have, have learned to do that, and there are a number that have not. People have said, well, you know, could any blind person get out of the World Trade Center, and like you did, and my response is, it depends on the individual, not necessarily, because there's so many factors that go into it. If you are so afraid when something like the World Trade Center events happen that you become blinded by fear, then you're going to have a much harder time getting out than if you let fear be a guide and use it to heighten the senses that you have during the time that you need that to occur. And that's one of the things that live like a guide dog is all about, is teaching people to learn to control fear, so that in reality, they find they're much more effective, because when something happens, they don't expect they adopt and adapt to having a mindset that says, I can get through this, and fear is going to help. Jeffrey Madoff ** 34:53 That's fascinating. So one I could go on in this direction, I'll ask you, one, one other. Question is, how would you describe your dreams? Michael Hingson ** 35:08 Probably the same way you would, except for me, dreaming is primarily in audio and other interactions and not using eyesight. But at the same time, I understand what eyesight is about, because I've thought about it a lot, and I appreciate that the process is not something that I have, but I understand it, and I can talk about light and eyesight all day. I can I when I was when it was discovered that I was blind for the first several years, I did have some light perception. I never as such, really even could see shadows, but I had some light perception. But if I were to be asked, How would you describe what it's like to see light? I'm not sure how I would do that. It's like asking you tell me what it's like to see put it into words so that it makes me feel what you feel when you see. And it's not the excitement of seeing, but it's the sensation. How do you describe that sensation? Or how do you describe the sensation of hearing their their senses? But I've yet to really encounter someone who can put those into words that will draw you in. And I say that from the standpoint of having done literally hundreds or 1000s of speeches telling my story about being in the World Trade Center, and what I tell people today is we have a whole generation of people who have never experienced or had no memory of the World Trade Center, and we have another generation that saw it mainly from TV and pictures. So they their, their view of it was extremely small. And my job, when I speak is to literally bring them in the building and describe what is occurring to me in such a way that they're with me as we're going down the stairs. And I've learned how to do that, but describing to someone what it's like to see or to hear, I haven't found words that can truly do that yet. Oh, Jeffrey Madoff ** 37:15 fascinating. Thank you. Michael Hingson ** 37:20 Well, tell me about creativity. I mean, you do a lot of of things, obviously, with with creativity. So what is creativity? Jeffrey Madoff ** 37:29 I think that creativity is the compelling need to express, and that can manifest in many, many, many different ways. You have that, you know, just it was fascinating here you talk about you, describing what happened in Twin Towers, you know. And so, I think, you know, you had a compelling need to process what was a historic and extraordinary event through that unique perception that you have, and taking the person, as you said, along with you on that journey, you know, down the stairs and out of the Building. I think it was what 78 stories or something, right? And so I think that creativity, in terms of a trait, is that it's a personality trait that has a compelling need to express in some way. And I think that there is no such thing as the lightning bolt that hits and all of a sudden you come up with the idea for the great novel, The great painting, the great dance, the great piece of music. We are taking in influences all the time and percolating those influences, and they may come out, in my case, hopefully they've come out in the play that I wrote, personality and because if it doesn't relate to anybody else, and you're only talking to yourself, that's you know, not, not. The goal, right? The play is to have an audience. The goal of your book is to have readers. And by the way, did your book come out in Braille? Michael Hingson ** 39:31 Um, yeah, it, it is available in Braille. It's a bit. Actually, all three of my books are available in with their on demand. They can be produced in braille, and they're also available in audio formats as well. Great. Jeffrey Madoff ** 39:43 That's great. So, yeah, I think that person, I think that creativity is it is a fascinating topic, because I think that when you're a kid, oftentimes you're told more often not. To do certain things than to do certain things. And I think that you know, when you're creative and you put your ideas out there at a very young age, you can learn shame. You know, people don't like what you do, or make fun of what you do, or they may like it, and it may be great, but if there's, you know, you're opened up to that risk of other people's judgment. And I think that people start retreating from that at a very young age. Could because of parents, could because of teachers, could because of their peer group, but they learn maybe in terms of what they think is emotional survival, although would never be articulated that way, at putting their stuff out there, they can be judged, and they don't like being judged, and that's a very uncomfortable place to be. So I think creativity is both an expression and a process. Michael Hingson ** 40:59 Well, I'll and I think, I think you're right, and I think that it is, it is unfortunate all too often, as you said, how children are told don't do this or just do that, but don't do this, and no, very few people take the next logical step, which is to really help the child understand why they said that it isn't just don't. It should be. Why not? One of my favorite stories is about a student in school once and was taking a philosophy class. You'll probably have heard this, but he and his classmates went in for the final exam, and the instructor wrote one word on the board, which was why? And then everybody started to write. And they were writing furiously this. This student sat there for a couple of minutes, wrote something on a paper, took it up, handed it in, and left. And when the grades came out, he was the only one who got an A. And the reason is, is because what he put on his paper was, why not, you know, and, and that's very, very valid question to ask. But the reality is, if we really would do more to help people understand, we would be so much better off. But rather than just telling somebody what to do, it's important to understand why? Jeffrey Madoff ** 42:22 Yeah, I remember when I was in I used to draw all the time, and my parents would bring home craft paper from the store that was used to wrap packets. And so they would bring me home big sheets I could do whatever I wanted on it, you know, and I would draw. And in school I would draw. And when art period happened once or twice a week, and the teacher would come in with her cart and I was drawing, that was when this was in, like, the middle 50s, and Davy Crockett was really a big deal, and I was drawing quite an intricate picture of the battle at the Alamo. And the teacher came over to me and said she wanted us to do crayon resist, which is, you know, they the watercolors won't go over the the crayon part because of the wax and the crayon. And so you would get a different thing that never looked good, no matter who did it, right? And so the teacher said to me, what are you doing? And I said, Well, I'm drawing. It's and she said, Why are you drawing? I said, Well, it's art class, isn't it? She said, No, I told you what to do. And I said, Yeah, but I wanted to do this. And she said, Well, you do what I tell you, where you sit there with your hands folded, and I sat there with my hands folded. You know I wasn't going to be cowed by her. And I've thought back on that story so often, because so often you get shut down. And when you get shut down in a strong way, and you're a kid, you don't want to tread on that land again. Yeah, you're afraid, Michael Hingson ** 44:20 yeah. Yeah. And maybe there was a good reason that she wanted you to do what she wanted, but she should have taken the time to explain that right, right now, of course, my question is, since you did that drawing with the Alamo and so on, I'm presuming that Davy Crockett looked like Fess Parker, right? Just checking, Jeffrey Madoff ** 44:42 yeah, yep, yeah. And my parents even got me a coon Michael Hingson ** 44:47 skin hat. There you go, Daniel Boone and David Crockett and Jeffrey Madoff ** 44:51 Davy Crockett and so there were two out there. Mine was actually a full coon skin cap with the tail. And other kids had it where the top of it was vinyl, and it had the Disney logo and a picture of Fess Parker. And I said, Now I don't want something, you know, and you are correct, you are correct. It was based on fess Barker. I think Michael Hingson ** 45:17 I have, I had a coons kid cap, and I think I still do somewhere. I'm not quite sure where it is, but it was a real coonskin cap with a cake with a tail. Jeffrey Madoff ** 45:26 And does your tail snap off? Um, no, yeah, mine. Mine did the worst thing about the coonskin cap, which I thought was pretty cool initially, when it rained, it was, you know, like you had some wet animal on your Well, yes, yeah, as you did, she did, yeah, animal on your head, right? Wasn't the most aromatic of the hub. No, Michael Hingson ** 45:54 no, it's but Huh, you got to live with it. That's right. So what is the key to having great creative collaborations? I love collaborating when I wrote my original book, Thunder dog, and then running with Roselle, and then finally, live like a guide dog. I love the idea of collaborating, and I think it made all three of the books better than if it had just been me, or if I had just let someone else do it, because we're bringing two personalities into it and making the process meld our ideas together to create a stronger process. Jeffrey Madoff ** 46:34 I completely agree with you, and collaboration, for instance, in my play personality, the director Sheldon apps is a fantastic collaborator, and as a result, has helped me to be a better writer, because he would issue other challenges, like, you know, what if we looked at it this way instead of that way? What if you gave that power, that that character, the power in that scene, rather than the Lloyd character? And I loved those kinds of challenges. And the key to a good collaboration is pretty simple, but it doesn't happen often enough. Number one is listening. You aren't going to have a good collaboration if you don't listen. If you just want to interrupt and shut the other person down and get your opinion out there and not listen, that's not going to be good. That's not going to bode well. And it's being open. So people need to know that they're heard. You can do that a number of ways. You can sort of repeat part of what they said, just so I want to understand. So you were saying that the Alamo situation, did you have Davy Crockett up there swinging the rifle, you know? So the collaboration, listening, respect for opinions that aren't yours. And you know, don't try to just defeat everything out of hand, because it's not your idea. And trust developing a trust with your collaborators, so that you have a clearly defined mission from the get go, to make whatever it is better, not just the expression of one person's will over another. And I think if you share that mission, share that goal, that the other person has earned your trust and vice versa, that you listen and acknowledge, then I think you can have great collaboration. And I've had a number of great collaborators. I think I'm a good collaborator because I sort of instinctively knew those things, and then working with Sheldon over these last few years made it even more so. And so that's what I think makes a really great collaboration. Michael Hingson ** 49:03 So tell me about the play personality. What's it about? Or what can you tell us about it without giving the whole thing away? Jeffrey Madoff ** 49:10 So have you ever heard of Lloyd Price? Michael Hingson ** 49:14 The name is familiar. So that's Jeffrey Madoff ** 49:16 the answer that I usually get is, I'm not really sure. Yeah, it's kind of familiar. And I said, Well, you don't, probably don't know his name, but I'll bet you know his music. And I then apologize in advance for my singing, you know, cause you've got walk, personality, talk, personality, smile, oh yeah, yeah. I love that song, you know. Yeah. Do you know that song once I did that, yes, yeah. So Lloyd was black. He grew up in Kenner, Louisiana. It was he was in a place where blacks were expected to know their place. And. And if it was raining and a white man passed, you'd have to step into a mud puddle to let them pass, rather than just working by each other. And he was it was a tough situation. This is back in the late 1930s and what Lloyd knew is that he wanted to get out of Kenner, and music could be his ticket. And the first thing that the Lloyd character says in the play is there's a big dance opening number, and first thing that his character says is, my mama wasn't a whore. My dad didn't leave us. I didn't learn how to sing in church, and I never did drugs. I want to get that out of the way up front. And I wanted to just blow up all the tropes, because that's who Lloyd was, yeah, and he didn't drink, he didn't learn how to sing in church. And, you know, there's sort of this baked in narrative, you know, then then drug abuse, and you then have redeemed yourself. Well, he wasn't like that. He was entrepreneurial. He was the first. He was the it was really interesting at the time of his first record, 1952 when he recorded Lottie, Miss Claudia, which has been covered by Elvis and the Beatles and Bruce Springsteen and on and on. There's like 370 covers of it. If you wanted to buy a record by a black artist, you had to go to a black owned record store. His records couldn't get on a jukebox if it was owned by a white person. But what happened was that was the first song by a teenager that sold over a million copies. And nobody was prejudiced against green, which is money. And so Lloyd's career took off, and it The story tells about the the trajectory of his career, the obstacles he had to overcome, the triumphs that he experienced, and he was an amazing guy. I had been hired to direct, produce and direct a short documentary about Lloyd, which I did, and part of the research was interviewing him, and we became very good friends. And when I didn't know anything about him, but I knew I liked his music, and when I learned more about him, I said, Lloyd, you've got an amazing story. Your story needs to be told. And I wrote the first few scenes. He loved what I wrote. And he said, Jeff, I want you to do this. And I said, thank you. I want to do it, but there's one other thing you need to know. And he said, What's that? And I said, You're the vessel. You're the messenger, but your story is bigger than you are. And he said, Jeff, I've been waiting for years for somebody to say that to me, rather than just blowing more smoke up my ass. Yeah. And that started our our collaboration together and the story. And it was a great relationship. Lloyd died in May of 21 and we had become very close, and the fact that he trusted me to tell his story is of huge significance to me. And the fact that we have gotten such great response, we've had two commercial runs. We're moving the show to London, is is is really exciting. And the fact that Lloyd, as a result of his talent and creativity, shattered that wall that was called Race music in race records, once everybody understood on the other side that they could profit from it. So there's a lot of story in there that's got a lot of meat, and his great music Michael Hingson ** 54:04 that's so cool and and so is it? Is it performing now anywhere, or is it? No, we're Jeffrey Madoff ** 54:12 in between. We're looking actually, I have a meeting this this week. Today is February 11. I have a meeting on I think it's Friday 14th, with my management in London, because we're trying to get a theater there. We did there in October, and got great response, and now we're looking to find a theater there. Michael Hingson ** 54:37 So what are the chance we're going to see it on Broadway? Jeffrey Madoff ** 54:41 I hope a very good chance Broadway is a very at this point in Broadway's history. It's it's almost prohibitively expensive to produce on Broadway, the West End has the same cache and. Yeah, because, you know, you think of there's that obscure British writer who wrote plays called William Shakespeare. You may have heard of Michael Hingson ** 55:07 him, yeah, heard of the guy somewhere, like, like, I've heard of Lloyd Price, yeah, that's Jeffrey Madoff ** 55:15 it. And so I think that Broadway is certainly on the radar. The first step for us, the first the big step before Broadway is the West End in London. Yeah, Michael Hingson ** 55:30 that's a great place to go. It is. Jeffrey Madoff ** 55:32 I love it, and I speak the language, so it's good. Well, there you Michael Hingson ** 55:35 are. That helps. Yes, well, you're a very creative kind of individual by any standard. Do you ever get involved with or have you ever faced the whole concept of imposter syndrome? Jeffrey Madoff ** 55:48 Interesting, you mentioned that the answer is no, and I'll tell you why it's no. And you know, I do a fair amount of speaking engagements and that sort of thing, and that comes up particularly with women, by the way, imposter syndrome, and my point of view on it is, you know, we're not imposters. If you're not trying to con somebody and lying about what you do, you're a work in progress, and you're moving towards whatever it is that your goals are. So when my play became a produced commercial piece of theater and I was notarized as a playwright, why was that same person the day before that performance happened? And so I think that rather than looking at it as imposter, I look at it as a part of the process, and a part of the process is gaining that credibility, and you have to give yourself permission to keep moving forward. And I think it's very powerful that if you declare yourself and define yourself rather than letting people define you. So I think that that imposter syndrome comes from that fear, and to me, instead of fear, just realize you're involved in the process and so you are, whatever that process is. And again, it's different if somebody's trying to con you and lie to you, but in terms of the creativity, and whether you call yourself a painter or a musician or a playwright or whatever, if you're working towards doing that, that's what you do. And nobody starts off full blown as a hit, so to speak. Yeah, Michael Hingson ** 57:44 well, I think you're absolutely right, and I think that it's all about not trying to con someone. And when you are doing what you do, and other people are involved, they also deserve credit, and people like you probably have no problem with making sure that others who deserve credit get the credit. Oh, absolutely, yeah, I'm the same way. I am absolutely of the opinion that it goes back to collaboration. When we're collaborating, I'm I'm very happy to talk about the fact that although I started the whole concept of live like a guide dog, carry Wyatt Kent and I worked on it together, and the two of us work on it together. It's both our books. So each of us can call it our book, but it is a collaborative effort, and I think that's so important to be able to do, Jeffrey Madoff ** 58:30 oh, absolutely, absolutely, you know, the stuff that I was telling you about Sheldon, the director, you know, and that he has helped me to become a better writer, you know, and and when, as as obviously, you have experienced too, when you have a fruitful collaboration, it's fabulous, because you're both working together to create the best possible result, as opposed to self aggrandizement, right? Michael Hingson ** 59:03 Yeah, it is. It is for the things that I do. It's not about me and I and I say it all the time when I'm talking to people who I'd like to have hire me to be a speaker. It's not about me, it's about their event. And I believe I can add value, and here's why I think I can add value, but it's not about me, it's about you and your event, right? And it's so important if, if you were to give some advice to somebody starting out, or who wants to be creative, or more creative and so on, what kind of advice would you give them? Jeffrey Madoff ** 59:38 I would say it's more life advice, which is, don't be afraid of creative risk, because the only thing that you have that nobody else has is who you are. So how you express who you are in the most unique way of who you are? So that is going to be what defines your work. And so I think that it's really important to also realize that things are hard and always take more time than you think they should, and that's just part of the process. So it's not easy. There's all these things out there in social media now that are bull that how people talk about the growth of their business and all of this stuff, there's no recipe for success. There are best practices, but there's no recipes for it. So however you achieve that, and however you achieve making your work better and gaining the attention of others, just understand it's a lot of hard work. It's going to take longer than you thought, and it's can be incredibly satisfying when you hit certain milestones, and don't forget to celebrate those milestones, because that's what's going to give you the strength to keep going forward. Michael Hingson ** 1:01:07 Absolutely, it is really about celebrating the milestones and celebrating every success you have along the way, because the successes will build to a bigger success. That's right, which is so cool. Well, this has been a lot of fun. We've been doing this for an hour. Can you believe it? That's been great. It has been and I really appreciate you being here, and I I want to thank all of you who are listening, but please tell your friends to get into this episode as well. And we really value your comments, so please feel free to write me. I would love to know what you thought about today. I'm easy to reach. It's Michael M, I C H, A, E, L, H i at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S i b, e.com, or you can always go to our podcast page, which is Michael hingson, M, I C H, A, E, L, H i N, G, s o n.com/podcast, where you can listen to or access all the of our podcasts, but they're also available, as most likely you've discovered, wherever you can find podcasts, so you can get them on Apple and all those places and wherever you're listening. We do hope you'll give us a five star review. We really value your reviews, and Jeff has really given us a lot of great insights today, and I hope that you all value that as well. So we really would appreciate a five star rating wherever you're listening to us, and that you'll come back and hear some more episodes with us. If you know of anyone who ought to be a guest, Jeff, you as well. Love You to refer people to me. I'm always looking for more people to have on because I do believe that everyone in the world is unstoppable if you learn how to accept that and move forward. And that gets back to our whole discussion earlier about failure or whatever, you can be unstoppable. That doesn't mean you're not going to have challenges along the way, but that's okay. So we hope that if you do know people who ought to be on the podcast, or if you want to be on the podcast and you've been listening, step up won't hurt you. But again, Jeff, I want to thank you for being here. This has been a lot of fun, and we really appreciate your time. Thank Jeffrey Madoff ** 1:03:16 you, Michael, for having you on. It was fun. You **Michael Hingson ** 1:03:23 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. 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In the fall of 1940, an employ of the Consolidated Edison Company in Manhattan discovered a bomb in the company's main offices, along with a note that read “Con Edison crooks – this is for you.” The bomb was discovered before it detonated and no one was harmed, but a year later the company received a second bomb, followed by a note to NYPD in which the bomber announced he would make no bombs for the duration of WWII, but would begin again as the war ended.As promised, a new series of bombings began across New York in the winter of 1951, beginning with an explosion at Grand Central Station. In the five years that followed, “The Mad Bomber,” as he would come to be known, would place explosives at some of New York's most iconic locations including Radio City Music Hall, Penn Station, and the New York Public Library. The bombs were often followed by cryptic letters sent to the press, usually referencing the Consolidated Edison Company.Th Mad Bomber's reign of terror finally came to an end with his capture in 1957, and neither the suspect nor his motives made much sense to the New Yorkers who'd lived in fear for five years.Thank you to the Incredible Dave White of Bring Me the Axe Podcast for research and Writing support!ReferencesAssociated Press. 1955. "The 'Mad Bomber' threatens Macy's." Buffalo News, May 5: 47.—. 1957. "'Bomber' sick but innocent, sisters say." Newsday, Janaury 22: 3.Baird, John, and Harry Schlegal. 1956. "Mad Bomber blast in B'klyn movie; 6 hurt." Daily News, December 3: 2.Berger, Meyer. 1957. "Bomber is booked; sent to Bellevue for mental tests." New York Times, January 23: 1.Demeusy, Gerald. 1981. "'Bomber' says life all broken dreams." Hartford Courant, November 16: 15.Greenburg, Michael M. 2011. The Mad Bomber of New York: The Extraordinary True Story of the Manhunt That Paralyzed a City. New York, NY: Union Square Press.Kaufman, Michael. 1973. "'Mad Bomber,' now 70, goes free." New York Times, December 13: 1.New York Times. 1957. "2d 'Bomber' note cites old injury." New York Times, January 16: 25.—. 1953. "A homemade bomb rips station locker." New York Times, May 7: 28.—. 1951. "Bomb blast in terminal: Homemade device explodes in Grand Central--no one is hurt." New York Times, March 30: 24.—. 1954. "Bomb in music hall injures 4 in crowd." New York Times, November 8: 1.—. 1951. "Bomb laid to prankster." New York Times, September 13: 33.—. 1957. "'Bomber' ordered to state hospital." New York Times, April 19: 44.—. 1957. "'Bomber' presses threat on utility." New York Times, January 11: 16.—. 1951. "Ex-Edison worker held in bomb case." New York Times, November 7: 32.—. 1966. "'Mad Bomber' to get hearing on sanity." New York Times, April 29: 17.—. 1957. "Metesky indicted on bomb charges." New York Times, January 31: 29.—. 1955. "Penn Station bomb blast is ignored by commuters." New York Times, Janaury 12: 11.—. 1951. "Police find bomb in Paramount Lounge; note spurs search for one at Penn Station." New York Times, October 23: 30.—. 1957. "Suspect is held as 'Mad Bomber'; he admits role." New York Times, January 22: 1.—. 1956. "The Mad Bomber." New York Times, December 30: B2.O'Kane, Lawrence. 1955. "Bomb left in Roxy; linked to 22 others." New York Times, August 12: 1.Parke, Richard. 1957. "Sisters shocked, loyal to brother." New York Times, January 23: 20.Sheridan, Mike. 1977. "Former Mad Bomber now a homebody." Hartford Courant, May 1: 22.Stay in the know - wondery.fm/morbid-wondery.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
They've been ambushed, again, and things aren't going well! Lucky didn't wait for three, Mina needs to be on her game, and Webbie only has one idea.The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within.Join the PCN Discord: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQA special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! Steve, Mel Cen, Mason D., Scazar, Sly Changeling, Bangarang, Craig S., Scumcat, Necromeat, Carlos, Okey A., Thomas S., theneilharris, Nemo R., Jari S., Manuel, Irishstu, Matthew, Anthony P., James J., Kyndra C., jay_dilf, Chris D., Oskar A., Handsome Andy, lil_willy, Kuaku, RandomGuy, Neckro, Bryan F., TheHarbingerPulsar, Ookfark, Thomas F., Therealmcasshole, Exile Creations, Tony M., KordixVR, Andrew W., Kilted Sparky, Oga, Astyria, BrooksHW, Cyril S., Josh, R Man, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R.Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)https://throne.com/professionalcasual
SHOWNOTES: Die Macht der Narrative – mit Frank WolfWarum gewinnen manche Unternehmen Vertrauen – und andere verlieren es im Sekundentakt?Frank Wolf, Mitgründer von Staffbase und Autor von The Narrative Age, erklärt, wie starke Narrative Vertrauen schaffen, Wandel ermöglichen und Marken führen.Ein Gespräch über Storytelling, strategische Kommunikation und die Frage, wie Führung heute gelingt.---------------------------------------------------------------------
Professor Michael Møller deler sin viden, hvordan aktieinvestorer kan investere både simpelt og billigt. Ideelt bør rådgivning ikke tage mere end 4 minutter, før modtageren hægtes af. Som altid har Michael spændende anekdoter at dele gennem sin mangeårige tilværelse i forskningsverdenen.Artikel:https://research.cbs.dk/en/publications/optimal-risikospredning-for-sm%C3%A5-aktieinvestorer-i-en-kompliceretFølg os på LinkedIn:André: www.linkedin.com/in/andréthormann/Intro musik:Deadly Roulette by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3625-deadly-rouletteLicense: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Dieses Special bei Carl-Auer Sounds of Science bietet eine Serie von Gesprächen mit Christine Erlach und Michael Müller, Autor:innen von In Aktanz gehen – wie man hinderliche Geschichten los wird. Was ist es, das über Aktanz in die Aufmerksamkeit gelangt? Wie kann der Möglichkeitssinn eröffnet werden dafür, die Schwere und Unbeweglichkeit festgefügter Narrative, die sich teils aus gewichtigen Erfahrungen gebaut haben, wieder in Bewegung, Entwicklung und Veränderung zu bringen? In neun „Ringen“ des Bewegens und des Ausprobierens, die auch dem Weg des Buches entsprechen, erläutern Michael Müller und Christine Erlach Experimente zur Praxis mit und für Aktanz. Die dritte Staffel bietet einen Einblick in die Ringe sieben bis neun. Dieses abschließende Gespräch zu Ring 9 ist überschrieben mit Sich dialogisch vernetzen. Retelling Aktanz ist die Überschrift des 23. der Experimente, die das inspirierende Buch bietet. Es steht beispielhaft für die paritätische Organisation von Dialog und Erzählen, die die feste, eher monologische Rollenzuschreibung von Erzähler:in und Zuhörer:in, Autor:in und Leser:in aufbricht und kreativ transformiert. Gerade für Führungskräfte eine bekannte Herausforderung. Mut zum Zuhören bedeutet nicht unbedingt das „Wohlfühl-Café“. Retelling erlaubt neue Wirklichkeitskonstruktionen, wo sich bisherige Narrative vielleicht zu sehr verdichtet haben. Wie kommt man über die Schwelle von hier nach dort und zu Aktanz? Und wie kann das in körpernahe, bewegte Erfahrung hin gestaltet werden? – Erläuterungen zum Aktanz-Canvas als Sortierhilfe runden, wie das Buch, auch diese Gesprächsreihe ab. Christine Erlach ist Diplom-Psychologin, Systemische Beraterin, Mitgründerin des Beraternetzwerkes NARRATA Consult sowie Leiterin von zertifizierten Weiterbildungen in den Bereichen „Professionelles Storytelling im Unternehmen“ und „Narrative Organisationsberatung“. Michael Müller ist Professor für Medienanalyse und Medienkonzeption an der Hochschule der Medien Stuttgart und gründete und leitet dort das „Institut für Angewandte Narrationsforschung“. Nach Tätigkeiten beim Siemens-Kulturprogramm und bei ProSieben Mitgründung der Beratungsfirma „System + Kommunikation“. _____________ Folgen Sie auch den anderen Podcasts von Carl-Auer: autobahnuniversität www.carl-auer.de/magazin/autobahnuniversitat Blackout, Bauchweh und kein` Bock www.carl-auer.de/magazin/blackout…eh-und-kein-bock Cybernetics of Cybernetics www.carl-auer.de/magazin/cybernet…s-of-cybernetics Genau Geschaut https://www.carl-auer.de/magazin/genau-geschaut Frauen führen besser www.carl-auer.de/magazin/frauen-fuhren-besser Formen (reloaded) Podcast www.carl-auer.de/magazin/formen-reloaded-podcast Heidelberger Systemische Interviews www.carl-auer.de/magazin/heidelbe…ische-interviews Zum Wachstum inspirieren www.carl-auer.de/magazin/zum-wachstum-inspirieren Zusammen entscheiden www.carl-auer.de/magazin/treffpunkt-entscheiden
Investigating the bodies has all kinds of speedbumps.The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within.Join the PCN Discord: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQA special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! Steve, Mel Cen, Mason D., Scazar, Sly Changeling, Bangarang, Craig S., Scumcat, Necromeat, Carlos, Okey A., Thomas S., theneilharris, Nemo R., Jari S., Manuel, Irishstu, Matthew, Anthony P., James J., Kyndra C., jay_dilf, Chris D., Oskar A., Handsome Andy, lil_willy, Kuaku, RandomGuy, Neckro, Bryan F., TheHarbingerPulsar, Ookfark, Thomas F., Therealmcasshole, Exile Creations, Tony M., KordixVR, Andrew W., Kilted Sparky, Oga, Astyria, BrooksHW, Cyril S., Josh, R Man, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R.Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)https://throne.com/professionalcasual https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?affiliate_id=3002007
SHOWNOTES: Folge 2: Denkorte für starke Argumente – Die Topik des Aristoteles neu gedachtIn dieser Folge lernst du fünf weitere Denkorte aus der klassischen Rhetorik kennen – Denkwerkzeuge, mit denen du in Gesprächen, Meetings oder auf der Bühne klarer und wirkungsvoller argumentierst.Dies ist Teil 2 der Reihe über die Topik des Aristoteles – das antike System, das bis heute dabei hilft, schnell überzeugende Argumente zu finden.---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Gang is off to observe a dissection! Lucky wiggles his noes, Mina is relentless, and Webbie does something silly.The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within.Join the PCN Discord: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQA special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! Steve, Mel Cen, Mason D., Scazar, Sly Changeling, Bangarang, Craig S., Scumcat, Necromeat, Carlos, Okey A., Thomas S., theneilharris, Nemo R., Jari S., Manuel, Irishstu, Matthew, Anthony P., James J., Kyndra C., jay_dilf, Chris D., Oskar A., Handsome Andy, lil_willy, Kuaku, RandomGuy, Neckro, Bryan F., TheHarbingerPulsar, Ookfark, Thomas F., Therealmcasshole, Exile Creations, Tony M., KordixVR, Andrew W., Kilted Sparky, Oga, Astyria, BrooksHW, Cyril S., Josh, R Man, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R.Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)https://throne.com/professionalcasual https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?affiliate_id=3002007
Back beneath Middenheim, the Gang has made quite the impression! Lucky says words wrong, Mina reloads, and Webbie didn't pay the postage.The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within.Join the PCN Discord: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQA special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! Steve, Mel Cen, Mason D., Scazar, Sly Changeling, Bangarang, Craig S., Scumcat, Necromeat, Carlos, Okey A., Thomas S., theneilharris, Nemo R., Jari S., Manuel, Irishstu, Matthew, Anthony P., James J., Kyndra C., jay_dilf, Chris D., Oskar A., Handsome Andy, lil_willy, Kuaku, RandomGuy, Neckro, Bryan F., TheHarbingerPulsar, Ookfark, Thomas F., Therealmcasshole, Exile Creations, Tony M., KordixVR, Andrew W., Kilted Sparky, Oga, Astyria, BrooksHW, Cyril S., Josh, R Man, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R.Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)https://throne.com/professionalcasual
Tabatha Jones spent 20 years in the corporate world which she joined right out of high school. Soon after beginning work in a call center she began to discover her own leadership skills and began forging her own path in the corporate environment. Tabatha found that she could empower others to be better than they thought by providing a natural, honest and positive leadership style. As Tabatha describes, she learned how to communicate and help connect the C Suite leaders in companies to those they lead. She learned to be a positive conduit to help all parts of companies where she served to learn and grow. She tells us stories about how she thrived as a leader and how she created positive change wherever she worked. She provides us with some really good leadership tips. While Tabatha says her programs today are mainly to help women who more often do not have the confidence to lead, she states emphatically that her teachings do help men as well and she has male clients to prove it. As Tabatha says, while she was a corporate leader for many years, she also used that time to coach and help others to learn leadership skills. Seven years ago Tabatha decided to leave working for others to form her own coaching firm, Empowered Leadership Coaching, LLC. She helps people learn how they can positively grow and advance in their own careers. I very much enjoyed this episode and found that Tabatha and I have a lot of leadership views in common. For example, we discuss trust and the need for real trust in work environments. She tells a story about a mistake she made as a leader and how she dealt with it to keep the trust of all persons involved. I think you have a lot to gain from Tabatha. At the end of this episode she tells us how to get a free eBook that provides invaluable lessons to help you in your own efforts to rise in the work world. About the Guest: Tabatha Jones is the CEO of Empowered Leadership Coaching, LLC, a Career Advancement & Leadership Coach, author, and keynote speaker based in the SF Bay Area, working with clients nationwide. With over 20 years of experience leading high-performing technical teams in Corporate America, she transitioned into coaching at the age of 50, driven by her passion for helping women break through career barriers and achieve leadership success. Tabatha specializes in working with ambitious Gen-X women who are ready to stop playing small and make the next years the most impactful of their careers. Through her personalized coaching programs, she empowers her clients to develop strategic career plans, build unshakable confidence, elevate their visibility, and secure significant promotions. Her clients, including leaders at companies like Comcast, Cisco, Abbvie, PG&E, and Tyson, have successfully climbed the corporate ladder, developed standout leadership skills, and positioned themselves as top candidates for advancement. As a sought-after keynote speaker, Tabatha inspires audiences with actionable insights on leadership, career advancement, and empowerment. She is also the author of Promotion Ready in 3 Months: The Women's Guide to Career Advancement, available on Amazon. Ways to connect Tabatha: Website: https://www.empowered-leader.com/ Connect with me on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tabatha-jones-4485854/ Grab a Free Resource: GenX Promotion Planning Assessment: https://www.empowered-leader.com/promotionassessment Purchase a copy of my book on Amazon: https://a.co/d/gpoqjNw 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 Well, hi everyone, and welcome to another edition, an exciting edition of unstoppable mindset where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet, and the unexpected is everything that doesn't have anything to do with inclusion or diversity, which is most things, according to my diversity friends, but that's okay, our guest today. How do I do this? Okay, I'll just be up front. As many of you know, I use a screen reader, which is a piece of software to verbalize whatever comes across the screen. And when my screen reader finds my guest today's name, it pronounces it Tabatha. Don't you like that? Of course, it's Tabitha, but Tabata, so, so Tabitha. Tabatha Jones, welcome you to unstoppable mindset. We're glad you're here. Tabatha Jones ** 02:09 Oh, thank you so much for having me here. And Tabatha sounds fairly International, and maybe I'll take it, yeah, Michael Hingson ** 02:16 well, you can have it. It's yours. I don't think that the screen reader will mind a whole lot. But But what we're glad you're here now. I met Tabitha, as I have mentioned in the past with others, through an event that I attend, pada palooza. And Tabitha and I were both at the most recent pot of palooza. So what took you there? Are you starting a podcast, or are you just wanting to be interviewed by podcasters, or do you already have a podcast and you've done 1000s of episodes already? Tabatha Jones ** 02:46 Well, I haven't done 1000s of episodes. I'm a fairly new podcaster. I've launched my own it's called the Gen X, free mix life, laughs and next acts. I think we're at about Episode 11. I was actually really interested in joining pada palusa to meet other podcasters. Here's some success stories and learn some great tips and tricks as I'm continuing to build mine out and and engage my audience well. So if there's Michael Hingson ** 03:11 any way I can help, you, just need to shout out and glad to do it. And if you ever need a guest, and if I can fit the mold, I'm also glad to do that. It's always fun to to be a guest. When people want to come on unstoppable mindset, and I discover that they have a podcast, I always tell them, Well, you know, and many of them say, Well, do you charge for guests? And I say, Yes, I do. The charges you have to let me be a guest on your podcast, or if I go on to their podcast. I say I charge for that, and the charges that you have to come on my cop podcast to be a guest. So it works out. Tabatha Jones ** 03:47 It's a fantastic tip. I'm taking that down and definitely having you on the podcast. Oh my gosh, yeah, that'd be fun. Michael Hingson ** 03:53 Well, it it is cute. Actually, last week of a couple in Australia, a couple people emailed me and they they want to come on unstoppable mindset. And I was glad to do that. And they said, you know, but, but what's your charge? And I said, Well, I know you have a podcast. I have to be on yours. They said, Oh, we can, we can pay that. So it's fine. It is. You know, podcasting is so, so much fun. I did radio for years at the University of California at Irvine, and I like radio. Radio is a wonderful thing, but you're more structured because you have a limited amount of time. You've got to do certain things, you've got commercials you got to do, and sponsors that you have to satisfy, and some of that can happen with the podcast, but it's still not nearly as rigid, which makes it a lot of fun. Tabatha Jones ** 04:45 Yeah, absolutely. And there's so much variety out there. One of the coolest things for me about starting a podcast is it's led me to so many other podcast shows that I had never listened to before, yours included. So now I think I'm following maybe. 30 to 40 different shows that I hadn't heard of until very recently, I'd say, probably the last six to eight months, and I'm loving it. I learned something new every single day. I learned something about someone's experience that leads me to check more into what they've shared. And it's really been fun. It's been a much more fun adventure for me than the social media that I was kind of, kind of dabbling in a little bit, but podcasts, it's just so much more personal and fun. It Michael Hingson ** 05:27 is. It's much more connectional. And social media is just so impersonal, and people spend so much time doing it, and I'm amazed at some of the people who spend so many hours on it. I could, I don't do a lot of stuff on social media. I will post things occasionally, and I'm amazed at how fast some people, as soon as they as soon as I post, within minutes, they're responding to it. And I'm going, how do you do that? But anyway, it's people focus on that. But it's so impersonal compared to doing things like podcasting, because you do get to know people. You get to learn about people. And as I tell people constantly, if I'm not learning at least as much as anybody else who listens to this podcast, then I'm not doing my job well, which is kind of the way I look at it. And I always like to learn things from everyone who comes on and who I get to interact with because of the podcast. Tabatha Jones ** 06:21 Yeah, so much fun. It is. You know, one of the things when we met that really connected me to you was just your story and sharing your author journey on top of it. So, yeah, you're kind of stuck with me in your fan club for a little bit following Michael Hingson ** 06:40 you Well, thank you. And it is, it is fun to do that and following you back. It's, it's a lot of fun. And as I said, I enjoy getting to know people and connecting and learning which is cool, and to introduce you a little bit more to people, and I'll get to letting you do some of that too. But Tabitha is the CEO of empowered leadership coaching LLC, which is obviously a coaching organization, and you started doing that when you were 50. Of course I could, I could, circuitously get to and and how long ago was that, which would then tell us your age, but I won't that's Tabatha Jones ** 07:25 all right. As a career advancement coach, I tell people all the time, don't put those long dates on your resume. People will start guessing your age, and then we've got another whole situation. I think the good thing with coaching is age and experience go together, and people see that a little bit differently, which has been fun. Yeah, I left it, you know, corporate at 50, and started my own business. I had been doing it on the side, but now I get to do it every day, and it's so Michael Hingson ** 07:50 much fun. Well, seriously, how long have you been doing it? Tabatha Jones ** 07:54 You know, for officially. Oh, I gotta do math. 2017. Is when I started. So, Michael Hingson ** 08:01 oh, okay, well, there you go. So, 10 years, okay, yeah, and then Tabatha Jones ** 08:04 I had been doing it as part of my job for more than 20 years. So as a leader in corporate, more than 20 years of coaching experience came from that sure Michael Hingson ** 08:13 when you've got seven years of official long term, real life, constant experience, which is, which is great too. Well, tell us about the early Tabitha growing up and some of those kinds of things that would get us to know you better. Tabatha Jones ** 08:28 Well, I grew up in a little town called Livermore. It's not so little anymore out here in California, in the East Bay, I am the oldest of four, and you Michael Hingson ** 08:37 were never irradiated by the the accelerators, or any of the things that Livermore Labs. Tabatha Jones ** 08:41 No, there was so much Hush, hush, secret stuff going on out there. But, you know, it was always very cool. They had a swimming pool you could go swim at. I think it was 75 cents to go swim for the whole day at the pool. And, you know, as a grown up, I'm all, should we really have been swimming there? I don't Michael Hingson ** 08:58 know. Oh, it was safe. Well, it was absolutely Were you ever there after dark? No, so you don't know whether anything glowed in the dark or not. So you didn't probably you were safe. Tabatha Jones ** 09:07 Probably safe. Yeah, nope. Genetics kids, when the street lights came on, we went home. Michael Hingson ** 09:11 There you go. But anyway, so Livermore, yeah, Tabatha Jones ** 09:15 Livermore, and then let's see. So I finished high school. Didn't really know what I was going to do. I stuck a little toe in the telecommunications industry at AT and T and got a job there right out of high school, answering phones and learning all kinds of great things. Did a lot of growing up in that space. Gosh, it was a it was an interesting journey. I actually was sitting in a call center taking phone calls during the 1989 earthquake, which, oh, boy, you may remember, right? I know I was training somebody, and I just looked at the person. I said, we're gonna hang up and go under the desk. That's what we're doing. And that was the day before my birthday. So I got my birthday off that year, which. You know, as they planned 10:00 out very well, Tabatha Jones ** 10:02 yeah. But terrible, terrible, tragic earthquake, unfortunately. But, you know, I do just kind of try to make a little lighter of it with that. You know, the birthday off, but it is. It was an interesting time, for sure. I lived Michael Hingson ** 10:16 in Vista, California at the time. Well, actually, I take it back. I lived in Mission Viejo. We hadn't moved to VISTA yet, although I had a job in Carlsbad, and I remember coming out to get on a bus to go from Carlsbad back up to Mission Viejo. And I was going to listen to the World Series, and it wasn't on, and it took me about 15 minutes before, I finally found a radio station that announced that there had been an earthquake. And then we got home, and then we started. We just Karen was was at home, and we just started watching it on TV, and they had all the the live shots and all that, and the freeway collapse and so on. It was, needless to say, quite the event. Karen and I survived. We were in, not married yet in, well, 19, whatever that would have been, 69 or 70 or 71 the Sylmar quake. I don't think it was in 74 I think it was earlier than that. But there was a big earthquake up in Sylmar, and we felt it at UC Irvine, and then we had the Whittier Narrows and Northridge quakes, so we felt those as well. But yeah, that had to be pretty rough in 89 for all of you up there. Tabatha Jones ** 11:38 Yeah, it was pretty, pretty interesting. You know, from that point, you know, I just was training somebody as I as I mentioned, and, you know, we, we took that next day and couple of days kind of getting things together, working through the call center, handling a lot of emergency calls and things that were going on. And I'd say that's probably the first time I felt that call to leadership, you know, and realized I wanted to do more than being a call center, answering phones. There's nothing wrong with that, but for me, it wasn't the end all. And I started working on mapping out, how am I going to build my career here? Managed to advance a couple of times, and then went through a major layoff. So AT and T we all know, went through a lot of change over the years, but in the 80s and early 90s, there was a lot. So I did a couple of different things in between, and then one day, I walked into what was the Viacom cable office and decided I'm going to apply for a job here. It's just six months for experience, and we'll see where it goes. I fell in love with the cable industry. As weird as it sounds, I loved it, so I worked up really quickly into a lead role, and then started shifting into technology, which is where I spent most of my career, leading those technical teams and just really loving it. But yeah, yeah, that's kind of the journey from the early life into the career side of things. But Michael Hingson ** 13:05 what kind of things did you do in as a leader for Viacom? Tabatha Jones ** 13:09 So Viacom was where you in, went through. So I was in the call center. Initially became a lead there, moved into credit and collections and learned everything there was to learn there. It wasn't really my jam, but it was a great place to be. And then I moved into the Information Services Department, and you probably remember this back in the day of punching down phone lines in the little box, in different I don't know if you ever did that, but yeah, soldering cat five lines, crawling under desk, climbing up ladders, doing all those things. So that was early. It days before the internet. Still, I think crazy to say, Michael Hingson ** 13:48 so did you do that? Or did you lead people who did that? So I Tabatha Jones ** 13:52 did that early on. I learned everything I could in that department. I learned how to print reports. I knew learned how to compile data. I learned how to code the billing system, moved into project management from there, still on the information services side, and led some really huge projects through that time. We went through three companies. We landed at Comcast. That was where I was for the longest, but never really left, you know, my role, and just fell in love with the technology, because it changes all the time. It's never the same day twice. I loved working with technical people, and learned really quickly that one of my gifts was being able to translate between the Technical Suite and the C suite. So taking those great ideas and going and securing the budget or coming in with here's what the leadership team is thinking. Here's how I think we can do it. What are your thoughts and being able to translate and move things forward really fast. That's where I joined the leadership team and stayed, and I loved it. Climbing the ladder at Comcast was a lot of fun for me. Yeah. Do Michael Hingson ** 15:00 you think that really taking the time to get that technical knowledge and learn those various jobs, even though you necessarily didn't do them all the time, but learning how to do those jobs? Do you think that was a valuable thing for you, looking back on it now, Tabatha Jones ** 15:19 yeah, I do in some ways. And I spoke at a women in telecom sorry, it's women in tech and telecom seminar a few years back. And one of the things that we know is women don't advance as quickly into technical leadership roles, and being able to say in that room, leadership is not a technical skill. Just let the light bulbs off for people, because we hold ourselves back. And it's not just women, but it definitely happens in the female space, where we will hold ourselves back. Oh, I'm not technical enough, oh, I don't know enough. Oh, I can't code Python. It. It doesn't always matter for me, having the basis helped because I understood the work the team was doing. I understood quicker ways to do things. I had done them myself the hard way, but it gave me a little bit more, I'd say, street cred with the team, not that they ever expected me to code a macro or build an automation program, but because I could come and speak to them in a language that made sense, then they could go build the thing and do their jobs. So I do think it helped. It helped give me really great insight to what could be and let us really drive innovation quickly, which was super fun. I Michael Hingson ** 16:41 agree with you on that I felt in everything that I did as a as a leader, working in a variety of different kinds of roles, I felt it necessary to learn the things that the people who worked for me and with me did because at least I could then articulate them. I could talk about them. I didn't necessarily have to do them all the time, and there were some things that I wasn't going to be able to do, for example, for four years or three and a half years, four I owned a company that sold PC based CAD systems to architects, computer aided design systems, for those who don't know, to architects and engineers and so on. And they were some of the early PC based CAD systems. We started in 1985 doing that. And needless to say, that was and and still is very much a highly graphic environment. And that isn't something that I'm going to be able to sit down in front of a computer terminal and do, because the technology, even today, doesn't exist to describe all of that information for me, so that I have access to it as quickly and as efficiently as a person who can see but even though I wouldn't be able to run a CAD system, I knew how to do it. So I could then sit down with an architect in front of a machine and ask them what they wanted to do, and then described them what they needed to do to make it happen. So I actually made them part of the process of showing themselves how the cast system worked by them actually working it. Now I also have people who work for me, but I did know how to do that, and I think that was extremely important. And I've always felt that having that knowledge is is helpful. I do tend to be very technical. I've got a master's degree in physics and so on. And I I think that having that technical knowledge is kind of part of the way I operate, which is fine, but still, I think that having that technical knowledge, really, even if it's only to be able to talk about it at the right times, was a very helpful thing and made me a better leader. Tabatha Jones ** 18:59 Yeah, absolutely would agree with that, and understanding just the basics of what can and can't be done, or, you know, what my limitations were, and being vulnerable with going back to my team and saying, This is as far as I know how to take it. I need you to walk me through what the next steps are, or what your ideas are, or what your thoughts are. And I had a wonderful team. I'd say one of the benefits of not being the most technical person on the team is then I'm not seen as someone who's micromanaging. I'm not seen as someone who has all the answers. And for my teams, that worked out great because they loved showing their innovation. They loved showing ideas and bringing new technology, tools and things to the forefront, which made it a lot more fun for them, too. And I'd say one of the coolest things I did with my team was I was given, you know, in corporate world, you're sometimes gifted new responsibilities, and one of the new responsibilities. I was gifted with, was creating a quality control team, and this team was going to validate all of the data that the Information Services coding team was developing in the billing system. And it was needed the error rate, I mean, the accuracy rate, rather, was only about 70 ish percent. Wow. So it needed to change. It was impacting our frontline, impacting our techs. It was causing revenue gaps, right, customer experience problems. The vision that was given to me is we want you to hire three people, and they're going to manually validate this data all day long, and me being a hybrid technical people person said, Hold the phone. We're not doing that. So I went and hired someone who was an expert at SQL and Tableau. We then hired someone who was an expert at Quality Assurance, because that's what she had been doing in the call center, was validating orders and making sure the billing their statements were going out correct. So she had the manual aspect. And then we hired a third person who wasn't quite as technical as the first, but definitely a really good balance between the two and between the three of them and their ideas and their skills, and then my abilities as a leader to guide them through. You know, this is what we need. This is the vision. This is the budget, this is the the outcome that we want to get to. We were able to build something that was automated, that drove accuracy up to 98.1% Wow, and it's probably better today, but it's just because that the ability to see people who can bring in the best parts of their knowledge and then work together to build something. That's what helps technology advance so much faster. Michael Hingson ** 21:44 Yeah, but it's but it's important to be able to do that. And you you learn to have the vision, or innately, you have the vision to to bring that about. And it sounds to me like all of the people that that you were leading really respected you, because you were, first of all, you were not a threat to them, and you clearly showed an interest in what they did, and you loved to hear them talk about it, because that taught you things that you didn't know Tabatha Jones ** 22:17 exactly, oh my gosh, and they were great about what I'd say is dumbing things down. I'd sit there sometimes and would be listening to somebody, an analyst, who was excited and explaining all these great things they were doing. And finally, my face would say, okay, hold the phone. We need to step back just a teeny bit. I needed to bring it down, maybe just a little bit more. And once I got it, then everybody would be just jazzed and so excited and out to share, and, you know, made sure that they were getting to do part of the presenting when it went to higher levels, so that they could get credit and feel that value, which is so, so critical to help, you know, just boost that morale and keep inspiring people. Michael Hingson ** 22:53 The other part of that, though, is you are also teaching them some probably sorely needed communication skills, because they're used to just talking very technical, and they're used to just talking to each other, and everybody gets it right away. But the reality is that I would think that they came to realize, well, maybe we need to present it in a little bit different way, because not everybody looks at it the way we do Tabatha Jones ** 23:21 exactly that's where a lot of coaching came in and helping people work together better in the communication space, and then bringing it forward in a way that people understood. We did a really cool program. It was called insights. It exists out there, and there are people who are certified to administer it, but it basically is a personality assessment based on colors. So red, yellow, blue, green, and blue is generally your very technical, more introverted detail specific people. The Office of that is yellow, and I am very high yellow, which is your, include me. Bring me in. Let's have a party. Let's talk about it. So it was good for me, because it caused me to bring that yellow energy down a bit, which kept the, you know, the conversations going and the conversations open, and they learned to elevate that yellow energy a little bit so we could meet in the middle really well. And some of them had different, you know, red or green in there. But it was really interesting to be leading a team with such opposite energy. From that perspective, Michael Hingson ** 24:27 did you ever find people who just resisted learning to meet in the middle or learning to do some of the things that you really wanted them to do, and they just didn't want to do that at all? Tabatha Jones ** 24:41 Oh yes, yes, there were a couple, and that required more coaching, right? So one who had been used to working in a very specific way before we were reorganized and he was moved under me, it took multiple times and finally, a mild threat to. Get him to come forward and come on board with the new process, because sometimes it's really easy to stick in doing things the old way. He had been doing it for 1520, years. And I joke when I say threats. I don't threaten people, but you know, it was kind of a I need you to come up with the rest of the team. Here's what you're doing and how it's impacting the team, and even though it feels like it's making your customer happy in the long run, it's not because they're going to have to work with other people, and we need to make sure that they understand that this has changed, and then another who was more my way or the highway, and that took, you know, again, a bit of coaching. So his leader worked for me, and so his leader and I would come up with different plans and different strategies to put him in positions where he had to stay a little bit more quiet and let the team members bring forward their ideas. And rather than him jumping to a no, it was, we want you to start asking these three questions, and, you know, whatever the questions were to get the conversation going, and then the light bulb started going off for him. Like, wow. Some of these individuals have definitely had different training on, you know, whatever type of technology it is that makes perfect sense. What if we combine this so he was able to actually help us bring out the best in everyone, once he took that step back and really started listening and getting a bit more curious. Michael Hingson ** 26:30 Well, that that's, you know, of course, a wonderful skill to have, because people need to recognize that not everybody is where they are Tabatha Jones ** 26:42 exactly. It's true. And you know, I kind of think back when we were talking about the leadership aspect and leading technical teams, I coach a lot of people on interview skills and helping them present their best selves for the job that they're interviewing for. And one thing that seems to be a habit for people who are very technical and are also leaders is deferring so much their technical skills, and it's good, but you've got to have that balance. When you're applying for a leadership role, what happens that is very disappointing, is they'll be told, Well, we're not really seeing your leadership skills or your leadership qualities or not feeling like you're a good fit with this team. Usually, when a company is hiring a technical people leader, they want to know you can lead people, because not everybody can do both, Michael Hingson ** 27:40 right, or they haven't learned how to Tabatha Jones ** 27:43 right. It's true. Not everybody wants to. Sometimes they think they do because it's the next logical step, but sometimes people are just really happy being hands on others. To your point, you can learn. You can step into maybe a lead role, and start learning how to let go of some things and and get more comfortable with not being the smartest person in the room, because once you're the leader, you've got to have that balance and, and it's a learning a learning curve, for sure, Michael Hingson ** 28:09 yeah. And unfortunately, there are way too many people, certainly, a lot of them are technical who think they're the smartest person in the room, whether they are not, and then some of them are. But still, that's not always the solution to making things work, especially if you're working in a team. Tabatha Jones ** 28:29 Absolutely, yeah, it's all about the team. And it can't be. They always say there's no me and team. But technically, if you rearrange the letters there, kind of is that's maybe snow i Maybe it's No, I in team. No, I in team. Michael Hingson ** 28:43 Yeah, there's no i That's true. But you know, one of my favorite books I enjoy reading it often, is actually the Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. Have you ever read that? Tabatha Jones ** 28:55 I have not read that. I am aware of it. I have not bought it yet. It's a Michael Hingson ** 29:00 short book, relatively speaking, but it's great because it really puts teamwork in perspective, and it really defines what should happen in a well functioning team, including the fact that members of the team can hold each other accountable when the team is comfortable with each other. And then, of course, it's all the team leader who has to really bring people together and meld the team into a cohesive working group. But the good team leaders can do that and understand what their role has to be in getting everybody to operate at peak performance. Tabatha Jones ** 29:39 Love that. I will get that back on my list. Radical candor is kind of similar, as far as you know, being able to say what needs to be said and feeling like you're in a safe space to say it. Yeah, that's one of the things that I always found a little, I guess, frightening as a leader, is when I would talk to another leader and say, What feedback have you given this person? Well. Feedback is so negative, like no feedback given with love is there with the intention of helping the person grow and do better and understand what they're doing really well so they can keep doing that. So yeah, being able to let the team members or ask the team members hold each other accountable, be honest with each other, this isn't about feelings. This is about respect, and sometimes it's a hard conversation. It's really crunchy and uncomfortable. But once it happens, the trust that is built is it's unstoppable, well, Michael Hingson ** 30:30 but feedback can also be a very positive thing. And it can be that you're doing a great job. Here's what you're doing. It isn't necessarily but you're not doing this right? It, it can be exactly a very positive thing. And there, there are certainly times that we all like to get that as well. Tabatha Jones ** 30:47 Absolutely feedback is my favorite F word. I always say it is just, it's so important. And I've worked with people who have said, you know, I can't get feedback from my boss. I said, Well, what do you mean? And they said, Well, he All he says is just, you're doing a good job. Keep doing that. Yeah. Well, what specifically am i doing that's a good job. So feedback in itself is a skill, both giving it in a positive way and giving it in a constructive way. But all feedback is good when it's given with the right intention and it's given with, you know, just honesty and love. And Michael Hingson ** 31:20 there's a skill in receiving feedback too and recognizing if you trust the feedback, the feeder backer, if you trust the person giving you the feedback, then you know that they're not out to get you. Yeah. And that's part of it is breaking through the usual shell that most of us probably a build up. Well, that person has some sort of alternative agenda they're out to get me. And that isn't always the case. And, oh, absolutely, unfortunately, sometimes it is, but it doesn't necessarily mean it always is. Yeah, I agree. Tabatha Jones ** 31:54 You know, if you think back to feedback that you've been given throughout your life, is there a piece of feedback that you were given that really changed the way you do things. Yeah, Michael Hingson ** 32:06 I can think of some, and I think that most of us can, because the people giving us the feedback were concerned about trying to help and concerned to try to get us to hear what others in the world are are saying or thinking. And if we take that to heart, that can be a very positive thing. Tabatha Jones ** 32:32 Yeah, absolutely. One of the biggest foundations for me as a leader is trust and trust with my team, both going both directions to them, from me and from them to to from me to them, and from them to me. So complete trust. It's so important. And you know, knowing that I've had employees come and give me feedback, and it doesn't matter what level I was at or what level they were at, once, I knew that they were comfortable giving me feedback. I knew our relationship was strong, yeah, and, you know, I've had people come and say, I didn't really like the way that you said that. It would have been more impactful if you had done this. I've had clients come and say, you know, when you said that, I really reflected on it. And maybe we're not in the same spot. So let me say this again and see if you can, you can address it a different way. Great. If we don't have trust, we're not going to go anywhere. So it's such an important piece of of building trust. In Michael Hingson ** 33:26 my new book, live like a guide dog, true stories from a blind man and his dog about being brave, overcoming adversity and moving forward in faith. Long title, well at the end, the subtitle, but one of the things that I talk about is that I've learned a lot of lessons about dealing with fear and dealing with people from my dogs, because dogs do things differently than we do and don't have any near, anywhere near the stress that We do. For example, dogs are, I think, creatures that do love unconditionally, but they don't trust unconditionally. What dogs do, however, is that they tend to be less something is really hurt a dog. They tend to be more open to trust, and they want to build a trusting relationship with us if we're open to it, because they are, and when we recognize that and we truly build the trusting relationship, it's second to none. So then you've got the love part that is there, but the trusting part, it's a whole different story. And I know that when I start working with every guide dog and people say, Oh, how long does it take to really get used to a dog? My response is, it takes roughly a year. Because it takes a long time for both sides of the team to truly recognize and have enough confidence in the other that they have that trust that they need to have. Tabatha Jones ** 34:59 Yeah. Dogs are so much better than people. I will tell you their behavior is so much better, but I get that and you know someone who adopted my last two dogs. One was three years old when I got her from the pound, and she lived to be 15, and my other one is she's eight. I got her when she was three from someone that was re homing her. But they do. They they teach you that I can love you, but I don't know that I trust you yet. I've got to build this up like I will lick you and throw a party when you come home, but don't be trying to pick me up yet. We're not there. Yeah. So, you know, I can imagine, with a guide dog, it's even more elevated, and I can't write to read your that book, because I just finished underdog. I did. I don't know why the name just went blank. I posted it on my Facebook and Instagram. I was so excited, but yeah, oh my gosh. I can't wait to read the new one. If you Michael Hingson ** 35:48 get a chance with both of them, go review them at Amazon. So lovely. Get a we always appreciate reviews. So Amazon and Goodreads are the best places to go to go do reviews, and they're very helpful. But when you read, live like a guide dog, love to get your thoughts, and you're welcome to email me and love to chat about it as well. But you're right that there are so many things about dogs that really teach us a lot. One of my favorite things that I talk about a lot, and we deal with it and live like a guide dog is we, as people tend to what if everything to death. We What if everything well, what if this? What if that? And the reality is, most of the things that we're dealing with, what if about are things over which we have absolutely no control, and all we're doing is building up our own internal Sears, and we need to learn to get away from that. If we could just learn to focus on the things that we have control over and not worry about the rest. And of course, people will say, Well, but, but all this stuff is going on we gotta worry about. No, you don't. You can be aware of it without worrying about it. You can be aware of it without it interfering with your life. But you have control over that, but there are so many things in your life that you don't have control over. And my, my premier example of that, of course, is the World Trade Center. I am not convinced that all of the government departments working together would have been able to figure out what was happening and stop the attacks from half from occurring. But the result of that is, of course, that we had no control over the events occurring. What we absolutely have total control over is how we individually choose to deal with those events and how we choose to move forward. Tabatha Jones ** 37:36 Yeah, absolutely, oh my gosh, it's so powerful and so true. And I'd say too with dogs is they don't let that little thing that bothered them four hours ago eat them up, or four days ago or four months ago. They don't generally hold a grudge unless something was pretty atrocious, where we will ruminate on a story or a conversation over and over and over again, sometimes it's just solved by a simple Hey, what did you mean when you said that? Or we'll just go and keep thinking about it and keep thinking about it. Dogs moved on. They're like, I've already had my snack in my walk, like we're good again. There's no grudge, there's no past concern, or I made a mistake this day. I'm never gonna cross that line again, because, you know, I did this thing, but humans are so are just wired so differently, just from, I'm sure, our life lessons and all the things that we've been through. But if we could live a little more like a dog, that would be kind of amazing. That guide dogs specifically, Michael Hingson ** 38:35 I agree. And you know, the reality is that dogs do make mistakes, and one of the things that we learned to put it in terms of what we're talking about today, one of the things that we learn as guide dog handlers is how to give appropriate feedback, and that process has changed over the years, so now it's a much more positive process. We don't tend to yell at dogs, we don't tend to try to give sharp leash corrections, but rather, when they do it right, that's the time to truly reinforce it and say, what a good job you did it. And if you're training a dog to do a new thing or give them a new skill, reinforcing the time that they succeed is so much more powerful than ever saying you didn't do that right? And I think that's as true for humans as it is for dogs, but humans just don't tend to for all the reasons that you said, Trust like, like, maybe they should, but we always think that everybody has a hidden agenda, which is unfortunate, because we don't always necessarily have a hidden agenda. And even if we do, and if you feel like you can't trust me because you think I have a hidden agenda, you can always ask me about it, or you should, and that's something we just tend not to feel that much that we can do, because those aren't skills that we're taught when we're growing up. Tabatha Jones ** 39:56 Yeah, it's very true, and you. Know when you mentioned the mistakes even thinking about that from a leadership perspective. When I first started leading in my last team, we had reorganized into a corporate structure, so I had new employees sitting across 40 some odd states. It was a big a big reorg, and I would be talking to people about different things. And I said, Well, why did you, you know, why did you do it this way? Oh, well, I realized I made a mistake, so I didn't want to get in trouble. So I thought if I went and I did this, then that would I'm like, wait a minute, stop. Let's let's pause, let's go back to get in trouble. Tell me about that. And I would hear, and I heard it from multiple people across the team that there was such a level of fear over making a mistake. And I said, you know, you're not coming to work with somebody's heart transplant in an ice chest, like, if you make a mistake, nobody's gonna die. Yeah, somebody's gonna get a little maybe mad because we're gonna hit a little bit of a revenue hiccup, or maybe have to send an apology notice to some customers that have a mistake on their bill. But nothing's that big that we can't learn from it, fix it correctly and make sure it doesn't happen again. And that was a huge shift, and that's something you know, where a dog will make a mistake they get through the correction to your point, positive reinforcement. We've got jerky treats, kind of redirect. If people only could take a jerky treat, that'd be great, but they don't. But you know, when a mistake happens, teaching people, teaching our kids, like it's okay to make a mistake, but let's talk about what we learned from it. Make a plan to do better, and figure out how we just don't let that happen again, and then if it happens again, okay, let's have a different conversation. What? What did you notice? Did we miss something in the process? Less last time? Let's fix that, and then let's take the next steps forward, and let's go back and present to the team how we can improve this process and what we've learned from this mistake, like we can make it positive and as leaders, we can help our employees go faster. We can help our dogs learn faster. Can help our kids learn faster by just being a leader and managing mistakes correctly. Michael Hingson ** 42:06 How do we get that process kind of more into the mainstream of society? How do we get people to recognize that it's okay when you make a mistake, we'll fix it and really give them and teach people to give the positive reinforcement that we need to do. Because I think it's, it's very true. We don't teach it. Tabatha Jones ** 42:27 We don't teach it. I feel like younger parents that I'm seeing, in some ways, are getting there, you know, I remember back in the day when we would accidentally break something, or, you know, be roughhousing a little, and the glass would get knocked off the counter, and it was a huge thing, right? You're going to clean it up. You're going to go to your room. You're going to stop playing around in the house. And, you know, with my son, I know when He would break something and be like, Hey, let's clean this up. I need you to be more careful. You know, it's not you need to go sit in your room. You made a mistake. It's okay. And I see the difference in myself. Still, when I make a mistake, I beat myself up when he makes a mistake, he cleans it up and moves forward. So it's definitely happening through parenting and the way that we handle it as parents. We have that great opportunity as leaders once adults are full grown and in the workforce and still have those tendencies of fear and oh my gosh, I need to cover it up, teaching them, I had a situation where I made a mistake, shocking. I know I made a mistake, just kidding. I do it all the time, but I had made a mistake with some data that I collected from my team, I'd had individual skip level meetings, and decided kept all the notes in a spreadsheet, and I had told the team as I spoke with them. Whatever you tell me, it's in confidence. I'm taking themes of the conversation and I'll present it back to your leaders. They're not going to have names. We're not going to know who said what. That's not what this is about. It's about me helping drive improvements through my leadership team so that it's better for you. And they were really open, and it was amazing. It was such a gift to have that trust from the team. Well, I went and took my compilations, put all my notes together on a spreadsheet, sent it to my leadership team, and never took off the original notes. And I was like, shoot, now, what do I do? So I asked a peer. I said, Hey, this is what I did. What would you do? And she said, Well, I would tell my leaders, they need to be leaders, and they need to keep it confidential. And I was like, oh, not good enough. I'm not doing that. So I thought about it, yeah. And I said, You know what? This is a teachable moment. This is the opportunity I've been given to practice what I preach. So I pulled my entire team, 50 some odd people on the phone, on a teams call. So we were on camera, and I said, I need to talk to you about something. And I said, I made a mistake, and because of that mistake, I have let you down, and I've broken my word. And I explained what I did. I explained, you know, I got really excited by the information, because I saw things we could do, which then led me to moving way too fast, and I completely sent your comment. Comments with your names to your leaders, and I apologize. And going forward, when I take data and information from you, I will be learning from this mistake. I will keep two separate spreadsheets. I will not be, you know, just adding to the individual spreadsheet, I will quality control, check it before I send it out, and I will make sure that I do better. And I just ask that you forget me. On this one, I got so many texts and emails and instant messages that just said, Thank you so much, and someone that said, thank you, it helps to see that a leader owned up to a mistake, and I'm like, that's that was a teachable moment so nobody died. I didn't lose a heart. I broke a little confidence and a little trust. But we can fix things, and that's how, Michael Hingson ** 45:46 yeah, and, and that makes a lot of sense, and we, we just tend to, oftentimes do knee jerk reactions. I was sitting here thinking about sometime after we moved to New Jersey in 1996 my wife and I were in our living room, and I don't remember what was going on. We were having a great time, and we each had, each had a glass of champagne, and my fourth guide dog, Lenny, was with us. And Lenny, like any good lab has a tail that never stops. And Karen, I think it was Karen, I don't even remember, sure. I think it was. Had put her glass down on the coffee table, and tail hit glass, glass, which was crystal, went all over floor, hardwood floor, you know, and I can think of so many people who would blame the dog. And actually, I think Lenny blamed herself for a little while, and we kept saying it wasn't your fault we screwed up. And eventually, you know, she well within, within an hour, she was mostly Okay, but, but the bottom line is that she, she, she knew that something happened, but it wasn't her fault, and it is important to own up to to things and and as I said, I think it was Karen, because I think Karen said I should never have put my glass down, or I should have put it back further away from her tail, because she was So excited. You know those Tabatha Jones ** 47:21 tails, lab tails are crazy things, yeah, oh my gosh, right, but Lenny didn't stop wagging her tail because of that little mistake, right? It's something that Karen was able to own up to. You two were able to clean it up, and then Lenny was able to go on and keep wagging her tail. Everyone's being more careful. Now, Michael Hingson ** 47:39 what's really funny is that, because it was a hardwood floor and crystal, there were her pieces that we found days later, but Tabatha Jones ** 47:47 really years later, oh my gosh. But Michael Hingson ** 47:50 you know what Lenny was? Was, was a cutie, and Lenny was the, probably the most empathetic dog that I've ever had. We had a pastor, and we had who we had come to know, and we were at a party, and she was at this party, and she came up to us and she said, we let Lenny visit everybody, but we just let her loose. Um, Lenny is the most empathetic dog I've ever seen, because you let her loose. And she went to the person who was feeling the most pain first, and then she worked the rest of the room, and we're talking emotional pain, but Lenny could sense that and and she did. She went to the person who was hurting the most for whatever reason. And then after she felt she had done all she could with that person, then she went around to the rest of the room. Oh, what a wonderful experience that was. Yeah, I know, and we hadn't noticed it, but sharee told it to us, and we we realized it from then on, yeah, she's right. I Tabatha Jones ** 48:52 always think that the companies that allow people to bring their dogs to work are probably the companies that have the highest performance and productivity. I can't prove this yet, but there is something about having a warm, fuzzy little Snuggler with a cold nose right next to you that makes such a difference. Yeah, like I said, you know, mine's by me all the time, but they're just so intuitive. They pick up on your moods. They pick up on what's going on when you've had a bad day, you know, when you're feeling unconfident. I've worked with people a lot on helping them build confidence. And she'll even come around like, Hey, why you down? Like, what's going on? Let's go play. Go play. And then, you know, they're always so excited when you just do the smallest things. It's like, you know what? All right, I am making somebody, somebody happy today. It's just not that, maybe that other person, or whatever it is. But, yeah, oh my gosh. What made Michael Hingson ** 49:40 you decide? What Madeline just caused you to decide to go from working for other companies in the corporate world to starting your own coaching career full time. Tabatha Jones ** 49:52 You know, I just love the coaching aspect, helping people who struggle to speak up for themselves or who. Struggle to recognize the value that they bring to the workplace or to the world in general, just really lights my fire. I work mostly with women in their 50s, mostly with women who are already leaders but feel a bit stuck, and help them just remember who they are. Help them remember you know you are a leader. This is how you can set yourself apart, and this is how we can start preparing for your next promotion. I wrote my book promotion ready in three months, the Women's Guide to career advancement, which was released in August. Just because the concerns were so similar, I thought, you know, I'm going to put these specific the specific framework together in a book so that women who maybe don't have time for coaching right now, or they don't have the means, for whatever reason, they can get that framework in this book and get started on setting themselves apart and rebuilding that confidence. And I just love it. I feel like we tend to play really small, especially after a simple mistake or a simple breach of trust or a simple someone said something, and it just really stuck in our head for whatever reason. So I want women to stop. I want them to start feeling more empowered and start going after those things that they want. Because I don't know if you've seen the movie The longest game. But one of the quotes is the, you know, the field isn't the golfing green. The field is the five inches between your ears. And that's life. It is a fact. It is whatever is going on in that space between your ears is what's going to tell you you can and it's going to tell you what you can't do. So we want to only five inches. They say five inches. I haven't actually measured mine either. I say it and I touch it every time, because I'm like, I don't know if it's really five inches. Maybe it's, maybe it's four and a half. I don't know. I've always prided myself on having, you know, a skinny forehead. Michael Hingson ** 51:57 Well, you know, but, but it's interesting and and, of course, sort of on principle, just for fun. I'll ask, do you ever find that that men read it or that that you coach men as well? Do you find that there are men that will benefit, or choose to benefit from the same things that you're talking about with most women? Absolutely, Tabatha Jones ** 52:15 I say I work mostly with women and a few lucky men, because there are men who don't feel as confident or who might be a little bit more of that quieter later, and the strategies in there are obvious. Is probably not the right word. But there are things that are really simple and easy to do, but so often overlooked. So for anyone who finds themselves really kind of hiding behind the keyboard, not getting out and about and working on their visibility and relationship building. There are a lot of great strategies for that. The worst thing to do is wait until the promotion opportunity posts to start getting out there and building your brand. It doesn't serve anyone, and it's going to keep you behind. So, yeah, absolutely, that's a great question. If you Michael Hingson ** 53:05 want to be noticed, then you have to work at what you need to do to be noticed. And that is a an important skill to learn. And it is all about brand, which doesn't mean you're trying to be so calculating that you're trying to do in other people, it is all about doing the things that you need to do, both to learn and to be able to advance in a positive way. Tabatha Jones ** 53:30 Yeah, exactly. And there are strategies just for even man, even managing your time, because that's so obvious to some of us who have been there, but to others, they'll allow their calendar to be blocked from 7am to 7pm with everyone else's priorities, and it's important to make yourself a priority so that you can start standing out before the job posts. And that's kind of the secret sauce. A lot of people, like I said, they wait until the job posts and they've just been working hard and then can't figure out why they're not getting ahead. So we want to start doing things, taking action every day before that position posts, one Michael Hingson ** 54:09 of the things that that I do is on my calendar page, I have time blocked out every day and and people will say, Well, I want to schedule something, but this time isn't available, and this is the only time that I can do it. And what I tell people is I have the time blocked out so that I can do the things that I need to do or that I might want to do. And one of them is responding positively to the fact that you need a certain time to meet, and that time is in one of my block times, but I block times so that I have free time to do what needs to be done. So let's schedule it, and, you know, and I, and I find that that works really well, because it gives me the time to make choices and do the things that I want to do. And I think it's so important to be able to do that. So. Tabatha Jones ** 55:00 Yeah, the calendar is key. I always say your calendar equals clarity equals confidence. I mean, it just it builds that confidence. What I see happen a lot in the corporate space is the calendar gets booked for again, everybody else's priorities, 7am to 7pm I will see someone sitting in a meeting, totally disengaged. And when I would say, What are you doing? And I ask clients now too, so how do you prepare for this meeting? Because almost always the answer is, oh, I have a big meeting coming up in a couple of hours, and I'm not ready yet. Like, well, why are you in this meeting? If that meeting matters so much, why are you here? Because you're hurting your brand here, looking disengaged, asking, Can you repeat that 72 times where you could have just sent a delegate, or you could have blocked that time to think and prepare, which is so important, the calendar blocks. I don't think I could live without them. They're critical, right? That's how we get things done. That's how we make sure we're focused on the right things. That's how I prepare for clients. I don't just get on and wing it, because that's not going to go well, yeah, Michael Hingson ** 56:02 and that's why on, on unstoppable mindset. I asked people to send me some things because I want to appropriately prepare, because if, if I'm doing my job right, I learn all I can to be able to be involved in an intelligent conversation, and people have so many skills that I haven't learned or don't have, I get to use the information that they send to prepare and learn about some of those skills, which is part of why I say if I'm not learning at least as much as anyone else who is listening To the podcast, and I'm not doing my job right? Because it's so much fun to be able to explore and talk with people, and it's and it is so much fun. So I I appreciate exactly what you're saying. Well, Tabatha Jones ** 56:53 thank you. Yeah, it's, it's a, I mean, tooting my own horn a little bit. It's a great book full of strategy. And if you just took it, take it and start implementing those small changes, you'll see a huge difference. And I say that you'll see it, but not only you, your leader will see and your team will see that you're making changes and and making a difference. So yeah, it's just that calendar is so helpful. Michael Hingson ** 57:16 Life is is an adventure, as far as I'm concerned. And if we're not always learning we're not doing our job right exactly which is so important? Well, do you have any kind of last thoughts of things that you want people to to think about, as far as leadership or as far as moving forward in the corporate world, or or any of those kinds of things? Yeah, Tabatha Jones ** 57:40 absolutely. And thank you so much for asking. I do want to tie it back to unstoppable mindset, because you are absolutely unstoppable. It's a matter of clearing those blocks, the things that are in your way, the things that are in that five inches, or whatever it really is between your ears that is getting in the way and telling you you can't do something. And I encourage you if you're struggling, if you want to get ahead, if you've had some bad experiences when trying to get ahead, connect with me on LinkedIn. You can find me at Tabitha Jones and D, H, A Jones, thank you. Yes, all A's, Tabata, Tabatha. You can call me what you want. Just spell it right so you can find me. But absolutely connect with me there, and let's talk about what's going on and see how we can help you start moving forward again. Absolutely, we'll share strategies to give at least a little bit of a boost and kind of start relieving some of the discomfort that may be going on, but kind of back to that point you are completely unstoppable. It's just about investing in yourself, and that may look like time, energy or financially, just to get yourself out of, out of where you're at and into that next thing. Michael Hingson ** 58:52 What's your website? You must I assume you have a website. I Tabatha Jones ** 58:55 do have a website. It is empowered. Dash leader.com, and if you go out there, I actually have a free gift. I've recently published an ebook which is a career confidence playbook for women over 50, and that also has some great strategies, as well as workbook and journaling pages to help you really flesh out those goals and start taking those small action steps, Michael Hingson ** 59:21 and guys, the concepts are the same. So don't think it's just for women. Otherwise, learn nearly as much on this podcast as you Tabatha Jones ** 59:29 should. That is true. That's very true. The color is a little purple and black. Don't let that send you anywhere. Just it's perfect. Come on in. Let's talk Michael Hingson ** 59:39 colors. Don't bother me. 59:42 Outstanding. Michael Hingson ** 59:44 Well, I want to thank you for being here. This has been really fun. I knew it was going to be, and it was every bit as fun and and informative as as I thought it would be. So I hope people will reach out to you on LinkedIn and go off and. Uh, go to the website as well. Get your free ebook. I'm going to go get it and and I really think that you've offered a lot of good insights that will be helpful for people. I hope all of you listening and watching out there agree. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Please email me. Let me know what you think of our episode today. You can email me at Michael M, I C H, A, E, L, H i at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S,
Rolf Sørensen må overlade tronen til Mads Pedersen efter to suveræne etapesejre til den tidliger verdensmester i Giroen. Manden i den lyserøde førertrøje er nu dansk cykelhistories mest vindende rytter, men gør det ham også til den største? Det svarer landstræner Michael Mørkøv på. Et kryds i Parken søndag aften gav ingen afklaring på den dramatiske guldkamp i Superligaen. FCK og FCM spillede 1-1, pointforskellen er stadig bare et enkelt point i tabellen, så hvor havner guldet efter de sidste to spillerunder? I Kvindeligaen er Fortuna Hjørring igen blevet mestre, men er det nok til at blive kåret til weekendens største vinder? Der er hård konkurrence til den titel på tennisbanen. Vært: Emil Schiønning. Medvært: Tina Müller. Medvirkende: Michael Mørkøv, Andreas Kraul, Arnela Muminovic, Kresten Mosbæk og Mikkel Nygaard.
Follow that wizard? Lucky feels like a good boy, Mina hopes to get a limb, and Webbie wants to be mortal enemies.The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within.Join the PCN Discord: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQA special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! Steve, Mel Cen, Mason D., Scazar, Sly Changeling, Bangarang, Craig S., Scumcat, Necromeat, Carlos, Okey A., Thomas S., theneilharris, Nemo R., Jari S., Manuel, Irishstu, Matthew, Anthony P., James J., Kyndra C., jay_dilf, Chris D., Oskar A., Handsome Andy, lil_willy, Kuaku, RandomGuy, Neckro, Bryan F., TheHarbingerPulsar, Ookfark, Thomas F., Therealmcasshole, Exile Creations, Tony M., KordixVR, Andrew W., Kilted Sparky, Oga, Astyria, BrooksHW, Cyril S., Josh, R Man, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R.Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)https://throne.com/professionalcasual https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?affiliate_id=3002007
e512 with Andy and Michael M on #EInk #monitors, #Agent run companies & towns, winning arguments with #AIAssistants, #pixellating reality and a whole lot more!
They found the Haulage, but how to investigate further? Lucky does that, Mina's elbows, and Webbie brings the fire with him. The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within.Join the PCN Discord: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQA special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! Steve, Mel Cen, Mason D., Scazar, Sly Changeling, Bangarang, Craig S., Scumcat, Necromeat, Carlos, Okey A., Thomas S., theneilharris, Nemo R., Jari S., Manuel, Irishstu, Matthew, Anthony P., James J., Kyndra C., jay_dilf, Chris D., Oskar A., Handsome Andy, lil_willy, Kuaku, RandomGuy, Neckro, Bryan F., TheHarbingerPulsar, Ookfark, Thomas F., Therealmcasshole, Exile Creations, Tony M., KordixVR, Andrew W., Kilted Sparky, Oga, Astyria, BrooksHW, Cyril S., Josh, R Man, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R.Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)https://throne.com/professionalcasual https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?affiliate_id=3002007
Clues lead the Gang all over the seedy districts of the city. Where did that pigeon go? Lucky also has a bird, Mina intimidates large strong men, and Webbie wants to hustle.The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within.Join the PCN Discord: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQA special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! Mason D., Scazar, Sly Changeling, Bangarang, Craig S., Scumcat, Necromeat, Carlos, Okey A., Thomas S., theneilharris, Nemo R., Jari S., Manuel, Irishstu, Matthew, Anthony P., James J., Kyndra C., jay_dilf, Chris D., Oskar A., Handsome Andy, lil_willy, Kuaku, RandomGuy, Neckro, Bryan F., TheHarbingerPulsar, Ookfark, Thomas F., Therealmcasshole, Exile Creations, Tony M., KordixVR, Andrew W., Kilted Sparky, Oga, Astyria, BrooksHW, Cyril S., Josh, R Man, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R.Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)https://throne.com/professionalcasual
Everyone wants that arm, oh, and information. Lucky is not promoted to nurse, Mina reads a note, and Webbie mentioned it.The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within.Join the PCN Discord: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQA special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! Mason D., Scazar, Sly Changeling, Bangarang, Craig S., Scumcat, Necromeat, Carlos, Okey A., Thomas S., theneilharris, Nemo R., Jari S., Manuel, Irishstu, Matthew, Anthony P., James J., Kyndra C., jay_dilf, Chris D., Oskar A., Handsome Andy, lil_willy, Kuaku, RandomGuy, Neckro, Bryan F., TheHarbingerPulsar, Ookfark, Thomas F., Therealmcasshole, Exile Creations, Tony M., KordixVR, Andrew W., Kilted Sparky, Oga, Astyria, BrooksHW, Cyril S., Josh, R Man, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R.Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)https://throne.com/professionalcasual https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?affiliate_id=3002007
Multi-colored fire can only mean one thing, a big ol' fight! Lucky takes a moment, Mina rushes in, and Webbie sighs deeply. The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within.Join the PCN Discord: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQA special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! Mason D., Scazar, Sly Changeling, Bangarang, Craig S., Scumcat, Necromeat, Carlos, Okey A., Thomas S., theneilharris, Nemo R., Jari S., Manuel, Irishstu, Matthew, Anthony P., James J., Kyndra C., jay_dilf, Chris D., Oskar A., Handsome Andy, lil_willy, Kuaku, RandomGuy, Neckro, Bryan F., TheHarbingerPulsar, Ookfark, Thomas F., Therealmcasshole, Exile Creations, Tony M., KordixVR, Andrew W., Kilted Sparky, Oga, Astyria, BrooksHW, Cyril S., Josh, R Man, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R.Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)https://throne.com/professionalcasual https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?affiliate_id=3002007
Join us this week as we explore the incredible career of one of Hollywood's most iconic voices and talents - Morgan Freeman! Special guest Michael M from the 501st Legion stops by to share his five favorite Morgan Freeman roles spanning both television and film.From prison inmates to presidents, detectives to divine beings, we'll dive deep into the performances that showcase Freeman's remarkable range and presence on screen. Michael brings his unique perspective as a longtime fan, sharing personal insights on why these particular roles resonate with him.Whether you've been following Freeman since his "Electric Company" days or discovered him through his more recent work, this episode celebrates the gravitas, wisdom, and undeniable charisma that Morgan Freeman brings to every character he portrays.Don't miss this celebration of an actor whose voice alone can elevate any production to new heights. Subscribe now and join the conversation about your own favorite Freeman performances!Links are on our profile page and at www.linktr.ee/hulkboy. Visit & interact on Instagram (www.instagram.com/favefivefromfans), Twitter/X (www.twitter.com/Fave5FromFans), Facebook (www.facebook.com/FaveFiveFromFans), & our website (www.FaveFiveFromFans.com). Also, check out Plastic Microphone Studios Twitter for more fun! #FaveFiveFromFans #FFFF #podcast #podcasts #podcasting #MorganFreeman #Outbreak #MillionDollarBaby #DrivingMissDaisy #BruceAlmighty#EvanAlmighty #RobinHood #Batman #DarkKnight #ShawshankRedemption #Se7en #Olympus #DeepImpact #AlexCross #God #EasyReader #ElectricCompany #501stLegion #MovieDiscussion
The Gang is surrounded, again. How will they ever get out of this? Lucky needs to be silenced, Mina has a sandwich, and Webbie tries to harmonize. The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within.Join the PCN Discord: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQA special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! Mason D., Scazar, Sly Changeling, Bangarang, Craig S., Scumcat, Necromeat, Carlos, Okey A., Thomas S., theneilharris, Nemo R., Jari S., Manuel, Irishstu, Matthew, Anthony P., James J., Kyndra C., jay_dilf, Chris D., Oskar A., Handsome Andy, lil_willy, Kuaku, RandomGuy, Neckro, Bryan F., TheHarbingerPulsar, Ookfark, Thomas F., Therealmcasshole, Exile Creations, Tony M., KordixVR, Andrew W., Kilted Sparky, Oga, Astyria, BrooksHW, Cyril S., Josh, R Man, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R.Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)https://throne.com/professionalcasual
Clues are uncovered and threats are made. Lucky's been wrong before, Mina writes her hame, and Webbie is sly about it. The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within.Join the PCN Discord: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQA special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! Mason D., Scazar, Sly Changeling, Bangarang, Craig S., Scumcat, Necromeat, Carlos, Okey A., Thomas S., theneilharris, Nemo R., Jari S., Manuel, Irishstu, Matthew, Anthony P., James J., Kyndra C., jay_dilf, Chris D., Oskar A., Handsome Andy, lil_willy, Kuaku, RandomGuy, Neckro, Bryan F., TheHarbingerPulsar, Ookfark, Thomas F., Therealmcasshole, Exile Creations, Tony M., KordixVR, Andrew W., Kilted Sparky, Oga, Astyria, BrooksHW, Cyril S., Josh, R Man, Smokey's Videos, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R.Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)https://throne.com/professionalcasual https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?affiliate_id=3002007
And as if the above title weren't enough, Paul Hylenski is also a 5-time successful author, a pilot and a public speaker. Paul grew up in Delaware. He joined the Marines in 1999 and stayed with the Corps until 2007. He then left to join a large company and, as he put it, got the opportunity to observe both good and bad leaders. He and I talk quite a bit about leaders and leadership. I asked him if he observed bad leadership in the Marines. He said that people being human do find themselves not leading properly in and out of the marines. His insights about this are best left for him to tell. Along the way Paul formed his company, Quantum Leap Academy. His company was formed to provide comprehensive training in AI technologies. He also formed VetMentor.ai, a service designed to assist military members in navigating the complexities of disability claims and career transitions with the aid of AI. As you may be able to gather, AI is a subject Paul has learned a great deal about. He discusses how we all can use it much more than we do in ways that can and will benefit us along our life journeys. Time passed for me quickly talking with Paul. He would love to hear from you, veteran or not. He has much to offer as you will see. About the Guest: Paul Hylenski is a dynamic business leader, software programmer, and motivational speaker with a deep passion for leveraging technology to enhance community and personal growth. After serving in the Marine Corps, Paul founded Quantum Leap Academy, a platform dedicated to providing comprehensive training in AI technologies. His vision extends into healthcare, where he has launched BioMarker Detect, an early cancer detection company. Paul's entrepreneurial spirit is complemented by his authorship, notably of his book 'Error-Proofing Humans,' which explores the intersection of human error and technological solutions. Paul's commitment to veteran affairs is evident through VetMentor.AI, a service designed to assist military members in navigating the complexities of disability claims and career transitions with the aid of AI. His efforts to democratize technology education are also showcased in his development of courses like 'Introduction to AI for Teens' and specialized training for veterans. Outside of his professional endeavors, Paul enjoys piloting aircraft and spending quality time with his family. His forward-thinking approach and dedication to service have made significant impacts across multiple sectors, particularly in AI education and veteran support. Ways to connect with Paul: LinkedIn : (1) Paul Hylenski | LinkedIn Website : www.quantumleapacademy.org 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, hello everyone, and pleasant greetings to you wherever you happen to be today. I am Michael Hingson, the host of unstoppable mindset where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. It's a lot of fun to be here. I really appreciate you joining us today. Hope that you have as much fun listening as I and our guest have in bringing this to you, I tell everyone who's going to come on the podcast that there is only one rule that everyone has to follow on the podcast or we won't do it, and that is, you have to have fun. And Paul Hylenski is definitely a person who said he would him force himself to do that. So Paul, welcome to unstoppable mindset. We're really glad you're here Paul Hylenski ** 02:02 today. Thank you so much. Michael, appreciate it. Thank you for having me on Well, Paul is a Michael Hingson ** 02:08 former Marine. He is the founder and CEO of something called Quantum Leap. He does various things with AI and technology. He is a leader by any standard. He's authored, if I recall write five books anymore, any more coming up in the queue, we'll have to learn about that. But definitely not a person who is idle, a man of action in a lot of different ways. And we're really glad that you're here with us. So why don't we start if you would, why don't you tell me a little bit about you as kind of the early Paul growing up and all that kind of life and all that and how you got started. Paul Hylenski ** 02:45 So, you know, I grew up in actual Newark, Delaware, so funny, there had a great childhood. Decided when I was in high school that I was going to enlist in the Marine Corps, so I wanted to be one of the few and the proud, and so I joined the Marine Corps, served in the Marine Corps, that was one of the best experiences of my life. Then after the Marine Corps, I actually got connected with a company with that was an aerospace company, and started working there as a frontline leader, and then from there, I saw a lot of bad leaders, and I saw some great leaders. And so I was able to, actually, as I kept going through the ranks, tailor my leadership towards how I wanted to be. And it was different. It was using science, psychology and leadership. And then as the AI revolution started happening, I started actually putting AI into business, and I wrote a book about AI in business, and then I thought to myself, well, now maybe I can impact the world in a bigger way. And that was what kind of drove me to start Quantum Leap Academy. And Quantum Leap Academy focuses on teaching professionals AI that's practical and and then that's really been my passion and mission is impacting the world with actually teaching how to automate and really make your life easier using AI Michael Hingson ** 04:23 Cool. Well, you've been been doing a lot of stuff. How did you come up with the name quantum leap? Paul Hylenski ** 04:29 A great story, but back in the 80s, there used to be an amazing TV Michael Hingson ** 04:33 show, yes. So Paul Hylenski ** 04:35 I thought, what better? You know, I was looking for a name that showed like, look, we're gonna go from where we're at now, and we're going to take this huge leap, and it's almost a leap of faith, you know, that we can use this new technology in in the forces of good. And so, you know, broke it out from my childhood. But, you know, kind of took the quantum leap. And then, you know, the academy. So, and Michael Hingson ** 05:02 it kind of went from there, yeah, well, so you said that you left the Marines. Well, when you left the Marines, and you went then to a major company, and you started out in kind of initial leadership and so on, how did being a Marine help you in terms of dealing with an understanding leadership, much less what made a good leader and what made a leader, not necessarily a good leader. Paul Hylenski ** 05:31 You know, for me, and I've done, I've done a few talks, and I've done a couple TED talks, actually, on this. And for me, the military is is is a great example of what they what I like to call the total leadership. So in business, normally what we do is we only worry about the people when we need them, or while they're at work or while they're accomplishing a mission. But in the military, we have to worry about the total person, because even the person's home life, or maybe things they have going on outside of the mission impact their ability to carry out the mission. And, you know, I've said a couple things you know about just both the military rewards people. So in the military, you get medals, and, you know, you get medals and awards for sacrificing yourself for the good of your people. But in business, a lot of times you get, you know, raises and promotions for sacrificing everyone around you for the good of yourself. And I think that's a flawed dynamic that I really got to see in action in the military, and I brought that into the civilian business life, do you Michael Hingson ** 06:45 and looking back on it, if you will, and you talked about you saw leaders who were good leaders and not so good leaders in the corporate world. And I don't want to pick on the military, but did you see the same sort of thing at all in the military, or do they really weed out people who don't tend to to do very well in the leadership role? That's Paul Hylenski ** 07:07 actually a myth. So most people think that there's only great leaders in the military. Michael Hingson ** 07:15 You did find some that weren't necessarily so, okay, Paul Hylenski ** 07:18 yes, yeah. And you know, like bad leaders tend to shape us in different ways, and sometimes better than the better leaders. You know, because you learn more from watching people who might be doing it wrong. But you know, it is great learning experience. I learned some things to do, and then I learned some things that did work, but yeah, absolutely, there are bad leaders everywhere. So Michael Hingson ** 07:43 what would you define as as a bad leader? What are some things that you experienced or you've seen that made people not necessarily such great leaders? Paul Hylenski ** 07:52 So for me, it's, you know, leading through intimidation and fear that was a practice that was made pretty common all throughout, you know, 1970s 1980s and the myth there was that people stayed because they were okay with the treatment. Well, in reality, the reason why they stayed to endure that horrible kind of leadership was because they had pensions. Well, the world now doesn't have pensions for most part. So people stay because they like the place or they like the culture. You know, another defining factor for me for leadership is, do I feel psychologically safe with that person? Yeah. And, you know, psychological safety and the ability to make state mistakes and the ability to make failures and view them as growth really defines a leader that's focused on the future and not just on the present or the past. Michael Hingson ** 08:48 In the military, did people have much opportunity when they encountered somebody who wasn't necessarily a good leader to move elsewhere? I would think that that was probably more challenging to do than when you're working for a company, especially a large company, where you could transfer probably easier, is that true? Paul Hylenski ** 09:08 Yeah, that that is true. So sometimes you had to endure it and and then you make the best out of a situation. And, you know, like I was saying earlier, sometimes that's where I learned, you know, as I was going through things that just didn't work, you know, and the way you talk to people and treat people, and just even the overall demeanor that you have as a leader, you know, matters. And everything you say is a communication, but everything you do is a communication as well. And a lot of leaders don't remember that, or they don't, you know, they don't visualize that I Michael Hingson ** 09:45 know, for me personally, and you mentioned the whole concept of fear and intimidation, and I've experienced it from time to time for a variety of reasons, being blind and interacting with. People, I faced challenges because people tended to not necessarily view blindness as as they should. And so oftentimes I would have people say to me, Well, you got to work harder and different than everyone else, because you're blind and people aren't going to perceive you as being competent. Well, there's truth to that to a degree, but there are ways to approach that as a leader. And I would think that when you're telling someone all the time, you gotta be better, you gotta be smarter, and so on, as opposed to saying, how do we make sure that you shine as best as you possibly can? And I don't know when I adopted this method of operation, but one of the things that I discovered fairly early on was that as I was managing people, and when I started really hiring people and opening offices for companies, one of the things that I said to people was, look, I'm hiring you because you've demonstrated to me, or you've convinced me that you can do the job. So my job isn't to boss you around. My job is to work with you specifically to see how I can add value to what you're doing to make you the best performer that you can be. And what I discovered is that the people who really got that and understood it and chose to find ways that I could work with them and use the skills that I have, and oftentimes they took the lead in discovering what they thought that I could help with but we worked together, and when they got that concept, they really did perform a whole lot better than those who didn't get it. Paul Hylenski ** 11:53 That's a great strategy. Michael Hingson ** 11:55 Well, I think it's and it's important, because I think that fear and intimidation doesn't help anyone, and it doesn't help you or anyone to develop a real trust if you're just dealing with someone out of fear, as opposed to dealing with someone through trust and teamwork, it's a it can be a challenge. Yeah, I Paul Hylenski ** 12:18 think you know, one of the things that we're finding out more and more and companies are finding out is they never really made significant headway to fix issues or to get real growth because of that fear and intimidation. And I mean, just take, just take mistakes. Right? If I'm afraid to make a mistake, I'm going to lie, cheat and steal my way out of that mistake. I'm gonna blame it on everyone else, but if I'm not afraid to make the mistake, then I'll tell you, as my leader, exactly what happened, and then as the leader, if you know exactly what happened, you can work corrective action and fix it and make the environment better. And that's where the beauty and the secret behind that is Michael Hingson ** 13:01 well, or the other part of it is because you acknowledge the mistake and so on, the leader will let you do the corrective acting and take the corrective steps that need to be done, because especially that will be a good learning experience for you, but they're there to support you, which is really the issue. Paul Hylenski ** 13:21 And I think when leaders change their mindset from failure being this negative connotation, and, you know, failure being this bad thing, to, hey, that's just another step towards our growth, you know. But what did you learn from it? Or what are you going to do different, right? All those things, then all of a sudden, people start to realize they're in a growth mindset. They can fail, they can learn, they can proceed, and then they end up growing. Yeah, and Michael Hingson ** 13:49 I think overall, people really do want to grow. They want to evolve, but the leader is, or ought to be, the person to help really create that environment for people. Paul Hylenski ** 14:04 Yep, and spot on. I mean, who wakes up in the morning and says, Hey, I'm going to be a loser today. I'm going to be a failure today, right? Nobody, so. But people fail, and people might not get something, they might not understand something, and you're spot on. The leader has to be the one that's their cheerleader or their coach or their mentor or giving them direction on Hey, you didn't really do well on this, but this is what you need to do next time. Similarly, a different way, or Michael Hingson ** 14:34 you didn't do well. Do you have any idea of why? Because it's always great if you can figure it out. You know, I have worked with guide dogs since 1964 and it took a couple of dogs for me to develop and begin to articulate this. But what I learned is that every time I got a new guide dog, and we would spend time at the school or whatever, what I. Really doing there is beginning the process of creating a bond with a new teammate. And no mistake, dogs are as much a part of a team as anyone else. If you allow that to happen, most people really look down on on dogs, but the reality is that they have a lot of senses, and they have a lot to contribute. And the thing is, if you believe people like Cesar Milano and so on, the thing is, dogs really want to be a part, and they really want you to tell them what you expect from them. And in that sense, it's really cool. They don't have hidden agendas like people often do. And so the difficulty with people with hidden agendas is it makes it more difficult to trust them, and sometimes you can break through that. And the hidden agenda isn't such a hidden agenda that isn't necessarily a negative agenda at all, but we tend to be very closed in terms of trusting others, because we're always concerned about what hidden agendas they have. Dogs, I believe, do love unconditionally, but I don't think that they trust unconditionally. But the difference between a dog and a person is that a dog is generally more open to trust, unless something just really hurt them, which is something typically that it would be a person who did that. But dogs are open to trust. And if you create that trusting relationship, it is second to none. Paul Hylenski ** 16:34 That's that's interesting. Know that? Michael Hingson ** 16:38 Yeah, they The reality is that they want to please. They want to do a good job. So I've learned over the years working with guide dogs, it is an extremely stressful job for them, because they want to please. They want to make it work. And they're being tested whenever, for example, the harness is on, even when it's off a lot. But when the harness is on, they watch, and have to watch a lot what's coming up at the street corner, the curb is coming up. I got to stop at the curb and make sure that my person stops at the curb. I tell the dog to go forward, and the dog sees there's a hybrid car coming, and I don't know it, because it's in battery mode and so I don't hear it, but the dog, if I create a good, teaming relationship with that dog, the dog knows that it has the authority to not budge to make sure that we don't get smushed by the car. Likewise, if everything is fine, then the dog will go. But the dog has a lot of decisions to make in the in the guiding process. They don't lead, they guide. It's my job to know where to go and how to get there, and I need to learn that as I travel and make that happen. And the neat thing about it is that when the dog understands I'm doing my job, it feels a lot better about doing its job, and it knows what its job is. And in reality, what that ultimately means is that we form a good team, supportive relationship. And I think that is something that because just as relevant in person to person, leadership and teamwork as it is in person to dog relationships, oh sure, Paul Hylenski ** 18:27 the ability to trust each other and feel safe with each other, absolutely. Yeah. So, Michael Hingson ** 18:33 so you've done a lot. What got you started in dealing with AI? What? What attracted you to that? Yeah, Paul Hylenski ** 18:40 yeah. My fourth book was actually titled The evolution of leadership. So aI had just kind of started coming online. I started researching AI, and then I thought to myself, Okay, well, now that I've researched it, I'm going to start actually using it. And then I went to actually input it into a few businesses, and once I realized, like, wow, like, I could automate 50 to 60% of the business with AI. And I started noticing, like we had time to be proactive, not reactive. Then, then I realized, okay, I'm we're on to something most anybody. If you ask them about AI, they're just going to say, chat, GPT. But there's, you know, 1000 different platforms. There's AI automations. So I thought, Okay, people just don't know. And, you know, the more senior people are, the least, the less that they knew about, you know, AI and chatgpt and everything. So I thought, Okay, well, the, you know, baby boomers and a lot of the you know, millennials, they're running companies right now, or they own companies, but they're the ones that are not able to really use AI or new AI. So you. Know, I've really tried to put a focus on teaching practical AI. So not just the, not just the theory and all the, you know, school type of material, but actually how to utilize AI to benefit you and your business. And that's been, you know, really fantastic since we kicked the academy off, we've gotten formally accredited. So when you take, you know, certifications, one thing that's different is a lot of places you'll take AI certifications, and you just get a little certificate, but no credits, and it's not formally accredited. And that was one thing we put a lot of attention into because as business professionals, the whole point of taking training is to grow in your, you know, career and grow in your job. So, you know, accreditation and credentials matter. But, yeah, that's what got me started, and then now it's become a passion. I, you know, I do free training for veterans. We actually even started a software as a service to help veterans put their disability claims in and streamline that process. So it's been it's been really fantastic. AI has opened up a lot of opportunities. How does AI Michael Hingson ** 21:18 help in that whole process of doing the claims, applications and so on. What does it say? So it's Paul Hylenski ** 21:23 absolutely great. So this was our startup company, which was a derivative off of Quantum Leap, and it's called vet mentor AI, so we'll be releasing it towards the end of the year, and we've already used, utilized it on, you know, test veterans, where they've actually allowed us to help them put their applications in. So the problem is that, you know, for first time submittals for veterans, it's a 70% rejection rate rate, so a lot of veterans either don't know what to do, or maybe they're afraid to do it. And then one of the big things is PTSD and anxiety. There's a fair amount of veterans that really have high anxiety, or maybe have issues from their PTSD, where this process is daunting and the fact of going in front of a medical examiner is almost impossible for them. So the way it does it, or what it does is it allows the veteran to basically in plain language, right? What's wrong? So they'll fill out a very simple form. It's something that you know, someone with basic education can fill out, and it's basically a questionnaire. And then we have a proprietary AI software that we actually built that analyzes all that data, and then it's trained on the VA rating manuals. It's trained on the VA forms, the VA website. And so what it does is it actually tailors the person's claim to the VA rating manual. And by wording it like that, it actually allows the veteran to get this comprehensive report, which even asks the person, Hey, did you have this medical documentation? Did you think about filing for this secondary claim and and so then the second part of this is we actually built an AI platform to allow the veteran to do a simulated CNP exam. So what a cmp exam is, it's a medical exam where the veteran has to go in and actually get examinated, and you know, then that that doctor will determine if they, you know, meet the criteria. So what we've done is we've actually utilized AI and allowed them to do their medical examination with an AI. It even has a voice, so that they can talk to it like a person and imagine and this has been wildly successful for our veterans that have high anxiety or PTSD, because they're able to practice their their CNP exam, and you know, it will critique their answers. It will let them know, you know, what, what their rating would be, and all this thing in the background. And it's really amazing, because then when they go in for their real one they've already practiced, and they are less anxious, they're less nervous about it, and they make better decisions. So the one great thing, and I'm so proud of this, because being a veteran, this was something that was really hard for me, was, you know, submitting my disability claims, so the average failure rate is 70% on the first time submission but with vet mentor, all of our veterans, we are currently at an 80% acceptance rate on first time submittals. So we've flipped the strip the script, and you know, instead of a 30% approval rate, we're up to an 80% approval. Boring and Michael Hingson ** 25:01 it's interesting, because what I'm really hearing is that, to a large degree, the AI system is helping to train, much less helping to create the actual information that has to be submitted. So it's kind of a double pronged approach to solving a problem, Paul Hylenski ** 25:20 yeah, and it's, it does it. It prompts them for, you know, something simple that I never realized in the beginning of the process was a personal statement. So it helps them to actually generate a personal statement about their illness or injury or disability. And then, even more than that, it prompts you to put it in the proper form. So most veterans don't know, but if you don't upload your personal statement in the 4138 Bravo form, they actually discount it. And there's a lot of veterans that are are submitting just a Word document with a little handwritten thing, but it, you know, the AI, actually, when we started doing this, the AI picked up that, hey, this must be done in this form. And when we were looking at it, we were like, Oh my God. We didn't even know that. So the AI taught us when we were actually making it Michael Hingson ** 26:13 well. And how long have you been doing this? So Paul Hylenski ** 26:17 we've been doing this for four months. Little over 20 veterans. So we're in the middle of, we're in the middle of the end stages of, you know, building the rest of the site and the platform. We basically, when we started, we kind of had three or four different types of AI systems talking to each other. So we're actually building and consolidating it just into one that's a nice little format for a user. And the beauty part with with our software is it's a one time lifetime fee, so you pay $50 which covers the cost of the AI software in the background, and you have it for life. So as your your disabilities get worse with age, because we all know they do. You have the software for the rest of your life, and it's for only $50 which is starkly different than the A lot of the companies out there, which you know they're preying on veterans. And what they do is they take 1000s of dollars or percentages off of their disability every single month. So that's one of the things that we wanted to do when I made this company. It wasn't to make money, it was to impact the world. So that's why we keep it just as a lifetime fee, just a $50 one time, and you're done. So the veteran basically just pays for the software is Michael Hingson ** 27:43 bit mentor, a nonprofit like a 501 c3 company. So no, Paul Hylenski ** 27:47 we're not right now. We haven't done any of that yet, just because we want to build the platform, Michael Hingson ** 27:54 it's fair. Um, you've got to start somewhere, needless to say. So Paul Hylenski ** 27:59 we've helped. We've helped over 20 veterans so far. So that was the big thing, was we get we got veterans in the beginning that we're like, Okay, well, let's try it out. And then, you know, we've done a couple pitches. We've, you know, been getting investments in, in the platform and everything. And the intention is, you know, I want to roll this out nationwide to help veterans. There's a little over a million pending disability claims right now, and if you just go off of the you know, the standard statistics, 70% of them will get rejected. Yeah, and that is a horrible thing for a veteran who maybe is having trouble at work, or maybe their disability is impacting their ability to get promoted and and to have to go through that after they've honorably served the country. You know that I'm trying to fix that? Michael Hingson ** 28:53 Do you see expanding this and also working with people who aren't veterans by any chance? Paul Hylenski ** 29:01 So we haven't thought of that. But that is a great idea. I was actually so we, we're in the VA Pathfinder system, because my intention in the beginning was actually to partner with the VA, because imagine a VSO, or, you know, one of the members from VA who are helping the veterans have this tool to help them. You know, I think that would change the game too Michael Hingson ** 29:26 well. I'm thinking, for example, there are a lot of people with disabilities who have to navigate and interact with their state rehabilitation systems and so many other things that might very well benefit from what you're doing and also who will learn a lot, and that will help them with their confidence as well, which is kind of what prompted my my question, and my thought about it like Paul Hylenski ** 29:50 we haven't yet, but you got my mind thinking now, and you know what happens when that, Michael Hingson ** 29:54 there you go, yeah, well, that's, that's always, that's always a good thing, not. A problem. So when you started really integrating AI into healthcare and doing the things that you were doing, what kind of challenges did you run into, or are you running into? Paul Hylenski ** 30:13 Yeah, the first one was when I started integrating it into business, I met a lot of resistance, because people don't understand it. So even something as simple as chat GBT, right? Just go real basic into AI. Chat GBT. There's so many people right now that either haven't used it or are not using it or don't even know all of the things that it can do. If you have a business, if you're a business owner, if you're a manager, if you are doing office clerical work, chat, GPT can probably boost your productivity just by 30% and you know, I mean instantly you will feel the benefit. I use it to write emails. I use it to do charts, data analysis. You know, there's a there is so many uses. You know, you can use chat GBT to build a game show that then you can use that game show to go train people on Excel. I mean, it's amazing the amount of limitless things that you're able to do with it. But chat TBT is literally like one grain of sand in the beach that is AI, and most people don't know that. You know, there's another platform that's make.com it literally builds automations. So this call our podcast right now, you could have an automation that it would literally transcribe the the podcast, then it could send it into four or five different directions. We could do Google Doc, we could do a Google sheet, we could put a summary about it. It would do everything all in one just by hitting one button. And so businesses are starting to use this because it's automating most of the clerical work that they do. Michael Hingson ** 32:04 I know that I'm not using AI nearly to the extent that I could even chat GPT, and part of it has been that I've found some inaccessibility issues in some of the buttons that aren't labeled and so on. So gee, maybe I'll have to talk into giving me a better lesson on using some AI stuff, but I appreciate and understand the concepts of it, and so I know what you're saying, and I've used it to write articles in the past. And what I do when I when I bring AI or chat GPT into it, is I'll tell it to write something, and then my job is to look at that and massage it and make it my own and add my own stuff to it. And in fact, I've I've actually told chat GPT to create something, and I've told it to do it six or seven times, and I take the best of all of those, plus what I contribute to it, and turn that into the article that I actually publish. But the I think the most important part about it is that I really know what it's it's doing, and what I'm doing, and I know that I have to be the one to control it. I can't just go off and let chat, GPT create something and then submit it. That's not only worthless, but it's it's certainly dishonest. I've said many times. You know, teachers talk about students that use chat GPT to write their papers and all that, and then they turn them in, and sometimes you can tell that they're written by chat GPT, and sometimes you can't, but teachers are worried about that. My reaction, and I have a secondary teaching credential, so I do understand something about all this. But my reaction is, I think that for chat for teachers, chat GPT is great if kids go off and write their own papers, great if they use chat GPT to do it. Great because at the end of the day, you turn the paper in, and then the teacher calls you up during a period and say, not offend your paper, you're going to know real quickly who really did the work and who didn't. Yeah, Paul Hylenski ** 34:11 and, and, you know, you brought up some good points there, right? So I have a, I have a colleague on LinkedIn who's the AI educator, and so what he actually has done is he's put a lot of AI into education, and there are softwares that a lot of teachers are using now that actually detect chat. GBT, yeah, detects AI. You know, one of the best things that people can do, and this is something that most people know nothing about, but you can actually create a digital twin of yourself, and it's very easy to do on open AI, so you can create an assistant that's actually trained on how you write, how you sound, right? And so this, we did this very easily for me, where I. Downloaded all of my posts, all of my interactions, and everything from LinkedIn, and I trained it on all of my books. So what happens is is you literally have an AI system that talks like you, has your same tone, has the same humor that you do. And when I do my posts and everything I do kind of the same thing you do, where I'll have my digital twin create the post and then I massage it or whatever, or go through it and read it. But what I've found is definitely for automations and definitely for email writing, these digital twins that you're able to create for particularly marketing as well. They're pretty spot on. I mean, you would have a hard time telling the difference between my digital twin and my writing. Of Michael Hingson ** 35:48 course, you're leaving yourself open to the obvious question, which one are you the twin or the real person? But that's okay, yes, Paul Hylenski ** 35:56 that's a good one today. Are Michael Hingson ** 35:59 you a robot or not, Paul Hylenski ** 36:01 no. But people don't realize that. And you know, the beauty part of it, Michael is like, so if you own a small marketing company, I mean, you could create 30 to 60 days of content in literally a couple hours. If you have a digital twin, and it changes the game, because you're able to scale businesses, you're able to do things. You can set automations up. You know, on some of my emails, particularly my personal emails, depending on what is in the email, I have automations where the AI actually responds to the email and it sends it to my drafts and then, so at the end of the day, we do as I look at the draft email. I click it, I click it, I click it up. I don't like the way that read it. I'll delete that and write it for real. But for the most part, I'd say it's about 90% perfect. And you know, I took, I take maybe about two hours of emails and turn it into about 1520 minutes. And so then it gives me an extra hour and some change every single day just on that task. Michael Hingson ** 37:06 So here's a question, actually. So you do the process that you just described, and you go off and you massage some of the emails because you didn't like the way your twin created them. How do you then make sure that your twin gets trained on your changes. Paul Hylenski ** 37:23 Plus, you know, I mean, you That's exactly it's the whole point is you have to what I'll do is I'll basically copy and paste the email, put it into my digital twin and say I did not like maybe the word, a couple of the words they used, or I didn't like the tone of this email, and so that's the beauty part with chat. GPT, yeah, and you know, any, pretty much, any, AI, the whole point of it is fine tuning it, so you have to, but most people don't realize that you can talk to the AI because it responds. So like, if you say, I don't like this, it's not going to do that, and it's so important, and one of the hacks that a lot of people don't do. So when I create something, let's say a business plan or a coaching plan, and I'll create it, I'll ask chat GBT to critique it for me and then improve it. So now I have it created, then I have it critique it and improve it, and pretty much, at the end of that, I have a pretty perfect document. And that's changed a lot of the the ability that I but most people don't realize you can actually have it critique its own work, Michael Hingson ** 38:36 yeah, and that's and that's the reason I asked the question, because that's really the whole point. It is a, it is a process, and AI is opening so many things. I work with a company called accessibe, and accessibe uses AI and what's, what's called a, well, it's, it's a, it's a process where it can generate the code that will make a website more accessible, called an overlay. Some people say they don't work and so on, because they believe that you got to manually code it. But in reality, I can find manual coders who don't always do a good job. But what accessibe does is that they have created a system out of necessity. They're in Israel, and in 2017 Israel said, websites need to be accessible. And these guys that all started this company in 2015 and the company was making websites for people, well, suddenly they had to make everything accessible. And they created an AI process that does a lot of that. It's expanding and it's improving over time, because there are things that it it didn't do well, and there are things that it will get better at as it goes forward. But the fact of the matter is that it does help make websites a lot more inclusive than they ever were. So for example, if you're a person with epilepsy and you go to a web. Site that uses accessibe, and there are blinking elements on that page that could cause you to have a seizure. You can go into a particular disability profile on accessibe That's for people with epilepsy, and disable those blinking elements. And the way it all works is that accessibe's widget transmits the code not to the website and modifies the website code. It transfers the information directly to my browser and and my browser and my screen reader that verbalizes to me doesn't care where the code comes from, as long as it's there. So it's really pretty clever, and it and it's and it's making quite a difference. It's got a long way to go, but AI is new autonomous vehicles have a long way to go. They're pretty new, but they're getting better. So it's, it's a process, right? Paul Hylenski ** 40:52 We're at the beginning of this, and it's, you know, starting to really grow. And so, like, you know, people, people just, you know, a lot of people are still resistant to it and, and there's good reasons for that, right? I mean, this is going to be very dangerous as much as it's going to be good, right? I mean, with the deep fakes and all the ability that you allow people to do with it, they but there's that much good with it too and knowing it. And once you start knowing it and knowing what to look for and learning it and everything, then you can start to pick up on maybe some not so good ways of using it, or, you know, the ethics about it, or, you know, the transparency about Yeah, how do Michael Hingson ** 41:38 you balance the technological innovations and the ethics in, in what you do, yeah, Paul Hylenski ** 41:45 for me, so that's part of what we teach in the academy. So like, the first and I have five levels there. Each level goes up, but in, in the first level, it's all about, like, AI and business. So there's a fair amount of, you know, ethics, transparency and everything about proprietary data, not putting certain data into it, you know. So for me, it's that is the biggest key, because especially with vet mentor, you know, you're dealing with really touchy areas, medical information and everything. And, you know, while it's kind of sanitized because of our process, you know, it's still it's new. And, you know, and with anything new, there's going to be some type of resistance, there's going to be questions, and people with the lack of information, they make up their own, right, and that's where you get a lot of the confusion about AI right now, but I think it's important to realize that, you know, this is new, so you have to tread carefully. And you know, the best way to actually protect yourself is to educate yourself, yeah, um, Michael Hingson ** 42:55 and, you know, the internet and itself, it's got the dark web, and the web that's not so dark, and there are, there are going to be people who will misuse it, but what we we need to learn is how to bring ethical decisions into it, and over time, hopefully, we can bring down a lot of The the so called Dark Web, and let people know or or get people to understand that's inappropriate behavior. And I think the same thing with AI. And yes, you're going to see people who get fooled. You're going to have a lot of challenges, but there is so much positivity that can come from it that is is even more important than the negative parts, Paul Hylenski ** 43:41 yep. And I think, you know, there's, there are companies out there, because I've talked to a couple of their CEOs that are actually building AI systems to detect negative AI, right, like, so they can detect the deep fakes and everything. And, you know, AI the one, the one touchy thing that it's done so in the in the past, you know, before the internet and everything, if somebody wanted to steal from you, they had to walk up to you and steal from you. They had to pick pocket you, or actually rob you. So you got to see the person's face as they were taking something from you. When the internet came, you had hackers that had no face, right? He was just this person on the other end of the computer, and they could steal your information or steal your money. Well, the problem with AI in this manner is, and why we have to be careful and we have to protect against this is, now it's your daughter. Now it's your husband, your wife, your boss, that comes on the screen and says, I need you to make this transfer. I need money, right? And it's really the thieves, but they've been able to clone, you know, your family member, so now the people stealing from you look like and sound like people that. You care about, and that is why it is getting drastically more difficult to identify some of these, you know, really tough ways that it's being used. So I'm excited to see the innovation that keeps us going to come out, you know, with some of these companies to actually screen for those deep fakes, because then I think once you can get rid of or regulate some of that negative usage, then people really will just focus on the positivity that it gets. Michael Hingson ** 45:29 Yeah, because the reality is that it can be so positive for everyone, and that if people really learn that and catch on to it and ethically use it, there's, there's no end to the capabilities and the positive things that they can bring about. Paul Hylenski ** 45:48 I mean, you have 10 year old children now coding websites because they've made it so easy they can literally type in to code a game. People are making their own games. You can go on Claude AI and literally make a web application. Just by saying, make a web application for a loan calculator. So you can create anything in the world. And before, I used to have to know how to code if I wanted to make something like that. Now I just type in what I want, and it spits it out, Michael Hingson ** 46:20 yeah, yeah, and it's it is going to get better, which is really what makes it so cool. And I hope that people will catch on and understand that being positive and doing it ethically really is better and worth more than than the alternative. Paul Hylenski ** 46:39 And I think so too. I think once we figure ways to have the AI protect against the AI, I think, I think it'll be even better, too. And, you know, I'm excited, because from the students that I've had in the academy, so many people from beginner level to where they thought they knew, you know, they thought they knew chat GBT. They thought they knew automations. It's been great because you see the light bulb click on, when some people are like, Oh, my God. Why was I taking a week to do that? And you just did it in five minutes. And you know, our level four is where you actually learn how to build a software as a service. And you know, our students walk away with a fully functional AI business. And there's not many schools, there's not many academies that you'll ever walk away with actually real practical knowledge or a real business. Michael Hingson ** 47:38 Yeah, and that's what makes it so cool, and it it certainly helps to empower people a lot, doesn't it? Paul Hylenski ** 47:45 Yeah, I mean, we had a school teacher build a CRM platform that then she took and she went and sold it to five different companies, and they're using her platform that we built in two days with AI, it was so crazy. And she's like, I never thought I'd be able to do something like this. And it's true, because five years ago, she would have never been able to do that, because that wasn't her specialty. Right now, you know, she built a fully functioning Software as a Service, and it was, it was the most beautiful thing to see. Her eyes light up at the end of it, where it was, like, I just built this. Michael Hingson ** 48:24 Yeah, it is so cool that she's recognizing that she's still the one who did it and she used tools, but she's still the one who did it, Paul Hylenski ** 48:34 yep, yep. And it's, that's really what's amazing is you can, you know, you show people, I bring up, you know, a lot of examples, but most, most people don't realize what they actually have the power to. And a lot of people come on, especially the level one people come in and say, I can't learn this. This is just so hard for me. And then once you start breaking it down to a very simplistic level of, hey, this is how to prompt. This is how the system reads your words. And once you understand that, then everything else starts to make sense. And it's so beautiful, because you have people, you know, creating things they never thought they could before, yeah. And Michael Hingson ** 49:20 that's what makes it so fun. And people do want to be creative, which is great. You've written several books. I know one you've written. I'm intrigued about. We haven't discussed it yet, error proofing, humans Tell me about that. Paul Hylenski ** 49:33 Yeah, so error proofing, I love the title. Oh, it's great. And, you know, I got so many comments on that so that book, actually, I'm so proud of it, because it was an Amazon bestseller. You know, I've been on a book tour with it and everything. So I originally brought that book up because I thought, okay, error proofing humans there. So everybody you know commented and said, You can't error proof a human. That. Is the whole point of the book. So every human in the world makes anywhere from three to five mistakes per hour, if they're trained on a topic. Now that goes up by 11 times, potentially if they're they're not trained. So you have people every day making mistake after mistake. Now, most of them are what they call micro mistakes, and they're detectable, right? So you can detect, okay, I typed in the wrong letter, so I hit the backspace or whatever. But when you're doing some tasks, if you have that many mistakes, sometimes you don't detect them, or sometimes you can't correct them, and that's when we have accidents and injuries and everything. So the whole point of the book is, what if you could error proof processes and finally make an error proof human so what we do is we follow, and I did all the in the book. It's all the science and psychology behind human error, how to eliminate it or mitigate it. And one of the one of the key strategies that I'll leave with, like your viewers and listeners, is the Swiss cheese method. Now you can use this in your in your house, you can use this in your business. And it was made up by air, created by a guy named James Reason. And what he said was every process was like a piece of Swiss cheese. It had holes that the error or the accident could go through. So the only way to truly error proof human is to layer peace upon peace upon peace. And every failure you have means that the process isn't robust enough, so you have to add another layer of process. And what happens is, after a while, just like pieces of Swiss cheese laid up on after each other, the holes don't line up after a while, and all of a sudden you have error proof humans. And so we've done this in multiple businesses, and it has transformed their quality numbers. It has transformed their safety numbers. And what happens is, and when you can get people behind things like this, you know, you change the entire culture of the of the company or the business, or even at home. You could do these things that I say it in the book. You can do this with your children. You can do this with yourself, right to to make less and less mistakes. And you know, one of the things that a lot of people don't realize too, one of the other key main things, and then I'll get off the book, but one of the key main things the book is, you know, a high frequency, low risk activity like walking. So 30% of all injuries in a workplace are slips, trips and falls. And you'd ask yourself, well, how come people can't walk? Well, they can walk, right? But, well, I don't look at my feet when I walk, because it's a high frequency low risk, so my mind becomes immediately complacent. But if I were to drive a fork truck, or, let's say, operate a crane with a heavy load, every little sound that thing makes, I'm going to be on super high alert so people don't typically get injured on those high risk, low frequency jobs. So what you have to do in a workplace is you actually have to change the risk dia or dynamic to make it feel more risky. And by layering process after process, and sometimes check after check, you increase the risk profile, which decreases complacency, Michael Hingson ** 53:44 yeah, which makes perfect sense, doesn't it? Yep, and, and I think that that in reality, we take so many things for granted. Gi, I don't know. I think there are a lot of drivers out there who consider driving like walking. It's high frequency and low risk, and it's not. And the way they drive, though, you'd think they think otherwise, yep, Paul Hylenski ** 54:06 and that's why there's a lot of accidents, you know, but, and you know, there's a study that said the most accidents happen closer to the person's property, closer to the person's house. And you know, when you look at that, it's because I'm getting closer to home. I'm comfortable with the area. I become more complacent, and now I might run through that stop sign, or I might, yeah, make that turn a little faster than normal. So it's it's really important in an environment, and as we as leaders craft our environment. We need to look at the risk profile. We need to look at our processes. Michael Hingson ** 54:47 It's also true that what we have to do is to learn to be more disciplined about what we do. And I think that's a lot of what you're saying. When you get closer to home, you tend to be more undisciplined, but you've got to keep the discipline. Plan all the way through the process? Yeah, absolutely. And that doesn't necessarily always happen. Were you a pilot when you were in the Marines? No, Paul Hylenski ** 55:10 so I was a, I was actually worked on helicopters in the Marine Corps, and then after the Marine Corps, I said, you know, I want to, I want to fly and and so I got my pilot's license. It was one of the best things I ever did in my life. And, you know, it taught me a lot about complacency, because being a pilot and checklists and everything, the entire cockpit is designed to defeat complacency, yeah, and, you know, but I was telling a story last week, you know, the most deadly time for a pilot is between 250 and 500 hours. And you think to yourself, again, these are experienced pilots, like, why would somebody, you know, be more dangerous than than a brand new pilot? And it's because of that risk protein as a brand new pilot, everything matters. I'm going through every single checklist item, every noise that the aircraft makes. I'm hyper vigilant. But after about 250 or 250 to 500 hours, now I'm confident. I'm used to the plane. I'm we might skip my checklist, I might do something riskier than normal, right? And that's the complacency death trap, right there. Michael Hingson ** 56:28 Yeah. And so after 500 hours, you have done it enough that, in theory, it dawns on you. I've got to stay disciplined. I've got to do this the right way, like I did at the beginning, and it makes me safer, and it makes the flight safer. Paul Hylenski ** 56:45 Yup and, and sometimes, and a lot of pilots have told me that sometimes during that little 250 to 500 you have a lot of near mistakes or mistakes that you learn from pretty quickly. Yeah and, and then that's enough for them to say, Yep, I gotta break myself of this. Yeah, Michael Hingson ** 57:05 exactly, right. Well, and we're we're seeing so many things at airports now. It's crazy. I don't understand how so many airplanes either collide with each other, or other equipment collides with them and so on. How come we're seeing a lot more of that than we used to Paul Hylenski ** 57:22 think. Well, I have to be honest, I think as the travel keeps getting more and more, right, you're going to probably see a lot more of this, because it's taxiing. So taxiing for a pilot is at one of those low risk, yeah, high frequency things, right? I'm just, I'm literally down, I'm not in the air. You feel safe because you're on the ground. You're, you know, you're steering it. And a lot of times, they're also very task saturated while they're taxiing. Yeah, so one thing most people don't see is while they're taxiing, they're going through checklists, they're prepping. And, you know, you don't have a good view of around you in the cockpit. You only have a window that you really can't see in the back. And you know, so the reduced visibility, the high you know, high task saturation, and then that, you know, high frequency, low risk. It's perfect environment for complacency to crop up Michael Hingson ** 58:20 well. And the reality is, a lot of times it's not a pilot's fault that something happened. They're also relying on other people, whether it's air traffic controllers or whatever. And so there are just a lot of issues, and I think that it is something that hopefully National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA and so on, will work more on to try to eliminate more of those accidents. I have a friend whose daughter went on a vacation last Saturday with her husband, and as they were backing away from the terminal, they got hit by some sort of piece of equipment, and it to late, everything by a day. I don't know any of the details, but just so many of those things happen. We we've got to not allow things to be taken for granted. But I, I would not at all say it necessarily wasn't any way a pilot error, because there's no way to for me to know that, and it probably wasn't, but it still happened, which is, which Paul Hylenski ** 59:19 is, there's humans everywhere. So humans are prone to mistake. And you know exactly the point of the book is, you're never going to error proof a human, but you can air proof processes. Yep, Michael Hingson ** 59:32 you can do that. Well, if people want to reach out to you and learn more about you, what you do, maybe become involved in your courses and so on. How do they do that? Paul Hylenski ** 59:41 Yes, so the best, and I love for people to do this. I have a fantastic network and a community on LinkedIn. So the best way to reach me, and you can reach me personally, is through LinkedIn. Just look up my name, Paul Hylenski, and then if you are interested in. Learning. Ai Mike, it's Quantum Leap Academy. So it's www, dot Quantum Leap academy.org, so it's gonna be.org yeahlin ski Michael Hingson ** 1:00:12 for me, Paul Hylenski ** 1:00:12 please. So, h, y, l, e, n, s, k, I, Michael Hingson ** 1:00:17 so, Paul Hylenski on LinkedIn, which makes sense? Yep, and that's it cool. Well, I want to thank you for being here and being a part of this today. It's been educational for me, and it's been a lot of fun. I value the time that we spent, and maybe in the future, if you think we ought to talk some more, I'm always glad to do that. We can, can do more of this, but I really appreciate all the sound knowledge and advice that you shared, and I hope everyone out there listening and watching appreciated it as well. Love to hear from you. If you would let us know what you thought about our podcast today, you can reach me through email, Michael M, I, C, H, A, E, L, H, I at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, I b, e.com, or go to our podcast page, www dot Michael hingson.com/podcast, Michael hingsons, M, I, C, H, A, E, L, H, I N, G, s, O n.com/podcast, wherever you're listening, though, we hope that you like this well enough that you'll give us a five star rating as a review. We really value your reviews. We love them. Please give us a review. And if you've reviewed us on earlier podcasts, don't stop. We'd like to hear it about this one too. We really look forward to your comments and your thoughts. If you know of anyone who ought to be a guest, and Paul you as well. If you think of anyone else who you think ought to come on our podcast, we'd love to hear from you. We're always looking for new friends to make and new people who have stories to tell. So feel free to do it, and we, we'd love to to hear from you in whatever you do. So Paul, again, I want to thank you for being here. This has been absolutely a lot of fun and and I hope we get to do more of it in the future. Yeah. Thank Paul Hylenski ** 1:01:59 you so much. I really appreciate the opportunity, and this has been great. Thank you, Michael, Michael Hingson ** 1:02:07 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.
e506 with Andy and Michael M - stories and discussion on the attention economy, focus, pirated data used in training LLMs, snarky software and much more.
Asking around town leads the Gang below... Lucky is kicked out, Mina wants to make jewelry, and Webbie noses around. The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within.Join the PCN Discord: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQA special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! Mason D., Scazar, Sly Changeling, Bangarang, Craig S., Scumcat, Necromeat, Carlos, Okey A., Thomas S., theneilharris, Nemo R., Jari S., Manuel, Irishstu, Matthew, Anthony P., James J., Kyndra C., jay_dilf, Chris D., Oskar A., Handsome Andy, lil_willy, Kuaku, RandomGuy, Neckro, Bryan F., TheHarbingerPulsar, Ookfark, Thomas F., Therealmcasshole, Exile Creations, Tony M., KordixVR, Andrew W., Kilted Sparky, Oga, Astyria, BrooksHW, Cyril S., Josh, R Man, Smokey's Videos, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R.Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)https://throne.com/professionalcasual https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?affiliate_id=3002007
The Gang follows some leads, which of course opens more questions! Lucky finds a stain, Mina uses her big meat hands, and Webbie will take it away.The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within Campaign.Join the PCN Discord Here: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch: Twitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQBeardedDragonGames.Online (use code 'PCME10' for 10% off your order!)A special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! James L., Smokey's Videos, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R.Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)https://throne.com/professionalcasual Drive-Thru RPG:https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?affiliate_id=3002007We're sponsored by Frontline Gaming, get your minis, accessories, and tickets to their events here:
Escorts, questions, and gravey, a typical episode of GPoPA. Luckyhas nice boots, Mina opens doors, and Webbie is hot.The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within Campaign.Join the PCN Discord Here: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch: Twitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQBeardedDragonGames.Online (use code 'PCME10' for 10% off your order!)A special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! James L., Smokey's Videos, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R.Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)https://throne.com/professionalcasual Drive-Thru RPG:https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?affiliate_id=3002007We're sponsored by Frontline Gaming, get your minis, accessories, and tickets to their events here:
The Gang isn't making the best first impression at the Shallyan Chapel, so they can only improve, right? Lucky makes street friends, Mina made a promise, and Webbie surgerys.The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within Campaign.Join the PCN Discord Here: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch: Twitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQBeardedDragonGames.Online (use code 'PCME10' for 10% off your order!)A special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! James L., Smokey's Videos, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R.Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)https://throne.com/professionalcasual Drive-Thru RPG:https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?affiliate_id=3002007We're sponsored by Frontline Gaming, get your minis, accessories, and tickets to their events here:
Another milestone ep! Lucky tongues some chocolate, Mina uses it immediately, and Webbie takes it somewhere secure. The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within Campaign.Join the PCN Discord Here: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch: Twitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQBeardedDragonGames.Online (use code 'PCME10' for 10% off your order!)A special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! James L., Smokey's Videos, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R.Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)https://throne.com/professionalcasual Drive-Thru RPG:https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?affiliate_id=3002007We're sponsored by Frontline Gaming, get your minis, accessories, and tickets to their events here:
The Gang has a chance to make real changes in Middenheim! Lucky went to wizard school, Mina started blasting, and Webbie institutes himself.The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within Campaign.Join the PCN Discord Here: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch: Twitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQBeardedDragonGames.Online (use code 'PCME10' for 10% off your order!)A special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! James L., Smokey's Videos, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R.Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)https://throne.com/professionalcasual Drive-Thru RPG:https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?affiliate_id=3002007We're sponsored by Frontline Gaming, get your minis, accessories, and tickets to their events here:
Michael M. Uhlmann was my mentor for over a decade. Here we cover his 1978 essay which sounds as if he's talking about February 2025. The essay is called "Congress and the Welfare State." It's a review of Morris Fiorina's book Congress: Keystone of the Washington Establishment. Enjoy ! The Republican Professor is a pro-Michael-M-Uhlmann podcast ! The Republican Professor is produced and hosted by Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D., Michael M. Uhlmann's student. To support the podcast, support it. Warmly, Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D. The Republican Professor Podcast The Republican Professor Newsletter on Substack https://therepublicanprofessor.substack.com/ https://www.therepublicanprofessor.com/podcast/ https://www.therepublicanprofessor.com/articles/ YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheRepublicanProfessor Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheRepublicanProfessor Twitter: @RepublicanProf Instagram: @the_republican_professor
Cris Edwards is a person who experiences a disability known as Misophonia. What is it? Cris is best at explaining. However, in part, this condition causes people who have it to react to sounds and other stimuli most of us take for granted and can ignore. As with many of our guests, I met Cris through our own Sheldon Lewis. By the way, because of Sheldon, Cris and his nonprofit use accessiBe. However, I get ahead of myself. Cris went through school and, in fact life with manifestations of Misophonia. As he tells us, he also has ADHD. Many people with misophonia do exhibit other conditions as well. As Cris explains, until fairly recently this condition was not even recognized nor taken seriously. Cris tells us how he lived his life with this condition and how today he is dealing with it somewhat better than before. In 2021 Cris founded soQuiet, a 501C3 corporation to help those with Misophonia. We will get to learn how even AI today is helping people deal with this issue. Cris and I talk a lot about not only Misophonia, but how people can better exercise their minds to learn how better to conduct introspection and exercise their brains to better take care of their whole world. I hope you like what Cris has to say. Lots to think about here. About the Guest: Cris Edwards, MFA CPS, is the founder of soQuiet, a 501[c]3 tax-exempt nonprofit organization dedicated to providing free and accessible advocacy, resources, and support for all people whose lives are affected by misophonia, a multi-sensory sensitivity disorder. Cris has struggled with what we now know as misophonia for over 40 years, since way back in the early 1980s, decades before there was any recognition, or even a name, for this condition. Years later, when connecting the dots in his life looking backwards, Cris can see just how much misophonia had an impact on his life, from affecting his schooling to causing barriers to employment and more. Cris was able to complete college and grad school, earning a Master of Fine Arts in Directing. But, he always also wanted to help people to live better lives with a disorder like misophonia. During the COVID pandemic, since there was no live theatre happening for an unknown amount of time, Cris decided to start a nonprofit which focused on misophonia and that worked to be accessible to all and to approach advocacy from the viewpoint of someone with lived experience of struggling with misophonia. soQuiet was born and has grown quickly in the four-ish years of its existence. soQuiet has provided many "firsts" to the misophonia community, sometimes called the misosphere. Cris and the soQuiet team launched the first misophonia student research grant program, the first comprehensive peer support program for misophonia, and has mailed thousands of free misophonia information cards to six continents at no charge, among many other successes. Cris is also active in the recovery community having gotten sober in 2017. He is a Certified Peer Specialist [CPS] as well as an occasional theatre director and designer. Cris lives with his wife, Michelle, and two cats in St. Louis, Missouri. Ways to connect with Cris: Website: soQuiet.org On all major social sites [Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.] under the username: soquietorg 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 ** 01:35 We appreciate it. Today we are going to have the opportunity to chat with Cris Edwards and Cris, among other things, has formed a nonprofit called so quiet. And I think there's a fascinating story behind that. And basically he deals with a lot of people who happen to have something called misophonia, which I'm not overly familiar with, and I'll bet most of you aren't, but Cris, clearly, because he found it so quiet, is an expert. And so there you are, Cris. Now you're stuck with it. Well, I want to know now. There you go, Cris. Cris is in St Louis, Missouri. We're out here in California, so we're little ways apart. But isn't science a wonderful thing? But Chris, I want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset. I really appreciate you being here, and we're looking forward to having a great chat. Thank you so much, Michael, it's a pleasure to be here. I met Cris through Sheldon Lewis at accessibe. Now you all have heard of Sheldon before. He's nonprofit partner manager at accessibe, and worked with a lot of organizations like Cris' and he said, Cris, you ought to go on this here podcast. And Chris, I guess, decided that we were probably worth going on. So here we are. Well, why don't we start Chris, why don't you tell us a little bit about kind of the early Chris growing up and some of that stuff. Cris Edwards ** 02:59 Absolutely. Thank you. Well, I just turned 50 last week, so I don't feel like I'm 50, but yeah, I was born in 1974 I grew up in San Antonio, Texas, and, you know, I A lot of times we can connect the dots looking backwards, but at the time, in the 70s and the 80s, there really wasn't as much awareness and cognizance and attention paid to things like neurodiversity and invisible disabilities and different disorders and things. There was a whole different social viewpoint to that. But yeah, growing up, I always had noticed a few things I felt a little different from other people, but I did well. As far as the classes, I was capable of doing everything quite well, but was always distracted, and oftentimes found myself responding to things in a way that was different than the way other people responded to the sensory input around them. So we'll get more into how I realized that that is a thing later, but managed to go through school. Michael Hingson ** 04:10 What's that? Is that sort of like ADHD? Well, that's a good point. Cris Edwards ** 04:14 I actually do have ADHD, but that is that is a separate disorder from misophonia. Yeah. What's interesting? Thank you for asking that misophonia often co occurs with other conditions like that, other mental health conditions like ADHD, OCD. There's not one of those that sticks out. Misophonia is considered a separate unique condition disorder. It can occur on its own, but we know through research that it's it commonly co occurs with other things. So as I got older, Michael Hingson ** 04:43 what's that I say? Anyway, go ahead. Anyway. Yeah. So Cris Edwards ** 04:48 I actually, you know, I got through school, actually ended up going to college and went to grad school. I studied theater and got a master's of fine arts and directing. But where'd you go? Well, for undergraduate school, I. Went to a little University called Tarleton State University. It's about an hour west of Fort Worth Texas. It's actually an agricultural college that happened to have a theater department that was pretty good. And then I went to Texas Tech out in the desert of Lubbock for grad school. But I had always, you know, early on, I can remember as far back as fourth grade, or maybe even earlier than that. Nobody has any record of this. We're just going off of my my flawed memory. I remember that the sensory input I got around me, I felt like I responded to differently than other people. For example, if I was in a class, I can remember trying to listen to a teacher teach, or trying to take a test, and if there were particular things going on in the classroom, I could not focus on the lesson, and I could not focus on the test or whatever, because I was so distracted, like by particular motions or particular sounds. And I learned later on, much later in my adult life that they had created a term for this. It wasn't just that I was particular about sounds, that it's an actual disorder called misophonia. And so when I found out the word probably around 2007 I found out that this particular term was created in 2001 so nobody had any concept of of this existence while I was in school. But in general, misophonia is a largely auditory but in fact, multi sensory aversion disorder. If you ever hear of somebody who says something like, I can't if you don't stop smacking your chewing gum, I'm gonna have to leave like it makes me anxious and frustrated more than is normal. Nobody likes the sound of smacking gum, but if it gets to a point where you literally cannot be around that sound, and it gives you this very accentuated irritation, frustration, like a need to just get away from that sound in a way that isn't normal. That's that's kind of a hallmark of misophonia. Misophonia can also have a visual element. So seeing somebody doing something, like, if I see somebody chewing gum, but I can't hear them, that actually brings about that same reaction. And it's not a volunteer, it's not a voluntary reaction. There's also a similar kind of sibling disorder called miso Kinesia, and it is when people have a similar response, again, an involuntary physiological response to visual motions. So if I was in class looking back and somebody was shaking their feet or twirling their hair, which are very normal things for people to do when they're anxious. Taking a test, I couldn't concentrate that motion, just my brain focuses on that motion immediately, and I can't, I literally cannot focus on anything else, and it makes me very upset. So that's that's kind of a misophonia in a nutshell. You know, I if I was in a class and somebody had a bag of chips, the crinkling plastic and the sound of somebody eating chips would would affect me in a way that is very abnormal. So that was misophonia. And when I found out that this word existed, it explained a lot of the issues that I had growing up. You know, I know that that those my inability to to participate fully in classes affected my grades and so forth, and so since then, kind of during the pandemic, when everything was shut down. I had been working in the theater industry here in St Louis, and there was no theater happening for a couple of years. We didn't know for how long, so I decided to do something that was different than I started this organization to help people understand this really difficult to understand, sensory disorder, and there's been a lot of research happening on it, we know that it's actually very prevalent in society. There's been a number of prevalent studies that show that misophonia is actually quite common. As many as one in five people have the symptoms, and roughly about 5% of the population has it to a degree to where it impacts their life, to it from a moderate to severe amount. And so it can be disabling. I've worked with people who isolate themselves. And, you know, there's sounds and and visual things in the world that they they try to avoid, and and we end up avoiding things as a way of coping becomes very isolating. So we've worked with people who, even though they live in the same house as a parent, that maybe is activates that for them, they don't talk to their to their family, because it's so uncomfortable the sound of a person's voice. Or the way that they move is so uncomfortable that they stay in their room and and just text their family that's in the same house, it can be very isolating and frustrating. So I kind of went on a bunch of different tangents there answering your question, but hopefully that makes some sense, and I'm happy to explain any of it more. So Michael Hingson ** 10:17 what did you do as you were growing up and so on, to to deal with. I mean, you obviously did something that allowed you to be successful at going to school, whether your grades were affected or or not. You still did make it through and all that. What did you do to to deal with all of it? That's a great question of understanding yet, of what it really was to have misophonia. Fantastic Cris Edwards ** 10:40 question. Yeah, looking back, there were things that I would try to do, but I didn't have the awareness and I didn't have the words to explain to other people what I was dealing with. Because if I just tell people, if they don't know what it is, I can't the sound of the crinkling chip bag is driving me so crazy, it sounds crazy before we knew what it was, but, you know, a lot of it was just suffering and silence. I know it affected my mental health. It's sort of like I could try to compare it to if you're having an anxiety attack or even a panic attack, but you try to hide it, and that, you know an anxiety attack or something is not something you can control. They just come on sometimes. And if you were to try to hide that and and quell it so that people don't notice what you're going through, that's a little like what it's like to sort of suffer in silence and act like everything is normal, when internally, I'm just like wanting to leave the situation, because it's such an uncomfortable feeling being around totally normal sounds that are not a threat in any way. Michael Hingson ** 11:52 So you kind of just did suffer in silence. And yeah, I guess the best thing to say is coped, if you will, coped, Cris Edwards ** 11:59 and I would do things improvisationally to try to help. Looking back, I probably could have, if I'd thought about it, carried foam earplugs with me, which I do now, and worn those in class to kind of filter out some sounds. But I was talking to some other people recently who have misophonia in one of our peer support groups. And I would do little things like I would try to if you could rest your elbows on on your school desk, and put your hand your put your chin in your the palm of your hands together, you can kind of secretly put your fingers in your ears in that pose, but look like you're still paying attention. Yeah. So I would do things like that to where it looks like I'm still participating, but I'm actually blocking out some of the sound by secretly putting my fingers in my ears to get to the class and just little things like that I would do to try to get by. But Michael Hingson ** 12:53 as you matured and got older and so on, did any of the symptoms mitigate or go away, or is it still as prevalent for you as it ever was? That's Cris Edwards ** 13:04 a great question. My own experience has been a little bit of both. We don't have any research. We just have anecdotal stories on whether misophonia gets better with age or gets worse with age or not any different and people tell you different things. I think mine's been a little bit of both, in that there were things that didn't that used to not activate that misophonic reaction, that that anxiety and frustration and and panic that it brings about that do now. So for one example, is not everybody. It has that misophonic reaction activated by Pet Sounds. And that was never a problem for me until maybe about 10 years ago, where some noises that animals make would bring about that reaction. For example, we were talking about our cats right at the before we started recording today, and one of my cats is what I call a loud bather. You know, when she's bathing herself, the that very accentuated licking sound causes that, that involuntary reaction. So I, I have to kind of put her in the other room and she doesn't understand it. But so that's something that I have acquired. I've, actually acquired new we call them triggers. I try to avoid calling them triggers, because I think that term is kind of overused, so it doesn't even have any meaning anymore, but, but at the same time, you know, with with age and with introspection, I've learned coping skills. I've learned to deal with this. It is a part of my life, just like anybody with any kind of disability does their best to to accept some of the things that are going to be more difficult or different for us, and work on coping with the things that we can and changing the things we can through advocacy or accommodations or whatever. And so in a way, I've gotten better at dealing with it. I. Communicate about it very much more effectively now that I know the term for this thing, and you can Google it, and there is a definition, and there is research on it which didn't exist at all when I was a child, so I've gotten better at coping with it, even though I think my actual experience of it maybe has gotten a little bit worse. So who knows. Michael Hingson ** 15:21 Yeah, it's yeah, it's something that only time is going to really give you the opportunity to do exactly how it goes and so on. But what did you do after college? So what did college lead you to? Cris Edwards ** 15:34 Well, that's a great question. I was always active in the theater, but the theater industry is kind of difficult. It's a lot of with a normal job, typically you have some job security, so maybe you work there and you know that next month you'll still have your job unless things go wrong in theater. A lot of times you're hired on by production. So you might work for a month or two on a particular production of a particular play, and then when that's done, you're back to looking for work again. And so for for job security, I sort of went, after grad school, into the tech industry, and so I worked for a number of small tech startups in the early 2000s I worked at Apple for a while and did kind of a mishmash of things that had some benefits and some job security that the theater world didn't have, and and I worked in the theater more as kind of a after school extracurricular kind of capacity. So, yeah, it looking back, I did that, but it was still a struggle. I didn't know the word for this thing, and I knew that either other people were much better at dealing with being bothered by these sounds, or other people were not as bothered by sounds and and visual stimuli as I was. And so the 20 years ago, the idea of an open office. Was a big thing in startups, you know, you have just a big open office where everybody works, and that is a nightmare for people with misophonia and miso keynesia. And so I just struggled. It was just suffering in silence, like I said, doing my best to block out sounds when I needed or put up Visual barriers in the offices I worked in to to block out visual movements that might be very distracting and and uncomfortable, but I probably around 2007 I found out that there's a word for this thing and and slowly, over the years, I realized that it's a it's not just a made up term that somebody on the internet came up with. It's an actual medical term that was invented by audiologists and and there was a research beginning on it roughly 10 years ago. So yeah, when I look back, I just kind of had a mishmash of things that I have done professionally since then. And I started this organization because I I wanted people to know that they can ask for accommodations, that they can talk about this with the confidence that it is a real thing, but it is supported by science, and there are ways of getting through life with it. There's actually an entire department at Duke University dedicated to studying misophonia as the Duke center for misophonia and emotion regulation. So all those kind of things help validate that this is a just a strange, sensory based disorder. Not to get too long winded about it, at the beginning, I had mentioned that we could oftentimes connect the dots looking backwards. And, you know, I'm pretty open about sort of my experiences with things, just because I want other people to realize that they're not alone and that there are certain pitfalls that can happen and and it's not unusual. So when I look back, you know, in in my college years, I found that, as a lot of college students do, alcohol was something that helped me be more social with misophonia and my ADD and I'm kind of an introvert anyway, even though I can play an extrovert on TV, I was, I was, I was kind of a hermit in college and and theater is a very social right industry, and so people bugged me a lot about it, and I found that alcohol helped calm my senses, that I could be around other people and be in misophonically triggering situations, which I didn't know about at the time, and be more social. And so over the years, the alcohol became a crutch, and it became a much bigger problem than than my misophonia was, and I didn't realize it at the time, so that sort of took over my life, and I got sober about seven years ago, and really had to assess how I can get by in life with my sensory issues and needs without numbing my senses and causing a lot of problems in my life. If that that caused so I say that just so people know, because I hear other people who sort of self medicate, it's a understandable thing to do, but it really had a huge impact on my life. And I think there are better ways of dealing with invisible conditions than self medicating. So I just want people to know that that is also a part of my story that happened over the years, and I don't think it's unusual. Michael Hingson ** 20:28 Well, tell me a little bit more about, well, about all of that, in terms of dealing with it and so on, and what, what you've evolved into doing. Cris Edwards ** 20:37 It's a great question. So I, I guess since getting sober is a lot of things have happened. The pandemic happened, and, you know, I think I've, I've thrived. A lot of people find it interesting to know that, for example, I got married, and I know that's not really a big deal. That's a very common thing that a lot of people do, but it's important for a big deal for you. Well, it's a big deal for me, sure, but when we work with parents who have children with misophonia and other conditions, they really worry about their children, like, what kind of future will they have? You know, are they going to struggle with finding employment and finding friends and being in relationships and and doing typical things? And so when I they find out not that I was trying to be encouraging everything, but when they find out that I actually did get through grad school and got a master's degree, and I have gotten married with this misophonia, they're relieved to hear that it's possible to do fairly typical things. It may not be as easy. So yeah, that's that's kind of what I've done since getting so bright. I finally got married at the age of 45 we moved to St Louis, where my wife has a very good job in the library system, and started a very successful nonprofit, and have remained very active in the recovery community. All of these things are things that I've worked hard to do and and I wouldn't have been able to do if I was still sort of stuck in my self pity, self misery, self medicating phase of my life. I'm glad that's over with, but yeah, I feel like I'm playing catch up on life the last few years. But Michael Hingson ** 22:23 on the other hand, you're doing that, and part of it is, and is that you're, you've, you've discovered a lot about you, and yeah, you you had alcohol and so on, but you've gotten over that, and you've made some mental commitments that certainly have to be helping with you being able to address the issue of misophonia? Cris Edwards ** 22:42 Yeah, that's true. I would, I would think that pretty much anybody who has any kind of disorder or condition or disease that impacts your life, especially if it's disabling in any way you know, or affects your ability to do typical things in a typical way that that your average person would. You know, you have to do a lot of introspection. You have to be really creative with coping in life and coming up with unique solutions to get by. And that requires a certain amount of resourcefulness and and introspection and and intelligence. And so, you know, I I've been very fortunate to meet some wonderful people with misophonia. Through the misophonia community that is actually huge. People are finding out that they are a part of it, and they didn't even know it every day, and they're contacting us. And just wonderful people who are bright and talented, and I'm glad to be a part of this unique community that we find ourselves in. I think it's a big part of it too, just the validation that we get and the ability to share our experiences and our frustrations and successes and stuff. Yeah, yeah. Michael Hingson ** 23:56 Well, introspection is very important. Not nearly enough. Do we use it? And do we teach children in each other to use the whole concept of introspection to deal with things I wrote a book was published in August of 2024 called Live like a guide dog, true stories from a blind man and his dogs about being brave, overcoming adversity and walking in faith, and one of the main things that we talked about right from the beginning of the book, it's the book is all about helping people learn to control fear, rather than letting fear blind you or overwhelm you when something unexpected happens. And as you may know about, my story, having been in the World Trade Center and confronted by the horrific things that happened on September 11, I didn't negatively react, because I knew what to do. I had developed, although I didn't realize it at the time, a mindset, because I had focused on learning what to do in the case of an emergency. I knew what the evacuation procedures were. I knew why they were, what they were, and where to go, and the various options and so on. So I was. Prepared, although never expected to have to use it, but a lot of that also came from thinking about myself and how I would react in different situations, and not becoming paranoid over but rather really stopping and thinking at night when I had time, well, how would you react if this happened in this way? Or how would you react? Or what will you do with all the knowledge that you've gained? And I developed a mindset that said, You know what to do in the case of an emergency, and when the emergency occurred, the mindset kicked in. And again, a lot of that has to do with introspection. I think we don't spend nearly enough time in our own minds, thinking about ourselves and dealing with the things that that we face. One of the lessons that I've been teaching people for a while, and that comes out of the World Trade Center, is, don't worry about what you can't control. Focus on what you can and the rest will take care of itself. And there's so much that we worry about we don't have any control over, but we still worry about it, and all that does is engender more fear in our lives and makes us more uncomfortable, whereas if we would just worry about the things that we truly can worry about and not worry about the rest of it, which we can learn to do, we're much better for it. And in your case, it's the same sort of thing. You've got misophonia, okay? But at the same time, look at what you've done and how far you've come in terms of just mentally developing and preparing yourself because of the whole issue with alcohol and everything else, yeah, and you have grown, and that has to help in how you deal with misophonia. Cris Edwards ** 26:47 Absolutely you said it exceptionally well. And you know, anecdotally, sometimes people say that when you develop, you know, substance use problem of any kind, you kind of stop growing spiritually and growing emotionally, and I think that was true for me. So when I got sober around the age of 42 I had to catch up with being an adult. And one of those was introspection, like you said, it's, it's a lifelong thing. And I think Aristotle, or one of those, said that the, you know, the self examines life is its own reward. And through recovery programs, I'm very active in AA and and they focus on why, why you do the things you do. What is your what is your thinking problem that turned into a drinking problem? And that's just pure introspection, like you said. And I'm grateful to to have learned those skills of picking apart, why I do things, and how can I get through life better in a in a more earnest and and kind and forgiving way than I had been. And, yeah, I interestingly, I mean, you talked about faith and that sort of thing. I don't come from a particularly religious background. My family was fairly non religious, which was unusual back in the 70s in the south in Texas. So I didn't really have that background. But, you know, I even today, I consider myself fairly agnostic, but there's not a day that goes by that I don't fall back on the advice of the Serenity Prayer, which I didn't learn until I got into AA. What wonderful advice. I sort of came to that same conclusion through the Stoic philosophers, but they're teaching the same universal truth, which is exactly what you said. If there's something that I'm really stressed about and having a problem with, if I can ask myself, Do I have any control over the outcome of this, and if the answer is no, I need to work on forgetting it. I'm just my worrying isn't solving any problems. It's just making me suffer, but I can't do anything about it, and that's a hard thing to do, and it takes daily vigilance, but you're absolutely correct. And Michael Hingson ** 28:56 the other part of it is, even if the answer is no, introspection helps you. Then think about, well, why have I been worrying about it? Then, I mean, maybe something else that's pertinent that made you start to worry about it 100% and it might very well be that there you'll discover there is something about which you you do have some control regarding whatever it is, but if you don't take the time and well, it's not just taking the time to be introspective, it's also making the life choice to say, I'm going to think about this and I'm going to find the solution that works for me, and make that commitment. And that's got to be part of what you do, because it isn't just, oh, I'm going to think about this. Well, that's not enough. You also do have to decide, I'm going to deal with it. I'm going to find out what is going on, and then I can move forward. And I will move forward Cris Edwards ** 29:56 Absolutely, yeah. How you deal. If that powerlessness or inability to have any control is is you're right, the next step, and it's difficult. There's, there's so many things I I have no control over. Actually, most things in the universe I am powerless to influence. I can't change the weather. I can't move the planets any differently, you know, and so, not yet. Anyway, not yet, no. But same with situations. I mean, there's just some things that I that affect me that I don't really have the power to influence in any way. And so yeah, how you deal with that and not let let that fear, that worry, that angst, control your life, which it has done before for I think a lot of us, is a challenge. Michael Hingson ** 30:37 Well, what made you finally decide to start so quiet and form an organization to deal with misophonia. I know you mentioned the pandemic, but started, What? What? What happened? Cris Edwards ** 30:47 That's a great question. At the time, I could sort of see that there, I just had a hunch that misophonia was probably not the rare condition that it was considered and like, you know, six or seven years ago, it was thought to be a very rare disorder or a rare thing to experience, and I had a hunch that that wasn't the case. And I also saw that there was a lot of advocacy and awareness and support that needed to happen based off of the input I was receiving from other people with misophonia that nobody was doing there at the time, was one other nonprofit organization dedicated to the misophonia world, and I just wasn't really happy with what they were doing. And what they were doing was not much. They weren't really doing anything from the viewpoint of lived experience. Nobody on their board had misophonia. They were all sort of veteran clinicians, and they weren't doing all of the things that came to my mind as what needed to be done to spread awareness and to further research and on and on. And so I thought, well, I guess it's up to me, as Bob Dylan says, nobody else is doing it, so I have the opportunity to see if maybe it's something I can impact. And have been very fortunate to have some really notable wonderful people sign on early to our board and to sign on to volunteer and to help fund some of our our programs, like our student research grants, is are something that we we give out to graduate students who are interested in researching misophonia for a thesis project or a doctoral dissertation. We can give them some funding to undertake a small study. And we were fortunate enough to find some, some families who had a child with misophonia who wanted to fund that kind of research program. So we've been fortunate. We've We've done some very successful things. Not, not to pat myself on the back too much, because we've had a lot of help, but, but we, based on my experiences in the recovery community, I became a certified peer specialist, which is a something that the state of Missouri certifies after some training. And we started the first peer support program, comprehensive peer support program for misophonia in the world. And so we're training people to be facilitators of peer support groups for misophonia, and just a lot of things that didn't exist that I thought would be nice to have happen, or other people told me that they would like to see as resources for people with misophonia. And so we just try to do the things that people say they want that don't exist. Michael Hingson ** 33:32 Well, you got to start somewhere. Needless to say, of course, that's right. And and make it work. What's a really great success story that you can point to with so client that's that's really made a difference? Cris Edwards ** 33:47 Oh, that's a great question. We've got a kind of a weird mishmash of things that we do. We've sort of focused more on the research aspect of it, not only with our research grants, which have been, I think we've given out probably 10 of those in the last few years. But we also have some other research and support based things we just launched, actually kind of relaunched a project that we took on a couple of years ago, where it's just, it's misophoniaproviders.com it's a free website, an online directory of clinicians like psychologists or audiologists who know what misophonia is and and know how to work with clients who have misophonia. And we're working on training for clinicians so that they can get up to speed on it. There aren't really any proven treatments yet for misophonia, but there are ways of working with people who have misophonia, so that you can help them cope and get by and and maybe even test for other conditions and weed those out. And so there's ways of doing that. So we just, we launched a free online directory for for such clinicians in the last month, and we're working on the training for that. And that's really Phil. A huge niche. We decided to focus on that because misophonia is not well known, and we just heard so many people contacting us saying, I went to my doctor or I went to my counselor and said, Hey, I think I have this misophonia. And the counselor or doctor had no idea what it was. They'd never heard of it. They don't know how to work with it. They don't know what to do. And we heard that so much that we just realized that that is a huge bottleneck. If we take the prevalence studies I mentioned at the beginning of this episode, that 5% of the population roughly has misophonia to a moderate or advanced impacting what experience like they have in a way that impacts their life in some way, either they're avoiding situations, or it's affecting their job or their schooling or their relationships. That's still millions of Americans. And if millions of Americans are experiencing this, even at 5% and I can think of maybe 30 clinicians in the entire country that I would feel confident enough telling somebody to go to. That's a huge problem, if only 30 people are handling millions of of of sufferers or people who experience it. So we want to try to tackle that and really make it so that that we're training clinicians on misophonia. It is hard to understand. It's a strange thing for people to get their head wrapped around all of its idiosyncrasies, but I would like to say, hopefully in a year, that there's at least one or two clinicians in every state of the US that can see misophonic clients. Because currently that's not the case. So I think that that seems to be going really well. It's a huge project, but it's, it's really just to try to solve that problem that we hear so much about, and it is heartbreaking. If, if you talk to your trusted clinician about something and you know more about it than they do, that's kind of frustrating. Michael Hingson ** 36:58 Well, one of the things that that I'm sort of curious about in our modern world there where things continue to get better and so on. Are we seeing yet, any kind of advances, medically speaking and scientifically speaking, to help misophonia, or is it still too new? Cris Edwards ** 37:15 That's a great question. Yeah, we've been really fortunate. About four years ago, there was a family in the Chicago area that has a daughter with misophonia, and they started what's called the misophonia Research Fund. This is a private fund, family, family funded fund that has provided the money necessary for some very great studies. The the number of studies on misophonia in the last, let's say, three to four years has really ramped up. Researchers find it fascinating because it's so strange, like misophonia doesn't really align with any known conditions or disorders that we understand better, like OCD or ADHD, not that we understand those fully, but it's just it's an anomaly, and people want to learn about it because it's so strange, as far from a medical standpoint, I mean, and fascinating. And so there's been a lot of research on it. And of course, people are struggling every day with it, and would really like to see some kind of treatment in the near future. So there's a number of universities and labs around the world who have been studying this diligently, like at Duke at Baylor Oxford University has has some going on, among others. And yeah, they're coming at this from a variety of aspects. Some of the more recent work from Duke and from Oxford, aren't really, let's say, aren't really treating misophonia itself, but are working on using known practices to help cope with it better, so things like cognitive behavioral therapy, which is a well established psychological practice which covers a lot of different methods, has been shown to be fairly effective at helping people cope better and handle those triggering situations better in life. So there's some of that. Now we have some studies on the brain activity of people with misophonia and and there's about three or four of them that show that the way a person's brain responds with misophonia is different than how somebody who doesn't have it would respond to the same sounds. And so researchers are looking at those different brain areas that are activated in somebody with misophonia when they hear a particular sound and seeing if there's anything that we know of that can affect that. So, long story short, there's a few studies happening now on using existing medications that are on the market to maybe treat misophonia. We don't have the results of those that may not prove to be successful at all, but I. There's one in New York at Mount Sinai testing a very well established medication named called propranolol. That's a beta blocker that's been around for years, that's very affordable. There's some speculation that that might help affect the parts of the brain that misophonia uses, and again, I feel like I'm maybe I've had too much coffee. I feel like I'm being long winded. So I apologize. But as a third part of that, we're also seeing some interest on the technological front for assistive devices. One of the things that I think is really fascinating that has just started is there's a a lab, I think it's an academic lab in Washington state that developed an AI algorithm that is a context aware noise canceling algorithm. I was wondering about that. Yeah, so a lot of people with misophonia now use off the shelf noise canceling headphones. And noise canceling headphones aren't smart. They just knock out a particular frequency and that's it. This is a whole different ball game and and I, the people who have seen the prototypes of it, call it miraculous for misophonia. And the AI wasn't even developed for misophonia. It was developed for audio editing, a completely different use, but if you train this particular noise canceling AI on a type of sound, it learns what that type of sound is, and it can completely remove that sound in a noise canceling function, but not affect any other sounds. So for example, if somebody with misophonia was triggered by bird singing, that's not a real common one, but that, I'll use that as an example. It's a great example, though, yeah, you can train it with the types of bird noise that a particular find, a person finds aversive, and the AI learns what those are, and within the context of its input, can just completely remove those sounds, not based on frequency, but the actual sound itself, actual sound, yeah, and not affect the voices, not affect any other ambient noises at all. And if it works, as people say, that's going to be a wonderful assistive device for people to misophonia. It could be life changing. Michael Hingson ** 42:07 That'll be a major game changer, because that deals with the basic sound absolutely and you could be in a classroom and not worry about the kids chewing gum Cris Edwards ** 42:15 precisely. Yep, be cool. So there's a lot of work on, a lot of interest in treatments and stuff, yeah, Michael Hingson ** 42:22 well, and that's why I asked. It just seems like it would make sense, and I'm glad there's enough of an awareness about it now that people are, in fact, doing more research regarding it. Yeah, I'm assuming that misophonia would be considered a disability, Cris Edwards ** 42:41 absolutely. Yeah. One of the things that we started off that there was a big, important part of so quiet early days that nobody was really tackling was that misophonia can be a disability. It affected my life. It still affects my life every day in in all kinds of ways which I can go into. But you know, not for everybody. Some people have symptoms of it, and it's not not affecting their life. They're not avoiding things, or it's not impacting their relationships or their their life activities. But when I looked at the, say, the ADA definition of what a disability is. It's pretty broad, and I say what you will about the ADA, it's got plenty of things to criticize, but I think the definition that it uses to determine what is a disability is is pretty open, yeah. And so I appreciate that, and my experience with misophonia absolutely fits that. Misophonia has affected my social life, my schooling, my work. I've quit jobs because my misophonia. When I look back, there's been a couple of jobs that I just walked out of because something was so disturbing to me and my sensory aversion that I've actually left jobs, which I'm not encouraging anybody do that, but you know, it's impacted my life a lot, Michael Hingson ** 44:01 but you know a lot more now too, I do, yeah, and so that I would think can help make it more possible for you not to quit a job, or that you can change the circumstances so you can perform a job. Yeah, Cris Edwards ** 44:16 it's very I'm glad you said that. It's very validating to even have the most basic of affirming information. So the fact that it was given a name, this amorphous thing that was hard to explain and hard to describe, now has a has a name, I can tell people Google misophonia, and that will explain things very well. We have a consensus definition. A bunch of researchers about three years ago published in an academic journal just sort of a consensus definition on what we mean when we say misophonia, what this thing is as we understand it. So that helps probably one of our most low tech but popular programs or initiatives was so quiet. Is our free information cards, and these are just business cards, really. They're double sided business cards that say I have misophonia. Here's a brief description of what it is. You're not doing anything wrong, but that that sound is going to be very disturbing to me while I'm around. Would you mind not doing that? Like yeah, thank you for your help. And we printed those because a misophonic reaction is so physiologically uncomfortable, a lot of people feel very irate or frustrated or uncomfortable, or it's impossible to communicate about it in a way that's kind and and helpful when you're having that reaction. And so the cards we send for free to people all over the world. We've sent out 1000s and 1000s of these. The cards do the talking for you when you can't, and you can hand them out to people and help them learn about it. And those have been incredibly popular. But just having tools like that, I use the cards sometimes. If I'm talking to somebody new about it, a stranger or somebody at a that I've never met at a meeting or whatever, I can say, hey, you know, when you get home, you can look more, look up more about this particular thing. But here's what it's called. This is what I experience, and that's why I have the no chewing gum rule at this meeting. You know? But the cards are low tech. They're cheap, but hugely popular. We love sending them out. We sent them to every continent except Antarctica, and just, it's been very helpful in communicating about Michael Hingson ** 46:23 this. Well, you'll really have arrived when you get to Antarctica. Then, you Cris Edwards ** 46:28 know, we've reached out to people in Antarctica to see if they know anyone with misophonia. So we're working on that. Yeah, Michael Hingson ** 46:33 so low population continent, but still, right? But, you know, it's, it is still definitely an issue that needs to be addressed in so many ways, and it's so exciting that you're doing it. And I go back to the thing that you said earlier about the AI solution. You know, we keep hearing about AI and all the horrible things about it, but the reality is, it is like anything else. It's how we use it, and I think that's a very intriguing process that you're using AI to to deal with sound somebody once told me about the whole issue with noise canceling, and it was some time ago, so it's evolved a lot, but they actually had a house, and they had noise canceling processes around the house. So even in the city, you didn't hear all the city sounds until you got outside and away from the noise canceling And now, of course, it's a whole lot different, because you can do so much more about what you want to filter out. Cris Edwards ** 47:40 Yeah, yeah, that's absolutely true. And even very low tech solutions, I realized early on, and looking back, I can again, I can put the pieces together, but I like having a little bit of white noise around. So I have box fans around the house, and I leave the exhaust fan in the bathroom in the kitchen on, because it helps muffle things. And that little bit of white noise I find very helpful in in a low tech Michael Hingson ** 48:07 way, it's not ocean sounds. I Cris Edwards ** 48:11 actually like ocean sounds. Now, the interesting thing about misophonia is that every person with misophonia has kind of a different involuntary set of sounds that affect them. There's some ones that are fairly common, like eating sounds or poop slurping or whatever, very common. But not everybody with misophonia is triggered by those. And so I actually love the sound of Yeah, ocean waves, cats purring. I find those very relaxing. But not everybody does. Some people hate white noise. I whatever. Michael Hingson ** 48:43 I like silence, and so, yeah, I like the sound of the ocean and so on. But I also enjoy just sometimes not having anything on. And that's that's just me. But I believe when you're going back to being introspective, when you're really thinking and looking at things internally. It's nice to just be quiet and not have other things that distract you, because then you can really focus on what you need to do and listen to your own inner voice that you might not hear otherwise, absolutely. Cris Edwards ** 49:16 And one other thing is kind of hard to understand about misophonia is that complete silence is not always preferable. If you're in a completely quiet room, then every little noise is more noticeable, and that could be our problem. So we often joke about there's sort of a middle, middle ground of noise. If we go to a restaurant, you know, finding where the optimal place to sit in a restaurant where you're not likely to be to be a heavier misophonia activated is sort of a mathematical challenge, but a medium busy restaurant is ideal. It's too quiet, then you can hear everybody eating. If it's too noisy, it's overwhelming. There's kind of a general we look for medium busy restaurants as the ideal, because the noise and Chatter is just vague enough to cover up sounds and. That be, I don't know, it's kind of funny Michael Hingson ** 50:02 today i i don't seem to have any luck at finding very quiet restaurants any rush. Cris Edwards ** 50:07 That's true. But, um, you know, it's, as everybody who probably listens to your your program knows, it takes a lot of just reconfiguring plans all the time. It's a lot of improvising on the fly to suit our needs. And it's very common for me to go grocery shopping, and then if there's somebody popping their gum that you can hear all over the store, I have to leave, and I'll just have to come back later and finish my grocery shopping. It's just constantly rerouting and re orchestrating what I have planned to fit around the world, and the input that it provides is it's kind of a challenge. I Michael Hingson ** 50:44 guess I'm weird. I've never really learned to pop gum. I can chew it. I've never been a major gum chewer, but I've never really learned to pop it so I don't make noise like other people did. And in fact, in reality, I didn't learn to blow bubbles with bubble gum until, gosh, it must have been like about 2004 well, 2005 or 2006 I just never learned, but I finally did learn, and that's interesting, Cris Edwards ** 51:11 yeah, sometimes, like I I'll run into people in public, and I wonder if they have misophonia, whether they realize it or not. This is a strange anecdote, but when my wife were moving from we were moving from Denver to St Louis, and we stopped at a Denny's in the in the middle of Kansas somewhere, and we sat next to this older gentleman who was sitting by himself, and he didn't make any noise when he ate the silver word, never touched the plate. He chewed quietly. He didn't make a single noise. And we both noticed that, and we thought, I wonder if he has misophonia, and he's accommodating for himself, whether he realizes that there's a word for it, and it's a thing like he's being very conscientiously trying not to make any noise when he's eating. It's fascinating Michael Hingson ** 51:56 for me. I just never learned it. I mean, so I don't think it was an avoidance issue. I just never learned how to do it. And as I say, I finally learned how to blow bubble gum because somebody finally described the process in a way that I was able to emulate it and blow bubbles. But no one had ever described it to be and so having not seen other people do it and see how they do it, it was it was fun. I'm glad I can now blow bubbles, but, yeah, Cris Edwards ** 52:23 it's that's a that's a skill. One other thing that's interesting that you kind of reminded me of is when we have conditions or disorders like misophonia or miso Kinesia or other sensory aversion or sensory sensitivities, we can oftentimes end up in kind of a accommodations stalemate, where we have conflicting needs. So a lot of people who have, say anxiety disorders or PTSD or anxiety, and a lot of times people with autism, they like to make noises and and do what they call stimming, which is kind of self soothing, repetitive movements, popping bubble wrap is very soothing to them. But for somebody with misophonia like those are the things that we want to avoid. And so sometimes what might make one person comfortable and that they need to be doing for their own serenity is going to be very aversive to people with sensory disorders. And so in a classroom or work environment, sometimes we get these conflicts of needs. It's tough to navigate, Michael Hingson ** 53:30 yeah, how do you how do you deal with that? I mean, I guess you have the cards that you mentioned. You know, in general, I guess that's kind of the sort of thing that you have to do is to recognize you have to deal with people who aren't necessarily sensitive to what you're wanting to deal with. Yeah, Cris Edwards ** 53:48 in some of those instances, one of the things we do a lot is right writing advocacy letters from a lived experience standpoint on what misophonia is to help people get accommodations if they need them, and they're usually very simple, no cost or low cost things that people can can ask for at their work or in their their school. But a lot of times, you know that that gives us an impetus to ask for either remote learning, maybe for somebody with misophonia, that's a lot more common now, having a private workspace that's honestly an office, but is is quieter and and that way both people can can have what they need. And yeah, we try to come up with creative solutions to help everybody with accommodations. What Michael Hingson ** 54:34 would you tell someone today that you encounter who kind of feels helpless and hopeless because they have a condition like misophonia? Cris Edwards ** 54:41 That's a great question. I think one of the big reasons I started a nonprofit was strictly to help with that people with misophonia, or really, you know, any kind of similar condition or disorder can could kind of start feeling hopeless. Misophonia can be very isolating, like. I said, people avoid interacting with the public or their families or the world at large as a way of of coping. And it can seem like the world in its current state, is not made for people like us. The world is a noisy place. Yeah, we're we're in a society. And so it can, it can start. You can kind of get down in a in a hopelessness pit, as I call it, kind of a depression hole, thinking, well, am I cut out for the world? You know, what kind of job am I going to have? I have to work with other people. I have to go to school with other people. I actually like talking to other people. I just can't I sort of compare it sometimes to an allergy, so a person with, say, a peanut allergy might actually like peanuts. They just can't have them. And so I try to tell people that all hope is not lost, even though we don't have a proven treatment yet, we should in the future, things are getting better. We have a lot of things now that we didn't have when I was growing up, as far as information and support and a community that all understands this and those things can be wonderful. We have peer support meetings and just to hear, hear somebody say, you know, I've never met another person before today who had misophonia, and knowing that this thing that I have had such a hard time explaining to my family, that you all get it, you all know what it's like, and when nobody else in my life truly gets it, that's That's amazing. All hope is not lost. And one day at a time, we can kind of get through. And it's a challenge, as it is with any disability to get get through, hour by hour, but over over time. You know, I, I feel like my life is going well, even with my invisible disabilities or invisible disorders. Just takes a little extra work, a little more creativity, little more understanding from other people, so on, so forth. But Michael Hingson ** 56:55 you synthesize that and you understand it, which is important. So you've, you've had that blessing, and I'm glad that you're able to pass that on to other people being being curious and nosy. As I mentioned earlier, we got introduced to Sheldon. How did you guys meet? Cris Edwards ** 57:09 That's a great question. You know, I was for a completely unrelated reason. I was looking at business websites. I for our website, or so quiet website I wanted to put together terms and conditions. Now, geeky people know that pretty much any website you visit for a business organization, there's some page on their website that is the terms and conditions for using a website. Most people don't venture into those because they're just legalese, but they exist. So I was looking at some examples. What's that? But they exist. They exist. Yeah, for legal aficionados, but I was looking, I think you, if I remember correctly, and don't quote me on this, I think it was the Dr Bronner's soap page had this little accessibility button in the lower right corner of every page of their site. And I was like thinking, what is that? So I clicked on it, and I brought up this really cool, robust menu of accessibility options for visual impairments, ADHD, you know, helping you focus on things, just any kind of thing you can imagine, as far as ways that you can change a website to make it more accessible was on there, and that blew my mind. And of course, running a nonprofit with a very popular website that's based around particularly sensory disabilities, I had to reach out and and I found out that it was the access be plugin, it's very easy to install on our website. And so I reached out, and they put me in touch with Sheldon, who who helped us get on board and add it to our website, and has been really very helpful and a good advocate for people like us, and it's been working for you? Yeah, yeah. I'm I'm really delighted to have that on our website and be able to offer that to everybody who visits us. Michael Hingson ** 59:01 Well, that's cool. I'm glad that it's working well and that it's helping people be able to interact more with the site. And you're right. It's got a lot of different profiles. And the neat thing about accessibe is it continues to grow and expand, and so much more than it used to be. And then we'll continue to do that, which is another example of AI. It's not kind of everything as perfectly as one would like, but there are other alternatives that accessibe has for websites that are more complex, but still, the fact that you're able to make it work, and it's enhancing your website that's as good as it gets. Yeah, Cris Edwards ** 59:36 and I think, if I remember correctly again, I'm kind of new to accessibe, but I think part of the AI is that it generates image descriptions kind of magically, which blows my mind. Some are Michael Hingson ** 59:47 more accurate than others, maybe so, but that's okay. But you know what? They're getting better all the time. That's the real issue. And so images that may not be described with. The AI technology and described well today might very well be much more accurately described in six months. That's the neat thing about accessibe. It is so scalable, it is and it makes it possible when, when any improvements are made to accessibe, it improves every site that uses Cris Edwards ** 1:00:20 automatically. Cool, yeah, yeah. And I just, while we were talking, I think I'll reach out to Sheldon, because I just had an idea for a feature that I don't think is on there that I could recommend, and that is white noise and brown noise as an option, a little player. We added a brown noise player to our website, but if that was a part of the accessibility options to have kind of a white noise or, ah, I think I'll recommend that to Sheldon. We'll see what happens. Michael Hingson ** 1:00:43 Make sense? See what happens. Yeah. Well, if people are speaking of reaching out, want to reach out to you and learn more about so quiet and so on. How do they do that? That's Cris Edwards ** 1:00:52 a great question. You can visit our website. It's just so quiet.org. You can find us on pretty much every social media platform. We have the same handle for everyone. It's so quiet org. Or you can email me at hello at so quiet.org Michael Hingson ** 1:01:08 There you go. Well, people will reach out. It is easy, likewise, and I think that's so cool. Well, I want to thank you for being here. This has been very informative and a lot of fun, and I've learned a lot, I love to say that if I'm not learning at least as much as anybody else who listens to the podcast, I'm not doing my job right. Yeah, I really enjoyed learning and really valued the time we got to spend. So you are always welcome to come back any old time you want, if you got other things to chat about. Have you written any books yet? No, to work. Get to work. Cris Edwards ** 1:01:41 I'm thinking about that. You know, there's actually only been one book on misophonia published by a major publisher, in other words, that wasn't self published, and that came out last year by Dr Jane Gregory. She's a great collaborator of ours, but maybe I will write a book, but I'll tell you, Michael, it's it's been wonderful. I thank you so much for having me on your on your podcast and for doing what you do, it's been a delight to learn your story as well and learn about, you, know, your experiences and and we talked a little bit about philosophy and self reflection, and that's it's just been wonderful being on here. So thank you so Michael Hingson ** 1:02:13 much. Well, this has been fun, and I hope that all of you listening out there have enjoyed this. I'd love to hear from you. Love to hear your thoughts. Love to hear what you like, maybe what you didn't, but I hope you liked it all you can reach me easily enough. It's Michael M, I C, H, A, E, L, H i at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, I b, e.com, or go to our podcast page, which is w, w, w, dot Michael hingson.com/podcast, and Michael hingson is spelled M, I C, H, A, E, L, H, I N, G, S O n.com/podcast, and wherever you're watching or listening, please give us a five star rating. We love getting ratings, and we appreciate the high ratings that that you give us and then and any input that you have. And Chris for you and anyone out there who is encountering the podcast. If you know of anyone else who ought to be a guest, please let me know we are always looking for more people to come on uns
It's Palace time! Lucky's is all gone, Mina has an unreliable bladder, and Webbie better have Lucky's.The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within Campaign.Join the PCN Discord Here: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch: Twitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQBearded Dragon Games (Pick up all your gaming needs):BeardedDragonGames.Online (use code 'PCME10' for 10% off your order!)A special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! James L., Smokey's Videos, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R., Sarah B., Dan C., Dani, and Lindsay F. Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)Drive-Thru RPG:https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?affiliate_id=3002007We're sponsored by Frontline Gaming, get your minis, accessories, and tickets to their events here:https://bit.ly/3ZZZQvQUse Code 'professionalcasual' for 15% off RAZE Energy:
The dust settles around the Gang as they decide what to do next. Lucky laughs at that, Mina adopts a page, and Webbie likes pranks.The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within Campaign.Join the PCN Discord Here: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch: Twitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQBearded Dragon Games (Pick up all your gaming needs):BeardedDragonGames.Online (use code 'PCME10' for 10% off your order!)A special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! James L., Smokey's Videos, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R., Sarah B., Dan C., Dani, and Lindsay F. Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)Drive-Thru RPG:https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?affiliate_id=3002007We're sponsored by Frontline Gaming, get your minis, accessories, and tickets to their events here:https://bit.ly/3ZZZQvQUse Code 'professionalcasual' for 15% off RAZE Energy:
The wagon exploded, what could happen next? Lucky is kinda goofy, Mina holds her at arms length, and Webbie charms.The Professional Casual Network continues their play through of The Enemy Within Campaign.Join the PCN Discord Here: https://discord.gg/AqPYVbDMkzTwitch: Twitch.tv/professionalcasualnetworkYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfUOaJjpMfgRFWL7Z996lyQBearded Dragon Games (Pick up all your gaming needs):BeardedDragonGames.Online (use code 'PCME10' for 10% off your order!)A special thanks to our Patron at Patreon.com/professionalcasual :Thank you to our most recent Patrons! James L., Smokey's Videos, Scott R., James H., Thomas M., David P., Jan B., Kim B., DoomEagle55, Kenneth B, Pagan Prince, Brendan A., Patrick (The DM), Christian H., Fast and Bulbous, The Ryan, Achillesnick, Todd C., MidTable, Michael G., Haydenr, Charles M., Mr. Tisdale, Andrew K., Simon H., CJ Keller II, Dveli, John M., House., Marc "OG Griggs" G., Ben N., Brett L., Alex S., Will C., Dan H., Wizrdakills, IronMaize, ExPaxis, James M., Jian C., James G., Beefbarian, Joshua L., Devilpup, Paycheck S., Todd M, Nicholas B, Christian H., Ta03rd, Andrew G., Cupboard Kobold, Attila, Cole M., Liam A., Kristopher W., David H., Hunter W., Lankydiceroller, Alex S., Dave K., Justicar, Clayton P., Tim S., Stephen S., Brad A., Matt A., Brian W., Timothy G., VPotter, Mike D., Thoras, Justin K., Tepo C., Matt T., Rusty, Ara M., CyanidaCola, Nick A., Soren R., Kara N., Cliff K., David B., Cj K., David Q., Ben N., Syrpent, Zachary M., Robert W., Goodatthisgame, Will J., Otis H, Kalle H., David H., John O., Mikasaz, OmnusProtocol, Jonaspdv, Steve T., Chris and Nicky, William, AW B., Sam M., Kristoffer w., Luka J., Lexa W., Cyder D., Joe M., Paul H., Joe W., Alexandre R., Scott F., Nerdtism, Joe L., Richard G., Dani2Time, Michael M, Rich M., Soul Eater, Aaron H., Eric B., Quinn B., John S., William S., Rob M., Rob, Franz B., Film-Lars, Leslie S., Matt F., Paul S., Christopher T., Matt L., Zane T., Thomas T, Joe J., Jens R., Oliver H., Mikolaj W., Andrew, Zach C., Justliketheplant, Neil L., Jared S., Mikael N., Taylor M., George F., Tom M., Devin M., Nicholas W., Jonas P., Jonathan L., Simon P., Gareth G., Jacob Y., Lady_Leah, David R., Will B., Stephan S., Brian Y., William S., Path,Tim D., Simon W., Jake C., Theo A., Heber R., Ben R., Vaughan A., Daniel S., Lars, Taylor H., Blarin R., Gervasio L., Adam D., Craig G., Kevin C., WreckMyPodcast, Charlie S., Witchdream, Anthony R., Sarah B., Dan C., Dani, and Lindsay F. Mailing Address: P.O. Box G, West Oneonta, NY 13861, United StatesVoicemail: 603-803-3235 (Country Code 001)Drive-Thru RPG:https://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse.php?affiliate_id=3002007We're sponsored by Frontline Gaming, get your minis, accessories, and tickets to their events here:https://bit.ly/3ZZZQvQUse Code 'professionalcasual' for 15% off RAZE Energy: