Podcasts about powerpoint

We're finally saying "Happy Hanukkah" again! David Waldman and Greg Dworkin bring glad tidings and pertinent information. Is it better when Donald K. Trump goes on primetime to say nothing? If so, Trump delivered last night. It was tough to come up with takeaways or see any points Trump made, even with PowerPoint, but even harder to paint anything he said as factual, truthful, or remotely not deranged. Trump blamed everyone but him and was furious that all credit did not go to him, so expect this speech periodically through the rest of his term. The one piece of actual news is the promise of Merry Christmas checks to armed service members, in other words, the "basic allowance for housing" that hubristic underhanded moron is BS-ing unassuming GIs, by calling it a "warrior dividend". If Trump wasn't so bad at corruption he could have retired by now. Susie Wiles hasn't lasted this long by going around pointing out everyone's moral, legal or rational shortcomings, you know. Democrats are, of course, frustrated by their lack of control in the House, but it could be worse. They could be Mike Johnson. In other acronym news, Congress wants to know why the Space Force needs a SOCOM, or "special operations component command".

Why Customer Success Can't Be Automated (And What AI Can Actually Do) In this special year-end episode of the FutureCraft GTM Podcast, hosts Ken Roden and Erin Mills sit down with Amanda Berger, Chief Customer Officer at Employ, to tackle the biggest question facing CS leaders in December 2026: What can AI actually do in customer success, and where do humans remain irreplaceable? Amanda brings 20+ years at the intersection of data and human decision-making—from AI-powered e-commerce personalization at Rich Relevance, to human-led security at HackerOne, to now implementing AI companions for recruiters. Her journey is a masterclass in understanding where the machine ends and the human begins. This conversation delivers hard truths about metrics, change management, and the future of CS roles—plus Amanda's controversial take that "if you don't use AI, AI will take your job." Unpacking the Human vs. Machine Balance in Customer Success Amanda returns with a reality check: AI doesn't understand business outcomes or motivation—humans do. She reveals how her career evolved from philosophy major studying "man versus machine" to implementing AI across radically different contexts (e-commerce, security, recruiting), giving her unique pattern recognition about what AI can genuinely do versus where it consistently fails. The Lagging Indicator Problem: Why NRR, churn, and NPS tell you what already happened (6 months ago) instead of what you can influence. Amanda makes the case for verified outcomes, leading indicators, and real-time CSAT at decision points. The 70% Rule for CS in Sales: Why most churn starts during implementation, not at renewal—and exactly when to bring CS into the deal to prevent it (technical win stage/vendor of choice). Segmentation ≠ Personalization: The jumpsuit story that proves AI is still just sophisticated bucketing, even with all the advances in 2026. True personalization requires understanding context, motivation, and individual goals. The Delegation Framework: Don't ask "what can AI do?" Ask "what parts of my job do I hate?" Delegate the tedious (formatting reports, repetitive emails, data analysis) so humans can focus on what makes them irreplaceable. Timestamps 00:00 - Introduction and AI Updates from Ken & Erin 01:28 - Welcoming Amanda Berger: From Philosophy to Customer Success 03:58 - The Man vs. Machine Question: Where AI Ends and Humans Begin 06:30 - The Jumpsuit Story: Why AI Personalization Is Still Segmentation 09:06 - Why NRR Is a Lagging Indicator (And What to Measure Instead) 12:20 - CSAT as the Most Underrated CS Metric 17:34 - The $4M Vulnerability: House Security Analogy for Attribution 21:15 - Bringing CS Into Sales at 70% Probability (The Non-Negotiable) 25:31 - Getting Customers to Actually Tell You Their Goals 28:21 - AI Companions at Employ: The Recruiting Reality Check 32:50 - The Delegation Mindset: What Parts of Your Job Do You Hate? 36:40 - Making the Case for Humans in an AI-First World 40:15 - The Framework: When to Use Digital vs. Human Touch 43:10 - The 8-Hour Workflow Reduced to 30 Minutes (Real ROI Examples) 45:30 - By 2027: The Hardest CX Role to Hire 47:49 - Lightning Round: Summarization, Implementation, Data Themes 51:09 - Wrap-Up and Key Takeaways Edited Transcript Introduction: Where Does the Machine End and Where Does the Human Begin? Erin Mills: Your career reads like a roadmap of enterprise AI evolution—from AI-powered e-commerce personalization at Rich Relevance, to human-powered collective intelligence at HackerOne, and now augmented recruiting at Employ. This doesn't feel random—it feels intentional. How has this journey shaped your philosophy on where AI belongs in customer experience? Amanda Berger: It goes back even further than that. I started my career in the late '90s in what was first called decision support, then business intelligence. All of this is really just data and how data helps humans make decisions. What's evolved through my career is how quickly we can access data and how spoon-fed those decisions are. Back then, you had to drill around looking for a needle in a haystack. Now, does that needle just pop out at you so you can make decisions based on it? I got bit by the data bug early on, realizing that information is abundant—and it becomes more abundant as the years go on. The way we access that information is the difference between making good business decisions and poor business decisions. In customer success, you realize it's really just about humans helping humans be successful. That convergence of "where's the data, where's the human" has been central to my career. The Jumpsuit Story: Why AI Personalization Is Still Just Segmentation Ken Roden: Back in 2019, you talked about being excited for AI to become truly personal—not segment-based. Flash forward to December 2026. How close are we to actual personalization? Amanda Berger: I don't think we're that close. I'll give you an example. A friend suggested I ask ChatGPT whether I should buy a jumpsuit. So I sent ChatGPT a picture and my measurements. I'm 5'2". ChatGPT's answer? "If you buy it, you should have it tailored." That's segmentation, not personalization. "You're short, so here's an answer for short people." Back in 2019, I was working on e-commerce personalization. If you searched for "black sweater" and I searched for "black sweater," we'd get different results—men's vs. women's. We called it personalization, but it was really segmentation. Fast forward to now. We have exponentially more data and better models, but we're still segmenting and calling it personalization. AI makes segmentation faster and more accessible, but it's still segmentation. Erin Mills: But did you get the jumpsuit? Amanda Berger: (laughs) No, I did not get the jumpsuit. But maybe I will. The Philosophy Degree That Predicted the Future Erin Mills: You started as a philosophy major taking "man versus machine" courses. What would your college self say? And did philosophy prepare you in ways a business degree wouldn't have? Amanda Berger: I actually love my philosophy degree because it really taught me to critically think about issues like this. I don't think I would have known back then that I was thinking about "where does the machine end and where does the human begin"—and that this was going to have so many applicable decision points throughout my career. What you're really learning in philosophy is logical thought process. If this happens, then this. And that's fundamentally the foundation for AI. "If you're short, you should get your outfit tailored." "If you have a customer with predictive churn indicators, you should contact that customer." It's enabling that logical thinking at scale. The Metrics That Actually Matter: Leading vs. Lagging Indicators Erin Mills: You've called NRR, churn rate, and NPS "lagging indicators." That's going to ruffle boardroom feathers. Make the case—what's broken, and what should we replace it with? Amanda Berger: By the time a customer churns or tells you they're gonna churn, it's too late. The best thing you can do is offer them a crazy discount. And when you're doing that, you've already kind of lost. What CS teams really need to be focused on is delivering value. If you deliver value—we all have so many competing things to do—if a SaaS tool is delivering value, you're probably not going to question it. If there's a question about value, then you start introducing lower price or competitors. And especially in enterprise, customers decide way, way before they tell you whether they're gonna pull the technology out. You usually miss the signs. So you've gotta look at leading indicators. What are the signs? And they're different everywhere I've gone. I've worked for companies where if there's a lot of engagement with support, that's a sign customers really care and are trying to make the technology work—it's a good sign, churn risk is low. Other companies I've worked at, when customers are heavily engaged with support, they're frustrated and it's not working—churn risk is high. You've got to do the work to figure out what those churn indicators are and how they factor into leading indicators: Are they achieving verified outcomes? Are they healthy? Are there early risk warnings? CSAT: The Most Underrated Metric Ken Roden: You're passionate about customer satisfaction as a score because it's granular and actionable. Can you share a time where CSAT drove a change and produced a measurable business result? Amanda Berger: I spent a lot of my career in security. And that's tough for attribution. In e-commerce, attribution is clear: Person saw recommendations, put them in cart, bought them. In hiring, their time-to-fill is faster—pretty clear. But in security, it's less clear. I love this example: We all live in houses, right? None of our houses got broken into last night. You don't go to work saying, "I had such a good night because my house didn't get broken into." You just expect that. And when your house didn't get broken into, you don't know what to attribute that to. Was it the locked doors? Alarm system? Dog? Safe neighborhood? That's true with security in general. You have to really think through attribution. Getting that feedback is really important. In surveys we've done, we've gotten actionable feedback. Somebody was able to detect a vulnerability, and we later realized it could have been tied to something that would have cost $4 million to settle. That's the kind of feedback you don't get without really digging around for it. And once you get that once, you're able to tie attribution to other things. Bringing CS Into the Sales Cycle: The 70% Rule Erin Mills: You're a religious believer in bringing CS into the sales cycle. When exactly do you insert CS, and how do you build trust without killing velocity? Amanda Berger: With bigger customers, I like to bring in somebody from CX when the deal is at the technical win stage or 70% probability—vendor of choice stage. Usually it's for one of two reasons: One: If CX is gonna have to scope and deliver, I really like CX to be involved. You should always be part of deciding what you're gonna be accountable to deliver. And I think so much churn actually starts to happen when an implementation goes south before anyone even gets off the ground. Two: In this world of technology, what really differentiates an experience is humans. A lot of our technology is kind of the same. Competitive differentiation is narrower and narrower. But the approach to the humans and the partnership—that really matters. And that can make the difference during a sales cycle. Sometimes I have to convince the sales team this is true. But typically, once I'm able to do that, they want it. Because it does make a big difference. Technology makes us successful, but humans do too. That's part of that balance between what's the machine and what is the human. The Art of Getting Customers to Articulate Their Goals Ken Roden: One challenge CS teams face is getting customers to articulate their goals. Do customers naturally say what they're looking to achieve, or do you have a process to pull it out? Amanda Berger: One challenge is that what a recruiter's goal is might be really different than what the CFO's goal is. Whose outcome is it? One reason you want to get involved during the sales cycle is because customers tell you what they're looking for then. It's very clear. And nothing frustrates a company more than "I told you that, and now you're asking me again? Why don't you just ask the person selling?" That's infuriating. Now, you always have legacy customers where a new CSM comes in and has to figure it out. Sometimes the person you're asking just wants to do their job more efficiently and can't necessarily tie it back to the bigger picture. That's where the art of triangulation and relationships comes in—asking leading discovery questions to understand: What is the business impact really? But if you can't do that as a CS leader, you probably won't be successful and won't retain customers for the long term. AI as Companion, Not Replacement: The Employ Philosophy Erin Mills: At Employ, you're implementing AI companions for recruiters. How do you think about when humans are irreplaceable versus when AI should step in? Amanda Berger: This is controversial because we're talking about hiring, and hiring is so close to people's hearts. That's why we really think about companions. I earnestly hope there's never a world where AI takes over hiring—that's scary. But AI can help companies and recruiters be more efficient. Job seekers are using AI. Recruiters tell me they're getting 200-500% more applicants than before because people are using AI to apply to multiple jobs quickly or modify their resumes. The only way recruiters can keep up is by using AI to sort through that and figure out best fits. So AI is a tool and a friend to that recruiter. But it can't take over the recruiter. The Delegation Framework: What Do You Hate Doing? Ken Roden: How do you position AI as companion rather than threat? Amanda Berger: There's definitely fear. Some is compliance-based—totally justifiable. There's also people worried about AI taking their jobs. I think if you don't use AI, AI is gonna take your job. If you use AI, it's probably not. I've always been a big fan of delegation. In every aspect of my life: If there's something I don't want to do, how can I delegate it? Professionally, I'm not very good at putting together beautiful PowerPoint presentations. I don't want to do it. But AI can do that for me now. Amazingly well. What I'm really bad at is figuring out bullets and formatting. AI does that. So I think about: What are the things I don't want to do? Usually we don't want to do the things we're not very good at or that are tedious. Use AI to do those things so you can focus on the things you're really good at. Maybe what I'm really good at is thinking strategically about engaging customers or articulating a message. I can think about that, but AI can build that PowerPoint. I don't have to think about "does my font match here?" Take the parts of your job that you don't like—sending the same email over and over, formatting things, thinking about icebreaker ideas—leverage AI for that so you can do those things that make you special and make you stand out. The people who can figure that out and leverage it the right way will be incredibly successful. Making the Case to Keep Humans in CS Ken Roden: Leaders face pressure from boards and investors to adopt AI more—potentially leading to roles being cut. How do you make the case for keeping humans as part of customer success? Amanda Berger: AI doesn't understand business outcomes and motivation. It just doesn't. Humans understand that. The key to relationships and outcomes is that understanding. The humanity is really important. At HackerOne, it was basically a human security company. There are millions of hackers who want to identify vulnerabilities before bad actors get to them. There are tons of layers of technology—AI-driven, huge stacks of security technology. And yet no matter what, there's always vulnerabilities that only a human can detect. You want full-stack security solutions—but you have to have that human solution on top of it, or you miss things. That's true with customer success too. There's great tooling that makes it easier to find that needle in the haystack. But once you find it, what do you do? That's where the magic comes in. That's where a human being needs to get involved. Customer success—it is called customer success because it's about success. It's not called customer retention. We do retain through driving success. AI can point out when a customer might not be successful or when there might be an indication of that. But it can't solve that and guide that customer to what they need to be doing to get outcomes that improve their business. What actually makes success is that human element. Without that, we would just be called customer retention. The Framework: When to Use Digital vs. Human Touch Erin Mills: We'd love to get your framework for AI-powered customer experience. How do you make those numbers real for a skeptical CFO? Amanda Berger: It's hard to talk about customer approach without thinking about customer segmentation. It's very different in enterprise versus a scaled model. I've dealt with a lot of scale in my last couple companies. I believe that the things we do to support that long tail—those digital customers—we need to do for all customers. Because while everybody wants human interaction, they don't always want it. Think about: As a person, where do I want to interact digitally with a machine? If it's a bot, I only want to interact with it until it stops giving me good answers. Then I want to say, "Stop, let me talk to an operator." If I can find a document or video that shows me how to do something quickly rather than talking to a human, it's human nature to want to do that. There are obvious limits. If I can change my flight on my phone app, I'm gonna do that rather than stand at a counter. Come back to thinking: As a human, what's the framework for where I need a human to get involved? Second, it's figuring out: How do I predict what's gonna happen with my customers? What are the right ways of looking and saying "this is a risk area"? Creating that framework. Once you've got that down, it's an evolution of combining: Where does the digital interaction start? Where does it stop? What am I looking for that's going to trigger a human interaction? Being able to figure that out and scale that—that's the thing everybody is trying to unlock. The 8-Hour Workflow Reduced to 30 Minutes Erin Mills: You've mentioned turning some workflows from an 8-hour task to 30 minutes. What roles absorbed the time dividend? What were rescoped? Amanda Berger: The roles with a lot of repetition and repetitive writing. AI is incredible when it comes to repetitive writing and templatization. A lot of times that's more in support or managed services functions. And coding—any role where you're coding, compiling code, or checking code. There's so much efficiency AI has already provided. I think less so on the traditional customer success management role. There's definitely efficiencies, but not that dramatic. Where I've seen it be really dramatic is in managed service examples where people are doing repetitive tasks—they have to churn out reports. It's made their jobs so much better. When they provide those services now, they can add so much more value. Rather than thinking about churning out reports, they're able to think about: What's the content in my reports? That's very beneficial for everyone. By 2027: The Hardest CX Role to Hire Erin Mills: Mad Libs time. By 2027, the hardest CX job to hire will be _______ because of _______. Amanda Berger: I think it's like these forward-deployed engineer types of roles. These subject matter experts. One challenge in CS for a while has been: What's the value of my customer success manager? Are they an expert? Or are they revenue-driven? Are they the retention person? There's been an evolution of maybe they need to be the expert. And what does that mean? There'll continue to be evolution on that. And that'll be the hardest role. That standard will be very, very hard. Lightning Round Ken Roden: What's one AI workflow go-to-market teams should try this week? Amanda Berger: Summarization. Put your notes in, get a summary, get the bullets. AI is incredible for that. Ken Roden: What's one role in go-to-market that's underusing AI right now? Amanda Berger: Implementation. Ken Roden: What's a non-obvious AI use case that's already working? Amanda Berger: Data-related. People are still scared to put data in and ask for themes. Putting in data and asking for input on what are the anomalies. Ken Roden: For the go-to-market leader who's not seeing value in AI—what should they start doing differently tomorrow? Amanda Berger: They should start having real conversations about why they're not seeing value. Take a more human-led, empathetic approach to: Why aren't they seeing it? Are they not seeing adoption, or not seeing results? I would guess it's adoption, and then it's drilling into the why. Ken Roden: If you could DM one thing to all go-to-market leaders, what would it be? Amanda Berger: Look at your leading indicators. Don't wait. Understand your customer, be empathetic, try to get results that matter to them. Key Takeaways The Human-AI Balance in Customer Success: AI doesn't understand business outcomes or motivation—humans do. The winning teams use AI to find patterns and predict risk, then deploy humans to understand why it matters and what strategic action to take. The Lagging Indicator Trap: By the time NRR, churn rate, or NPS move, customers decided 6 months ago. Focus on leading indicators you can actually influence: verified outcomes, engagement signals specific to your business, early risk warnings, and real-time CSAT at decision points. The 70% Rule: Bring CS into the sales cycle at the technical win stage (70% probability) for two reasons: (1) CS should scope what they'll be accountable to deliver, and (2) capturing customer goals early prevents the frustrating "I already told your sales rep" moment later. Segmentation ≠ Personalization: AI makes segmentation faster and cheaper, but true personalization requires understanding context, motivation, and individual circumstances. The jumpsuit story proves we're still just sophisticated bucketing, even with 2026's advanced models. The Delegation Framework: Don't ask "what can AI do?" Ask "what parts of my job do I hate?" Delegate the tedious (formatting, repetitive emails, data analysis) so humans can focus on strategy, relationships, and outcomes that only humans can drive. "If You Don't Use AI, AI Will Take Your Job": The people resisting AI out of fear are most at risk. The people using AI to handle drudgery and focusing on what makes them irreplaceable—strategic thinking, relationship-building, understanding nuanced goals—are the future leaders. Customer Success ≠ Customer Retention: The name matters. Your job isn't preventing churn through discounts and extensions. Your job is driving verified business outcomes that make customers want to stay because you're improving their business. Stay Connected To listen to the full episode and stay updated on future episodes, visit the FutureCraft GTM website. Connect with Amanda Berger: Connect with Amanda on LinkedIn Employ Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and should not be considered advice. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are our own and do not represent those of any company or business we currently work for/with or have worked for/with in the past.

En este episodio de Dimes y Billetes me senté con Alejandro Dieck para aterrizar, con peras y manzanas, qué esperar de la economía de México en los próximos meses y cómo se conecta con tu dinero aunque tú digas “yo ni exporto”. Hablamos de las perspectivas económicas sin la versión PowerPoint: crecimiento vs inflación, tasas, tipo de cambio, inversión y los riesgos reales que vienen desde afuera… y desde adentro.También nos metimos a lo que más está moviendo el tablero: EE.UU., Trump, China y los aranceles, y por qué México puede salir beneficiado… o terminar pagando la cuenta. Tocamos nearshoring, el “súper peso”, déficit y deuda, remesas, y qué señales vale la pena vigilar para no tomar decisiones a ciegas.

In Part Two of Clint's Conversation with Simon Mainwaring – Founder & CEO of We First, bestselling author, and global authority on purpose-driven branding – the discussion shifts from strategy to soul: how storytelling, culture, and connection can elevate your organization from the inside out.Simon shares hard-earned lessons from his work with Fortune 100 giants, startups, and global NGOs alike, explaining why today's most effective leaders aren't just driven by profit, but by shared purpose. Simon breaks down how every employee can embrace a “lead with we” mindset, regardless of title, industry, or org chart. From building emotionally resonant brand stories to operationalizing culture, this episode explores how to lead with meaning in every corner of your company. This is the second part of a two-part conversation. Topics Covered:Why storytelling is the key to building trust and brand valueHow to move purpose from PowerPoint to point-of-saleBuilding culture like a brand: what Patagonia, LEGO, and Airbnb get rightThe Four Co's: Co-ownership, Co-authorship, Co-creation, and CollaborationDaily rituals that reinforce a "We" cultureWhy recognition beats burnout and makes business senseThe last mile of storytelling: celebrating shared winsHow payroll teams and sales reps alike can lead with purposeStartups vs. Fortune 50s: different paths, same challengesWhat it means to be a B Corp and why it mattersThe single most important takeaway from Lead With WeLinks & Resources:Simon's website - https://simonmainwaring.com/Simon's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/simonmainwaring/ Simon's company, We First Inc. - https://wefirstbranding.com/ Simon's email - simon@wefirstbranding.com Simon's book, “We First” - https://amzn.to/3Mhx4V0 Simon's book, “Lead With We” - https://amzn.to/3Me1HL7 Clint's website - www.clintpadgett.com Clint's LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/clintpadgett/ Clint's book - https://amzn.to/3JWD2Ka

Elle fait désormais partie de notre quotidien, elle s'immisce dans le monde du travail, on la retrouve dans le domaine de la santé, du bâtiment, dans l'énergie, la finance, l'éducation... L'IA est partout dans tous les métiers et suscite d'un côté la crainte de perdre son emploi, de l'autre, l'espoir de se débarrasser des tâches ingrates pour les salariés et un gain de productivité pour l'entreprise. Rédaction de mails, notes de synthèse, présentation PowerPoint, gestion du service client, traduction, veille ... les applications de l'IA ne cessent de se diversifier. Selon une étude de McKinsey Global Institute pour le cas de la France, 27 % des tâches quotidiennes des travailleurs pourraient être confiées à une IA. La révolution se fait donc à marche rapide. Encore faut-il pour les travailleurs en maîtriser l'usage pour bénéficier de tout son potentiel. L'enjeu est de taille pour les salariés qui peuvent se sentir dépassés voire remplacés par l'IA. Quelles formations à l'IA tout au long de la vie professionnelle ? Alors qu'elle évolue en continue, comment adapter son usage et son niveau de connaissance ?   Avec : • Marjolaine Grondin, entrepreneure, conférencière et formatrice. Fondatrice de Le bootcamp IA, un programme de formation à l'Intelligence artificielle.   • Daouda Thiam, chargé de formation et des relations avec les partenaires chez Afrik'IA En première partie de l'émission, l'école autour du Monde avec Caroline Minialai, directrice de Averroès e-learning pour parler du Palmarès 2025 des Lycées Français de l'Étranger.  En fin d'émission, Mon premier stade, le sport expliqué aux enfants revient avec une nouvelle saison spéciale foot. A l'occasion de la Coupe d'Afrique des Nations qui se déroule du 21 décembre 2025 au 18 janvier 2026, nous vous proposons 5 épisodes consacrés à la CAN, les équipes, les joueurs et les règles du foot.  A quelques jours du début de la compétition, une question essentielle taraude Raphael, jeune auditeur d'Abidjan. Il se demande comment les joueurs gèrent leur stress avant la CAN.   Programmation musicale :   ► African Giant - Burna Boy  ► Ailleurs - Orelsan

Imagine thinking you signed up for a self-improvement course, only to wake up inside a secret hierarchy where starvation, blackmail, and branding were sold as empowerment. This is the story of NXIVM, the so-called leadership program that unraveled into one of the most disturbing criminal enterprises in modern history.   In Part 1, we pull back the curtain on how Keith Raniere, a man who called himself "Vanguard," and his partner Nancy Salzman built a multi-million dollar empire on the promise of human potential. We explore the early days of their Executive Success Programs (ESP), the manipulative techniques used to lure in thousands of followers—including celebrities and business leaders—and the slow, deliberate process of indoctrination. How did a group that started with corporate retreats and PowerPoint presentations devolve into a destructive cult? We trace the origins of the abuse, the creation of a master-slave sorority, and the psychological tactics that kept its members loyal, even as the darkness closed in.   Thank you to this week's sponsors!   Find gifts so good you'll want to keep them with Quince! Go to Quince.com/moms for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too.   Head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home.    #truecrime #truecrimepodcast #momsandmysteries #nxivm #keithraniere #cult #nancysalzman #selfhelp #esp #vanguard     New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday!   Follow us on Instagram: @momsandmysteries   Join our Patreon: patreon.com/momsandmysteries    Visit our website: momsandmysteries.com

President Trump and Hegseth are cashing a blank check for carnage that was written years earlier by President Barack Obama.Original article: https://mises.org/power-market/obamas-powerpoint-death-parade-led-trumps-venezuelan-killings

En direkte rørende besked fra fra Bondi Beach-korrespondenten, om det mest drabelige angreb i Australien siden 1996, Melbourne er kaffens San Sebastián, 'vi går sent ud, og vi kommer sent hjem', McKinsey og forsvarets kapabiliteter, Peter Viggo trækker på smilebåndet, og er tilbage med saltede bemærkninger, 10 grunde til at McKinsey ikke skal stå for optimeringen af det danske forsvar, Silicon-hvad sagde vi, byg, byg, byg datacentre, arbejdsløse Sikandar Siddique, aggressiv kat løs i boligområde, og katterådgiver Michelle Garnier tjener alle millionerne, “Felix er ikke kommet hjem, og Felix hader dig”, 30 år i ålens tjeneste, Thailand går med Gripen, og kan lande alle steder, kørte 18 år i forsvaret og blev afvist af banken, TV 2, alt det, vi hader sammen,og hold nu bare den avis med gårsdagens nyheder.Få 30 dages gratis prøveperiode (kan kun benyttes af nye Podimo-abonnenter) - http://podimo.dk/hgdg (99 kroner herefter)Værter: Esben Bjerre & Peter FalktoftRedigering: PodAmokKlip: PodAmokMusik: Her Går Det GodtInstagram:@hergaardetgodt@Peterfalktoft@Esbenbjerre

President Trump and Hegseth are cashing a blank check for carnage that was written years earlier by President Barack Obama.Original article: https://mises.org/power-market/obamas-powerpoint-death-parade-led-trumps-venezuelan-killings

Today on PowerPoint, Pastor Jack Graham begins a three-part series from the book of Hebrews titled, “The Christ of Every Christmas.” With his message “The Christ of Christmas Past,” he teaches that although much has changed since the birth of Christ, He is the Savior for all seasons “the same yesterday, today and forever!” To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/395/29?v=20251111

Episode 246: Culture Redesign: Instagram Eliminates Meetings and PowerPointIn this episode, Dr. Janel Anderson unpacks Instagram's bold organizational redesign. Moving far beyond a simple return-to-office mandate, Instagram is canceling most meetings, ditching habitual PowerPoint use, and ramping up prototyping as a core driver of collaboration. Dr. Janel Anderson explores how these changes are designed not just to foster productivity but to create a truly engaging in-person work culture. Listeners will gain fresh insights into reimagining company culture, reclaiming creative time, and encouraging psychological safety, ideas leaders in any industry can use to build teams that thrive on collaboration and innovation in today's evolving workplace. Find show notes at https://janelanderson.com/246

"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth." That was President John Kennedy in 1961, speaking at the Joint Session of Congress. It is possibly the best example of a project statement ever made.  Links: Email Me | Twitter | Facebook | Website | Linkedin Join the Time And Life Mastery Programme here. Use the coupon code: codisgreat to get 50% off. Get Your Copy Of Your Time, Your Way: Time Well Managed, Life Well Lived The Time Sector System 5th Year Anniversary The Working With… Weekly Newsletter Carl Pullein Learning Centre Carl's YouTube Channel Carl Pullein Coaching Programmes Subscribe to my Substack  The Working With… Podcast Previous episodes page Script | 397 Hello, and welcome to episode 397 of the Your Time, Your Way Podcast. A podcast to answer all your questions about productivity, time management, self-development, and goal planning. My name is Carl Pullein, and I am your host of this show.  Starting projects. It can be tough. Where do you start? Where will you find the time? And what do you need to do?  These are just some of the questions you will find yourself asking.  Yet the biggest obstacle to completing a project on time is overthinking and over-planning. Thinking about and planning a project are not the same as working on one. Working on a project is doing something that moves it forward.  Decorating your bedroom will require paint and brushes. The only pre-project decision you need to make is what colour.  The first two steps, therefore, are:  Decide what colour to paint the bedroom Buy paint and brushes I would add a third decision: when. When will you do it?  Once you've done those three things, you're ready to go—no more planning, no more thinking. Just get on and start.  Yet, that's not how most projects go, is it? There's thinking, planning, then creating tasks in your task manager, and if it's a work project, a meeting, then perhaps another meeting.  Often, by the time a project is conceived, 80% of the time required to complete it gets spent on thinking, planning, and meetings.  And that brings us nicely to this week's question—a question about finding ways to reduce the thinking and planning time.  So, let me now hand you over to the Mystery Podcast voice for this week's question. This week's question comes from Phil. Phil asks, “Hi Carl, how do you work on complex projects?” I find I spend a lot of time planning a project, end up with a long list of things to do, and when it comes to starting, I freeze. It's as if I don't know where to start. Do you have any tips on handling this type of problem? Hi Phil, thank you for your question.  “Project freeze” is a common problem for many people. I suspect this stems from the belief that every aspect of a project needs to be planned before starting. Yet, for many projects, this would be impossible.  Imagine you were part of NASA in May 1961, and you'd just heard President Kennedy's speech at the joint session of Congress about why the US should put a man on the moon and bring him back safely to earth before the end of the decade.  At that time, NASA was struggling to get even the smallest of rockets into space—the idea of sending astronauts to the moon and back was a pipe dream.  Yet a group of incredible people at NASA in 1961 took on the challenge. Instead of planning every single step they thought would be needed to complete the project, they looked at what they already knew, the obstacles they would need to overcome, and the first steps. That gave birth to the Mercury space mission. The Mercury programme was not to put a man on the moon; its objectives were to orbit a crewed spacecraft around Earth, study the human ability to function in space, and ensure the safe recovery of both the astronaut and the spacecraft. Before they could reach the moon, they needed to understand how humans cope in space. So the project's objective was to send a man into Earth's orbit.  The key was to get started, and they did this by listing out the obstacles they needed to overcome first. They then worked out how to remove those obstacles.  Now, I know our projects are unlikely to be as big as sending someone to the moon and back, but we can adopt the same approach that NASA used to work on our projects.  Even small projects can adopt this approach. Let's say you were asked to do a presentation on the likely effects of AI on your company's business over the next five years. Where would you start?  For something like this, there would be several phases.  The first would be to research and gather information. For this, the task would likely be to find out who to ask or what to read.  Okay, when will you do this?  Here's the key point. It's no good just deciding what needs to be done first. You need to make it intentional, and to do that, you will need to set aside time to do it.  Perhaps you decide to give yourself an afternoon to research this.  Research is a challenge in itself. We can go down rabbit holes that bring no meaningful insights into what we are trying to do. Yet, we can also underestimate how much time is required for research. So the first step is to do an initial session of research to help you develop some boundaries.  You might be lucky and find that the first research session gives you everything you need to start the presentation. However, if not, and you discover you need to do more research, then when will you do that?  One thing you can do with creating a presentation is to set up your PowerPoint or Keynote file. Create the document, do the first slide and perhaps set the theme colours.  Having a document started makes it much easier to get into creating the presentation.  The danger of listing out all the things you think you need to do to complete the project is that 80% of what you think needs to be done doesn't, and you will find that 80% of what ends up being done were things you never thought of in the first place.  All you really need is a starting point.  I recently did a video on how to write a book. The number one reason people who want to write but never do write a book is that they overthink and plan it.  Thinking and planning do not produce a book.  The best way to write a book is to get the first draft written as fast as you can. All that is required is a few ideas about what you want to write about. From there, you start writing the first draft.  The first draft will be the worst state your book will ever be in. It's meant to be messy, unstructured and occasionally unreadable.  But, once you have a first draft, you have around 80,000 words you can manipulate, craft and organise into a best seller. Without that first draft, you have nothing but a few ideas. How do you write a first draft? Set aside time each day to write. An hour or two every day for eight weeks will give you your first draft.  As you write, new ideas will form, and you can make a note of those along the way. That will make your editing easier.  The common denominator with any project is to get started. Everything has a starting point. Wherever that is, start there.  It's as you are working on the project that your next steps reveal themselves.  When I first began creating online courses, I had no idea what I was doing. But what I did have was fifteen years of teaching experience, and I knew how to create a lesson plan.  I also knew what I wanted to create an online course on. So I could create a lesson plan and a topic. That was where I started.  Once I had a lesson plan, I realised I needed a storyboard of sorts to help me break the course down into lessons. That evolved into the outline I have written for every course I have created since.  Now, after eight years of creating courses, I have a process I follow. All I need is a topic and time to plan, outline, record, edit and post. (Five steps)  On big projects, many tasks are completed before the project ends. Yet, if you were to try to predict what needs to be done at the start, you will find you are wasting a lot of time.  NASA had no idea whether a human being could survive in space. What they did know was that they needed to develop a reliable rocket to get them into space. So, they began with that. Without the rocket, it didn't matter whether a human could survive in space or not. There would have been no way of getting them there.  In 1962, NASA didn't know that they would need software to keep the spacecraft on the right trajectory. There was no way they could have planned for that at that point. It was only when they began working on the Gemini programme that they realised software would be needed.  Without paint and brushes, it wouldn't matter what colour you wanted to paint your bedroom.  In many ways, when you're working on a large, complex project, you're solving problems as you go along. Yet, there's always going to be a starting point.  Another thing about bigger projects is setting a deadline.  Because we are not sure how long a large project will take to complete, it can be tempting to set an unrealistic deadline. Three months to complete a project that realistically would take twelve. This is why setting up the project's stages will help you.  What's the first stage? Give yourself a realistic time frame to complete that first stage. The information you gather during that first stage will guide you with the deadlines for the next stage.  I would also take another leaf from NASA's book. President Kennedy said, “before the decade is out”. Given that he made this speech in 1961, NASA had around 9 years to complete the project. Yet it was not absolute.  Theoretically, the deadline was 31 December 1969, but the actual deadline was a grey area until NASA got closer to achieving the goal.  Deadlines are good as they bring energy to the project. Yet, unrealistic deadlines bring nothing but stress to a project.  I know an online course will take me about 6 weeks to complete. I know the process, and I've learned from experience that the whole process takes six weeks.  If I were to stop doing all my other work, close my calendar to appointments and work solidly for fourteen hours a day for two weeks, I might be able to complete the course in two weeks, but all I would have is a lot of stress. Not pleasant.  Six weeks gives me time to bring the course to life, check things, and make sure everything fits together.  And the final part of developing any project is to be clear about your outcomes.  I refer you back to the opening quotation from President Kennedy: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth." A perfect project outcome statement. It's clear about the objective, and there is a timeline. There was nothing else for NASA to know. President Kennedy didn't have the skills or knowledge to do this himself; that was for the scientists and engineers to work out.  Something they did with magnificent effort on the 20th July 1969.  Thank you, Phil, for your question and thank you to you, too, for listening. It just remains for me to wish you all a very, very productive week.   

Sermon Summary Title: Fall on Your Knees Speaker: Nick Lugg Context: A Christmas message exploring the true cost and response required by the coming of Jesus. Overview: In this message, Nick Lugg challenges the congregation to move past the sentimental traditions of Christmas and confront the reality of who Jesus is. Referencing the line "Fall on your knees" from O Holy Night, the sermon asks a central question: "What is Jesus worth to you?" Key Themes: Response is Mandatory: Just like the Shepherds, Wise Men, and King Herod, no one can remain neutral to Jesus. His presence demands a response—either worship or resistance. Worship as Surrender: True worship isn't just singing songs; it is a life posture of "falling on your knees." Nick uses the imagery of the 24 Elders in Revelation casting down their crowns to illustrate surrendering our status, identity, and security to God. Jesus is Central, Not an Add-on: The sermon warns against treating Jesus like an "interior decorator" who just enhances our existing lives. Instead, He often comes as a "wrecking ball," dismantling our wrong priorities to rebuild us on a better foundation. The Call to Re-evaluate: Listeners are urged to identify what "crowns" they are holding onto—career, reputation, comfort, or sin—and to determine if those things are worth more to them than Jesus. Audio Transcript [00:00] Nick Lugg: Good morning. Congregation: Good morning. Nick Lugg: Happy Christmas. Not quite there. We, um... Oh look, it's there. Because it's Christmas we are going to do PowerPoint. Now, this is not my primary skill set, so it's a bit like rubbing your stomach, patting your head, and standing on a beach ball all at the same time. So I'm hoping to remember to press the button at the right time. [00:26] Our prayer and our desire all the time—and always has been every Christmas—is to enjoy the Christmas season, to enjoy the atmosphere, to enjoy all that Christmas is to us. But at the same time, by God's grace, crack it open and get to the reality of what God is wanting to say to us each and every time. We can't be reduced to people that just do traditions. That just do, um, repeat—you know, we just get on rinse and repeat every year. Same thing: bring out the same songs, do the same things, go through the same motions. Because God has always got something fresh to say to us. [01:05] And that's why we've had this mini-series over Christmas where we've, uh... the eagle-eyed amongst you will know that it's been related to the carol O Holy Night. The first one—I think they were slightly in the wrong order, but it doesn't matter because we've got grace—but the first one Johnny spoke was "A weary world rejoices." And then I think Andy, uh, last week was speaking on "The thrill of hope." [01:32] And it's just those... just those lines have so much relevance and so much resonance for us in the world that we live in and the lives that we are leading. A weary world rejoices. But yet, and behind everything that we seek to do as a church, and everything we seek to begin, is to bring that thrill of hope. But as the curtains open, and as heaven is drawn back, and as we begin to see all that is going on behind Christmas, there is also the response, which is: Fall on your knees. [02:07] And the question this morning: What is Jesus worth to you? What is Jesus worth to me? That if we don't come out of Christmas with a greater sense... You know, we've sung these majestic carols—Adore, come let us adore, let's worship Him, and all the other lines that I've forgotten. You know, they—but they are majestic, honestly. But... you know, we adore Him. But if we don't actually adore Him, if we don't actually wrestle with the question: What does, therefore, it mean that He's worth to me? How does His coming—Christmas, the coming of Christ—how does His coming impact my life? How does it change the shape and the way that I think and the way that I act and the way that I live this life that He's given me? [02:54] What is Jesus worth to me? Oh look... [clicks clicker]. So the real story of Christmas, we say it every year, it's not sentimental, is it? But it's one of humility. Anonymity. Struggle. And the telling and the retelling of the story of Mary and Joseph and all that they went through doesn't really ever quite connect and communicate what it must have been like for them to experience what they experienced. [03:22] There was pain. Discomfort. Fear. Anxiety, no doubt. Stress. Uncertainty. Tears. Maybe there were short tempers. There were... there were all sorts of things going on that we would instantly relate to, and yet we don't see on the Christmas cards. But it's into that world, not the Christmas card world, that Jesus came. Jesus came to our world. We might think, "Well, it was all right, you know, Christmas was just so lovely and everything was just so beautiful and there was like shining tinsel and angels and shepherds and it's all so peaceful and everything else on the Christmas cards." But what about us? What about Sheffield? What about Jordanthorpe, Batemoor? What about where I live? What about my background? What about my world? Jesus came into that world. [04:15] And everyone who encountered Jesus had to respond. And the question for us today is the same. As we ask "What is Jesus worth to me?", how do I respond to Him? How do I respond to the fact that He has come? Not just come to the world, not just come to all people—He's come into my life. How do I respond, therefore, to this majestic appearance? [04:42] He's the Son of God. [Struggles with clicker] Is that the one? This is where it all goes wrong, you see. Anyway, it don't matter... [Adjusts slides]. He comes on the margins of society. He's ignored by society. He's unnoticed by society. He's born away from comfort and privilege. The Bible tells us in Philippians that He, though being in very nature God, He didn't consider equality with God something to be grasped, but He came down, took on the very nature of a servant. He took the opposite of what we would think somebody of His power and authority had. [05:22] I was... saw an article or a video report about Air Force One—the President of the United States' plane. You know how when it flies around, all the preparations and all the protection that it has, you know, fighter jet escorts and all of that. None of that for Jesus. But even as a baby, before He ever taught anything, before He said anything—He just cried like babies do—before He healed anyone, before He performed a miracle, He provoked profound responses. [05:54] You know, the first miracle we read about was when He turned water into wine at a wedding. He was an adult. But before all of that, the story of Christmas is about the responses that people made to who He was. Not what He did. Who He is is what makes a difference in our lives and causes us to respond. [06:14] And so we have the Shepherds. Ordinary people. Caught in their routines. But shaken awake by God to say: "Good news of great joy for all the earth, a Savior is born." Pointing the way to Him. And so they got up from their routine, they got up from their humdrum existence, and they left everything to go and see Him, to go and worship Him. [06:37] The Wise Men. Men of influence and education. They were willing to travel hundreds of miles and bring costly gifts because He was worth it. That's not an easy thing to do. It's not easy to travel. You might think it's easy... you know, even traveling these days, going to Zambia or going to Nepal, it's a... it's a consideration. Even just sitting still doing nothing on a plane. Let alone getting on a camel and going hundreds and hundreds of miles. But they considered that they needed to respond to what they had heard and what they had seen. [07:11] There was King Herod. He was a king with wealth and power and influence and all the things that the world could give him. And yet he saw Jesus as a threat and said He's worth eliminating. He wanted... he responded to Jesus. There's no neutrality. One baby, three responses, but everyone responds. There is no neutrality when it comes to Jesus. When He comes into our world, there is no neutrality for us today. When He comes into... we have to respond. We have to ask: What does His coming demand of me? What is He worth to me? What do I do... what do I do about His coming? [07:51] Jesus demands a response. His very presence draws a response from our hearts. Or it should do. Because there is no neutral. No matter how much we want to live in neutral gear. No matter how much we want to be observers and spectators of all of this and just say, "Oh well, you know, we'll see how it goes." Jesus demands a response. And His very presence forces a collision with our priorities. He comes into our hearts. [08:19] I remember that experience. I've given my testimony before, but I remember how I was like a spectator. I was somebody who was beginning to think, when I was 17 years old, and thinking, "Oh yeah, I think I believe in Jesus. I think He's real. I think..." and I went through all of that process for a year. But at that moment that I asked Him to come into my life—BANG—there was that explosion. Things happened. Everything changed shape in my life, in my priorities, in my understanding, in the values. All of that had to be reassessed. [08:50] When Jesus comes into our world, everything has to be reassessed. When He steps into someone's world... when He steps into your world... you cannot carry on as before. I cannot carry on just as before. Everything that we hold dear. Everything that we love. Everything that shapes our identity, that makes us say, "Well this is who I am." Jesus confronts it. He collides with it. Causes it to change shape permanently and forever. [09:20] Not just an emotional moment where we just say, "Oh I think I believe in Jesus now." But actually He physically comes... and He comes into our hearts, He changes the shape of everything from the inside out. Everything that commands our time, our energy, our attention has to be reassessed in the light of Jesus coming. All of it challenged by that one question: Is it worth more to me than Jesus? [09:44] I remember when I was on a mission trip one time in Russia—in the old Soviet Union actually, I can say it now, we had to keep it secret in those days. But, um, we went and there was somebody that was really taken with the Gospel message and they were listening to it all. And they were saying to the person who was sharing with them, they said, "But if I become a Christian though, do I have to... do I have to stop smoking?" And the person was like getting into a bit of a twist, you know, "Oh well, you know, God understands us and God doesn't judge..." and trying to explain it all. [10:14] And then there was this evangelist guy that was with us who was much more to the point. He just came in and said, "Yes. You do." He said, "And if you ask me if I believe in Jesus, do I have to stop wearing blue jeans? I tell you: Yes, you do." He said, "Because it's not about the smoking, it's not about the blue jeans, it's not about the whatever. But the very fact that you're asking that question means that there is a confrontation with what you want. With what you hold dear. Is it worth more to you than Jesus? Give it up! Change it! Change shape!" That's what happened at Christmas. Jesus came into our lives. And so those little questions that come in the light of Jesus... they should become irrelevant. "Can I still do this? Can I still do that?" Why are you asking those questions? Jesus is worth more than all of it. [10:59] And so we have to reassess our priorities. That's what happened at Christmas. So the Shepherds left their livelihood. They left... presumably they left the sheep... couldn't have taken all the sheep to see Jesus, could they? The Wise Men gave their treasure. Herod protected his throne. And we do the same. When Jesus comes, we have to respond. Either we worship, or we resist. There is no neutrality. [11:27] Worship is more than a song. "For a song in itself is not what you have required." And the rest of it. It's not just what happens on a Sunday, is it? We enjoy it. We enjoy the worship. We enjoy our singing. But we call it "worship," we label it "worship," and yet there is so much more to worship. Worship is not an event. Worship is not 30 minutes. Worship is a life posture. It's a life position. It's a life decision that says: "Come what may, Jesus, you are worth it. You are worth my life. You are worth everything I have, everything I can give you." [12:02] I remember a friend of mine who was on mission in India, and he took a team to India. And these sort of young, enthusiastic people that were there, and they encountered a church that was quite different to the type of lively, charismatic church they were involved in. And yet this church was full of people that had been imprisoned for their faith, had been beaten up for their faith, had been through all sorts of struggle. And this bright-eyed young evangelist person said to the guy who was leading the team, he said, "They don't seem to know much about worship, do they?" [12:35] And he said, "Well, it depends what you mean by worship. If you mean music and singing and songs, then maybe they don't know... you know, all of that. But there's an awful lot that they do know about giving their entire life for Jesus and saying: You are worth everything that I can give you." Worship says you are more than anything else in my life. The old carol says: "What can I give Him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb. If I were a wise man, I would do my part. Yet what can I give Him? Give Him my heart." [13:12] So there isn't anything we can give that impresses Jesus. There isn't anything that He says, "Oh, I think I quite like..."—whether it's our blue jeans or our cigarettes or whatever. It's not about what we give up in that sense. But what we give Him. We give Him our trust. We give Him our obedience. We give Him our love. We give Him our hearts. And that is a whole life thing. That's something that brings a change from the start, and it goes through year after year after year. It's where Christianity is not a flash in the pan. It's not something that we do for a season and then we move on to something else. It's that if truly Jesus has come into our hearts, things have changed. Our priorities have changed. Our vision has changed. Our values have changed. Everything changes and it can't change back. [13:58] But our hearts are shaped, aren't they, by our culture. By comfort. By self-protection. And so we're tempted to use Jesus as an add-on. As a "life enhancer." Someone who fits in with our lives. Instead of someone who rearranges our lives. We treat Him a bit like an interior decorator. Comes in and, you know, tells us what color curtains to have and how to enhance the arrangement of our furniture to give us the best energy and all of that sort of thing. And yet, when He turns up with His hard hat on and a crane with a wrecking ball to come and knock the whole thing down, we don't like that. [14:38] His arrival demands more. And so the only response that we can give Him is to fall on our knees. One day in eternity, scripture says, the 24 Elders fall down and worship. They lay their crowns before the throne. They lay their crowns. In many translations, they take their crowns and they cast them. They throw them. They throw them down at the feet of Jesus. Why do they do that? Why the crowns? Because the crown is a symbol. The crown is a symbol of their identity. Their status. Their achievements. Their authority. Whatever gives their life value in the eyes of others. [15:20] We love it, don't we? Medals and gongs and crowns and uniforms and achievements and things that we can say about who we are and what we've done and what we've achieved. All of that constitutes our crown. And yet when they were in the presence of Jesus, they fell down and worshipped and they lay their crowns before the throne. Say: "Everything that I am, Lord God... have it. Whatever I think I am, You take it, Lord. Because it's... YOU are worth more than that." [15:52] Fall down on your knees. Nothing I have. Nothing I achieve. Nothing that defines me comes close to the value of Jesus. And that's what falling on our knees means. So we let Him question what we hold onto. We let Him reorder what we value. Rather than let's have a discussion about it—"Lord, I think, you know, do a trade, do a deal. Maybe I can keep some of this... you can have this, but I'll have that." It's a complete, radical reorganization, reordering of everything that is valuable to us. [16:26] There are things that define our lives wrongly. Things that we would say about ourselves if somebody asked us, "Well this is what I am. This is why I am like I am. This is what has made me to be like I am." And we settle into that because we think, "Well, this is me. This is just how I am made. This is how I am wired." What if Jesus comes in and dismantles the things that wrongly define us? What if He wants to reshape and rebuild and change our outlook and change our vision of ourselves and change our vision of others and change our vision of the world? He can do that. And He does that as He comes into our hearts. [17:03] Let Him replace our plans with His purposes. What is it that You want, Lord, in my life? What is it that You want in our life? What is it that You want for us as a church? Jesus. Because You are worth it. Whatever we think that we might be or we might achieve or we might... what status we might have... we lay it all before Jesus and say we fall on our knees before You, Lord. Have Your way among us. Fill us, God, with Your Spirit. Not only just to give us an experience that blesses us, but an experience that changes us from the inside out. That reshapes us. That demolishes us and rebuilds us. [17:42] Let Him confront our comforts. The things that give us security. The things that we hold onto. All of those things. Like I said, He's not an interior decorator. Someone making suggestions to make life better. But our worship says: "Do whatever You need to do, Lord, because I am Yours." [18:02] And so, as we fall on our knees, we re-evaluate what we treasure. Ask yourself a question: What in my life currently holds a higher value than Jesus? It's a tough question. And it's not coming from the pulpit saying "Ask yourself!"—pointing back at me—ask yourself. There's so much that takes place in our lives, so much that is established in our lives that is... takes the place of Jesus. So re-evaluate what we treasure. Our comfort. Our time. Our reputation. Our resources. A career. Relationship. Control. A painful identity I don't want to let go of. A sin that I cling to. [18:50] All of that can form a crown. That Jesus demands a response. That we know that we are holding onto those things, but when we come into His presence, we know there has to be a response. There is no neutrality. There's no "Oh, well I think I'll take it or leave it" or "I think I'll wait until next month and see how I feel then." No. When we meet Jesus, there has to be that change. There has to be that response. There has to be that worship. [19:14] And so, take one thing today that has become a crown you hold tightly and consciously place it before Jesus. What is it in your life this morning that you know... Ask God to reveal to you, to show you, what is it that you hold that you can actually... that you need to throw before Him? You need to surrender it. And tell Him: "Jesus, You are worth more than this. All my life I've held onto this thing. All my life this has defined me. All my life this has been the one thing that I don't want to let go of. But Jesus, You are worth more than all of that. And I lay it before You today." There's an opportunity today to lay these things before the feet of Jesus. [19:54] Secondly, reorient our priorities around Him. What are our priorities in life? Does our lifestyle reflect the value of Jesus? The one we adore? The one we sing about? What about the application of that worship? Do we adore Him so much so that our decisions honor Him? Our schedule and our priorities reflect His importance? Our giving, our serving, our obedience demonstrate that He is worth it? Not only to Him, but to anybody that looks at our lives, they say, "No, this person values Jesus more than anything." [20:30] Does our worship cost us anything? Or is it just convenient? Those who responded to Jesus right back at the beginning, in the beginning of the Christmas story—their worship cost them. It took something out of them. It tired them. It stressed them. It pained them. But it was worth it because they were coming to Jesus. [20:53] And so think about an area of life where Jesus has been an add-on. Where we've just invited Him and said, "I like the fact that You're in my life, Jesus, and perhaps You can help me. Give me a little bit of power here and there just to help me through a few things, over a few humps. But don't get too much involved. Don't get too nosey into what's going on. Because I think... I think You know Your place, Jesus." Is He an add-on? Or is He central? [21:18] That's the challenge as we go forward. Not about "Can we raise enough money for 146?" or "Can we, you know, what do we do about this or that?" What's the practical things to do with the growth of a church? It's about as we grow as a community, will we actually have Him in the center of everything that we are and everything that we do? Will He be our first and our last thought in every decision that we make? How does this honor Him? How does this reflect His worth? How does this reflect His value? Because then the church will grow with people that will also know that Jesus is the priority. Jesus is the center. Jesus is the focus. [21:55] And thirdly, reopen our heart to encounter Him. Some of these questions can be at the first stage of our faith... you know, "What's Jesus worth?" But in actual fact, you can have that radical encounter with Jesus, you can have that moment where you know that you've given your all to Him... but five years, ten years, fifteen years down the line, things can look different. You can get jaded. You can get settled into "routine Christianity." Familiar. Predictable. Safe. Christmas is familiar, predictable, safe. But Jesus is coming. Jesus comes into our lives and challenges our priorities. [22:38] And so He's calling us to meet Him again. And for those of us that have become dulled and routine and predictable and safe, there is still that call from Jesus to say: Will you actually reorient? Will you actually re-evaluate? Will you actually reopen your heart to encounter me again? Not emotionally or artificially, but deeply. Pray: "Lord, show me Your worth again. Disrupt me if You must. Call me out of my routine and lead me back to worship." [23:09] And so there's a challenge. Will you worship Him now—today, this morning—and will you worship Him forever? Because it's not sentiment, it's transformation. Christmas is sentimental. It pulls at our emotions. It pulls at our nostalgia. If you ever spend any time on Instagram, these videos come up of what it used to be like in the 80s... I know some of you are thinking "What's the 80s?" But they were good. Christmas was good. It was sentimental and it was emotional and you've got all sorts of childhood memories from there. Probably go a little bit back before the 80s as well, but we won't go there. [23:49] But Christmas is sentimental. But Jesus is transformational. The coming of Jesus transforms. He didn't come to give us sentiment. He didn't come to give us emotion. He's not Father Christmas. But He did come to change everything. And so when the Shepherds saw Him, they ran to Him. When the Wise Men saw His worth, they knelt before Him. When the Elders see His worth, they throw their crowns down in front of Him. And when we see Him, what do we do? Fall on our knees. [24:26] And so today the question isn't simply "Do you believe in Jesus?", but "What is He worth to you?" Will you worship Him not just now, but forever? Will you lay your crown before Him? Will you allow His presence to rearrange your life? Reshape you. Not just now, but forever. For the rest of your life. And into eternity. That Jesus will be worth it. What a terrible thing to just touch the surface of what it means to know Jesus and then arrive in eternity and think, "Oh, that's what it was all about." That we would know Jesus now. This Christmas, may we truly see Him. And when we see Him, fall on our knees. Amen. [25:12] Nick Lugg: Jonathan, are you there? Oh, you're there. The worship team can come back, please.

In this episode of the show, our Ben Affleck mini-retrospective continues with The Town. Over the course of our chat you will hear us talk about whether The Town is a herald of filmmaking growth from Affleck, how he directs his own performance and how the ideas of organic authenticity explored in Gone Baby Gone translate to a different genre. We comment on Affleck's directorial style, Jeremy Renner's powerhouse performance and the many flourishes connecting The Town to such filmmakers as Michael Mann, Ridley Scott and John Frankenheimer. We also chuckle at a few shots here and there, wonder if FBI agents rehearse their PowerPoint presentations and show gratitude that these bank robbers had a habit of raiding barber shops for DNA with which they could use to contaminate crime scenes and not other establishments where DNA is also found. Tune in and enjoy!Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy BurrowsFeaturing: Rich FosterIntro: Infraction - CassetteOutro: Infraction - DaydreamHead over to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠uncutgemspodcast.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to find all of our archival episodes and more!Follow us on Twitter (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@UncutGemsPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠), IG (⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@UncutGemsPod⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠) and Facebook (@UncutGemsPod)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy us a coffee over at Ko-Fi.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (ko-fi.com/uncutgemspod)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to our Patreon!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (patreon.com/uncutgemspod)

The Singapore Government has teamed up with New Zealand-founded start-up The Fractional Directory for a new pilot programme. The project will pair fractional leaders - experienced professionals who work with multiple organisations on a flexible basis - with Singaporean companies. Company CEO Michelle Allbon says this may seem similar to consultant roles, but there's some key differences. "The different between consulting and fractional is that a fractional leader is fully embedded...we've seen this be really, really effective, it's not just giving them advice and throwing their PowerPoint over the wall." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Singapore Government has teamed up with New Zealand-founded start-up The Fractional Directory for a new pilot programme. The project will pair fractional leaders - experienced professionals who work with multiple organisations on a flexible basis - with Singaporean companies. Company CEO Michelle Allbon says this may seem similar to consultant roles, but there's some key differences. "The different between consulting and fractional is that a fractional leader is fully embedded...we've seen this be really, really effective, it's not just giving them advice and throwing their PowerPoint over the wall." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What's on the horizon for HR and reward professionals in 2026? In this episode, Brightmine experts Bar Huberman and Sheila Attwood break down the latest research and reveal the top priorities shaping the year ahead. Plus, CEO Scott Walker joins the conversation to explore one of the most transformative trends of recent years - AI in the workplace. Tune in for actionable insights, expert analysis, and a look at what's next for HR strategy. Related resources On your radar - Employment Rights Bill updates and HR mythbusting How to lead HR planning for the Employment Rights Bill Training guides and PowerPoint presentations: The complete list Top HR priorities for 2026

In this October edition of the Microsoft Teams Show, hosts Kristian McCann and Tom Arbuthnot break down the biggest Teams stories from the past month with the panel.We also have a special guest Mark Webb, UK Home Office Lead Voice and Video Engineer, who reveals how he used Power Apps to transform Teams call management – reducing service request turnarounds from 5 days to just 6 minutes!This Month's Topics

TRANSCRIPT Gissele: Hello and welcome to the Love and Compassion Podcast with Gissele. We believe that love and compassion have the power to heal our lives and our world. Don’t forget to like and subscribe for more amazing content. Today we’re talking with Barry Adkins after losing his 18-year-old son, Kevin, to alcohol poisoning. Barry saw that he had two choices. He could curl up in the corner and allow himself to become a victim, or he could get out and tell as many people as possible about what happened to his son, Kevin. Barry chose the latter in an effort to raise awareness of the dangers of binge drinking. Barry set out on an Epic 1400 mile journey on foot from Arizona to Montana. His son’s ashes in his backpack, stopping at numerous schools, churches in treatment facilities along the way to share his story. Larry’s presentation describes in powerful detail the night his son died.[00:01:00] The quiet morning that he got the knock on the door and how he came up with the idea to walk from Arizona to Montana.Barry’s message is both powerful inspiration and a warning about the consequences of even one night of binge drinking. Barry has shared his story with over 200,000 students and parents. He has been a featured speaker at numerous high schools, community events, and town hall meetings. Barry has also been featured in numerous media outlets, including Reader’s Digest, the Dr. Gina Show and the Leon Fonte Show. Please join me in welcoming Barry. Hi Barry. Barry: Oh, thanks for having me on. Gissele Gissele: Ah, thank you for being on the show. I was wondering if you could share with the audience a little bit about the story of your son’s passing and how that led you to actually decide to become this powerful messenger on the dangers of pitch drinking. Barry: Well, Gissele, I probably should start by kind of telling you, you know, what led up to that. [00:02:00] Yeah, let’s start with that. So he had just graduated from high school. He struggled in high school. He was actually flunking his English class in March of his senior year in high school. And he needed it for graduation, right? Mm-hmm. And I would always talk to him about it and, you know, he would tell me to quit bothering him about it. He’d take care of it. But at the end of the day, he did graduate, and I remember at his high school graduation ceremony, he gave me a hug and whispered, thanks for not giving up on me, dad. Gissele: Hmm. Barry: And shortly thereafter suffice to say he saved up enough money and I agree to co-sign a loan so he could buy a new truck. And if you have listeners that work at dealerships, I apologize, but I have a healthy dislike for that process, right? Mm-hmm. Because they’re gonna try to sell me something I don’t want or need. He found one of the dealerships, so I gotta go in and sign papers, right? Gissele: Mm-hmm. I Barry: sit down in the, the dealerships. You know, in their [00:03:00] office, and the first thing this guy says to me is, how about some life insurance? And I’m like, 18-year-old boys don’t need life insurance. They don’t die. But I was wrong. They do die. He wouldn’t live long enough to make a single payment on that truck. So a few weeks later. I remember him sitting down in our living room and talking about how he couldn’t believe his life was finally beginning and he wanted to move out, and I did my best to discourage him because we honestly never really had any problems with him. His high school principal didn’t even know who he was. I didn’t have any luck talking out of it. So a couple weeks later, his buddy Craig came over and they started moving him out. You know, he’s 18 years old. His definition of moving out was throwing a bed, a tv, and a dresser in the back of his truck. Mm-hmm. I remember him coming back in and he came into the living room and he said something I’ll never forget. He said he wasn’t [00:04:00] gonna take his toothbrush with him. He’d be back tomorrow and grab it. I walked out front with him like I normally do, gave him a hug, told him that, be careful, and I loved him and watched him drive away. It was the last time I saw him alive that night. His friends decided to throw a house warming party for him. Started with a keg of beer and moved on to shots. He left a voicemail for his sister that night talking about how much fun they were having and how drunk he was. After he left that voicemail, he passed out his friends laid him in his bed on his side in case he vomited, but the party was still going on. They actually went in and shaved his head and his legs while he was passed out because he’s just passed out, right? Gissele: Yeah. But Barry: his buddy Craig, was worried about him, kept going back into check on him around 4:00 AM calls started coming into 9 1 1. First calls were difficulty [00:05:00] breathing. Next calls. Not breathing. My son died alone in a hospital. Well, I slept peacefully in my bed. The next morning was Sunday morning. My wife and I are sitting around talking about what we’re not gonna do that day or do that day. Eight 30 in the morning. The doorbell rings. And we’re looking at each other because we weren’t expecting company. And I open the door and I see two police officers and somebody in plain clothes at my front door. Should have been a big red flag, right? It should have been, but I’m that guy. It didn’t even occur to me, Gissele, that something bad had happened. I actually joked with them as they came in thinking this had to have something to do with a dog or a parked car, but they didn’t laugh at any of my jokes. One of the officers in the plain clothes stayed at the front door. The other officer walked in and stood in front of the chair that Kevin had sat in [00:06:00] two weeks before and talked about how his life was finally beginning. He said There had been an accident and your son is dead. We asked who, because we have a number of children, they said it was Kevin and they handed me his driver’s license. Yeah, there is something pretty final about it when a police officer hands you your child’s driver’s license because until that exact moment in time, you’re holding out hope that this is all a big mistake. You’ve misspelled the last name, but once they hand you, your child’s driver’s license, you know he is gone and he is never coming back. Gissele: That must have been so devastating. Barry: Yeah, people say it’s impossible to know what it feels like to lose a child, and they’re right until it happens to [00:07:00] you. It’s a life changing event. There’s no two ways about that. Mm-hmm. Gissele: And so what was the journey between hearing that your son had died to one, you had determined to spread the message to save the lives of other young people. Barry: Well, I’ll tell you a little bit about the process. Honestly, I was angry with God and I told him so I simply didn’t understand why a kind God would. You know, let my son die. And I tried to bargain with him and said, Hey, back up time, you’re God, take me, let him live. And I don’t think, as a parent, I’m unusual. That’s not, I don’t think that would be an unusual thought for anybody. Right? Gissele: No. Barry: But a couple days later, I had another life changing event. This is a little bit difficult for me to describe, but I’ll do my best. I was [00:08:00] laying in bed, it was about four o’clock in the morning and I was awake, and I just had this sense that someone had just came in the room, you know? Yeah. You have that feeling. Did somebody just walk in behind me or something? And then there was a light. A light I’ve never seen before and I haven’t seen since, and there was a message, and the message was that he didn’t suffer. And something very good would come from this. And I didn’t get a chance to say anything. it’s not words you hear, it’s just things, you know. I, it’s really Gissele: mm-hmm. Barry: I’m not a seance guy or anything like that. I just, that’s what happened. And I’m not here to tell everybody that that made everything okay. ’cause it didn’t. Gissele: Mm-hmm. Barry: But it gave me a mission. Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. Barry: Right. And then we had to go pick up his [00:09:00] ashes. I remember going down to pick up his ashes and I walked in, you know, into a funeral home. They’ve got, you know, pictures on the wall and they’re playing music in the background. They take me into an office, sit me down in a big comfortable chair, or the desk in front of me. The funeral director walks in. Sets an urn down in front of me, an urn that held all the remain of the kid that I burped. I changed his diapers. I coached all kinds of different sports. I taught him to shoot a gun, swing, a golf club. All the remains of him were sitting in an urn in front of me. And at that moment I knew one thing, and that was that I didn’t want to be a victim. Because the world doesn’t need any more victims. We’ve got plenty already. The world needs people who take something bad and they make something good come from it. Gissele: This [00:10:00] might be a difficult question, so you can skip it if you want to, but what was your wife’s reaction like? Barry: that’s another part about grief. Right. She has been incredibly supportive of everything. Yeah. Was she terrified when I said I wanted to walk to Montana? Yes, we both were, but I knew. That’s what I wanted to do and. I had a lot of people try to talk me out of it. Gissele, right? Well-meaning people that I think they were afraid I was gonna fail. and you get that right? Yeah. Who do you think you are? Right? That’s a long ways of walk. But I had another guy that I talked to that said something that kind of sealed the deal. I really wasn’t gonna get talked out of it, but he said, well, how do you think you’d feel about it in 10 years if you don’t do it? Gissele: Ooh, perfect. Barry: Was it easy? No. [00:11:00] But I knew it didn’t matter. This was, this was what I needed to do. Gissele: So did you, you plan out the whole trip or was it like you were kind of just allowing yourself to be led where your next destination was? Barry: so the idea for the walk, first of all for those. Older individuals in your audience came from the movie Lonesome Dove. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it, has Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duval. That was Kevin’s favorite movie. I won’t give away the ending of the movie. Mm-hmm. But I will tell you that that’s where the idea came from. Gissele: Mm-hmm. Barry: But then you gotta figure out, you know, in the movie somebody did something on horseback, not like this, but something similar. Right. I knew I wasn’t gonna do it on horseback initially. I was gonna walk the Continental divide. But then I knew I wouldn’t be able to do the speaking stuff. Okay. So I’m gonna do the speaking stuff now. I need to get some help. Yeah. And I reached [00:12:00] out to people to sponsor me. I got a lot of. Nah, no thanks. But a nonprofit here in town, notmykid.org I spoke to them and they were in they set up all of the speaking engagements, but you can imagine the logistics around this we’re mm-hmm. Pretty challenging because they said, okay, well you gotta tell me what day you’re gonna be in all these towns. Yeah. So I had to give them a schedule. Of how, you know, how many miles am I gonna walk a week? When do I think I’m gonna be in this town? When do I think I’m gonna be in this town? And we got it figured out. I did. Were you a big walker before? I’ve ran marathons. Oh, okay. But walking was a different thing. one thing to say, I’m gonna go out tomorrow and walk 15 miles, right? Gissele: Mm-hmm. Barry: But it’s the wear and tear mm-hmm. Of every single day. And you can, I kind of [00:13:00] prepared for that by, on the weekends I’d go out and walk, you know, 15 miles each day or 20 miles each day. Gissele: Mm-hmm. Barry: Kind of get a sense of what it was gonna feel like. But it’s. Pretty hard to judge what it’s gonna feel like repetitively. Right? There were ingrown toenails had plantar fasciitis, had knee issues. But I never took a single day off. I ended up walking seven days a week. I found it to be easier to just walk seven days a week. And there’s days I didn’t feel like going, but I always thought, eh, I might feel worse tomorrow. Maybe I better go try. And usually when I got out there I felt better. Gissele: Wow. So how did you find the messaging was received in the conversations that you had with young people because, drinking is kind of part of the culture, if you may. What were some of their comments or questions? [00:14:00] Barry: You know, my messaging has changed a lot through the years. In the beginning, Gissele, I was actually just reading it and I rationalized that, I don’t know if I told you about this before, but I rationalized this by saying, well, Martin Luther King read I Have a Dream Speech. Speaker 2: He read Barry: the whole thing and it was good, right? Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. Barry: So I had it written out. But. I had so many places where teachers and principals would come up later and say, I have never seen those kids that quiet ever. And as it evolved, one of the things I started doing was telling the audience, but I’m not here to tell ’em how to live their life. I’m just here to tell you a story. And I really believe for students especially, and everybody, nobody wants to be told how to live their life, right? Who are you to get Speaker 4: up Barry: here? Tell me how to live my life. [00:15:00] I’m just here to tell you a story. And like I said there was some standing ovations in a few of them. Yeah. Mm-hmm. But for me, when they’re that quiet you know, something’s going on. Gissele: Definitely. I’m sure I know that you’ve saved some lives Because I don’t know if kids are often educated on like how to drink, how to learn, how much. Alcohol to take? Like had your son had experience with alcohol before or was that really like the first time that he was out? Barry: He, there was a couple times where I suspected it and that, you know, one of the questions I often get asked is, you know, did you ever talk to him about alcohol? I didn’t talk to him much, any of the kids much about alcohol, but I did about drugs because we have an alcoholic in the family. And he always talked about how stupid he was and how he wasn’t ever gonna let that happen to him. You know, so in hindsight, [00:16:00] should I have done more of that? Yeah. and the question comes up, so when do you start talking to your kids about that? And my answer is, whatever you do, don’t wait until it’s too late. Gissele: Yeah. I think conversations about like. Sex, alcohol, drugs, all of that stuff. Ongoing conversations with children are important, and at the same time, we’re doing the best we can as parents, right? We don’t always anticipate, like you said, your son said that he wouldn’t do that sort of thing, right? Like sometimes you can’t anticipate. But as parents, we go back and question ourselves and say, could I have done that differently? Could I have done that better? What role did self-forgiveness have in your ability to undertake this journey? Barry: It was a big part of it, right? One of [00:17:00] the first things we did was agree that we’re not gonna play the blame game, right? I’m not gonna blame anybody at the party. I’m not gonna blame anyone. But, but the forgiveness part of it. Takes a while, especially forgiving yourself. I heard a pastor describe it best once, ’cause forgiveness is one of the things that’s one of my key takeaways is forgiveness. And what I tell everybody is anger and vengeance is only gonna lead to one thing. Destruction, forgiveness, leads to healing, and sometimes the most important person you need to forgive. Yourself. We all make mistakes. It’s the way you handle it. That really matters. ’cause I can’t change the past. I can only change the future. Gissele: Yeah. Barry: And that takes a long time to come to grips with Gissele. Right? That’s, it does. That’s not something the day after you’re, you’re [00:18:00] there. That’s about 19 years in the rear view mirror for me. Gissele: Yeah, definitely because we as parents put so much pressure on ourselves, we feel it’s our responsibility to keep our children safe. Even though your son had left home, there’s still that sense of, responsibility. it can feel definitely overwhelming, especially since like the thought is always, well, we’re gonna pass away before our children do. And so it’s not anything we’re gonna have to manage. They’re gonna have to manage our loss. But when it’s the reverse, you’re like, oh, this is not what I prepared for. And what you’re helping us learn is, is. It’s not about trying to avoid the things in life that causes suffering, but alchemizing the difficult moments into something where it could be a positive out of it. That doesn’t diminish the grief. It just helps us not hurt ourselves because I do [00:19:00] feel like path to grieve and the path to blaming and the path to punishment hurts us as much as it hurts the other people as well. Barry: it a hundred percent does. And one of my other key things for takeaways is about adversity. Yeah. Bad stuff happens to everybody. The way you respond to adversity is gonna define your life. And I’m living proof of that. divorces, whatever, you know, make the list, your boyfriend broke up with you, whatever. All of these things happen. And the way you handle them, they’re gonna define your life. They just are, it’s not the A’s and b’s in school generally. Mm-hmm. Its the way you handle adversity. Gissele: I wanna go back to that instance where you heard the voice say that something positive was gonna come. ’cause I’m sure there was a level of, reassurance did that help you rethink the whole concept of life or death [00:20:00] and whether or not things are final? Barry: You know I’m a Christian and we all believe that God is out there. We have to push the believe button. But when something like this happens you know he’s there. Right. And again, that, you know, you’ve heard people describe it, but I can’t describe that light. Gissele: Yeah. Barry: And I just knew. You know, it was God and it was kind of his voice, but I knew God was part of it and for me it moved. Gissele: You mean like Kevin’s voice? Barry: Yeah. Kind of his you know, because it seemed like he was pretty excited about it. Gissele: Hmm Barry: mm-hmm. Right. And it, it moved it from the theoretical to Oh yeah, he’s really there. He really [00:21:00] is. I mean, sometimes it’s you start to wonder if he’s really there, right? You start to wonder, well, is there really something there? And after this I can say, yeah, there’s life there. Gissele: Yeah, and and what you were saying, it takes it from a theoretical ’cause I think often we think of like God out there and we’re over here and we can feel so separate and so alone. And when you look at the state of the world, you wonder why things are the way that they are. And I think there is sort of a grander. Purpose and a grander picture that sometimes we don’t often see. But I think to have that reassurance, I myself have had a number of spiritual events that make you think, oh wait, here’s an experience to everything that I’ve been reading or wondering about, which makes you question. How final is death? now that doesn’t lessen the loss any less. we are [00:22:00] still in this physical experience where you don’t get to experience your son in the same way. Have you had any other interactions, like through dreams or any other ways where you have been able to connect? Barry: Well, I have no doubt that God was part of this process. And the reason I say that is I’m not the right guy to be doing this. I was never a public speaker. Mm-hmm. I’m a stay at home. I was telling somebody the other day, I had a really good month. ’cause I think I only put 50 miles on my car in a month. Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Barry: I’m not that way, but I feel like it’s what He wants me to do. Gissele: Mm-hmm. Barry: Right. And another interesting thing for me is that. You need to be quiet to really feel [00:23:00] where God might be pushing you. And I remember I I was up in the Bob Marshall wilderness up in, up in Montana, out in the middle of nowhere. I was sitting on top of this mountain with my uncle, and it was just, you know, utter silence. Right. Just. As quiet as it can be. And I turned to him and I whispered, man, it’s quiet up here. And he said, yeah. And it’s got a lot to say. Gissele: Mm mm-hmm. I love that. Barry: Yeah, because you have to understand it. I think we don’t have enough quiet time in our lives. Anymore. We’re just bombarded every single day with stuff. Gissele: Mm-hmm. Yeah. There’s constant messaging and there’s constant looking on social media, and I think what you’re talking about is really the path inward to be able to address all of the difficult things you were talking about, to deal with grief [00:24:00] and not let it consume you, to deal with forgiveness and allow yourself to open up to that. You have to. Go through the emotions, right? Like you have to have felt the grief. You have to have felt the difficulty in forgiving because the mind immediately goes to, well, who was there, who could have taken care? Why didn’t they check more? And all of those things. Absolutely. Yeah. Barry: was there blame to go around? Yeah. The, the guy at the party was a 28-year-old this house that he moved into. There was a 28-year-old there who was renting the house rooms to 18 year olds. Right. So, you know, it is probably good situation, but was it Mikey’s fault? No. It, this was Kevin’s choice. This was his decision. Yeah. And that’s my third point is the two most important decisions you’re ever gonna make apart from following Jesus are about drugs and alcohol. It isn’t even close. [00:25:00] We all know stories. Right. You just, you need to educate yourselves as if your life and the lives of your kill children depend upon it. Speaker 2: Because Barry: it does, it just does. These are, these are society. We don’t talk a lot about how big this problem is. I googled it recently to find out how big the rehab industry is, and I believe the number was, people can look it up. I think it was around $35 billion a year. Wow. And it’s projected to grow at 5% a year. Gissele: it doesn’t, help. That’s alcohol in particular is, a legal drug, right. And the interesting thing that I observed during the pandemic was in Canada in particular, I don’t know about any other countries how they made alcohol more accessible, but of all the things they could have done during COVID, making alcohol more accessible, made me curious.[00:26:00] I’m like like what is it that you’re promoting or saying? it’s sort of like different departments working on different things. Like you’ve got a public health that tells you, like do things in moderation, take care of your body, eat. Then you’ve got another department that is like making alcohol more accessible. it doesn’t make sense. Barry: It’s a business, right? The alcohol industry is a business and they want to grow their industry and every opportunity they get to do that. Of course they’re gonna do it. Mm. You know do I blame them? No, not really, because it’s every, it’s your choice, right? Mm. It just, Gissele: yeah, for sure. It’s the Barry: education part of it. I think the prevention, you know, as I said, $35 billion a year on rehab. I guarantee you they don’t spend 35 billion a year on prevention. It’s largely onesie, twosie things. it’s a PowerPoint in one class at school. [00:27:00] And, and it takes a lot of different angles to get to kids, to students. You know, am I one part of it? Yeah. Is that the only part? Absolutely not. There are other things that help click with kids. You know, I’m not the only thing, but you know, some kids might click when you start talking about the chemical things that happen. I don’t know. But mm-hmm. There should be a little more, in my opinion, more focus on that prevention part. Gissele: Yeah. Agree. And I think that’s the beauty of the conversations you’re opening up space for. And also the opportunity for parents to not expect the school system or all these other systems to educate kids, right? Like we have conversations with our kids and I, gotta give credit to my husband. I was always one of the, the complete abstinence. We’re not gonna do drugs, we’re not gonna do anything. My husband’s like, well, that’s not realistic. Right? Yeah. Like, so just because you, that’s a choice you made for [00:28:00] yourself years ago. Doesn’t mean that that’s the thing they’re gonna make. The best thing we can do is arm them with information and tell them like, here, and Okay, this is what alcohol feels like in your body. This is what it tastes like. You know, you should pace yourself. Like see what it does to your body. See how long it takes in your body so that you can become familiar. So it’s not a thing that like kids go out in. and want to explore like in large quantities. My husband was telling me when we were having these conversations, as our kids were younger, he would say to me that the ones, the children whose parents oppressed them more like about like, you can’t do this. You can’t do that. Were the ones who probably explored it the most. He said when they were outside, they were the ones who were the binge drinkers. They were the ones, and he saw it and he was like. You know this, this person is hiding it. Whereas his mom, she used to have a drink with her when he came, home from high school. And so he learned how to [00:29:00] maneuver and how it felt in his body. And so he would never like get drunk or pass out or do any of that because he knew, he started to experiment and see, oh, okay, this is how it impacts. I observe other people. And so he started to get familiar with, okay, what it does, what it doesn’t do in my body. And what you’re talking about and the beautiful part about it is increasing their awareness of, okay, what’s my maximum? What’s the dangers? You don’t know? ’cause if you’re just taking shots and drinking, you’re not waiting for your body to process the alcohol, so you don’t know how much you’ve taken. Barry: You know, for me, and you know, nobody ever likes to talk about peer pressure when you’re younger, but mm-hmm. Peer pressure is there. The thing for me, and everybody’s different about this but for me you think, well, I need to impress these. My high school friends, I have one friend [00:30:00] that I still know from high school. I don’t know how many you have that you stay in contact with, but you know, my daughter said, well, I have ’em on Facebook. I said, well, you do, but how many are your friends? Mm-hmm. Oh. Two, three. Yeah. One. Yeah. Yeah. You know, that kind of thing. So you think you need to impress these people and you don’t, and that comes with age. You just start realizing that I don’t really care what they think of me. Gissele: Yeah. Barry: That’s the beauty of it is you get older, Yeah. Gissele: So thank you for raising this. ’cause I think this is really important, sort of the reasons why people take. Substances. Like sometimes people just wanna experiment. Their people are addressing pain, right? If their home life is an issue, or if they have experienced trauma sometimes, and the peer pressure thing I think is so fundamental. I remember this about myself when I was in my teens, I cared so much what people thought about me, and I [00:31:00] thought people were constantly thinking about me, which is not even true. They were only thinking about themselves. And that’s why I tell my kids, when I was in my twenties I thought, oh, all these people are looking at me. All these people are thinking of me And I’m like, they were not, yeah, they didn’t care about me. They were thinking about themselves and what other people were thinking about them. Yeah. And so I think that’s an important thing in terms of what helps young people develop that inner confidence. Remember that inner worthiness, Speaker 2: the worthiness of it. Yeah. Gissele: they don’t need to succumb to peer pressure, they are just enough as they are and to be of their authentic selves. And if you look at the school system, and I’m not complaining about the school system, but we are taught conformity. There is a right answer and wrong answer. Everybody should sit and be quiet. So the kids that struggle the most are the kids who are the most aberrant, right? Who don’t think the same way, who have struggles sitting down all day, because That’s not kids’ natural nature to [00:32:00] sit all day, right? And so what we’re taught to conform to this box and that there is this right answer versus wrong answer and color inside the lines. And so it shifts away from authenticity ’cause the need to belong, the need to fit in, the need to align. And so then later on we’re like, oh yeah, be yourself. Be authentically. well, I don’t know how to do that. I was only taught to conform and belong. Where is the role for the authentic in schools and for the divergence and difference Barry: and, and everybody learns differently. Gissele: Mm-hmm. Barry: Right? Just so many things there. I barely got outta high school. Speaker 2: Hmm. Barry: I simply didn’t understand the point. Speaker 2: Yeah, Barry: and I, I was only, it was only by the fear of my parents. That I got outta high school. I mean, it turns out, you know, once I went to college and I was paying for it, I got straight A’s, [00:33:00] but I just didn’t see the point. And I’ve realized through the years that everybody matures differently and everybody learns differently because there’s a lot of pressure on kids today to decide, okay, what are you gonna do with your life? What are you gonna be, I didn’t decide, I ended up waiting two or three years before I went to college. Mm-hmm. Because I didn’t know what I wanted to do. Right. And Speaker 2: yeah, and I Barry: think you have to know when you’re 18 years old because you’re 18 years old, and I think adults tend to forget that not everybody matures and in general girls mature before boys, let’s just call it what it is. But you need to give them time. They kind of figure it out. Gissele: absolutely. And I think that’s, a really important conversation. we need to give them time to explore all the things that they’re passionate about, that they really want to [00:34:00] do. Rather than trying to push them into a profession because I don’t know, like I changed my mind a lot. Like first I was gonna be a lawyer, then I ended up in child welfare, and now I’m doing something different. So there’s the opportunity to explore, the opportunity to find out what their real passions are, and to make a decision when you’re 18, 19, about the rest of your life, just doesn’t. make a lot of sense, right? what you’re passionate about now, but with the cost of education, that’s a huge investment you’re making or something you might not end up liking. So it just doesn’t seem to make sense. Right? Barry: Yeah. I think there are tests out there that can I’ve heard of some that can kind of tell you what you’re good at. Speaker 2: Hmm. Which Barry: kind of will help for me. I actually, short story. I actually got my pilot’s license before I got outta high school. Gissele: Oh, that’s cool. Barry: Yeah, because I had a class where the guy said, well, if you pass the private [00:35:00] pilot written, you can have an A in the class for the whole year and you don’t have to show up. So suffice to say, I ended up with my pilot pilot’s license. Yes. But I wanted to be in the Air Force. I wanted to fly jets and, and we took the tests and they said, well, you’d be good at electronics. I wanted to be a pilot. They wouldn’t let me do that. But I didn’t forget that they said I might be good at electronics. And so that’s what I did. Engineering stuff. And I’ve been in the same industry for 44 years. Mm-hmm. Because I found something that I kind of like doing this stuff. I mean, the job is a job, right. But I kinda like doing this stuff. Gissele: And that’s, that’s what I say to my children. I say, explore the world. Explore all the things that you’re excited about now. Right. Because, and that’ll get you through the path, even if it’s just like the next step, like you said, okay, this guy said you don’t have to come to class. I’d rather have some flying lessons. I [00:36:00] think that’s a great. Wait, have you ever flown since? Well, Barry: I got my pilot’s license, but I couldn’t afford to keep flying. Right. Mm-hmm. My dad paid for it as part of my graduation gift ’cause he didn’t think I would pass the p private pilot written. Oh. Because he said, well, if you do that, I’ll pay for your flight instruction. Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. Barry: So, but, you know, you talk about getting to places one of the questions I get asked is, did I ever think about quitting? On the walk. Yeah. The answer to that is no, but, but I started wondering what I got myself into. Speaker 2: Hmm. I Barry: wasn’t even outta Arizona. I was probably 150 miles into it, you know, like I said, this hurts, this hurts. and the problem I had was I was thinking about 1400 miles every day. I thought about, man, I got. 1300 miles to go. And so I just changed my mindset to I’m gonna walk [00:37:00] another three miles or four miles, take a break, see where we go from there. And it’s these baby steps that take you a long way. ’cause you look at something and say, well, I could never get that degree, or I could never get to that position where I would be able to do that in my life. But if you take these baby steps. You focus on those baby steps, then the next thing you know you’re in Montana. Gissele: Yeah, Barry: right. I mean, that’s really the way I thought of it is I didn’t want, because you think about, oh my gosh, I gotta do this every day for the next four months. And I just started thinking, all right, my wife Bev met me about every three or four miles. She’d go up there and park and I’d go up and take a little break and then move on. And it’s a great metaphor for life, I think. Gissele: Yeah, absolutely. I have a friend who would say, how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. [00:38:00] Barry: Yes. When you are thinking Gissele: about the whole elephant, you’re gonna be full. But if you just take it one bite at a time, and like you said, That’s definitely a great metaphor for life. Is that how long it took you? Four months? Barry: Yeah. It took about four months. I averaged about 90 miles a week. Just met a lot of wonderful people along the way. Mm-hmm. It just. The world is a little bit jaded, but there’s a lot of wonderful people out there that, that just want to help. I had people bring me brownies and milk. People stopped every day and asked if I needed a ride. You know, what are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere? You know, it’s raining and, ’cause I, I walked in a fair amount of rain and get in the car. I’m like, no, I’m good. Whatcha doing out here? So then I have to tell ’em the story and yeah. But you meet a lot of wonderful people. Mm-hmm. Gissele: Yeah. It made me think of like, gump when he started running and there was a whole bunch of people that were running behind him. Yeah. And they’re like, what are running for? Barry: You get [00:39:00] that, you get a lot of people. I think it was a lot easier to do. I’ve actually driven the route, just drove it here a couple months ago. A fair amount of it. There really wasn’t nearly as much traffic as there is on those roads today. Gissele: Oh wow. Barry: You know, two lane roads, you’re walking that whole thing and you. It’s, it’s busy now. It wasn’t nearly as busy 20 years ago. Gissele: Yeah. And was it all gravelly? Like some of those roads are usually gravelly where you walk, like there’s not paved. Barry: These were all paved roads. They were all two lane roads. I kind of wanted to walk on the freeway because it was a straighter shot, but I could not get the Department of Public Safety in any of the states to tell me. They wouldn’t kick me off the freeway. So I had to stay on two lane roads, which added a few miles to it. But you get to see a lot of country too when you do that. Mm-hmm. Gissele: I mean, Barry: you get to let your mind wander and Oh wow. Look at that over there. You know, when you [00:40:00] drive by stuff, you don’t really see it. You just doing 70 miles an hour down the road. You don’t see it. But it was, and I tell everybody. Like, if I can pull off something like this, imagine what you can do. I’m not all that clever. I it’s just one of those things that I tell students you could do something even cooler, I’m sure of it. Gissele: Hmm. How did it feel when you reached the end? It’s a very emotional when you got to the end, what was that like? Barry: You know, it’s funny you asked that question. So I wrote the book, it’s Kevin’s Last Walk. It’s on Amazon. But when I wrote the book, I wanted to get feedback and this is where I’m going with this. And I had a, a group of book club. I printed it out and let ’em read it and I said, okay, I need everybody to tell me one thing you didn’t like about the book. One of ’em said, you told me more about your shoe selection than you did about how you felt when you finished the walk. [00:41:00] Because I hadn’t really, it was a relief physically, but at that point I didn’t know what was next and people would ask me, what’s next for you? And I’m like, I don’t know. But it turned out that. Now I can go tell the story about going on the walk and all the things that led up to going on the walk. And it’s evolved a lot through the years because my wife Bev was really helpful because when you, with the books, if you ever write a book, don’t have any family or friends read it because they’ll read it and say it was great. Speaker 2: Hmm. Barry: Mm-hmm. That’s the same way my wife Bev would tell me. ’cause she would sit in the back of the room and tell me, now you lost the audience with that. You need to either redo it or get rid of it. Speaker 2: Yeah. Barry: And so that helped me to [00:42:00] refine. Things because you need people that’ll actually, you need people in your life that’ll actually give you honest criticism. Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. Barry: Right? And, she did. She’s like, you lost them with that. You know, and that’s, that’s how it’s evolved into what it is today. Gissele: Mm. That’s beautiful. Barry: Yeah. Gissele: Thinking about your children, I mean, you talk about how you and your wife sort of manage the grief. What were your children’s journeys in losing a sibling? And did your journey itself help them cope with a loss? Barry: I think it did. One of the things that we did that not every family does, is we didn’t stop talking about Kevin. Because sometimes when a someone loses a child, nobody wants to talk about it anymore, which to me, and again, I have a different perspective on this.[00:43:00] Yeah. That’s not healthy because that person was a part of your life for the last however many years. You don’t just stop talking about him. And I think that’s a healthy way to manage the grief. Right. we all talked about we’re not gonna play the blame game. Right. We talked about that stuff. My one daughter, he had, Kevin had left a message for her that night, and I don’t know if to this day if she turns her phone off at night. I think she might, I’ll have to ask her. ’cause the last time I talked about it, she said, you know, I haven’t turned my phone off since then. when she goes to bed, she doesn’t put it on silent. Because she missed that voicemail. Would she have done anything about it? Speaker 2: Yeah. I Barry: dunno. Right. But I think it’s kind of been probably been therapeutic for all of ’em, although I will say that I don’t know that any of ’em have read the book Gissele: If you had something to [00:44:00] say to young people about the dangers of binge drinking what would that be Barry: for me is to just know that it can happen to you. Nobody ever believes, including me, is that it’s ever gonna happen to you. I never believed anything would happen to him. And, you know, he had an attitude of, you know, 10 feet tall and bulletproof. Right? Most people do. It can happen to you. don’t worry about what other people think about you. Yeah. If you think it’s the right thing to do, then you should do it right. Don’t worry about it. Because like you said, those people are worried about themselves, not you. Gissele: [00:45:00] Yeah. Barry: Yeah. Gissele: Last few questions. So I ask all my guests what their definition of love or unconditional love is. Barry: For me you have to have humility to be able to really bond with somebody. I think you need to let go and not have to be right about everything. In marriage and in life. You know, if you become one of those people that has to be right about everything. That’s, that’s harder to love. But really loving everyone is about caring about them and setting an example and setting an example of love. Gissele: I think that’s what you’re doing with these presentations in the book and all the work that you do. I think coming at it from [00:46:00] a place of, I’m not telling you what to do, I’m just sharing my story in hopes that it will help you, that it’ll be of benefit to you. I think it’s the ultimate sort of act of love for your son. So last question. Where can people find you? Where can they find the book? Where can they work with you or listen to your presentations? Please share anything. Barry: The book is on Amazon. if you just search for my name, Barry Adkins, it should come up pretty close to the top. What I tell my big message is I still speak at schools. And I would love to come to your school. I just need to get connected and we’ll make it happen. On Facebook. It’s Kevin’s last walk. You can certainly message me there, or it’s http://www.kevinslastwalk.com. Just reach out. Most of the stuff I do is. I end up getting speaking opportunities through podcasts. Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. Barry: People will reach out, or the podcaster Speaker 2: mm-hmm. Barry: Will [00:47:00] connect me with someone. And I’ve done a few of ’em that way, where we made the connections and we make it happen. and the big thing there is that I’m not looking to make money on this, Gissele, if I have to travel, there’s travel costs, but. There isn’t a big speaker fee on that. I just want to come and tell the story and I don’t want money to be in the way. Gissele: Yeah, Barry: bring me in. We’ll do it. Gissele: Sounds great. Thank you everyone for listening to another episode of Love and Compassion with Gissele. Thank you Barry for being on the show and sharing your wisdom. And thank you to everyone to tune in. Have a great day.

In this week's episode, we take a look at six software tools for indie authors to help them write and improve their workflow. This coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Cloak of Blades, Book #4 in the Cloak Mage series, (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy) at my Payhip store: BLADES2025 The coupon code is valid through December 15, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook this winter, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT [This episode's content is not sponsored. Jonathan has not received any compensation for these reviews and has not received any free products or services from the companies mentioned in this episode. He does not currently use affiliate links for the products mentioned.] 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 280 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is a very snowy December 5th, 2025, and today I'm discussing six software tools that are useful for indie authors. Before we get into that, we will have Coupon of the Week and then an update on my current writing, publishing, and audiobook projects. So first up, Coupon of the Week. This week's coupon code will get you 50% off the audiobook of Cloak of Blades, Book #4 in the Cloak Mage series (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy), at my Payhip store. And that is BLADES2025. And as always, the coupon code and the link to my Payhip store will be available in the show notes for this episode. This coupon code will be valid through December the 15th, 2025. So if you need a new audiobook for this winter or for your Christmas travels, we have got you covered. And now for an update on my current writing and publishing projects. As I mentioned last week, Blade of Shadows is out and it's available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, Google Play, Apple Books, Smashwords, and my Payhip store, and it's been doing quite well and gotten a good response from everyone. So thank you for that and I am looking forward to continuing that series. Now that Blade of Shadows is done, my main project is the fifth book in the Half-Elven Thief series, which is Wizard-Assassin. I had originally planned to name it Elven-Assassin, but decided Wizard-Assassin sounded a bit punchier, so I went with that instead. I am 46,000 words into it, which puts me on chapter 10 of 16. The final draft will have more chapters because one of the chapters is 11,000 words. I'm going to have to cut it up. I've also noticed that readers in general these days seem to prefer shorter chapters, so I've been trying to lean more into doing that and having books with shorter chapters. I think the rough draft is going to be about 70 to 75,000 words, give or take. So I'm hoping I can finish that next week, and I am cautiously optimistic I can have the book published before Christmas. If I can't get it published before Christmas, it is going to slip to my first book of 2026. But at the moment, and of course, barring our old unwelcome friend unexpected developments, I am cautiously optimistic I can have it out by Christmas 2025. So watch my website and listen to this space for additional news. My secondary project is Blade of Storms, which will be the third book in the Blades of Ruin series and the direct sequel to Blade of Shadows. I am about 6,000 words into that, and once Wizard-Assassin is done, that will be my main project. I'm hoping to have that out at the end of January, but if Wizard-Assassin slips to January, then Blade of Storms will [of necessity] slip to February. In audiobook news, Blade of Flames, the audiobook of the first book in the Blades of Ruin series, is now out and you can get that at Audible, Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Google Play, my own Payhip store, Spotify, and all the other usual audiobook stores. So if you're looking for something else to listen to during your Christmas travels this year, I suggest checking out Blade of Flames (as excellently narrated by Brad Wills). Cloak of the Embers, the 10th book in the Cloak Mage series (as excellently narrated by Hollis McCarthy)…the recording of that is done and it is being proofed right now, so I am hopeful we can hopefully have that out before Christmas (if all goes well). In fact, after I record this podcast episode, I'm going to have to convert the ebook cover of Cloak of Embers into an audiobook cover for Cloak of Embers. So that is where I'm at with my current writing and publishing projects. There is definitely a lot going on. 00:03:40 Main Topic: 6 Helpful Writing Tools for Indie Authors in 2025 [All Prices referenced are USD.] Now we're going to move on to our main topic this week, which is six helpful writing tools for indie authors in 2025. Last year in 2024, I did a roundup of popular software tools for writers and I thought I would give a quick update for it. Some of these tools like Calibre and LibreOffice I use, while others like Scrivener and Notion just aren't great fit for my workflow, I still want to talk about them anyways since just because I don't use them doesn't mean that they're not good and a lot of writers do in fact use them. Many writers also have complex systems for organizing their files and would benefit from tools like that. Without further ado, here are six pieces of software used for writing and writing adjacent tasks. I should mention before we get going as well that none of these tools are explicitly generative AI tools because as you know, if you've listened to the podcast over the years is my opinion of generative AI remains mostly negative. I have and continue to do some marketing experiments with generative AI elements, but I remain overall unimpressed by the technology. So with that in mind, none of these software tools I'm going to mention are explicitly AI tools. Some of them do have AI elements that you can plug in and use if you want to, but they aren't part of the core functionality of the application unless you specifically seek it out. With that in mind, let's get to it. #1: The first one we will talk about is Scrivener. Scrivener is of course essentially a word processor and project management system specifically designed for creative or nonfiction writing, unlike a traditional word processor like Microsoft Word, LibreOffice Writer, or Apple Pages. It features tools for outlining, for breaking documents into chapters, tracking word count goals and et cetera. One of the major benefits of it is a one-time cost instead of as a subscription because it seems like everything is a subscription nowadays, but Scrivener is still $60 a pop. They also offer a free trial and student discount and occasionally [it will] go on sale during peak times like the holidays. The downside of this is that Scrivener has a sharp learning curve. For myself when I write, I write either in Microsoft Word or Libre Office and I just sit down and write. When I write an outline, it's one Word document and the rough draft is another document that I write until I'm done. Scrivener is definitely a more complex software application, which I have to admit is funny to say because Microsoft Word is ridiculously complicated and has, in my opinion, far more functionality stuffed into it than it really needs. But Scrivener is a different kind of functionality and therefore the learning curve could be quite high for that. Additionally, this may not be the right software tool to work with your style of writing or how you organize your files. A couple extra thoughts with that is it's important to know yourself. Will you actually use the extra features included with Scrivener or do they just look cool and shiny? Scrivener probably is best for those who take extensive notes on their work, especially if trying to organize research based on chapters where it's needed. So if you're a nonfiction writer or if you're a historical fiction writer or a thriller writer who is very concerned about accuracy in your books, this may be useful for you so you can put in notes about the proper way to address a duke in 19th century England or what caliber of ammunition your thriller hero's preferred firearm takes. It's maybe the best for the kind of people who enjoy curating their Notion and Trello accounts and are able to think about their book in a very visual way without letting that process be an excuse to keep them from writing. I'd also say it's good for people who extensively revise blocks of text within a chapter and move chapters around a lot. #2: Canva. Canva has been around for a long time and it is a platform that makes it easy to create visual content using a drag and drop interface that provides a variety of templates, fonts, and designs to use for things like social media posts. They currently have two tiers for individuals, a limited free option, and Canva Pro, which is $12.99 a month. Some of the pros for Canva are it is well-suited for using templates for writers to create images for social media posts and book marketing material. The learning curve is not very steep, especially compared with something like Photoshop. If you've used PowerPoint before, you can definitely handle Canva. The cons: although some people use it to create book covers, many books have been flagged by Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) and some of the other publishing platforms for doing so. I would advise you to avoid Canva for creating book covers because of the potential for issues that could keep your book out of ebook stores. At the very least, read Canva's terms of use and the rules of KDP and the other ebook publishers very, very carefully before you would even begin to consider using Canva for this purpose. Many of the free features have been folded into the pro version such as sharing template links. The editing and design features are basic compared to something like Photoshop, though that may change as we're going to discuss a little bit here. Because Canva is so popular, there's a certain amount of snobbery out there about using its designs without significant modification. You may have encountered on social media or the Internet people who react very negatively to the presence of AI generated images and this exists to a lesser extent with Canva templates. "Looks like it was made in Canva" is sometimes used as an insult. If you want a unique style and look for your images, you'll have to work a little more to achieve that using Canva. Canva is quick for great one-time things like Facebook or BookBub ads, but I wouldn't recommend using it for book creation or book covers at this time because of the potential problems that can arise from that. For myself, I don't usually use Canva. I've had enough practice with Photoshop that I'm pretty confident in making whatever I want in terms of ad images or book covers in Photoshop, and I use Photoshop for that. However, since I organized the notes for this episode, there is a major caveat to that. Recently, Canva acquired a program called Affinity Photo Editor, which is essentially a much lower cost alternative to Photoshop. When this happened, there was a great deal of negativity around it because people thought Canva was going to jack up the price or make it into an overpriced subscription. But what Canva did surprised a great many people in that they made Affinity totally free and essentially are using a freemium model with it where you can use Affinity Photo Editor for free. It used to be, I believe like $79, possibly $69, and then any of the other features like downloading additional content from Canva would cost part of your Canva subscription. So I have to admit, I'm sufficiently curious about this, that when I write the tie in short story for Wizard-Assassin, I may use Affinity Photo Editor to assemble the cover for it just to see if it would work for that or not, because as I've said, I use Photoshop, but Photoshop is very expensive, Adobe frequently does business practices that are a bit shifty, and the idea of a freemium alternative to Photoshop is not necessarily a bad idea. So when I write a tie in short story for Wizard-Assassin later this month, I think I will attempt to make the cover in Affinity Photo Editor and see if that is something that would be good for my workflow or not, and I will report on that later. #3: Number three is Notion, which can be used to organize information, links, calendars, and reminders into one central dashboard. They have two plans for individuals, a free plan and a Plus plan, which is currently $10 to $12 per month (depending on whether you want a monthly or an annual plan). The Plus version offers unlimited file uploads, greater customizations, and integrations with Slack and Google Drive. The pros for using Notion is that it is popular with writers and content creators for being able to have project planning tools, notes, lists, links, trackers, and reminders all in one dashboard. If you enjoy customization and getting something set up exactly the way you want, you might enjoy setting up your lists, calendars, trackers, and notes through Notion. You can add images and adjust the layout and colors for a more "aesthetic" experience. It is easy to find customized templates [online], especially for writers and for things like storyboarding, word counts, and keeping tracks of sources for nonfiction writing. These Notion templates are shared by individuals, not the company and can be free or paid. Now, some of the cons with Notion. It didn't used to use very much AI, but the company is leaning increasingly heavy into AI, both as a company and in its features on the boards, if that is a concern. The amount of customization options and detail can be absolutely overwhelming. Someone who gets decision fatigue easily or doesn't want to customize a lot and might not enjoy using it. Some people are increasingly complaining that the software is getting too overloaded with features and is slow. For people who value being organized and love having complex and highly visual systems, Notion might be helpful. The downside is that maintaining your Notion boards can easily turn into what I call a "writing-adjacent activity" that gives you the illusion of productivity because of the time you spend managing and updating it aside from the business of getting actual writing done. So once again, this is a good example of "know thyself." If this is something that would be helpful for you, go ahead and pursue it. But if it's something that could turn into a tool for procrastination, it's probably better to avoid it. For myself, I am old enough that when I need to make lists and keep track of things, I have a yellow legal pad on my desk that I write things down on. #4: The next piece of software we're going to look at is LibreOffice. It is an open source piece of software that closely matches Microsoft Office, including Microsoft Word. Pros: It's free and open source. There's a minimal learning curve for those already familiar with Microsoft Word. The interface is a little different, but it's pretty easy to figure things out if you're familiar with Word or Excel. Some swear that that LibreOffice is faster than Word. It depends on the kind of document you're working on and the kind of computer you're using. So that's an area where your mileage may vary. It is also the best word processing option for privacy advocates, especially for those who are concerned about Microsoft and Google storing their work and possibly harvesting it for AI because by default, LibreOffice doesn't work with any AI elements. If you want it to work with any AI elements, plugins are available but they are not included. It's great for the writer who doesn't want to support Microsoft for any reason but still wants to be able to easily save documents in Microsoft file formats like .docx. It works. I've written entire books using it. I wrote all of Soul of Serpents and Soul of Dragons in it, and that was 13 years ago now, and the software has only improved since then. I wrote Silent Order: Eclipse Hand [using it] in 2017 and was very happy with the results, and I still use it for various projects every week, and I found a couple times if something was screwed up in the formatting of Microsoft Word, if I opened it up in LibreOffice, I could fix it pretty easily and much easier than I could in Word. It does have a few cons. The user interface compared to Word or something like Apple Pages does look a bit dated, but it's still navigable. It doesn't have any cloud storage functionality. You would need to piece it together with another storage option if you want to be able to backup stuff to the cloud. But overall, if you can't afford the Microsoft Office Suite, don't want to support Microsoft, and value your privacy, this is your best bet for word processing. Some people may not like its interface, but it's still an extremely solid piece of free software. #5: And now let's move on to our fifth software tool, which is Calibre. Calibre is a tool for ebook management. It can be used for file formatting, changing your books' metadata, or changing file formats. Many use it to create a custom ebook library. Pros include: the product is free and open source. It is easy to generate different file formats for book publication. Do you want to categorize and organize your books in a very specific way? Calibre works for that. The cons: some people find the interface a little clunky and it comes with a bit of a learning curve. To be honest, the interface does look like it came from Windows 2000 and some of the features rely on knowledge of HTML and CSS. Editing and formatting of the book itself is better done using other software. Final thoughts on that? The software is trustworthy, reliable, and has been maintained over the years. It does exactly what it says it does, without any real style but plenty of substance. And I've been a regular Calibre user for like 15 years now, and whenever I get a new computer Calibre is usually one of the very first things I install on it. #6: And now for our sixth and final tool, Inkarnate. Inkarnate is a very useful piece of software that is designed for creating maps. I believe it was originally intended to create maps for role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder and so forth. But it's also very useful for creating maps for fantasy novels. As I may have mentioned on the podcast a few times before, I really don't like making maps. I find it constraining and it makes the writing feel a bit crabbed at times. That said, I write primarily in the fantasy genre and people in the fantasy genre love maps, so I'm kind of on the hook for making maps. I used to draw the maps by hand and then import it into Photoshop and add all the locations and add colors and so forth. But that is a lot of work, I have to admit. Inkarnate makes it a lot easier, and I've used it for the last couple of maps I've made. The map of the city of Tar-Carmatheion in the Half-Elven Thief books came from Inkarnate. The map of Owyllain for Blades of Ruin came from Inkarnate, and the map of New Kyre and adjoining regions for Ghost Armor also came from Inkarnate. It's very affordable too. The subscription, I believe, is only $30 a year, and I've been using for a few years now and have never regretted it. So I'd say all the pros are all the ones I've already listed. The cons are that the learning curve is a little bit sharp, but there are excellent YouTube videos and tutorials for that. So, final thoughts. If you find yourself needing to make maps and don't enjoy the process of making maps, then Inkarnate is the software product for you. So those are six tools, software tools for indie authors that I hope will make you more productive and make your work easier. So that is it for this week. Thank you for listening to the Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all the backup episodes at https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave your review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.  

In this third installment in the Anglo-American Conservative Book Series, Jon covers John Taylor of Caroline's 1823 work, "New Views of the Constitution of the United States," which critiques the shift from a federation of sovereign states to a consolidated national government. Taylor, a Revolutionary War veteran, Virginia politician, and friend of Jefferson and Madison, argued that the Constitution preserved state autonomy and rejected nationalist interpretations like those in Joseph Story's Commentaries or The Federalist Papers. He highlighted previously secret Convention debates, rejected proposals for federal supremacy over state laws, and warned against encroachments like federal assumption of debts, national banks, tariffs, and judicial overreach. Taylor emphasized federalism as key to American exceptionalism and cautioned that abandoning it would lead to despotism, drawing parallels to Rome, France, and England.PowerPoint: https://www.patreon.com/posts/145194421Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/conversations-that-matter8971/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Purpose has become the corporate word of the decade, yet in many organizations it behaves more like a slogan than a strategy. In this Leadership NOW conversation, I sit down with Ron Tite, author of "The Purpose of Purpose," to explore what changes when leaders treat purpose as a true engine of growth rather than a glossy story for the website. We dig into the tension between what organizations claim to stand for and what people actually experience, the danger of turning purpose into a marketing side project, and the discipline required to align actions with beliefs over time. Ron and I talk about the link between purpose and performance, why employees and customers both use it as a trust barometer, and how leaders can close the gap between the PowerPoint version of purpose and the lived reality inside the firm. If you are wrestling with culture, growth, and credibility in your own leadership, this episode offers a candid, practical lens on what purpose can be when you take it seriously. More information about Ron Tite: https://rontite.com/books More information about Dan Pontefract: https://www.danpontefract.com/

"If you trust people, your life is very nice." "The bringing people together with one common objective needs to be carefully thought out and defining the processes very carefully needs to be thought out and don't imagine that the process will be figured out by the people themselves." "They are looking for a leader who is responsible, who can make the decision." "Be transparent."  Brief Bio Armel Cahierre is a French-trained engineer who built a multi-country career across R&D, turnaround management, consulting, private equity-adjacent deal work, and consumer retail. After early technical work in Japan (including R&D exposure through Thomson during Japan's 1980s electronics peak), he returned to Europe for an MBA at INSEAD and moved into industrial leadership roles, taking on high-responsibility turnaround assignments in his late 20s across France, Italy, Germany, and Switzerland. He later helped open a European office for a US firm pioneering semantic analysis for qualitative market research, working with major global brands. That experience led to entrepreneurship in eyewear (ski goggles and sunglasses), a subsequent exit to an Italian group, and executive-level work tied to licensing and Western European markets. After a period in California doing pre- and post-M&A consulting (including carve-outs linked to the Vivendi break-up), he returned to Japan, became President of Paris Miki, and later pivoted after a Cerberus transaction collapsed on the day of the Lehman shock. He then founded B4F in Japan, building a members-only, online flash-sales model that sources only through official brand channels and emphasises simplicity of operations, trust, and process discipline. Armel Cahierre's leadership story, is less a straight line than a sequence of deliberately chosen reinventions anchored by one constant: clarity of purpose and an intolerance for unnecessary complexity. As Founder and President of B4F, he operates a members-only flash sales platform focused primarily on fashion and lifestyle brands, with time-limited sales and controlled visibility designed to protect brand equity. The proposition is simple for customers and brands alike: members access discounts without prices being exposed to the wider web, and brands clear excess inventory without training the mass market to wait for markdowns. Operationally, the model leans toward discipline—no grey market sourcing, no parallel imports, and minimal exposure to foreign exchange or customs friction by buying and selling in yen. That preference for simple systems was shaped long before e-commerce. Early in his management career, Cahierre was sent into difficult turnaround situations and learned that the fastest route to recovery often begins with information-sharing and dignity. In one formative case, he arrived at a unionised boiler manufacturer with a catastrophic defect cycle and discovered frontline employees had never been told the company's true position. Once he made the economics and the problem visible, alignment followed—less because of charisma, more because people could finally see the same "game board". In Japan, he argues, the same outcomes are possible, but the route is slower and more socially coded. Ideas rarely appear instantly in open forum; trust must be earned, roles must be read correctly, and influence may sit away from formal hierarchy. Where some foreign leaders push targets and individual incentives, he sees higher leverage in process: process KPIs, well-defined routines, and a shared understanding of "how work is done"—a philosophy that maps cleanly onto kaizen, consensus-building, and the reality that nemawashi often precedes the formal ringi-sho. He also warns against confusing "culture" with "excuses": claims that "Japan can't do X" frequently hide uncertainty avoidance, fear of accountability, or simple inertia rather than any immutable national constraint. On technology, Cahierre is pragmatic and a little provocative. If AI is framed as replacing white-collar work, the CEO should not imagine immunity. The agenda, in his view, is training and judgement: equip teams to use AI well (as companies should have done with Excel and PowerPoint years ago), understand where it accelerates work, and retain human decision intelligence where context, responsibility, and ethics matter. Q&A Summary What makes leadership in Japan unique? Cahierre frames Japan's leadership challenge as less about "mystical difference" and more about how alignment is formed. Teams often respond best to clearly defined processes and shared routines, rather than blunt target pressure. Consensus is frequently built informally first—akin to nemawashi—before decisions become visible through formal approval mechanics (the ringi-sho mindset), meaning leaders must manage the unseen steps, not just the outcome. Why do global executives struggle? He sees many global leaders bringing a KPI-and-bonus playbook that freezes people rather than mobilising them. When targets are pushed without an equally clear process map, staff can become defensive, quiet, and risk-minimising—especially in environments where standing out carries social cost. He also calls out a "guru layer" of advice that over-indexes on etiquette and language theatre while ignoring business fundamentals. Is Japan truly risk-averse? His view is more nuanced: behaviour can look risk-averse, but it often reflects uncertainty avoidance and accountability anxiety. Autonomy can feel like exposure. The leader's job is to reduce ambiguity with system clarity, make responsibility safe, and remove the fear that initiative will be punished. What leadership style actually works? He advocates clarity-first leadership: leaders must know why they are in Japan, be able to "cover" for head office rather than hiding behind it, and set simple, easy-to-grasp goals. The style is firm on direction, generous on trust, and disciplined on processes. Praise is handled carefully: group praise in public is often safer, with individual recognition delivered in ways that do not isolate the person. How can technology help? Technology (including AI) is framed as a productivity multiplier when paired with training. Cahierre argues organisations underinvest in capability-building, then pay the price in wasted hours. AI can support decision intelligence, scenario work, and even "digital twins" of operations if used thoughtfully—but banning it is usually counterproductive, especially when younger workers adopt it as a learning partner rather than a shortcut. Does language proficiency matter? Language and cultural literacy help, but Cahierre's sharper point is that leaders should not let "Japan is different" become a shield for poor execution. Credibility is built more through transparency, consistency, and the ability to explain goals and trade-offs than through performative cultural fluency. What's the ultimate leadership lesson? He returns to trust as a strategic choice. Trust creates speed, openness, and a healthier workplace, even if it occasionally leads to disappointment. Distrust creates paralysis. In Japan especially, he argues that trust must be paired with a simple system: clear rules, clear processes, and a leader willing to be transparent about risks without being ruled by worry. Author Credentials Dr. Greg Story, Ph.D. in Japanese Decision-Making, is President of Dale Carnegie Tokyo Training and Adjunct Professor at Griffith University. He is a two-time winner of the Dale Carnegie "One Carnegie Award" (2018, 2021) and recipient of the Griffith University Business School Outstanding Alumnus Award (2012). As a Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Greg is certified to deliver globally across all leadership, communication, sales, and presentation programs, including Leadership Training for Results. He has written several books, including three best-sellers — Japan Business Mastery, Japan Sales Mastery, and Japan Presentations Mastery — along with Japan Leadership Mastery and How to Stop Wasting Money on Training. His works have also been translated into Japanese, including Za Eigyō (ザ営業), Purezen no Tatsujin (プレゼンの達人), Torēningu de Okane o Muda ni Suru no wa Yamemashō (トレーニングでお金を無駄にするのはやめましょう), and Gendaiban "Hito o Ugokasu" Rīdā (現代版「人を動かす」リーダー). In addition to his books, Greg publishes daily blogs on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, offering practical insights on leadership, communication, and Japanese business culture. He is also the host of six weekly podcasts, including The Leadership Japan Series, The Sales Japan Series, The Presentations Japan Series, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews. On YouTube, he produces three weekly shows — The Cutting Edge Japan Business Show, Japan Business Mastery, and Japan's Top Business Interviews — which have become leading resources for executives seeking strategies for success in Japan.  

Watch The X22 Report On Video No videos found (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:17532056201798502,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-9437-3289"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="https://cdn2.decide.dev/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");pt> Click On Picture To See Larger Picture Canada is sinking fast, 1 in 4 Canadians work for the government. UK study is turning out to be true, SNAP receipts don’t want to work. Trump voids Biden’s green new scam.  Job numbers are portraying what is really going on, the deportations of illegals is opening up jobs. Trump is building the narrative to get rid of the Fed. The [DS] knows that Trump and team are coming after them, there is no escape. The FBI arrested the J6 pipe bomber, they have known this entire time. Kash and team are building respect showing American they will arrest the true criminals. The criminal syndicate has poisoned America, Trump is in the process of curing it with the people. Economy https://twitter.com/WallStreetMav/status/1996577094294266268?s=20  who vote for every dollar they can squeeze out of the people who actually built Canada. (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:18510697282300316,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-8599-9832"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="https://cdn2.decide.dev/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs"); https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1996350793721717150?s=20 Watch: Trump Signing Car Industry EO, Which Seeks to End ‘Burdensome’ Green Energy Regulations  In an event in the Oval Office, President Trump, along with representatives of car manufacturers and dealerships, announced a new executive order rescinding Biden CAFE tailpipe emissions standards, which raised costs on the companies and the cost of car prices for consumers. CAFE stands for “Corporate Average Fuel Economy.” An easy definition, via the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is a regulation: …[on] how far our vehicles must travel on a gallon of fuel. NHTSA sets CAFE standards for passenger cars and for light trucks (collectively, light-duty vehicles), and separately sets fuel consumption standards for medium- and heavy-duty trucks and engines. NHTSA also regulates the fuel-economy window stickers on new vehicles. Ending these regulations is part of complying with Trump’s “Unleashing American Energy” Executive Order and the [Transportation] Secretary's “Fixing the CAFE Program” Memorandum, according to the department’s homepage. On Wednesday, the president rattled off the investments in the United States that the auto companies have made since Trump 47 began in January. In one case, he cracked up the room by joking that they could do better than the billions of dollars they are promising: Trump added that it’s part of getting rid of more of the “Green New Scam,” too. https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1996322694099345577?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1996322694099345577%7Ctwgr%5E31d2137f89d95733dae2dffe91ce3f002937e448%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fredstate.com%2Fbeccalower%2F2025%2F12%2F03%2Fwatch-trump-signing-car-industry-eo-ending-burdensome-biden-regulations-n2196786 https://twitter.com/townhallcom/status/1996325044260085885?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1996325044260085885%7Ctwgr%5E31d2137f89d95733dae2dffe91ce3f002937e448%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fredstate.com%2Fbeccalower%2F2025%2F12%2F03%2Fwatch-trump-signing-car-industry-eo-ending-burdensome-biden-regulations-n2196786 Source: redstate.com https://twitter.com/WallStreetMav/status/1996587083012378947?s=20 https://twitter.com/profstonge/status/1996583802559136057?s=20 https://twitter.com/unusual_whales/status/1996582009460732232?s=20   to a seasonally adjusted 191,000, the lowest level since September 2022, with expectations of 220,000. https://twitter.com/WallStreetMav/status/1996431168883900552?s=20   fourth consecutive month-over-month decline. Apartment rents are down 1.1% from November 2024 and have fallen 5.2% from their 2022 peak. https://twitter.com/JDVance/status/1996413457164566966?s=20 https://twitter.com/KobeissiLetter/status/1996635885232693482?s=20   will provide TRILLIONS of dollars to kids if invested until age 20+. https://twitter.com/MJTruthUltra/status/1996602968750047572?s=20   ELIMINATE the INCOME TAX with tariffs, just like President William McKinley did in 1897 — and President Trump is following in his exact footsteps. The Dingley Tariff Act of 1897, which was the centerpiece of President William McKinley’s domestic economic policy. He believed in protectionism (using high tariffs to protect American industries and workers from foreign competition). Just like President Trump. Between 1897–1901 the United States had just become the wealthiest and highest-output economy on EARTH, surpassing the United Kingdom as the world's #1 manufacturing nation and #1 economy in total GDP By 1900 U.S. industrial production was roughly equal to that of Britain, Germany, and France COMBINED. Taxation without representation is unconstitutional and ILLEGAL. We, The People are now finally coming to grips with the illusions that have been installed around us our entire lives. Who is the FED? What is the FED? How did the FED come to fruition? What is the Titanic? Who was on the Titanic? What year? Those illusions are now dissolving. The “Golden Age of America” truly is among us. There is a plan to restore our country. Gods plan is playing out right now. Political/Rights https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1995921829316149445?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1995921829316149445%7Ctwgr%5Ede940a2e201b3b2cbe0a9536949880a88f90b3b2%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegatewaypundit.com%2F2025%2F12%2Fillegal-immigrant-rapist-who-walks-free-sweetheart-plea%2F https://twitter.com/DHSgov/status/1996301518543159560?s=20  California will let him roam free even though he's been arrested for FELONY hit-and-run. Hector Balderas-Aheelor has been previously deported FOUR times and committed a felony when he illegally entered for a fifth time. This violent criminal must be deported ASAP. Assistant U.S. Attorney Blasts Los Angeles County After It Votes to Ban ICE Agents from Wearing Masks Los Angeles County's far-left Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to advance an unprecedented ordinance that would ban law enforcement officers, including federal immigration agents, from wearing masks while working in unincorporated areas of the county. The proposal passed 4-0, with only Supervisor Kathryn Barger abstaining. A final vote is scheduled for next week, and the ordinance would take effect in January 2026, according to the LA Times. Legal experts say federal immigration agents would not be required to follow a county mask ban. The county's top lawyer, Dawyn Harrison, has said she suspects the federal government will likely argue that the county law violates the Constitution, which states that federal law takes precedence over conflicting local statutes.  https://twitter.com/USAttyEssayli/status/1996040656733814854?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1996040656733814854%7Ctwgr%5E71ecedc2cdf5f5bfec40c6e10a4a461e8ffa25fd%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegatewaypundit.com%2F2025%2F12%2Fassistant-u-s-attorney-blasts-los-angeles-county%2F   by the media and local politicians. We will not expose our brave men and women to personal attacks by allowing agitators to dox them and their families through facial recognition tools. Source: thegatewaypundit.com WA Democrat Rep Wants New Law to Tie ICE’s Hands, Force Americans to Pay Illegal Aliens’ Legal Bills  https://twitter.com/RepJayapal/status/1996294756876325063?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1996294756876325063%7Ctwgr%5E44a6de522e274487c6684ae078f8a1aa15daf059%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fredstate.com%2Fkatie-jerkovich%2F2025%2F12%2F03%2Fwashington-rep-wants-to-make-americans-pay-for-illegal-aliens-defense-n2196788 https://twitter.com/RedWave_Press/status/1996317691536138470?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1996317691536138470%7Ctwgr%5E44a6de522e274487c6684ae078f8a1aa15daf059%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fredstate.com%2Fkatie-jerkovich%2F2025%2F12%2F03%2Fwashington-rep-wants-to-make-americans-pay-for-illegal-aliens-defense-n2196788   dignity, justice, oversight, and accountability to the detention system by repealing mandatory detention, prohibiting the detention of families and children in family detention, phasing out the use of private detention facilities and jails, and requiring DHS to establish civil detention standards.” “The bill creates a presumption of release and imposes a higher burden of proof to detain primary caregivers and vulnerable populations. The bill also mandates the DHS Inspector General to conduct unannounced inspections and requires DHS to admit Members of Congress to detention facilities for unannounced inspections.” What a joke! Source: redstate.com https://twitter.com/bx_on_x/status/1996037478914892112?s=20   “Moist Nigerian”, 26, of Albuquerque, New Mexico Rumaldo Valdez aka “Duck”, 22, of Honolulu, Hawaii David Brilhante aka “CS:GO”, 28, of San Diego, California Camden Rodriguez aka “oHare”, 22, of Longmont, Colorado DOGE https://twitter.com/TheSCIF/status/1996302141309296710?s=20  to the Trump administration. They were taken to court and ordered by a judge to hand over the files and they still refused. They encrypted all the USAID files and internal communications because it would expose the paper trail, the players, and everything happening today. Every single NGO, shell company, and person, including government workers, involved in the active color revolution that’s taking place right now on U.S. soil and the Trump administration and U.S. taxpayers are paying for all of it. To this day the files and internal communications are still encrypted. Tons of other evidence was shredded and destroyed. Geopolitical https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1996534889282408841?s=20 https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1996347018621354148?s=20   key figure in the Cartel de los Soles, tells President Trump that Venezuela has weaponized cocaine, exported criminal gangs like Tren de Aragua into the U.S., and allowed FARC, ELN, Hezbollah and Cuban intelligence to operate freely. He alleges decades of espionage inside U.S. installations, Russian tapping proposals, and Smartmatic election manipulation tools exported abroad. Carvajal says the Biden–Harris border collapse allowed Venezuelan operatives to enter the U.S. and asserts Trump's hard-line policies were not only correct, but necessary for American national security. https://twitter.com/TheSCIF/status/1996472423751774516?s=20   This is nothing new to anyone paying attention. Now, it’s just verified by an inside source. Do you really believe everything happening in and around Venezuela is just about drug trafficking and a countries resources like oil? Remember, there are layers to everything. If we do not solidify and fix our elections, there is no point in anything we do because we will lose anyway. Now you understand there is more to this than meets the eye. “My name is Hugo Carvajal Barrios. For many years, I was a high-ranking member of the Venezuelan regime… …Smartmatic was born as an electoral tool of the Venezuelan regime…I know this because I placed the head of IT of the National Electoral Council (CNE) in his position, and he reported directly to me. The Smartmatic system can be altered-this is a fact. This technology was later exported abroad, including to the United States. Regime operatives maintain relationships with election officials and voting-machine companies inside your country…” Please read the documents below in full. https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1996243190051967395?s=20 War/Peace https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1996331133437677821?s=20  March 2025 sharing of Yemen strike information over Signal violated departmental rules but was not illegal due to his declassification authority. Sources now say Sen. Mark Kelly disclosed classified elements of that IG report to the Wall Street Journal while Democratic officials were publicly criticizing Hegseth. The reported leak raises questions about the treatment of sensitive oversight documents and the boundary between political messaging and classified material. https://twitter.com/SeanParnellUSA/status/1996361901870313541?s=20 https://twitter.com/PeteHegseth/status/1996368824397094925?s=20 https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1996455529644790133?s=20   declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force,” in regard to potential hostilities – without congressional approval – against Venezuela. https://twitter.com/MarioNawfal/status/1996537466086461599?s=20   Barack Obama built. The “war on narco-terrorists” that Secretary Hegseth is bragging about is being run on a legal foundation poured years before Trump ever touched the Oval Office desk. Obama normalized the presidential kill list. He campaigned in 2008 promising rule of law, transparency, and restraint. He delivered a tenfold increase in drone strikes; a White House “Terror Tuesday” meeting where officials literally flipped through PowerPoint slides picking who lived or died; and a legal doctrine allowing the president to kill U.S. citizens without trial, notice, or judicial review. That doctrine – once unthinkable – is now standard operating procedure. Obama's Director of National Intelligence openly admitted in 2010 that the administration was targeting Americans based on vague criteria like whether a citizen was “involved” in a group “trying to attack us.” That’s not evidence… that’s vibes. When civil-liberties groups sued to force the government to explain the legal basis, Obama declared the entire matter a state secret. Meaning: the president could now kill you, and no court was allowed to ask why. The judiciary rubber-stamped it. Both parties embraced it. And the public largely applauded it. Then came the Awlaki killings. Obama ordered the drone assassination of: •⁠ ⁠Anwar al-Awlaki, an American cleric •⁠ ⁠Samir Khan, an American citizen standing next to him •⁠ ⁠Awlaki's 16-year-old son, killed two weeks later at a café The White House smeared the kid as a “21-year-old terrorist.” The next week a birth certificate proved he was a Colorado teenager with zero ties to extremism. The administration shrugged. Obama famously told aides: “Turns out I'm really good at killing people.” And Washington – media, political class, and voters – rewarded him. Fast-forward to 2025. Trump isn't inventing anything new in Venezuela. He's using the exact precedents Obama left behind: Unreviewable executive kill authority, expanded definitions of “enemy combatant,” secret memos. No congressional oversight, no geographic limits, zero court supervision. Obama created the kill switch. Trump just slammed it. If you cheered the drone program when your guy was doing it, you already endorsed what’s happening now. If you let the government redefine due process as “whatever we decide in secret,” you already consented to the next president weaponizing that power. And if you normalize extrajudicial force abroad, eventually it comes home. Obama built the architecture. Trump moved in. And Venezuela is learning what happens when a precedent meets a president with fewer brakes  EU corruption scandal could take down von der Leyen – Politico A corruption probe into former EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has thrown European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's position into jeopardy, with opponents preparing to turn the affair into a fresh push to remove her, Politico reported on Wednesday, citing officials in the bloc. Mogherini, who served as the EU's top diplomat from 2014 to 2019 and is now rector of the College of Europe, was detained on Tuesday. She was formally accused by the European Public Prosecutor's Office of procurement fraud, corruption, conflict of interest, and breaches of professional secrecy over an EU-funded diplomatic academy program. In the wake of the scandal, von der Leyen “is facing the starkest challenge to the EU's accountability in a generation,” with her rivals renewing calls for a new no-confidence vote, Politico reported. source:rt.com NATO Members Commit More Than $1 Billion to Purchase U.S. Weapons for Ukraine NATO officials from Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Poland pledged hundreds of millions more in U.S.-made weapons under the Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) scheme, Ukrainian media reported. Amid Russian gains on the battlefield, they insist Ukraine must be armed “to keep the fight going.” The alliance offered these commitments while being accused of attempting to sabotage peace talks. Canada, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, and the U.K. all announced new contributions, pushing the total put toward U.S.-made weapons bound for Ukraine toward $5 billion this year alone. These newly allocated funds come at a time when many European governments, increasingly unpopular at home, are cutting domestic programs and warning of budget shortfalls. Source: thegatewaypundit.com Leaked Transcript of EU Conference Call with Zelenskyy Highlights Fear of Trump Securing Peace for Ukraine Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Paris talking to Emmanuel Macron last weekend while Rubio, Witkoff and Kushner were meeting with Ukraine officials in Florida.  This telephone call is reported to have taken place the following day, on Monday. French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and European Council President António Costa held a conference call. A transcript of the call was leaked to Spiegel, a German news outlet. According to the narrative the assembled group of EU leaders were discussing how the Trump administration was going to betray Ukraine in order to get a peace deal with Russia. The gist of the narrative sounds accurate, though some of the EU leaders are denying the specifics of the wording used. The EU is very worried President Trump may formulate a peace agreement then present the final terms to Ukraine without the EU being involved in the construct of the details. The EU is opposed to any peaceful end to the conflict, because the EU and NATO have positioned their collective economies to only benefit if the military spending continues; they are backstopping their spending with the confiscated Russian assets.   Source: theconservativetreehouse.com   Medical/False Flags https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1996567491334803864?s=20 [DS] Agenda https://twitter.com/WallStreetApes/status/1996550058809188740?s=20   “Ilhan and this group, they spent a lot of money” “So, the people that work for Ilhan (0mar) are actually counting the ballots, counting the vote?” “They (Ilhan Omar’s campaign staffers) become a manager, in the precinct too.” Somalians who don't speak English are also told out how to vote “They walk with you to the booth and then they vote. Oh, vote this guy, vote this guy, vote this guy. Vote – even if you speak English.” They are on camera in this video paying people $200-$800 per vote and telling them how to fill out the ballots https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1996613642113183985?s=20 https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1996600165377945957?s=20  Investigators and policy researchers are pointing to overlapping relationships between Rep. Ilhan Omar and individuals later charged or convicted in Minnesota's billion-dollar pandemic-meal fraud. Omar's 2018 victory party was held at Safari Restaurant, co-owned by Salim Ahmed Said, now found guilty of pocketing more than $12 million in fraudulent reimbursements after reportedly serving “phantom” meals. A member of Omar's campaign staff has also been convicted in the same broader scheme. Critics note Omar publicly praised the program that later enabled the fraud, and that she maintained ties with several of the participants. Prosecutors say Minnesota's COVID-era meal programs operated with almost no verification, allowing widespread abuse through Feeding Our Future and affiliated entities. Democrat Senator Mark Warner Accused of Calling for a MILITARY COUP Against President Trump After Saying the Military Should “Save Us from This President” (VIDEO) Sen. Mark Warner appears on MSNBC's “Morning Joe” as he delivers the controversial remarks suggesting the U.S. military may need to “save us from this President.” Democrat Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) is now facing accusations of openly hinting at a military coup after suggesting on national television that the U.S. armed forces may need to “save us from this President.” https://twitter.com/gentrywgevers/status/1996413726979928245?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1996413726979928245%7Ctwgr%5Ee826188d2a4172a057b36af16e52c8fb9ad3e1a2%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thegatewaypundit.com%2F2025%2F12%2Fdemocrat-senator-mark-warner-accused-calling-military-coup%2F Source: thegatewaypundit.com President Trump's Plan https://twitter.com/Rightanglenews/status/1996576953248211046?s=20 BREAKING: January 6 Pipe Bomb Suspect Identified  The January 6 Pipe Bomb suspect has been identified. The FBI arrested a man named Brian Cole in connection with the January 6 pipe bombs on Thursday morning. “Brian Cole is the person the FBI has in custody and whom they believe left the pipe bombs in DC on 1/5/2021, according to two senior law enforcement officials briefed on the matter,” NBC News reported. Brian Cole will appear in court on Thursday. Source: thegatewaypundit.com https://twitter.com/TonySeruga/status/1996628056853958759?s=20   Falls Church, Northern Virginia, because he gave the suspect a ride. Home Depot credit card transactions and CCTV video evidence also link the suspect to the purchase of many of the materials used to make the ‘pipe bombs’. The Big Question Why did Steven M. D’Antuono, Assistant Director in Charge of Washington Field Office, instruct the Special Agents given a target sheet (“watch and pattern of life”) on the person of interest to stand down? D’Antuono was also in charge of the Gretchen Whitmer fednapping case. D’Antuono retired when faced with having to face questioning from lawmakers. https://twitter.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/1996655400721023040?s=20  that finally nailed the suspect. Today is result of that outstanding work. We didn't need new evidence – just new leaders, and a new President @realDonaldTrump willing to let good cops be cops. I'm extremely grateful to @FBIDDBongino, our @FBIWFOleadership team,@AGPamBondi,@USAttyPirroand every partner who helped deliver this win. This is a focused, rebuilt@FBIdelivering results for the American people. I have suspected for years that this bomber was known and could have been arrested. But EVERYTHING is planned and timed. What I'm anticipating, are the connections to democrats and their operatives. I suspect there is a lot of “Panic in DC” right now. And why was the suspect arrested now? Is it table setting for what's to come? Are the Jan 6 conspirators shitting their pants? Tick Tock https://twitter.com/TheStormRedux/status/1996390425163395417?s=20 https://twitter.com/listen_2learn/status/1996339831161663688?s=20    lightweight Governor, who has allowed his State to go to hell (Tren de Aragua, anyone?), should be ashamed of himself. FREE TINA! https://twitter.com/TheStormRedux/status/1996332166947729622?s=20  things happening right now that they don't like. One of the things is the autopen… Just about everything he signed was not signed by him… People sitting around the beautiful resolute desk knew exactly what it was – and those people are guilty, in my opinion, of a major crime.” Now we just need to see action taken to hold people accountable. I have faith that it's coming   MAGA Pillow Baron Mike Lindell Files Paperwork To Run For minnesota Governor MyPillow Founder and CEO Mike Lindell filed paperwork to run for Minnesota governor in 2026, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported on Wednesday. On Wednesday, the Mike Lindell for Governor committee was registered with the state's Campaign Finance Board, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. Lindell, a close ally to President Donald Trump, told the outlet in an interview that his gubernatorial bid “isn't 100% yet,” but vowed to announce his final decision during a news conference on Dec. 11.     Source: dailycaller.com https://twitter.com/EricLDaugh/status/1996634099235090449?s=20   JOE GRUTERS: “Ballot stubs must match, and incomplete ballots cannot be counted.” @ChairmanGruters  Election Integrity Push: DOJ on track to compel voter roll cleanups in over half of U.S. states “The sloppiness of the elections in blue states is no accident. It is on purpose. It is a feature, not a bug,” Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet J. Dhillon told the Just the News, No Noise television show on Wednesday night. “And the goal is to cram as many people on there and make voters who are not particularly engaged, make it easy for someone else to help them fill out their ballot and return it for them when they didn’t care enough to do it themselves,” she added. “What we can do at the federal government level is ensure that our federal election laws are observed, and that includes each state’s requirement to keep clean voter rolls,” she added. “That is a fundamental basic.” Dhillon spoke one day after her division filed lawsuits against six Democrat-run states — Maryland, Delaware, Rhode Island, New Mexico, Washington state and Vermont — seeking to compel them to turn over to the DOJ their voter rolls to be inspected for abnormalities, outdated names or noncompliant names. She also struck a deal last week with North Carolina to force it to review and fix over 100,000 voters’ names on rolls in that battleground state that were added without complying with state law. Dhillon said her office is now on track to force through litigation, settlement or voluntary efforts at least 26 states to clean up voter rolls. “We’re now in litigation with 14 states. So the six yesterday included Maryland, Delaware, Rhode Island, New Mexico, Washington State and Vermont. That adds to eight we already had going,” she said. Source:  justthenews.com 3724 Dec 18, 2019 10:52:52 PM EST Q !!Hs1Jq13jV6 ID: 6d572c No. 7555466  It must be done right It must be done according to the rule of law. It must carry weight. It must be proven in the court of law. There can be no mistakes. Good things sometimes take time. Attempts to slow/block the inevitable [Justice] will fail. [D]s election interference 2016. >Clinton/Hussein illegal FISA [D]s election interference 2018. >Mueller [D]s election interference 2020. >Impeachment Projection. These people are sick. We, the People, are the CURE. Q 556 Jan 19, 2018 12:39:17 AM EST Q !UW.yye1fxo ID: 239b20 No. 89777  Jan 19, 2018 12:37:26 AM EST Anonymous ID: 4bb19b No. 89736  >>89725 THANK YOU Q FROM CANADA TOO IM SURE THIS WILL EXPOSE OUR CORRUPTION AS WELL! >>89736 The ‘CURE‘ will spread WW. Have FAITH, Patriot. Q (function(w,d,s,i){w.ldAdInit=w.ldAdInit||[];w.ldAdInit.push({slot:13499335648425062,size:[0, 0],id:"ld-7164-1323"});if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement(s),p=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];j.async=true;j.src="//cdn2.customads.co/_js/ajs.js";j.id=i;p.parentNode.insertBefore(j,p);}})(window,document,"script","ld-ajs");

On this episode, we define major depressive disorder (MDD) and describe its clinical presentations, diagnostic criteria, etiologies, and pathophysiology. We also evaluate current guidelines and evidence-based treatment strategies for managing major depression, including pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions. We then compare and contrast the efficacy, safety profiles, and appropriate use of antidepressant therapies, psychotherapy modalities, and adjunctive treatments in managing depression. Cole and I are happy to share that our listeners can claim ACPE-accredited continuing education for listening to this podcast episode! We have continued to partner with freeCE.com to provide listeners with the opportunity to claim 1-hour of continuing education credit for select episodes. For existing Unlimited (Gold) freeCE members, this CE option is included in your membership benefits at no additional cost! A password, which will be given at some point during this episode, is required to access the post-activity test. To earn credit for this episode, visit the following link below to go to freeCE's website: https://www.freece.com/ If you're not currently a freeCE member, we definitely suggest you explore all the benefits of their Unlimited Membership on their website and earn CE for listening to this podcast. Thanks for listening! If you want to support the podcast, check out our Patreon account. Subscribers will have access to all previous and new pharmacotherapy lectures as well as downloadable PowerPoint slides for each lecture. If you purchase an annual membership, you'll also get a free digital copy of High-Powered Medicine 3rd edition by Dr. Alex Poppen, PharmD. HPM is a book/website database of summaries for over 150 landmark clinical trials.You can visit our Patreon page at the website below:  www.patreon.com/corconsultrx We want to give a big thanks to Dr. Alex Poppen, PharmD and High-Powered Medicine for sponsoring the podcast..  You can get a copy of HPM at the links below:  Purchase a subscription or PDF copy - https://highpoweredmedicine.com/ Purchase the paperback and hardcover - Barnes and Noble website We want to say thank you to our sponsor, Pyrls. Try out their drug information app today. Visit the website below for a free trial: www.pyrls.com/corconsultrx We also want to thank our sponsor Freed AI. Freed is an AI scribe that listens, prepares your SOAP notes, and writes patient instructions. Charting is done before your patient walks out of the room. You can try 10 notes for free and after that it only costs $99/month. Visit the website below for more information: https://www.getfreed.ai/  If you have any questions for Cole or me, reach out to us via e-mail: Mike - mcorvino@corconsultrx.com Cole - cswanson@corconsultrx.com

Just like every great recipe, captivating communication requires some spice! And who better to teach us that than world-renowned communication and public speaking expert, David JP Phillips?  David has spent his career researching and building a business on the art of communication and presentation, but his expertise goes beyond these practical skills that allow us to succeed in professional settings. He's also dedicated to helping others apply these techniques on a personal level so that we can improve our relationships, exert control over our emotions, find our sense of happiness, and foster great empathy.   With his three widely-recognized TED Talks, “The Magical Science of Storytelling,” “How to Avoid Death by PowerPoint,” and “The 110 Techniques of Communication and Public Speaking,” he is reforming our understanding of communication and simultaneously eliminating antiquated notions about storytelling.  His journey is certainly one of dedication and perseverance, and as he discusses the scientific and psychological sides of expression and communication, the impact of his wife's stroke, and how he rebuilt his company from nothing, you will walk away from this episode feeling both inspired and ready to tackle your day.  In this episode, you'll learn: Why The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy helps fuel David's creativity (4:36)  The art of adding spice to your presentation (6:57)  The transformative power of happiness and the difference between internal and external communication (10:40) The focus and importance of David's upcoming book as well as his tip for grounding yourself in peace, gratitude, and compassion (17:30) David's experience with his wife's stroke and the process of rebuilding his company (23:46) What the somatic feedback loop is and why body language is a huge element of conversation (32:58)  The Five Layers of Communication and how to practice utilizing your facial expressions (36:49)  Why actors and comedians rate higher than other professions (38:25)  How YouTube forced David to adapt and grow and the #1 lesson he's learned in the realm of public speaking (39:48)  Notable Quotes: “The perception we have of a talk is related to the number of spices in a talk. And that is what you were on to contrast and surprises.” – David (8:55)   Every war and every action of hatred stems from our desire to get the substances in our brain fulfilled. That's where they come from. So yeah, if people would actually understand that they could create them by themselves without hurting and causing pain and destruction, the world would be a better place by far.” – David (20:55) “It is interesting how life's moments that are so shakingly painful can also be so important and put in perspective the few moments that we have on this ball of rock flying through the sky. We sometimes take for granted that we're given this life.” – Billy (31:15) “If you focus on performance, anxiety is its brother. If you focus on having fun, that is when you will be the best version of yourself… And in a state of having fun, we are relaxed. We get free access to our vocabulary, our thoughts…” – David (41:10)  Resources & Links: David JP Phillips  Website: ⁠https://www.davidjpphillips.com/⁠ LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidjpphillips/⁠ Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/davidjpphillips/⁠ YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/davidjpphillips⁠ TikTok: ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@davidjpphillips⁠ HeadGain: ⁠https://www.headgain.com/⁠ Presenter Mastery Training: ⁠https://www.headgain.com/jp/⁠  Billy Samoa Saleebey  LinkedIn: ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/billysamoa⁠  Email: ⁠billy@podify.com⁠ and ⁠saleebey@gmail.com⁠  Insight Out  Website: ⁠https://insightoutshow.com/⁠  This is an encore episode and was originally published on December 16, 2022 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brought to you by TogetherLetters & Edgewise!In this episode: Google cracked Apple's AirDrop and is adding it to Pixel phonesKohler Can Access Data and Pictures from Toilet Camera It Describes as “End-to-End Encrypted”Tesla is recalling over 10,000 Powerwall 2 batteries due to burn risksPreserving code that shaped generations: Zork I, II, and III go Open SourceNotebookLM's killer new feature just made PowerPoint obsolete (and Canva too)Scientists create new bullet-proof fiber that is stronger and thinner than KevlarAmazon Rushes Out Latest AI Chip to Take On Nvidia, GoogleMKBHD is taking down his wallpaper appAll The HBO Max Shows That May Come To Netflix After Its Wild WB Purchase Code suggests that OpenAI may be close to introducing ads for ChatGPTOpenAI is under pressure as Google, Anthropic gain groundClaude for NonprofitsElon Musk says AI will end America's debt crisis within 3 yearsX Just Accidentally Exposed A Vast Covert Influence Network Targeting AmericansInternet Providers Can Monitor Their Own Cybersecurity Standards, Says Trump's FCCWeird and Wacky:

Unlock the power of Microsoft Copilot in this beginner-friendly training session led by Liz and Rachel. Learn what Copilot is, how it integrates with Microsoft 365 apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Teams, and how it can streamline your workflow — from summarizing information to building full documents and presentations. The hosts walk through real examples, including creating a project spreadsheet, generating a presentation, and formatting accessible content with AI-powered assistance. They also cover different Copilot plans, tips to avoid AI "hallucinations," how to review sources, and where to access Copilot on the web or as a Windows app. By the end, you'll feel confident exploring Copilot's capabilities to save time, boost productivity, and enhance the quality of your work.

Pastor Jack Graham continues his series, “Home for the Holidays,” today with a reminder that Christmas, like life, is meaningless and cold without the joy of Christ. Join us for today's PowerPoint and Pastor Graham's message, “The Grinch that Stole Christmas.” To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/395/29?v=20251111

Emergency Episode! World Social Marketing Conference: Hot Takes & Game-Changing Ideas Host: Ruth Dale Guests: Ed Gyde, Katherine Knight, Ian Fannon We rushed home from sunny Spain with too much excitement not to podcast about it. This episode unpacks the World Social Marketing Conference, its biggest sparks, freshest ideas, and the vibe shift happening across global behaviour change.

In this episode, Dr. Rebecca Dekker explores the research on birthing positions and tried-and-true midwifery practices for protecting the perineum during childbirth. She explains why the flat-on-your-back position we often see on television isn't ideal and walks through the key differences between upright, sacrum-flexible positions, and common hospital practices like lithotomy and routine episiotomies.   Dr. Dekker reviews data from global research as well as real-world wisdom from midwives, including the extraordinary outcomes of hands-off, undisturbed birth approaches in the Philippines. She uncovers how hospital system pressures, caregiver convenience, and even obstetric violence drive the overwhelming use of recumbent positions and invasive interventions while sidelining evidence-based, patient-centered care. You'll hear firsthand strategies for minimizing severe tears, promoting intact perineums, and advocating for birth plans that prioritize the autonomy and comfort of birthing people.   Content Warning: Discussion of tears of the vagina, severe tears from the vagina to the rectum, obstetric violence related to episiotomies, and being forced giving birth on your back.   Resources For a full list of resources, visit: ebbirth.com/221 Watch the video version here on our YouTube channel which includes study breakdowns and PowerPoint slides. Protecting the Perineum Series: EBB 206 - Evidence on Perineal Tears and the Importance of Avoiding Episiotomy with EBB Founder, Dr. Rebecca Dekker EBB 210 - Evidence on Warm Compresses and Hands-on vs. Hands-off for Protecting the Perineum EBB 216 - The Evidence on Prenatal Perineal Massage for Preventing Tears in Childbirth with Dr. Rebecca Dekker EBB 218 - The Evidence on Perineal Massage during Labor with Dr. Rebecca Dekker   For more information about Evidence Based Birth® and a crash course on evidence based care, visit www.ebbirth.com. Follow us on Instagram and YouTube! Ready to learn more? Grab an EBB Podcast Listening Guide or read Dr. Dekker's book, "Babies Are Not Pizzas: They're Born, Not Delivered!" If you want to get involved at EBB, join our Professional membership (scholarship options available) and get on the wait list for our EBB Instructor program. Find an EBB Instructor here, and click here to learn more about the EBB Childbirth Class.

On today's PowerPoint, Pastor Jack Graham brings a message from Luke 15. When Jesus tells the story of the Prodigal Son, He's telling the story of each one of us—all of us lost and found. Our God has paid a great price to be with us. He longs to have us home with Him at Christmas and all year round. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/395/29?v=20251111

Send us a textTrent's back on the mic and absolutely done with anonymous complainers, lazy leadership, and generals who think PT is optional. From the “Creech gate crisis” to government shutdown panic, he's torching every excuse in sight. If you've ever thought “they should just open another gate,” buckle up—Trent's got news for you.He dives into why the Air Force burns people to the ground, how our “greatest resource” lip service is complete nonsense, and why generals need to stop hiding behind waivers and start doing pushups. It's raw, hilarious, and unfiltered commentary on the military circus we all know too well.Stick around for stories of GTC abuse, political delusion, and one final truth bomb about your toxic social media habits. Spoiler: it's not the world—it's you.This is Ones Ready at its most savage—no filters, no excuses, no PowerPoint slides.⏱️ Timestamps:00:00 – The Standards Don't Skip Generals 01:05 – Trent's Solo Mission and the “Creech Gate” Meltdown 03:31 – “Our Greatest Resource Is People”… Until It's Not 05:44 – Anonymous Complaints and Military Victim Olympics 08:05 – The Government Shutdown Reality Check 10:23 – E-1s to E-3s: The Forgotten Workforce 12:48 – When “Lethality” Becomes Bureaucratic Theater 14:49 – Generals vs. PT: The Pentagon's Soft Spot 17:12 – Too Many Chiefs, Not Enough Squadrons 19:35 – The Pete Hegseth Shake-Up and the Marine Corps Exception 21:56 – Overcorrections, Crying Generals, and Real Leadership 24:20 – The GTC Disaster Zone 26:31 – The Cure for Social Media Rage (Hint: Delete It)

At Christmas we celebrate a Father's love, a love that rivals the love of another father, waiting and praying for the return of his prodigal son. It's the love our Father has for us. He loved us in our sin and sent his Son into the world to save us. Join us for today's PowerPoint as Pastor Jack Graham reminds us of the many reasons we celebrate Christmas with his message, “Deck the Halls.” To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/395/29?v=20251111

Find out why Tim got ghosted on Waiting by the Phone from the vault. Also, Fred tells us a fun fact about goats!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tim is confused why Sophie won't call him back after a fun night out... Find out why he got ghosted!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode #234, Drawing from years of experience, this episode has 25 things NOT to do in PowerPoint. Design things, template setup things, presenting things. This is literally decades of experience - and frustration - as Troy, Nolan and Sandy break down 25 common PowerPoint pitfalls with their top tips, expert recommendations and actionable advice to help everyone avoid these all-too-common PowerPoint mistakes. Listen now! Episode Show Notes https://thepresentationpodcast.com/2025/e235 Show Suggestions? Questions for your Hosts? Email us at: info@thepresentationpodcast.com Listen and review on iTunes. Thanks! http://apple.co/1ROGCUq New Episodes 1st and 3rd Tuesday Every Month  

Send us a textPeaches, Aaron, and Trent descend straight into the stupidity of the Zulu Course's brand-new, completely unnecessary creed. Peaches calls out the clown show of inventing a “course creed” no one asked for, roasting the mystery officers who clearly typed it up between PowerPoint slides. The crew breaks down why merging career fields is delusional, why branding matters, and why whining about getting smoked at Zulu basically means you should quit now. If you think the Air Force needs more creeds, ceremonies, or cosplay-operator energy… Peaches has some words for you.⏱️ Timestamps: 00:00 Quit Crying About Zulu (Seriously, Quit) 01:30 The Dumbest Creed Since Forever 04:20 Peaches Reads It… Somehow It Gets Worse 07:40 Who Invented This? An 06 With Wi-Fi 10:10 Merging Career Fields: Stop Trying to Make Fetch Happen 14:20 Why Branding Matters More Than Your New Hat Color 18:00 Zulu Students Complaining? Peaches Has a Message 21:20 “We Already Did This in GWOT” – Trent's History Lesson 26:10 SOCOM Isn't Asking for Any of This 30:00 No One Needs Goat Teams and Gator Squads 33:40 The Ones Ready Anti-Creed 36:00 Final Thoughts: Do the Basics, Do Them Well

Are your leadership meetings killing engagement with PowerPoint bullets and 45-item agendas while your team's eyes glaze over? You're stuck in what Park Howell calls the "voice vacuum"—and there's a stupidly simple way out. Julie Lancaster, founder of Lancaster Leadership and author of Beyond Words: How Our Stories & Strategies Inspire Action, reveals the REST method that's helped her team coach over 75,000 leaders through succession planning challenges. She used to hate storytelling—until she discovered how to do it right. Discover the four-step REST framework (Relate, Engage, Short, Theme) that transforms managers into inspirational leaders. Learn the "Life Download" exercise and "Homework for Life" practice that builds your story bank one daily moment at a time. Find out why failure stories create more connection than success stories, and how AI amplifies your storytelling without replacing your human experiences. Julie shares her own medical lab faculty meeting disaster—racing through agendas as Dean of Education while secretly annoyed at questions—and the tiny tweak that changed everything. Perfect for leaders seeking skills, connection, and influence through accessible storytelling. Craft your brilliant brand story strategy in minutes, not months, and instantly create compelling content that converts customers with the StoryCycle Genie™ #StoryOn! ≈Park

On today's PowerPoint, Pastor Jack Graham brings the message of “A Christmas Story,” as a story of lost and found. Jesus came loving us and treasuring us just like one sheep that's gone astray, one coin lost in the house or a son who has rebelled against his father. While so many struggle to “find God,” The Christmas Story tells of God coming to earth to find us, His beloved children. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/395/29?v=20251111

Sounds dramatic. But we're just sticking with the error code episode number theme till we can't make any further stories from them. Copilot Chat can schedule meetings and offers a new entry point in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. We'll also see a new Learning agent that surfaces training content and offers role playing lessons from LinkedIn Learning. 0:00 Welcome 2:16 Organizational Messages now support Action Segments for Microsoft 365 Copilot - MC1189666 4:44 Organizational Messages to support email delivery - MC1189665 7:30 Schedule meetings directly in Copilot Chat - MC1189914 12:48 Updated UI for Copilot Chat entry point in Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps - MC1189000 16:19 Learning agent in Frontier - MC1187676

This episode, featuring hosts J.P. Nerbun, Nate Sanderson, and Betsy Buttrick, tackles the significant challenge of leading other adults in a coaching context, whether as a head coach, athletic director, or club administrator.The conversation begins with an anecdote about Washington Commanders' Head Coach Dan Quinn, who started his tenure by having every staff member, including himself, deliver a personal PowerPoint presentation about their life to build a strong "coach culture". The hosts discuss the common barriers that prevent leaders from effectively leading their adult staff, such as fear of conflict, the limited pool of willing coaches (volunteers), and the assumption that adults "should know better".A central theme is the difficulty of holding coaches accountable to a set standard, an issue that often stems from the leader's own discomfort with confrontation (conflict aversion) and a lack of established processes for staff development and accountability. The discussion shifts from the mindset of being a "manager" with power over others to being a "leader" who works with their staff to co-create and uphold a shared culture. The episode concludes with practical advice and tools for leaders to intentionally lead their staff, emphasizing that coaches, like athletes, want to be led and supported.Sign up for the weekly newsletter https://www.tocculture.com/newsletter.Join TOC Coach for FREE! https://www.skool.com/toccoach/aboutLink to schedule a call for the free Coaching Culture Audit and to inquire about group pricing for TOC Coach. https://api.leadconnectorhq.com/widget/bookings/toccoachdiscoveryBetsy Buttrick: https://betsybutterick.com/Previous Relevant Episodes (Links): Links to episodes which also discuss leading coaches and building culture.370: Onboarding Coaches https://open.spotify.com/episode/2ARjMZN3Ru88rCjmmhVZwm?si=ccc5riIlSUyliKoYZtG3qQ 185: Creating Staff Alignment https://open.spotify.com/episode/48zsWR7DD5L1kbd6SPy3ph?si=0bWQoOH0Q5agKGZwEROz1A84: Getting the Most out of your Coaches https://open.spotify.com/episode/7JVZN3005xmE6KE2QQvh5M?si=mUhi25rTSj2UM1GXFVw56g 

This week to celebrate Thanksgiving, we are revisiting our episode with the one and only Matthew McConaughey (Dazed and Confused, Dallas Buyers Club)! Matthew helps us break down the science behind feeling and expressing gratitude, something especially important to focus on this time of year. He also takes us on an electrifying journey through his intriguing life, from his intense childhood in which his parents divorced and remarried each other three times, to surviving off a head of lettuce with ketchup in Australia, to his current ambitions considering a run for political office. Matthew details his life-changing quests sparked by having the same wet dream twice and how he puts himself in positions to receive divine, prophetic messages from the universe. He explains why his dad was proud of him for getting into a bar fight, why he cries during births and not deaths, and why his son creates Powerpoint presentations to illustrate why Matthew is wrong. Mayim and Matthew discuss parenthood, and Matthew opens up about the sense of immortality he felt at the birth of his first child. Mayim also breaks down binding anxiety! From the entire Mayim Bialik's Breakdown team, we want to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving! Subscribe on Substack for Ad-Free Episodes & Bonus Content: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bialikbreakdown.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BialikBreakdown.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube.com/mayimbialik⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on PowerPoint, Pastor Jack Graham brings a message that often makes people uncomfortable – a message on giving. But Pastor Graham notes that he's never known a dynamic, spirit-filled believer who wasn't a generous giver. People who give generously of their talents and their testimony for the Lord, find it easy for their possessions to follow. It all works together. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/395/29?v=20251111

"... best model in the world..."

Information access: While many have Copilot licenses, usage is low beyond basic tasks like email and meeting summaries. The main challenge with adoption is providing guidance within apps like PowerPoint, Excel, Dynamics, and Word so users can access help exactly when they need it. This is something Rehmani's company, VisualSP, and his training platform, copilottrainingpackage.com, specialize in. "I'm a big proponent of giving people 'at the moment need' information," he notes.Training paths: Copilottrainingpackage.com enables users to go down different "training paths," explains Rehmani. Specifically, there are pre-built PowerPoint training modules covering key topics like prompt creation and preventing hallucinations. Additionally, there's learning management system (LMS)-ready video content on Copilot use cases in Word, Excel, and other tools for on-demand learning. Finally, the platform offers optional live training sessions for trainers and power users to ensure effective adoption and ROI from Copilot. "At the end of the day, it's all about making Copilot into ROI and not just an expense layer."What to expect: Rehmani describes the "anatomy" of the program. It uses seven modules to teach trainers and power users how to craft effective prompts, reduce Copilot errors, and apply specific workflows for high-impact ROI. Then, participants share this knowledge internally, enabling time savings and efficiency across their organizations.End-of-year pricing: Users can take advantage of this resource with special pricing through the end of the year. Users can purchase the standalone package for $4,950 or the package and live training for $8,950, all of which could be delivered in 2026, explains Rehmani. Visit Cloud Wars for more.

When he went to investors, nobody believed that the internet would be a big deal. Today, we're talking to Rouzbeh Yassini-Fard, the Father of the Cable Modem. We discuss how he invented broadband when no one believed home internet would succeed, why letting your product do the talking beats PowerPoint presentations, and how to distinguish between technology hype and delivery reality in the age of AI. Thank you to Digital Ocean for sponsoring this episode. For simple cloud and powerful AI that's built to scale, check out Digital Ocean here. All of this right here, right now, on the Modern CTO Podcast!  To get a copy of Rouzbeh's book, The Accidental Network, buy it here on Amazon. To check out Rouzbeh's YAS Foundation, visit their website here.

Send us a textVideo Podcast here: The Exodus story: A type and shadow for the plan of Salvation.  What can we learn about the story of Israel's Exodus from Egypt, the feasts, and and what God requires from us under the new covenant?PowerPoint notes. http://www.restoredgospel.com/PODCASTLINKS/ExodusSalvation.pdf Restored Gospel - Scripture Search and Study Resources Contact us:restoredgospelpodcast@gmail.comMusic by Michael Barrett

Welcome to 30 Tips in 30 Days! Over the entire month of November, I will be releasing a short, bite sized episode of Fearless Presentations every morning covering things that are absolutely essential to being a better presenter. Whether you've been speaking professionally for years and years or are looking to just start your public speaking journey, applying just these 30 tips I cover here will instantly and easily make you improve as a speaker. The 6x6 rule is one that's kind of old school but it definitely is something that still applies and can make a lot of people's mediocre PowerPoint's instantly a lot better. The 6x6 rule is simple. You should (usually) never have more than 6 lines of text on a slide and you should (usually) never have more than 6 words in each line on the slide. Brevity and glance-ability are the strongest traits that words on a slideshow can have. If your audience is squinting trying to read the entire paragraph you have on screen then you have failed. Likewise, if you have a single word up on the screen that isn't something incredibly important or applicable to your presentation, you've also failed.Show Notes: 101 Public Speaking Tips For Delivering Your Best Speech(https://www.fearlesspresentations.com/101-public-speaking-tips-for-delivering-your-best-speech/)

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