Podcasts about why one

Why- One of the most difficult questions we can ask. The typical answer should be, 'I don't know but the Lord does' So then, the question often should transition to- 'what.' What should I learn- What should I do now-

Nowadays, people are too busy to give full attention to watching videos or reading blog posts. That's the reason why Podcast is considered as a unique alternative way in giving valuable information, one of the most convenient and easy way to build a personal connection to audiences. In just a few years, podcasts have grown in popularity. More businesses are starting to discover the contribution of podcasting to their marketing strategies, attracting new audiences and building trusts with their clients. Tune in to this episode and know more about how to start your own podcast and how it helps your business grow.   Topics on Today’s Episode: How podcasting works and why it is a great platform Benefits of launching a podcast and how valuable it is Having a process and how to start a Podcast right Advantages of podcast against other platform Considering 5 different metrics to grow your podcasts Why One on One Marketing is the best way of marketing How to build a personal connection with your audience using your Podcast show How to keep your audience download and review your Podcast episodes Links and Resources Mentioned: Adam Adams Website: MyPodcast.website Kahuna Boardroom Kahuna HQ Multifamily Legacy Podcast on YouTube Multifamily Legacy Podcast on Facebook   Quotes: "They're struggling with raising money, but it's not because they didn't learn how to do it legally, it's because they don't have a platform" - Adam Adams  "Everyone knows that everyone talks about that with our finances we don't wanna live paycheck to paycheck and it's the same in podcasting you don't wanna live episode to episode" - Adam Adams  "You add immense amount of value to the listener that comes straight from the heart, and you're not having some type of sales agenda" - Adam Adams  "It's always a little bit nervous to change, change is typically kind of hard" - Corey Peterson  "I love to teach, it's my outlet, but the results from it do matter" - Corey Peterson  "Do something that you truly love and eventually you can get paid a lot of money to do it"  - Corey Peterson    Don’t forget to download my Free Workshop Quick Start Video Series, and if you like what you have heard please leave a review on iTunes. Text the word MONEY to 408-500-1127 to get my free private money program and credibility kit for single family.

Lisa Thal is an Author, Speaker, and Business Coach.  She wrote the book "Three Word Meetings."  A Simple Strategy to Engage, Inspire, and Empower Your Team.  Lisa coaches leaders on how to take their sales and business meetings to the next level with fun and interesting 3-word  topics to get your sales team motivated and inspired.  She has over 33 years of marketing and leadership experience.   Episode 073: Learn how buying a mattress improved how I provide Value vs. Price to my clients. Do you have clients that want your product based on Price? Don't you hate that? Just think back to the last time you made a purchase, and what was going through your head? "Can I buy this for less? What type of deal can I get before buying this? Let's face it; no one wants to pay more for a product! We need to perceive we got a good deal or Value from purchasing a product or service.   Price is often the primary consideration when customers make a purchase, but cutting the Price isn't the best way to compete. We have to find ways to make our partnership more valuable than just Price.   Here are four strategies you can implement:   Become an Expert When your clients feel you have the knowledge and expertise, they are more likely to do business with you. You have to offer them better advice than the other vendor; you add more Value. This increases your chances of winning and retaining their business. Clients will pay for speed to market. How can they grow their market share faster? Dave was an expert when it came to mattresses. He shared his story of buying his brand—the benefits to better night sleep. Think about yourself. Are you an expert in your industry? What other education or skills do you need to be a solution provider to your customers. The best investment you can make is in yourself! You and the client will benefit from it.   Think like your client  We all have family, friends, and co-workers that you connect with better than others. Why? One reason is that you feel like they understand you. Dave was masterful at making me feel like he understood my mattress needs. He asked, are you a side or back sleeper. He shared his stories of mattress shopping and the decisions we should consider when making ours. Well, the same applies to your clients. Do you know what each of your clients needs? Understand that they all may have different needs. Some clients may need sales and revenue; some may need better marketing; some may need help recruiting employees; some may need better systems to run their company more efficiently and some tactical ideas to grow market share and profits. If your approach it the right way, ask great questions; they will tell you everything. Once you know, and they start to feel that you know as well. Listen, take notes, and provide solutions as if you owned the business. Your actions will speak louder than words, and your Value will increase massively.    Two ears and one mouth One of the best lessons I learned from Michelle Levine was two ears and one mouth. Make sure you listen twice as long as you speak. Do this, and you will increase your Value with your clients. Most people are thinking of how they will respond when the client is talking. Please slow down and listen to what they are sharing. Dave would ask us questions about what we desired in a mattress, and then he would listen. We felt heard, and that built more Value.   Surprise and delight It's great when someone surprises you with something you didn't expect. We spend much time trying to winning the business. So when you do, you want to retain that client for life. Clients want your knowledge, a fair price, and expect great follow up. Their needs vs. ours! Any company can set up an automated mailer for when it's their birthday. ( Do you even know your client's birthday, step one). How would you feel receiving a personalized message or a handwritten birthday note with a cake and balloons! When we do something out of the ordinary, your Value increases, and remember: with Value comes loyalty.   People will pay more for something if they think there is Value or benefits. I know I paid more for a mattress than I expected, and I was happy to do so.  Remember, Adding more Value will always be the difference to earning and retaining your client's business.  Keep looking for ways to do more for your clients to ensure they value you and the solutions you provide!   If you like this podcast, make sure you rate it; if you think someone could benefit from this episode, share it, or subscribe at Itunes or Spotify, so you don't miss out on the next three-word podcast.   

All business owners wanted to have a successful business. A business that is established with a good foundation and even with good marketing. But sometimes, business owners are blinded by this one phrase that can kill their business more than any recession. “Take this system, take this process, follow it as best as you can and watch your business explode, watch it grow, just go to the next level,” there’s nothing wrong about these phrases but we should remember things that will be discussed in today’s live episode. We will tackle this topic and why it can kill businesses. Jot down notes and remember the key things that I will tell you. This will help you understand that there are no two businesses are the same. Enjoy! Here are a few insights you’ll hear in today’s show Discover if you business has a unique mechanism Why One-size-fits-all strategies won’t work How to identify your target audience The importance of running ads to get in front of your audience Find out the right time to lower your target   Success Quotes “No two businesses are the same.” “Getting super clear on your audience is the key thing.” “Start to lower your targets.”   Resources Unique Mechanism - Eugene Schwartz Have you taken your business beyond your wildest dreams and goals? If your answer is NO, join me into an8-week coaching programme - Certainty in Crisis   Connect with Leon Streete: Website Facebook

Do we have a treat for you! Geno Bisconte (In Hot Water on Compound Media and Comics Watching Comics on Amazon video) joins the boys as he HATES Uncut Gems with a passion. Why? One reason is that the bets Sandler puts in...DOESN'T HAPPEN in real life. Can Geno convince KG and KI that this film makes Don't Mess with the Zohan look like Caddyshack? Please give us a follow on twitter, FB, Tumblr, and IG: @GTSCpodcast, @KevinGootee @KevinIsrael_NJ @DiamondEugene1 @inhotwatershow We'd love to help you grow your business! Email us at guttingthesacredcow@gmail.com so we can increase visibility for your business/service. If you know of a business that wants to advertise, LET US KNOW! PLEASE continue to visit www.guttingthesacredcow.com EVERY day for brand NEW articles. Need a new shirt, hat, hoodie? Head on over and grab something! Would you like to write one of our segment songs? We'd love to hear your intros to the 5 fun facts, critics 5 star, 1 star, amazon 5 star, and 1 star reviews. As long as your incorporate a known song from a movie into that intro, we'd love to put it on our podcast. Send those to guttingthesacredcow@gmail.com Take a pic with our merch and we'll GLADLY share it on social media.

INTRODUCTION During COVID19 lockdown, I decided to write this booklet. Why? One afternoon after purchasing my groceries, I drove past the local MacDonald’s store. There was a line so far down the road it puzzled me. I understand that takeout is part of our society, I too am part of this. When I am busy and just need something quick to eat and am passing through my local takeout store, I buy takeout and take it home. Having a restaurant myself, we would not survive without the local community. The line was what really concerned me the most, it was at least a half and hour wait time. We need patience for the things we need, we seem to have the time for them. What concerned me most is that these people waiting in their cars must think they need take out. If I was that person just waiting, I would have gone home. How we think today is something that really concerns me. A real headache, do we know how to cook something simple? Are we becoming a society where we can’t even think about what to put in a meal? Is our mind so cluttered and puzzled with fog that we can’t even put a simple meal together? Credit card costs and the average person in debt is overwhelming! Have the big organisations through their commercials and social media brainwashed us to thinking that we can’t put a meal together, that we need to ring them and order? We all complain that we are time poor and yet we can wait in line for over half an hour, waste our petrol and money for a quick take away? When we could have easily put a quick healthy meal together. Time can be a cost to our health on how we think. My question to you; is it because it’s quick and easy? How many times have you thrown the take out food in the bin because you couldn’t even enjoy it? It was disgusting, dry, old, who knows how long it was in the bain-marie keeping warm? Who knows how much bacteria was even in it? And then felt sick because it was greasy from old oil? Or even got food poisoning? Let’s explore... We never had takeout when I was growing up, my mother Sarina was always inventive. The war and famine has a way of making you think, conserve and create. (They say that necessity is the mother of invention) Sarina would do little things like fry old bread, cook up a quick pasta, make pizza, or BBQ. The simplicity of life, it made us grow easy and simple, we never stressed at meal times. With the growing of each generation brings new life into maturity as we are constantly evolving. Exploring into our past can serve us, to understand how far we have evolved, it can also teach us that we may need to return to our roots as we might have strayed too far. What I desire to say is that, the simple things in life are the most important, they ease us, they make us smile. When I am overwhelmed with too many things, it’s the sun that makes me smile, it’s the bird that just flew by me that reminded me that life is beautiful. The simple meals my mother Sarina used to make remind me of that, if I just remember this, all is well with my soul, conserving the best is what makes me smile; the memory can transform into this generation and serve it well. To be a cook, one must feel, love and be infectious with the human connection that food transmits to people. A simple meal shared across the table can take away the negative feelings that one has felt through the day (a tribe of aunties, laughing outside at something funny as a child is a memory I want to share with you). Do we have any of those aunties around now? I’m sure they had many things that concerned them From memory when we were all together, all I can remember is laughter and food. When we bring laughter into the equation, we are transformed. To become a great cook we need simple steps to guide us. Remember, KIS. Love Carmela x

I've been asked this questions in a few interviews. As there are no rules and you can do anything you want in a podcast, are there are any Podcasting Best Practices? Well as we all see podcasting through many different lenses I thought I would share my opinion on the best practices. Have a Topic You Are Passionate About, as in REALLY Passionate about.  Next week you will hear Jamie from Horses in the morning talk about her L O V E of horses. In the past I have said you need the passion that a sixteen year old boy has for getting his driver's license. WHY: Because when you first start out, it will be awkward, and you will still be getting comfortable behind the mic. You will have next to no audience and it is soul crushing to put that much work into something and have next to nobody listen to it. When you have that passion, you will talk about it even if nobody is listening.  Know Your Target Audience I know, "But Dave you just said I don't have an audience." I know, but who is the person that should love this content. Also, I don't mean "34-48 year old Women. That is identify who they are. I mean KNOW THEM. Go hang out with them, and find out what makes them tick.  WHY: One of the biggest fears is sounding stupid. How do you avoid this? By knowing what your audience needs (we cover this in the planning your content course, as well as "Content is King" course).  Know WHY You're Podcasting Every podcaster says "It takes more time than I thought" when you start a podcast (for the record it takes more time than you thought for many things if you think about it). Starting a podcast is easy. Start is GOOD podcast can tricky. You've identified who your audience is, and what your topic is, but the why can help shape the content. If you're trying to keep your brand in front of your potential customer you might do three five minute podcasts a week. If you want to be seen as an expert, maybe you do a weekly 20-minute show where you answer a question. If you're trying to grow your network, maybe you do interviews with other people in your field.  WHY: When you start to achieve your goal, it puts gas in your tank. If you are NOT achieving your goal you know you need to adjust the content or turn up the marketing.  Get The Best Equipment You Can Afford I typically say you can sound pretty good for the price of an Xbox (about $300). By the time you get a microphone and some sort of interface, etc. You're looking between $70-$300 depending on how many co-hosts you have, etc.  WHY: Look at the top 200 shows in Apple and see how many were recorded using their phone (although you can make "OK" recording with your phone when used correctly).  Have A General Idea Of How a Podcast Works I've been driving since I was 16. While I don't know enough about my car to work on it. I do know enough to do some basic troubleshooting.  WHY: By understanding the mechanics of a podcast you can avoid a lot of unnecessary panic when your episode doesn't appear in an app a few minutes after you press publish.  It's YOUR Show Aisha Tyler said at Podcast Movement one of the biggest reason she loved her podcast was because it was HERS. Don't interview people if you're not sure they are a good fit. If you don't want to talk about a topic, don't. If you do want to talk about a topic - do. It's your show.  Make Yourself Available Everywhere I talked about this in the episode about growing your downloads, WHY: A boss walks into the board room and says, "I just heard this (insert name) podcast on the way in it was great. Everyone pulls out their phone but some people subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, Overcast, Stitcher, etc.  Don't Pick a Release Date Until Your In All the Apps I had this happen to me. My new show Grow Your Community was in Apple, but NOT in Overcast (even though Overcast pulls from Apple). In the same way that bands in the 80's wouldn't pick a date for their CD release party until they had the CD in their hand, don't pick your "Launch" date until your show is available to SUBSCRIBE.  Be Appropriate but also you might consider if you're going to swear or not in your show. When you do you get pulled from India and other countries. I actually listened to the "Losing 100 Pounds" podcast and the host dropped an F-bomb in the first 15 seconds. This was followed by a flurry of other no safe for kids type of language. About 20 minutes she finally mentioned that she curses like a sailor and if you don't like that you should tune out. I'm no prude, but she sounded like a 13-year-old out behind the barn seeing how many swear words she could work into a sentence.  Again, it's HER show she can do whatever she wants. There were MANY 1 star reviews that just said the swearing was over the top.  Edit Your Podcast There are editors for newspapers, magazines, books, TV, movies, but you are the person on the planet that everything that comes out of your mouth is perfect. Really? Radio people can not believe people who choose to "keep it real" and just publish as-is. You have the opportunity to make yourself (your guest) sound better. If nothing else, edit one or two episodes, and if you hate it, pay someone to edit it for you. By editing a few episodes you will be willing to pay someone as it is time-consuming and you will appreciate the job they do. Get Honest Feedback I get it. It's your art. You worked hard on it. You might be afraid to get some feedback. Some really are looking for agreement on everything they've done when they ask for feedback. They don't want to change (cause as we mentioned, when you first start it takes time). However, feedback can steer your podcast in the right direction so you can help achieve your goal. Last week I talked about how I got feedback on my music and most people didn't like it. It didn't crush me. I listened to their reasons, saw their point, and changed my music.  I listened to a podcast today where a school had launched a podcast, got some feedback, and then changed the name, changed the intro, changed the artwork and got amazing results.  Be Consistent Pick a schedule and stick with it. Also, be consistent in quality. If you go to a McDonald's in one town and have a hamburger, fly across the country and have another one they taste the same. Sure it's unhealthy, but the taste is consistent.  Don't Use Unlicensed Music No, you can't play Taylor Swift. Nope. But what about?? No. No. No. No. What about 10 seconds? No. they are cracking down on this HARD right now.  You Only Need ONE Episode To Launch Your first recording will not be as good as your second. Consequently don't release everything you record. Some people think you record 10 episodes and release them at once so people can really connect with you. WHY: Rob Walch VP at Libsyn.com (the oldest, largest media host) said at a conference in Australia (online) that people lack any feedback. If someone gets feedback on episode three but has seven more episodes recorded and set to publish, the listener has to wait for eight episodes to hear any changes based on their feedback.  Focus On Your Audience  and Don't Compare Yourself To Others We talked about knowing your audience, now that you know what they want your show is about THEM, and your WHY. Don't get distracted by what other people are doing, how much money they are making, focus on your audience. If you find yourself thinking about a similar show and it upsets you, drop it and focus on your audience. Get Your Attitude in Check Podcasting is a LONG game. It is a marathon not a sprint (years not months). Also remember, you don't have to make money with your podcast. Be Open To New Experiences We mentioned being open to feedback, but also open to partnering with other podcasts, trying new segments, trying new marketing strategies. If your show isn't giving you what you want, then try something new. Have A Website and Control Your Show You control our website. If the latest social network gets canceled, people will know to find you on our website. Never let a media host (Anchor) submit your show "for you" to directories so that you maintain control of your show.  Google Wants Good Content Google wants to deliver great search results to its customers so give it something people will find valuable. Have a good description with enough words (at least 300) to attack Google. While you want to pay attention to keywords, you also want to be appropriate. Use headings to breaking up long posts.  It's All About Subscribers We mentioned "being everywhere" but that doesn't help if you make it hard (find me in Apple) to subscribe to your show. Have buttons on your site to share your show and subscribe.  Promote Your Show Use social media and any other tools that will help you get your podcast in front of your target audience.  WHY: There are over one million podcasts in Apple podcasts. If you think Apple will make you famous, then you should be famous from being in the phone book.  Pay Attention to Your Media Host In general, the media hosts I recommend have some sort of podcast to keep you informed of updates to their technology and news to what is going on in the podcasting space.  If You're Looking to Monetize - Start an Email List While social media may be all the buzz, when it comes to getting people to click on something, hands down Sendfox email is better. I use.  Also, if you're looking to monetize, selling your own product is the best way, but most podcasters who are looking to monetize have multiple streams of income.  Final Thoughts If you can't seem to pull the trigger, you are probably overthinking it.  When in doubt, ask your audience.  Ready To Start You Podcast? Get access to step by step tutorials A private networking group filled with other podcasters Live group coaching.  Check it out at www.schoolofpodcasting.com/join Mentioned in This Episode Horse Radio Network Question of the Month Dave's Patreon Goup

After George Floyd was apparently murdered by a cop, large crowds protested the abuse and lack of justice. Good. But then the troublemakers showed up -- burning, looting, throwing stones. It seemed to take too long to charge the offending officers, but now they have been arrested. What else do the protesters want? What is the "justice" that the crowds want now? P&C say that everyone involved in this mess has done it wrong. The four officers were clearly wrong. The media is atrociously wrong. Politicians are an impotent clown show. And the protesters themselves have not done well. Two weeks ago, anyone who went to a park to play catch with their daughter, or wanted to open their business, or go to church, was labeled by the media as a threat to society. They wanted to kill grandma and bring pestilence and plague on all of society. Suddenly, the rules have changed. Why? One of the worst aspects of this story is the immediate assumption of racism. It was a white cop killing a black man. Therefore, to some, it must it's racism. Why is that the automatic assumption? What if it was a black cop killing a white man, or a white cop killing a white man? What's the justification for immediately assuming that it was racism? Now that the cops have been arrested, the protests have turned away from a message P&C can support, and have started going into the fantasy land of "cops are hunting us" and other demonstrably false nonsense from the black lives matter crowd.

Zach chats with Race2Dinner co-founders Regina Jackson and Saira Rao about the genesis of Race2D, how exactly its dinners take place, their experiences running it and so much more. This episode features explicit language. Listener discretion is advised!Connect with Saira on LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, and connect with Regina on Twitter.Interested in learning more about Race2Dinner? Check out their website.Follow Race2Dinner on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.Find out how the CDC suggests you wash your hands by clicking here.Help food banks respond to COVID-19. Learn more at FeedingAmerica.org.Visit our website.TRANSCRIPTZach: What's up, y'all? Now, look, you know that we try to keep it clean on Living Corporate, but every now and then we have folks come on who are impassioned, and we are not ones to censor anybody if we really believe in the heart of what it is that they're saying and the mission that they're doing. So the conversation you're about to hear does contain some harsh language, so listener discretion is advised. Catch y'all next time.What's up, y'all? It's Zach with Living Corporate, and you know what we do. We're having real talk in a corporate world. How do we do that? We talk to black and brown entrepreneurs, executives, activists... let me see here, what else? Public servants, creatives, artists, influencers, educators, you know what I'm saying? Anybody who is black and brown or an aspirational ally. We try to have them on the podcast and have real conversations, right? These real conversations are centering underrepresented and marginalized voices. We're having conversations that often go unhad or whispered in a corner. We're trying to have those out loud and on a digital platform so that they can be accessible to everybody, and we do this weekly, and we have dope dope dope dope DOPE guests. So today we have two guests at the same time, yo, at the same time. Saira Rao and Regina Jackson. Yo, so let me--so I got these two bios here, y'all. Y'all know what we do. You know I try to read the bios just so y'all can have an idea of what's going on, then we get into it. So here we go. Saira Rao grew up in Richmond, Virginia, the daughter of Indian immigrants. For forty years, she wasted her precious time aspiring to be white and accepted by dominant white society, a futile task for anyone not born with white skin. Several years ago, Saira began the painful process of dismantling her own internalized oppression. Saira is a lawyer-by-training, a former congressional candidate, a published novelist and an entrepreneur. Now, look here, if y'all don't recognize what kind of podcast this is about to be by the bio that I read that they gave me, listen, I'ma just go ahead and drop the Flex bomb right now. It's about to be spicy in here. Now we'll go ahead and go Regina. Now, born in 1950, Regina remembers an America where everything was in Black and white. Burned into her memory are; the beatings and horrific treatment of civil rights workers throughout the South, the Goodman, Chaney & Schwerner murders, the murder of Viola Liuzzo, the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the murders of President John Kennedy and his brother Robert. The violence perpetrated on innocent people going about their lives by white people, it is these memories that drive Regina to push for real change in America, which is why she co-founded Race2Dinner. Saira and Regina, welcome to the show. How are y'all doing?Regina: You know, I'm doing great. Saira?Saira: I'm doing pretty well, thank you.Zach: So I read some bios, but can we get into y'all's own stories as to why Race2Dinner came to be and how?Saira: Well, like my bio said, I ran for Congress exactly two years ago, and I ran in--we live in Denver, which is a predominantly white city, and I ran on an explicitly anti-racism [platform] about the racism within the Democratic Party, which, you know, we know there's--the Republican Party's entire platform is racism, but there's ample racism within the Democratic Party. And so, you know, what I found was a long line of white ladies wanting to have coffees, breakfasts, lunches and dinners with me, and 99.9% of the time it was for them to tell me very indignantly that it's not them, "not all white women," and then they tick off all their civil rights accomplishments in the past and their safety pins and how awesome they are, and really just telling me about how I had them wrong, that they were individual--you know, "Stop painting all white people as the same," and so, anyway, I had to do those because I was running for office and I needed to [?]. After I lost in June of 2018, I became a big target of sort of the alt-right, Breitbart, Fox, those places, and the invitations for these lunches and dinners didn't dissipate as I had hoped. They just got more and more and more. And I continued to do these lunches and dinners in good faith, recognizing by the way I was not just out hours and hours of my time. It also took a tremendous toll on my mental health. And by the way, these ladies never picked up the bill. And I was, you know, paying for dinner [?] for babysitting because I have two small children. Anyway, that's when last December this happened with Regina.Regina: So when Saira ran for office, I immediately fell in love with her because she was talking about racism that doesn't get talked about in the United States, and she was talking very provocatively about racism. She wasn't being nice. She wasn't not using the white privilege and white people. I mean, she was talking it, so I immediately volunteered for her campaign. I worked on her campaign and got to know Saira, and I was like, "Wow, I really like this woman." So I had had a white friend who said to me--she said, you know, "I'm just over Saira. She hates white people, and I'm just gonna be done with her," and then in the next breath she says to me, "But if you can arrange it, I'd like to go to lunch with her to talk about it." So I talked to [Saira] and Saira said to me--she said, "You know what, Regina? I'm not doing that anymore," she said, "But I'll tell you what. If she wants to have a dinner and invite some of her white lady friends and you do it with me," she said, "I'd be happy to do that," and thus was born Race2Dinner.Zach: Wow. It's--okay, so let's talk a little bit about, Regina, the exchange that you had. Why do you believe that your friend at the time said that Saira hates white people?Regina: Well, because Saira was saying she hated white people. [everyone laughs]Saira: [laughing] No, I didn't. I didn't say that. No.Zach: [hold on a minute there playa sfx, laughing]Regina: Okay, it's up for debate. [laughs]Saira: No, I literally never said that. So the thing about this particular woman was that I said that Beto O'Rourke is a white savior, and she was one of these women who was, like, obsessed with Beto O'Rourke and went to Texas to volunteer for Beto O'Rourke, and I said, you know, Beto O'Rourke is a white savior, and I also donated to his campaign, and if I lived in Texas I would vote for him. You can actually, you know, hold various things to be true.Zach: At the same time, yeah.Saira: At the same time, and so that's what sent her over the edge. And that's actually--at the dinner she brought that up as the thing that sent her over the edge, and she, you know, got really angry when I wouldn't budge on the fact that Beto O'Rourke is a white savior. Frankly, I think Beto O'Rourke might acknowledge himself that he's a white savior. And so, anyway, she cried. She got super mad. She did all the stuff that white ladies too.Regina: This is a white woman who called herself my friend. She thanked me for, you know, teaching her about racism and helping her to be a non-racist. She told me how much she loved me all the time, blah blah blah. When we started our Race2Dinner website and we decided to do a Patreon, you know, where people sign up for $5 a month or $12 a month. This white woman, who had told me--she's a widow, never had any children--that her income after her husband died is $200,000 a year, and I said, "Will you sign up for our Patreon?" She told me to put it [?] on Facebook. Needless to say, we are no longer friends, 'cause she talks the talk but she doesn't want to walk the walk.Zach: So you're saying she has over 200--I'm sorry, but I'm shocked, 'cause I come from humble beginnings, right? And I'm not from Denver. Like, I'm from the South. So, like, you said--just to go back a second, you said her income is over $200,000 a year?Saira: Yeah, and she won't spend $60 a year on our labor, on our writing. She wanted us to put it on Facebook for free.Regina: And see, we have really been talking about that issue, how white people don't want to see black and brown women especially paid for our work. Now, you know, they'll pay $40,000 to go hear--what's her name?Saira: Glennon Doyle.Regina: Yeah, Glennon Doyle, but they can't pay us for our labor in a personal, private, small group conversation?Saira: That includes dinner and booze.Regina: That's more white people nonsense, and I'm not having it.Zach: I mean, at a certain point you're just like [what more do you want from me? sfx] You know? Like, what is this? Like, what are we doing? Like, y'all see this effort. Y'all know that it's valuable. Recognize it financially. And y'all know that the way this system is built--capitalistically--that we need the bread to survive, so come on. Like, come up off. So I hear that, and it's interesting, 'cause Race2Dinner, it reminds me--and I want y'all to walk me through this format, 'cause I've been to a couple of events like this where, like, you get together over dinner and you talk about quote-unquote culture. I want to understand though. Like, talk to me about the format of Race2Dinner, how it works, and just how it's set up.Regina: Okay. Well, one of the first things I think there is to recognize is that most white people don't even know that they [?], okay? In the book "Waking Up White" by Debbie Irving, she talks about white culture, and us as non-white people, we recognize it because we have had to live it in order to, like you say, survive. It's perfection. It's being nice to everybody.Saira: It's talking about nothing.Regina: Yeah, don't talk about hard stuff. Don't upset people. You know, that's the culture that we were all raised in, and they still want to just talk nice, and we say, "You know what?" The other thing is they're all in their feelings. "You made me feel." Can we curse on this show?Zach: Yes, absolutely. Go ahead.Regina: [laughs] And I love to say, "Fuck your feelings." [Zach laughs] That's between you and your universe. That has nothing to do with me, but they are always up in their feelings, and that's one of the things--in Race2Dinner, if you have to cry, you have to leave the room. Zach: Really? If you start to cry, you are [?] from the table?Saira: Yeah, cry or get really angry. But to answer your question about painting a picture for you. So, you know, why is it dinners? People say is it "Why is it dinners? Why can't you do conferences and keynotes?" Blah blah blah. Here's what we know about white women. White women are devoted to being nice and polite, and there's nothing more impolite than getting up and leaving the dinner table, period. The setting is a beautiful dinner table in a woman's house where she's serving dinner and she's pouring wine. And so this is the white woman's happy place and safe place, a dinner party with other white women, right? And, you know, every once in a while maybe they go to dinner parties where there's A black woman or An Asian woman or A Latina woman, but, like, you know, they feel very comfortable, so they come in and kiss kiss, "Oh, my God, how are you? You look great, you look great," the whole nine yards. And then they sit down, and instead of "Oh, my God. What are your kids doing this summer for summer camp? Oh, my God. My husband's irritating me." We just--it's very, very much like this. Like, everyone go around the table and say why you're here, and you literally have, like, a minute or two to do that. 'Cause early on we were like, "Why are you here?" And they would just, like, pull out their resume and start telling us about how they volunteered at Planned Parenthood and they went to a Black Lives Matter rally and whatever, and so--anyway, after that, the next question is "Please go around the table and name one way in which your racism has presented itself in an action that you've done recently," and then they basically fall out of their chair. Like, you might see pee come down their legs, because it's like... they can't leave. They all want to freak out and run out of the room, but they can't because they've got this nice beef tenderloin and a glass of Chardonnay sitting there and it would be rude as fuck to do that. So then they have to actually do that.Regina: And we used to--we just changed that format, because we used to [have] everybody introduce themselves, and then we'd talk about our background and why we were there, and what we found is we would have two or three women in every dinner who would not say a freaking word. You know, the lurkers. So we finally said, "This is not okay. If people are going to be here, they need to engage." So we make everybody talk about, you know, "This is why I'm here, and this is how I notice racism in myself."Saira: In myself. So, you know, you go to one of these, like, liberal white person dinner parties, and they're sitting around for hours trashing Donald Trump and trashing the Republicans and talking about--like, they pat themselves on the back. It's like the Backpatting Olympics, right? Who is the most awesome white person in the room? This is a place--and by the way, they try. So, like, at the last dinner party--and look, these are not bad people. We've got to break down this false binary of racist bad, not racist good. That shuts down the conversation. But there's a white lady there who's lovely and [?], and we asked her "What is the racist thing you've done?" And she starts rambling, and then she says, you know, a friend of hers ends every conversation with "Me love you long time." And all the other women were like, "What?" And I was like, "No, no, no. How are YOU racist? Stop deflecting it to your friend." In that case, which she could have easily said--but she didn't, she can't [?] anything else--is "I'm racist because I've never shut that down." So that's the silence is complicity. So all this, like, "The Republicans are bad," what about you? Like, what are you doing? Like, what are you doing? Like, silence is complicity, you know? And even though the Republicans are quote "bad," white America allowed this to go on. Donald Trump didn't invent racism. He just capitalized on it.Regina: That was my turning point, this whole Make America Great nonsense. I'm like, "No. I'm done with white people nonsense. I'm done." You know, they need to step up and call a thing and be the wonderful people that they seem to think they are.Zach: And Regina, so your profile, the fact that you were--you know, like, you were active. Like, you was moving around during the civil rights movement and you're still here in 2020. So, like, have you ever had situations where people have, like, either alluded to or told you to, like, get over it or it was a really long time ago or times have changed, and if so, like, how do you react or respond in those situations?Regina: You know, I don't think anybody would tell me that. [everybody laughs] But I have [this?] attitude. You know how us black women can give off that "Don't fuck with me today?" Zach: Yes. [everybody laughing]Regina: [?] going on generally 24/7. It's like--[to this day sfx] So not today, not ever. Not having it.Zach: Oh, my goodness. I love it. The spice. The energy on this podcast, it's reached incredible levels, and we're really just, like, still in the beginning. So when it comes to--and even, like, honestly, like, the tone of this conversation, right, the unapologetic, like, very to the point manner in which y'all are speaking and in which, like, I see, like, your website communicates as well as your online personas. I'm curious about what feedback or critique you get when it comes to, like, the idea of civility, right? 'Cause I feel like even today there's a lot of folks who are still, like, really hanging their shingle on civility, and they use it almost, like, as a cudgel to, like, silence voices. I'm curious as to how y'all respond to that.Saira: That's what it is. Calls for civility is calls for silencing. And I'm just curious, when has--so civility is code for being nice, right? When has nice saved people of color [?]? Like, was niceness there to save Trayvon Martin? Is being nice saving the brown and black people who are dying in concentration camps around the country? Is niceness [saving?] the Palestinians, upon whom we are, you know, aiding [Israel? and dropping bombs upon them?] Like, being nice is code for doing whatever the fuck you want to oppress people and not getting called out for it. That's what being nice is.Regina: Exactly. And remember that Dr. King said that white [moderates,] they would rather have order than justice. You know what? I'm not about order. Fuck your rules, okay? Fuck hurting your feelings. Fuck being nice. Let's talk the real deal. Let's talk about how you're hurting black and brown children, how black boys and girls get treated in school, how black people are being [?] out of their communities onto the streets by gentrification? Let's talk about all that, and if it requires me to be nice, then it ain't happening.Saira: Yeah, you know what's super not nice? Stop and Frisk. You know what's super not nice? The Muslim ban. You know what's super not nice? These concentration camps. And so I'll tell you what though, Zach, is, you know, before I even ran for Congress I spent a year, 2017, going the civil way. I went to the University of Virginia, and at that time most of my [?] in life were friends that I had met at the University of Virginia, overwhelmingly white women. By the way, like, I was in an all-white sorority and I wore [Laura Ashley?]. So I used to think that I was a white woman. [?] And I tried. You know, I did dinners with these friends. I cried, they cried. I made them--you know, I patted them on the back. I massaged their feet. I think I might have painted a toenail or two. I mean, I did all the nice, civil things, and every single time--it was, like, straight out of an SNL skit... which, by the way, SNL is also a toxic, white, liberal mess, but it was, you know, "We don't like your tone. You just seem really angry." My favorite from one of these women was "What are you doing? You're completely alienating everyone." And I said to her, "Who's everyone?" And I said, "Are you unaware that there are people of color who actually are in agreement with what I'm saying?" And she was like, "Oh, I never thought of that," because she literally--the only people of color [she knows?] were me, one--and she's a nurse, so a couple of her colleagues. She has a black woman colleague and a brown woman colleague, and she said to me, "Well, I asked them, and they said that they think you're crazy, and, like, [that?] racism is untrue." And I'm like, "They're not [safe?] to say that. You're, like, their boss," you know? And somebody said--it's very funny. They're like, "If you're white and you have a brown or black friend who doesn't talk about white people, then you don't have a brown or black friend." Regina: I was gonna say, now, my big thing, I started working, volunteering, mentoring in a high school about six years ago, and I would--the woman who ran the program and started the program woudl tell me all the time that I hurt her feelings. You know, everything you say hurts their feelings, and I sounded like I was angry, and I just started saying, "You know what? I'm mad as hell, and I could give a shit about your feelings, so deal with it." She finally resigned, and I [?], and now the program is being run by people of color.Saira: Yeah. And by the way, like, of course we're angry. I'm sorry. Like, white women literally go batshit crazy if their spin class instructor is 5 minutes late. Go fucking crazy, right? They're angry and it's fine, like, that's fine, but we're not supposed to be angry about systemic oppression. We're not allowed to be angry about that, but they can be angry about a yoga instructor or a spin class instructor being 5 minutes late. It just goes to show you they don't care--it's not only that they don't care, they actively are fine with being participants in this. They just don't want you to call them out for it, and in some ways that's the difference between Republican woman and Democratic women, the 50% that voted for Donald Trump versus the one who kind of sat idly by on let Donald Trump win, you know? Do you know how many white liberal women I know who voted for Hillary Clinton, but their husbands voted for Donald Trump, and they didn't speak a word [?] Hillary Clinton. They didn't put a Hillary Clinton sign in their yard. When I would come into their house they would be like, "You can't talk about Hillary Clinton here because of So-and-so." So what's the difference between the husband who is voting for Donald Trump and the wife who is silent? Nothing. You know, feasance versus non-feasance. It's all the same thing. Not acting is acting.Zach: And so I'm curious, like, again, the delivery of this, and even with the [criticism?] that you've received like "You're not being nice" or "It's not being [?]" or whatever the case may be, and yet Race2Dinner is a whole organization. Like, y'all are an active organization, so clearly--Regina: That's the other thing [?]. These white women want to say, "Well, what do we do with our money?" It's like, "It's not your business. Do you go into Nordstroms and say, "What do you do with your money?" We're not a non-profit. This is a business."Zach: And so I'm curious. Like, it seems as if your approach was so off-putting and alienating that your business would not be viable, and yet it is, right? [Both: Yeah.] So talk me through--Saira: That's a good question. You just asked the question "Why?" One woman put it to us like this not too long ago, and I think this is it. She said a lot of stuff. She's the woman who said to us--I said at this dinner, particularly dinner, you all don't see Regina and I as your [equals.] You don't see our humanity. You do not see our children and grandchildren as your children and grandchildren's equals. You don't see their humanity. 7 out of the 8 of them just shook their head. "Oh, my God. Wrong, wrong, wrong," right? Woman to my left, you know, God bless her, she paused before she spoke and she said, "You know what? I'm not gonna lie. I don't. I don't see the two of you as my equal. I don't see your humanity. I don't see your children and your grandchildren, Regina, as equal to mine," and there was a collective gasp, right? Like, they couldn't believe it, and then little by little they were like, "Yeah. I mean, that's right," and at the end of the dinner this woman said, "I feel such a sense of relief. I feel relieved," because white supremacy kills everybody, including white people. It's like a disease. It's toxic and it kills you. And she said, "This is the first time I've been able to actually acknowledge this to myself, say it out loud, say it in a room full of my peers and say it front of the people that I harm every [day?]," and I think that's it right there. She articulated why we're able to get people to come to these dinners, because it is a relief for them, at least, you know, the ones who are willing to accept it and come in with fully open minds and leave their fragility at the [door.] I think it's a relief.Regina: And, you know, one of the things that I want white women to do--and I don't know why it's so hard, but it is, is to just step up when you see injustice, when you see racism, when you hear it, call that shit out and let things fall where they fall. They never do that. They're always dependent on us to be the ones calling it out, and I'm like, "Y'all started this shit. Get in here and stop it." Saira: Right, just like men created and benefit from misogyny, so men have to dismantle misogyny. We can't. Women cannot. Similarly, white people created and benefit from white supremacy, so they're the ones who have to do it. So this is--by the way, we don't allow for other women of color in the room, because the one time we did--it was a Chicago dinner. There was another Indian woman in the room, and so, you know, she's a member of the community. These are people that she sees at pick-up and drop-off at her kid's school. Every time we were speaking, looking at her and waiting to see and asking, "Well, do you feel like this? Do you feel like this?" It was a deeply unsafe space for her, just like my nurse friend asking her women of color colleagues if they felt like that. That's not safe, right? So we don't want to put other women of color in a situation where they're answering to white women in that room because it's not safe for them.Zach: In y'all's experience of having this organization, this [business?], and facilitating these dinners, like, what has been the most eye-opening experience?Regina: My most eye-opening experience is we had a dinner with several white women, 8, and maybe 4 of them had adopted children of color, okay? Black children, and we had one young woman--I would say she was maybe in her 30s. She had adopted a young black boy. This woman had the audacity to say that if her family and friends said something racist or harmful to or about her child--Saira: In front of her child.Regina: In front of her child! She did not correct them because they loved him. That's the biggest [?] I've ever heard in my life, and if I could've taken that kid away from her I would have done it.Zach: And so then--you know, a piece recently came out--and Saira, this was something that you actually tweeted about. I believe it was someone who actually attended a Race2Dinner event, and they said, you know, "Most folks don't like Saira."Saira: Well, she said, "A lot of people hate Saira." [everyone laughs]Regina: And I'm like, "There, it's out there. We can get over it." [laughing] Saira: Yeah.Zach: And so I'm curious about what does it to look like--like, what does it look like to continue to do this work in light of those types of critiques? Like, where do you get your strength and resilience from to continue this type of work?Saira: It's not easy. I'll say Regina's a big source of strength and a big source of resilience for me. Here's the deal. It's a process, right? And I would be completely lying if I said it didn't bother me when--you know, look, I've gotten used to most of it. I've gotten used to the white supremacist trolls. I've gotten used to the Nazis. What I do not enjoy is getting doxxed. That happened over the weekend by a white woman in Abu Dhabi. Doxxed me and my family, so put out our private information and tried to send Nazis to come hurt my family. I do not enjoy that. I don't enjoy that my children get left out of things, you know, because their moms hate my guts. I don't like that. It's uncomfortable a little bit to run into these old friends of mine around town, and I know what they think of me and I know what they say about me. I don't love that, but, you know, besides that, it's okay. It sounds really weird. Like, I'm actually okay, because I realized that I was filling my life with a lot of nonsense, and how many times--I mean, you know, I was thinking back on this because we're working on a bunch of stuff, but I've had to, like, dig deep, how many times--I was at a party once in college with these friends. It wasn't even a party. It was a dinner, right? And I couldn't leave because it would have been rude to leave. And it was two white women sitting across from me who were not really close friends, me, and then this white woman to my left who was a very good friend, and one white woman said to the other--her last name is an Asian last name but she's white, and she said, "Oh, my God. When I got the letter in the mail that you were gonna be my roommate, I freaked out and I said to my parents, "What have I done in my life to deserve an [Asian?] roommate?"" And they started laughing, and they were like, "And look, it turned out great!" And my friend to the left of me, she was laughing too, and I was just sitting there stunned, and I said, "Hey, you guys. I'm Asian," and then they all took another sip of their [beer?], like, spit it out laughing, and they go, "Oh, yeah, but you're not one of those kind of Asians." And I said, "No, I am. I'm actually 100%--" They go, "You know, like, the accent and, like, the weird food--"Zach: Weird food?Saira: Yeah, "And the smelly, weird food," and I looked to my friend, and she just sat there and was laughing with them, and so I did what I had always done, which I started laughing too. So I sold myself down the river and I upheld--that's how [people of color?] uphold white supremacy is I laughed as well and I let it go. How many of those experiences have I had in my life? I cannot even count them. There are too many to count, and so I'm living an honest life, and you know what that means, living an honest life? If that [means I'm hated?], so be it. Hate me.Regina: You know, as a black woman, I have learned many, many years ago that the only way I can sruvive is I affirm myself on a daily basis. I know who I am. I know what is okay with me. I know what's not okay. So when people start talking shit, "Regina's this, that and the other--" And I tell my mentees that. The best way to have a good life is know who you are. Affirm yourself, and when you get crap from anybody else, you don't have to own that because you know who you are.Saira: Yeah. And Zach, just further to that by the way, I'm trying to start affirming myself because Regina really truly is the most [evolved?] person I know. I think a big part of why a lot of people come at me--and it's all kinds of people. It's not just white people. It's black people, it's Indian people, it's Latino people. It's I'm the first generation of the "model minority" born and raised in this country, right? So we're new, and we're supposed to stay in our lane, and we're supposed to be extremely grateful and not call out white supremacy because we are the model minority. So there's something extremely jarring to have an Asian lady in the middle of Colorado speaking like this. I think that's a big part of it too. I mean, lots and lots and lots and lots of South Asian people really hate my guts.Regina: They just want her to shut up.Saira: You know? They will say--I had [?] Indian people say to me, "Stop talking about Black Lives Matter," and I was like, "They know that there's a Muslim ban. Like, they know." So I'm so confused. I mean, you're called Apu how many times a week? You're called [?] how many times? And they're just, like, pretending like it didn't happen. And really funny, the only Indian/South Asian PAC didn't invite me to their gala in 2018 when I was running for Congress, and so [Andrew Yang?] actually invited me to go as his guest. And so I went. I flew out and I get there, and it's 8 other--something like that, 8 other--South Asians all [?]. By the way, they're all, like, super white platforms and [?], and I show up with Andrew and everyone's literally like, "Who the fuck brought her?" Like, "Why did you all bring her?" I mean, it was just really funny. I mean, it's funny "haha," but yeah, like, my own people hate my guts. Regina: You will love this. Saira says at our dinners, "I'm anti-black and all of you are racist," and I go, "Guess what? Black people know that." We know that every immigrant group thinks they're better than us. We know everybody would rather be whatever than black. That's not news.Saira: So we talk about. So I just want to add that one last thing to what Regina said. You know, we'll say, "Who's racist in this room?" And most of the time no one raises their hand except for me, and they're like, "Wait, what?" And [I'm like?] "[I'm Asian?], so I've been trained institutionally to be anti-black," and then they'll look at Regina because then the next step--you know, Step 1 is dividing and conquering, and they look at Regina like, "Oh, my God. Look. You've got an anti-black colleague here." Regina's like, "All Asians are anti-black." Like, if I'm asking white people to acknowledge their own institutional bigotry, it would be wildly hypocritical of me and completely lack of self-aware if I wasn't able and unwilling to do that myself.Zach: And so it's interesting because, like--I just find it all so very intriguing, because, like, the closer we get--and I'm continuing to have conversations about the fact that November is coming up, and, like, the closer that we get to November, it's interesting that we're, like--a lot of us are still kind of moving, like, business as usual, but--Regina: I know! It's scary.Zach: It's really strange, right? Like, even though, like, we remember all of the chaos, like, that happened four years ago, like, in and outside the workplace. I recall the work day--Regina: [?] the election.Saira: We know that. We know that.Zach: Right, and so it's just strange to me that, like, even from a diversity, equity and inclusion perspective that we're not really talking about that. Like, we're not preparing--Regina: Yeah. Where is the [Congressional Black Causus?] Where the fuck are they? [everyone laughing]Zach: Oh, my gosh. This has been--oh, man, this is great. But no, I find it really curious, I find it really curious. So Race2Dinner, it's white women attending the dinners, and then you both are facilitating the dinner. What do you believe it is about--like, 'cause typically we talk about gender equity and we're rarely intersectional. We rarely talk in [?]. We typically just say "men and women," and the default of course there is white women. It seems as if there's still a lot of work to be done when it comes to white women understanding their place when it comes to understanding diversity, equity and inclusion and how they fit in this role and, like, what power they wield, and I'm curious, why do you think there's still a reticence to engage that? Even from, like, just an intellectual exercise?Regina: Well, you know, I like to say, first of all, you all--everything you've made has been on the backs of black people. Let's get that out there first, okay? So that's the first thing they need to understand. They wouldn't have what they have today if black people had not fought and died [in] the civil rights movement. So that's the first thing I want to say. The second thing, when we talk about intersectionality, we're really talking about black women and their intersection of both race and sex. So white women--this is what we try to say. You know, the foot of patriarchy is on your neck just like it's on yours. You want to continue earning 75 cents for every dollar the white man earns? Fine. But if you want ever to have equity, enjoy the same rights that white males do, you better come and join us, because we've been fighting this for a long time, and we're gonna continue to fight it with or without you, but they also have the proximity to the power. They have the proximity to the money. These are their fathers, their uncles, their brothers, their sons. So that's why they need to be engaged in this.Saira: Well, and the reason, you know, they always pick whiteness over gender is because they're benefiting greatly from whiteness, and so they've been born and raised--but they would never say that, right? That's the lack of honesty and transparency. They've been born and raised to see themselves as the greatest victims on the planet because they are below white men. So that's it. That's where their analysis of inequity--that's where it stops. It starts and stops on them being the biggest victims on the planet, and as a result they erase women of color. We don't even exist in their minds. I'll tell you what, Zach. Use this whole hoopla around the 19th Amendment 100-Year anniversary this year. It's a great window into white feminism. Susan Becky Anthony totally fucked black women, right? So the 19th Amendment [was not?] the women's right to vote. That was the white women's right to vote. And so we're not--like, black and brown women are not celebrating the 19th Amendment, but you would think all of these freaking white suits all over the place running around and talking about how this was, you know, the year that women [?]--that's not true, and there's a direct line between Susan B. Anthony and Nancy Pelosi who regularly throws her women of color colleagues under the bus, starting with Maxine Waters and every member of the squad. So I'm tired of it. I'm tired of white women, you know, lumping all women's rights together. That's not true. That's just not true.Regina: And they know it.Saira: They know it. They're pretending like they don't know it.Regina: See, the biggest issue that we have is them pretending that they don't know shit. They're here to pretend like they don't know how bad it is for women of color. They know. They're gonna pretend like, you know, we're all treated equally. They know. So I want them to stop pretending and tell the fucking truth.Saira: We ask every dinner--this is well over 100 white women around the country--how many of you would trade places with me or Regina? Guess how many of them have raised their hands. Guess.Zach: Zero.Regina: The first dinner. No, one from the first dinner, remember? That we filmed?Saira: Yeah. I mean, it's between zero to one. So they were [?] about that, so they know. They know. So they first tell us that they wouldn't trade places with us because they're better than we are, and then they'll all say--they stopped doing this though because we put an end to this nonsense--"I'm just hear to listen and learn. I'm just here to learn." You already know because you wrote the book about white supremacy. You had it optioned [?]. You've made every film. It's won every Oscar. It's been exported to every country around the world. It's been translated into every language. And you're asking us to explain the book that you wrote? Like, I'm so--that's bullshit. That's bullshit, and we are not [?]--that's fine, that's the way it is, but we're not here for it. We're not here for your stupid ass lies.Regina: That's right.Zach: [laughs]Regina: We can tell you can't wait to have dinner with us, right?Zach: No, no, I'm here for it. I'm here for it. I actually have some mentors that would love this, and actually what I really want to do is I want to give y'all space. So we'll make sure we'll put all your information in the show notes, but I want to give you actually some space, like, to plug all your information. Where can [they learn?] more, how people can sign up, all of that.Saira: Race2Dinner, R-A-C-E-2-dinner.com, and find me on Twitter--I'm Tweeting quite often--@sairasameerarao. Regina: Regina Jackson. I'm on Twitter @ReginaJacksonMe... I think. You know, I'm old. I don't know all this stuff. [both laugh] But we have a couple of great people working with us who schedule all of our dinners, and you can reach them through the website. And also we have a Race2Dinner Facebook page, and Race2Dinner is on Twitter, and Race2Dinner is on Instagram.Saira: And we're also, Zach, starting to do corporate executive teams, so boards and executive teams, because they seem to need it because diversity and inclusion is a big hoax, as you know, and, like, 95% of diversity and inclusion is run by white women. And hey, companies, white women are not diverse and are not inclusive. Regina: Well, and where do you think they get their information about racism?Saira: Yeah.[Flex bomb sfx]Saira: What we've heard from a lot of--like, the three non-white diversity and inclusion officers in the country have talked to us and said, you know, "How great would it be if you two could come in and say the things to the board and my colleagues that we can't say without getting fired?" They can get fired. We can say the shit they can't.Regina: And I just had this conversation with my husband yesterday. We've got some things going on in Colorado with our judiciary. The office of the Supreme Court in Colorado has nine black employees out of 260 something, and none of those are at a management level. So we were having this conversation and I said to him, "You know, Gary, me and Saira, we can talk shit 'cause we don't have to answer to anybody. I don't have to keep a job. We don't have to play politics. We get to just call a thing a thing." Saira: And I think ultimately, if we want to blow a little smoke up our bums, I think that people kind of like us at these dinners.Regina: I could care. [laughs]Saira: No, no, but he's asking why they [?].Regina: Oh, yeah. They want to be our friends. They want black and brown people to like them. And this is really interesting. I just--while we're talking about this, I just got a three-page letter from a white woman friend of mine--[I've known?] her probably 40 years--who is married to a black man, and in the letter she wanted--she had read The Guardian and she wanted to know about if we were gonna take on the issue of how white women that are married to black women are treated in black women spaces, okay? So that's what she wrote me about, and I talked to my husband and I said, "Here's the issue. We can't trust you." I said, "When 53% of [white women] voted for Donald Trump, and then they want to tell us, "Oh, we're in your corner," we can't trust you." So until we can trust you, I doubt that we're gonna accept you.Saira: Yeah, and Regina said that at one dinner last summer. You know, we were talking about trust, and one of the women said, "Well, that hurts my feelings. You mean to tell me you don't trust any of us in this room?" And she goes, "No, I do." She goes, "I trust Saira with my life," but she goes, "I don't trust the rest of you bitches." [both laughing]Regina: You know, it is what it is. In order to be trusted you have to be trustworthy, and white women have not proven themselves to be that.Saira: Not just that, they've proven themselves to NOT be that.Regina: Yeah.Zach: And so then, you know, in some of the pieces that I read about Race2Dinner, I know that there are executive leaders who are white women who attend Race2Dinner, and I'm curious about, from your perspective, what is it that you're seeing leaders are doing or not doing that is hampering inclusiveness and equity in their respective workforces?Saira: We just had a dinner in Chicago, what, like, two weeks ago, and I would say this was one of those--you were asking what were sort of the most poignant moments, well, this was one of the more poignant moments for me because we kind of saw the whole ecosystem at play. So this woman is a nurse in Chicago, and she said--and she, like, got teary, and she said a month earlier she was in a meeting with 9 other white women nurses and doctors and their boss, who's a white guy. A doctor, okay? A doctor. These are people who deal with brown and black lives all the time. And he said that the big thing they need to tackle in 2020 [was?] hiring foreign-born doctors, and she said, "Well, guess what I did?" And we were like, "We know what you did. Nothing, right?" So she said, "I went through the whole thing in my head. "Maybe he didn't mean it." But she was like, "No, all the foreign-born people that we've been hiring, Norwegian and French doctors. We had been hiring brown and black doctors." And she said, "I didn't say anything. I didn't say a word." And I said, "Did anyone else?" And she said no. So that to me was like, "Oh, my God." And I said, "[?] that. So you just upheld--what you all, the ten of you white women did, was every bit as toxic as what the white guy did."Regina: And harmful.Saira: And harmful. And so, you know, I said, "What if you broke the cycle there? What if you had said something?" And then Regina of course said, which is true, "Here are some of the ramifications. Let's play this out. You could have been fired, right? They would make up an excuse to fire you. "You've become a troublemaker" or whatever. You become demoted. You're ghosted. All the stuff that we've experienced, but they would think twice before saying and doing this harmful stuff the next time. Like, using your voice in these professional settings is so important because it moves the needle in a way that [?] they can actually move the needle. And, you know, she totally got it. Meanwhile, white lady to her right does exactly what they always do 'cause they need to set themselves apart. She goes, "Ugh, I can't believe that you did that. I would never do that." I was like, "No, no, no. Like, let's back it up. Of course you would, and you do, so why do you feel--" She goes, "Well, I know that you think that it's not possible that I'm not like that," and I was like, "You're all like that by training, you know?" And so, anyway, it was the need to separate herself from, you know, classic white woman behavior, and what was great is the other women at the table did come after that woman and say, "Come on, you know that we all do this. We're all silent at dinner tables. We're all silent in executive meetings."Regina: Exactly. One of the things that I make sure that I tell women, this is just the beginning. If you are going to be in this work, #1: It's work. You will be doing this for the rest of your life. #2: If you expect to gain anything, boy, are you wrong. You're gonna lose. You're gonna lose relationships. You're gonna lose jobs. You're gonna lose friends. This is not a winning game. It's not a winning game for us, and it's definitely not a winning game for white people.Zach: Oooh. See, I don't have sound effects for, like, spiciness. That's why I've been dropping that Flex bomb from time to time, but I will say this has been incredible. Before we let y'all go, any parting words?Regina: I want to shout-out to Genevieve and Lisa.Saira: The two white women who work with us.Regina: Yep.Zach: Come on, white ladies. [air horns sfx]Regina: Thank you for having us on this show, and I'm looking forward to listening to this interview.Zach: We're looking forward to everybody hearing it. Y'all, yo, now, I told y'all at the top of this it was gonna be spicy, so y'all don't--don't be emailing me with your complaints. You want to see the manager? I'm the manager. Y'all know we are unbought and unbossed, okay?Regina: That manager stuff doesn't work with me, so I get you. [laughs]Zach: Yes. No, it's not. All the emails go to me, Ade and Aaron, so we not--nope. [laughs] Y'all, this has been--man, this has been a dope conversation. You've been listening to the co-founders of Race2Dinner, and just thank y'all, thank y'all. Saira Rao, Regina Jackson. Make sure you check us out on Instagram @LivingCorporate, on Twitter @LivingCorp_Pod. Just Google us, you know what I'm saying? If you look up Living Corporate we're gonna pop up there. SEO is strong enough, okay? Check us out on all of our domains, www.living-corporate--please say the dash--dot com, livingcorporate.co, livingcorporate.us, livingcorporate.org, livingcorporate.net. We got all the different domains, y'all, we just don't have livingcorporate.com yet. Like, Australia owns livingcorporate.com, but one day we're gonna get that domain too. And shoot, if you have questions just make sure you just DM us. DMs are wide open. You don't have to follow us back. We're thirsty like that. Just hit us up. You can also email us at livingcorporatepodcast@gmail.com. Until next time, this again has been Zach, and you've been listening to Regina Jackson and Saira Rao, co-founders of Race2Dinner. Make sure y'all check out the information in your show notes, and make sure you sign up and go to have a racy conversation. All right, y'all. Peace.

Most data scientists bounce back and forth regularly between doing analysis in databases using SQL and building and deploying machine learning pipelines in R or python. But if we think ahead a few years, a few visionary researchers are starting to see a world in which the ML pipelines can actually be deployed inside the database. Why? One strong advantage for databases is they have built-in features for data governance, including things like permissioning access and tracking the provenance of data. Adding machine learning as another thing you can do in a database means that, potentially, these enterprise-grade features will be available for ML models too, which will make them much more widely accepted across enterprises with tight IT policies. The papers this week articulate the gap between enterprise needs and current ML infrastructure, how ML in a database could be a way to knit the two closer together, and a proof-of-concept that ML in a database can actually work. Relevant links: https://blog.acolyer.org/2020/02/19/ten-year-egml-predictions/ https://blog.acolyer.org/2020/02/21/extending-relational-query-processing/

By Davy Crockett  Attempts to walk backwards for ultra-distances has taken place for more than two centuries. Why? One backwards walker once said, “With the whole world going backwards, maybe the only way to see it is to turn around.” Obviously, such attempts caused a stir of attention. Common comments heard around these individuals were, “What is that fool doing?” and “When did he get out of the asylum?” In recent years some have actually encouraged the practice as a way to burn more calories, sharpen senses, train your peripheral vision, and improve balance. But walking backwards for hundreds and thousands of miles is simply bizarre. Let's first take a look at the very early history of walking backwards for ultra-distances and then examine the stories of attempts to walk backwards across America and around the world. Early backwards walking On July 11, 1817 at Wormwood Scrubbs, England, Darby Stevens started to walk backwards for 500 miles in 20 days on a wager for 50 guineas. “A line is laid along the ground which is 200 yards in length, and which he takes hold of when he deems necessary.” It is unknown if he was successful. The next day Daniel Crisp of Paddington, England took his place at the same location without the aid of a rope and walked 280 miles backwards in only seven days. A newspaper editorialized, “We have reason to believe that the idle scene of walking backwards, which continues to disgrace even Wormwood Scrubs, is encouraged for the very worst purposes and the public disgust will be still more excited, when we state that it is meant to continue these vicious scenes throughout the whole of the summer. Another of these reprehensible matches is already determined upon.” In 1821 on a road near Bath, England, John Townsend walked 21 miles backward in 6:45. In 1822 he walked backwards 38 miles in 12 hours for three successive days. “This arduous task he performed, and won in great style, admidst the acclamation of a great number of spectators.” Townsend really stepped up his backward game in 1823 when he walked 73 miles backward in 24 hours at Bristol, England on a mile out-and-back. “He commenced at midnight, a man preceded him with a lantern during the night.” He started walking 15-minute miles and large betting took place. Later that year he broke his record with 74 miles. Also that year Townsend walked backwards 64 miles per day for ten successive days at Ipswich, England. In 1824, Richard Sutton walked backwards 250 miles in six days in Sydney Gardens, in Bath, England. During the Pedestrian heyday of the 1870s and 1880, several individuals claimed that they were the "champion backward walker" and many matches were held. In 1907, Paul Guavarra, a Spaniard who claimed to be a descendant of Christopher Columbus was arrested in New Jersey for walking backwards in houses to beg. He explained that he had been on the island of Marinique when Mount Pelee hand blown up and “contracted the habit of going backwards because he didn’t dare turn his back to the volcano while he was running away from it. He walked backwards into the cell assigned him at the jail.” Patrick Harmon - San Francisco to New York City Patrick Harmon was born in 1865, in Ohio. By 1910 he was living in Great Falls, Montana working for the railroad. He also became a joint-owner of Semaphone Cigar Shop at Great Falls. A new mayor was elected on a anti-gambling platform in 1913. Harmon’s place was scrutinized and the law discovered that gambling was taking place in his establishment. It was raided an in October 1913, Harmon was arrested along with others, admitted that he had a card room, was found guilty and fined $100. In early 1915 Harmon sold his ownership of the shop, moved to Seattle Washington, and started to experiment with backwards walking in the mountains. A farmer friend, William H. Baltazor (1870-1949) also moved to Seattle with him to start over after a nasty divorce. On August 5, 1915, Harmon,

Can you believe that 2020 is literally around the corner and in six days we’re going to jump into a new year and a new decade? Now is the time of year where you’re probably going to get tired of hearing about the new you, new choices, brand new start and all those wonderful cliches about January starting.  But to be honest, it’s true. And I love this time of year because it does allow me to wipe the slate clean, start all over, start fresh, and really just take a deep breath, you know, aside from all the things that happened in 2019, even if 2019 was amazing. There’s something about thinking about what possibilities exist for me in 2020. So, what I want to walk you through today is how to map out your 2020 marketing plan in a weekend. Actually, probably in a couple of hours, to be honest. For all my people who aren’t on vacation and are figuring out this weird and funky time between Christmas and New Year’s… it really is a great place for you to kind of hunker down, write out your thoughts and plan for what you want to happen next year. I want to teach you a simple framework to really get a glance and a quick filter of: –       Where are you going? –       How are you going to get there? –       What are the tasks you need to happen? –       And how do you stay really laser-focused? If you listened last week to the episode where I talk about “Why Is No One Buying My Stuff” I mentioned at the end, the quote by Brendan Burchard that I heard at the Influencer Conference in San Diego this fall, where he said,  “Your randomness is stealing from your greatness.” Brendon Burchard Ah, that was such a dagger to me because, like so many of you, the shiny object syndrome is a real thing. And I can jump around from thing to thing so much. It’s why I put so much emphasis and believe in the power of focusing and streamlining your efforts because you really are going to see so much more growth that way. So that’s what this whole system is kind of set up to be.  Now the backstory behind this actually, of how I came to is to teach people this system and walk them through it is because I’ve been doing this all year going through a process with my church.  I’ve been on the vision team with the church since it’s a new church plant of figuring out where are we going, what are we doing?  You know, we don’t want to be just like everybody or the church down the street, right? So what does that look like for us? It was so interesting because the experience we walked through borrowed so many principles from business and corporate and kind of put them in a new light that I was like, “Oh, I am so adapting this for all of my clients because it’s such a great and simple and different way.” Now, if you have listened to the podcast for any length of time, you know, last year, I did a whole month of episodes on the #Goal Crushing System, which I still also use; but I love teaching people how to really look at their businesses, and I don’t believe that one method fits all.  So some of you are going to latch on to this and run with it this weekend. And some of you are like, Oh, I kind of wanna go back to the goal crushing one. That’s totally fine. If you’re actually going to sit down and do this, make sure you have your calendar out because I want you to be able to look back at 2019 and see all the things you worked on.  Make sure you have access to your social media. I want you to have paper and pen where you can write down Yes, I know, we’re so digital, you can type and write really fast. Okay, if you have an iPad, an Apple Pencil like I do, you can do that as well. But there’s something magical that happens when you put pen to paper or pencil tablet, where you can write it out. It just really makes things stick and kind of come to life for you in a way that doesn’t happen when we’re kind of robotically typing.  Click here to snag my bonus download of my actual worksheets that I took my clients through at my retreat this fall at the beach. Below is a sneak peek of 4 of the 12 sheets inside! A few pages from inside the 2020 Marketing Planner Workbook you can download by clicking. https://malloryschlabach.com/2020plan For this process to work, we are going to go through three kinds of exercises.  Instructions for drawing this sheet:  If you didn’t grab the worksheets from the download, create three columns on a piece of paper, and then draw five lines across these columns in rows. We’re drawing a pretty chart here.  Evaluate the Backbone of Your Business This is where you’re going to evaluate your visibility, your clarity, the processes you have in your business, the people in your business and the tech. These are all things that are happening more behind the scenes, as opposed to like active marketing things. But they’re going to be really important and helping you figure out how to move your business along so that it can support the growth that you want to have in 2020.  The columns are going to be labeled: what’s going right, what went wrong and what’s missing? We’re looking at your brand as a whole and asking the questions we usually don’t stop to evaluate on: What’s really working well, or what do you love?  You’re going to ask yourself this about each row, such as “What’s awesome about your visibility?”  And what are you really, really clear on?  What processes are just so streamlined?  Who are the people that are awesome? And when I say people, this came up at the retreat as well, asking, “what exactly do you mean?” It could mean anything from who are the people on your team or it could mean the people who are supporting you, or it could mean people like the actual leads coming in. (Your answer can be a combination of all three of those, but I want you to take note of the people because that’s going to help you figure out you know, some other things when we get to exercise two and three. And then lastly, like what’s working really well in your tech, whether that’s a software or a platform or some kind of connection or integration you have working really well? It’s always really good to just make note of what’s actually working so we don’t change something that was working well.  The middle column is “What’s not working? What’s wrong? Or what is something I really need to make sure happens in 2020?” Ask yourself these questions for: Where are you not being visible? And what’s not very obvious, or very clear? You’ll know because you’ll answer in your head: “I really need to fix that, or I need to talk about it differently or I need to word different or I need to change my website.”  Whatever it is, figure out what needs to be more clear.  What processes are broken? What’s just not working well because things are falling through the cracks?  What’s wrong with people? Are you attracting the wrong type of people? Do you have someone in your business who’s slowing you down to you need to bring someone new onboard?  And what tech is not working? What do you need to upgrade or change? For the last column, think about What’s missing? This is where ideas for growth happen based on how you answer the questions for what’s right and what’s wrong for each category, you’ll know exactly what to create, change, add, etc.  So this last question is a lot easier to answer because you can see where the gaps are. You’ve just walked through the first step in the exercise by looking behind the scenes, to see the backbone of your business that makes things run and see how it worked this year. If you don’t have these five things working, it’s going to be really hard to sustain any kind of growth in 2020. Create Tangible Ideas For What 2020 Should Look Like The next step to map out your 2020 Marketing Plan is to start to put some depth behind what needs to happen next year.  We are getting a little bit more focused with each part of this exercise so we can map everything out. But it’s hard to plan your marketing if you don’t see your business holistically and look at the big picture of your business. Instructions for drawing this sheet:  So if you didn’t grab the worksheet download and are drawing this out as we go, take out a sheet of paper and draw three columns.  In the first column, the left column, I want you to write “Where are you now?” In the second column, the middle, I want you to write, “Where are you going?” And in the third column on the right, I want you to write, “How will you get there?”  This is where I want you to brainstorm ideas.  Where Are You Right Now? Now, this is also where your calendar is going to come into play a bit too, because the first column “Where are you now?” you can look back at the chart you just made and write down some of the same answers. This column is just a list of facts.  For example, like, I’ve been in business, X number of years, I have this many clients, I made this much in revenue. This was the most popular product sold. All of those things are actual facts.  Another way to think about this question to ask yourself: “If someone could take a snapshot of your business, what would they see?”  They can see this they can see what’s working and what’s not working. They can see that you went to X amount of networking events, or you traveled to this conference, or you spent X amount of time doing blank, right?  So I want you to look through your calendar, whether it’s paper or digital and write down the things that you did, the things you worked on, what you spent time on, like, just tally it up. It’s going to be really eye-opening. And I promise you, it’s going to help you get a lot of clarity around what not to do and what to do in 2020. One thing that might help is to warn you, don’t put judgment on the statements you write. They are neither good nor bad. Just write them all out. That’s the first step.  Where Are You Going? Next, write out, “Where are you going?” If you are a dreamer, this section is going to be easy because you can envision exactly where to go next. If this doesn’t describe you and you like to think linearly, you’ll want to go line by line down your column and answer where are you going, based on your “where are you now” answer.  So for example, if you said I had X amount of clients in 2019, then where you’re going is that you want to have z amount of clients in 2020, right? You can just literally go line by line and say either where are you going? or what do you want to do differently? or what do you want to do better?  Or where are you going doesn’t have to be a numerical goal It could be: “I’m going to stop going to this,” or “I’m going to only go to these events,” or “I’m going to travel only within 50 miles” or “I’m going to only go networking once a month, as opposed to every day.” You’re going to start to see immediately what you want to do differently in 2020.  So make sure you do the first column first or you’re going to be writing pie in the sky ideas, which are never helpful.  How Will You Get There? Now for the third column, we’re answering “How will you get there?” This is where my favorite part is because it’s the strategy piece.  How are you going to do the things in the middle column and make things work? This is also where you look back on your first chart of what’s right, wrong and missing and say, okay, like, how do I fix those things? Like how do i do more? What’s right? How do I fix what’s wrong? And how do I add What’s missing? I want you to just list everything out. Again, don’t judge yourself. Don’t filter yourself. But really think about How ARE you going to get there? Where exactly do you want to go? So for example, if I were to say “I have been in business X amount of years and I want to be in business more than 10. Obviously, this is what I want to do forever, like, how am I going to get there?” Well, to stay in business a long time, I know I’ve got to have consistent action, like actually be doing things and I got to make X amount of money, or continue to make money like that’s just an easy one. That’s not even like a task.  But we’re going to be able to break that down into what you actually do in a second.  Another example is if you wrote: “I want to have X amount of clients, Or I want to have three times the amount of my clients next year,” how DO you get there? What’s the first place you could start? You could break it down by the amount of things/programs/products/courses, etc. you need to sell and how many it would take, and now we could break that down by quarter or month in the next part and start fleshing out how to market that and when.  Another example is if you want to become a speaker and this year you were asked to speak once, but in 2020 you want to somewhere every month and maybe even get paid? You probably should write down to apply for speaking things or practice speaking more or meet with people who need events. All of those could be things that fall into that category.  So I want you to go through and look at what you’ve written down for “Where are you going?”, then go across the columns to figure out “If I want to do this thing, then how do I get there? What is it going to take to get there?” 2020 One-Sheet Plan It’s time to take out another sheet of paper. So up to this point, we’re at three sheets of paper if you’re drawing it out as you read. (or you can grab the worksheets here)  Instructions for drawing this sheet:  I want you to create one long row across the whole page on top. Then create a second row and split it into four columns. Then create a third row underneath that’s all the way across (just like row one), and then create the fourth row on the bottom and split that up into four columns as well. (like row 2).  We call this the 1-4-1-4  and it’s going to be your one-page action plan, where at a glance, you can see what the things you’re supposed to be focusing on in 2020. It creates a filter of what you said you want to be focusing on and it helps take away the randomness.  This is why I love this framework so much because it gives so much clarity quickly. Instead of having 900 things to do, like you might feel like you’ve created on your “How do I get here” column, we’re going to actually break it down into when are you going to do them so you can actually figure out what’s feasible to accomplish in 2020.  Okay, so looking at your chart, let’s put labels on it.  Your very top row is going to be your five-plus year row and what’s happening in the next five or more years.  Your second column, the first one that has four blocks is going to be labeled 2-3 years. And what we’ll add here are the things that are probably going to happen in the next two to three years because it’s going to take that long to get really good or to accomplish that thing.  The third row is our second really long one. This one is labeled 1 year. In this row, we are asking: “Overall, what’s the big thing we’re going to focus on for 2020?” This is the thing that we’re consistently going to be working on throughout the entire year.  And then the bottom row becomes your 90-day plan. In this row, we are figuring out what we can only focus on four things each quarter.  To fill in this 2020 One-Page Plan, you need to look back at your “How will I get there” column and go line by line and write how long you think it would take to make this happen? For example, you’re going to see a big shift for me in my messaging and how I talk about things in 2020 to be really focused on local marketing. Why? One because I know it inside and out and almost every single one of my clients are focusing on their local market. And two because nobody talks about it. Nobody is talking about how to do marketing well in a local market, or how to take online strategies and use them online, or how to take an online business and teach them how to also get local clients.  Nobody talks about this stuff,  so you’re going to see my messages start to change in 2020. Because my five-year plus goal is that I want to become well known for local marketing. Well, for me, that’s probably going to be a thing that’s not going to take me 90 days, right? It’s probably not going to take me a year, it’s probably going to be something that’s going to take me a good two, three or more years to really feel like I am well known for local marketing, like that’s going to become my niche, my thing.  So that’s something I’m going to just automatically write a five beside because I know that’s more of like a five-year goal than a 90-day goal.  Go down your whole list like that and itemize off the things here. It doesn’t matter how many you have because you’re going to prioritize it. Once you actually see how many things you wrote down then that’s going to be really obvious of how much you can actually achieve.  You’re going to have at least 12 projects to work on during the quarter, a focus during the whole year that you’re going to be continually working at, and then you’re going to have some big-picture things you’re moving towards — so what’s really going to matter to you and what’s going to move the needle forward?  Once you put a time frame beside each one, you can start to plug it into your 1-4-1- 4.  The reason I love this one-pager is that every single week or month, once you have this filled out, you can look at it and say, “Have I knocked off any of these four things for my 90-day goals?” As you cross them off, you get to add a new one to your bottom row. And of course, it goes without saying but for each 90-day project, you have to assign someone in charge of it and a deadline. If you are a solopreneur, then you’ll obviously be tackling it all, but if you have a team of freelancers, you can assign them projects too and use the 1-4-1-4 to keep everyone on track.  The magic of this process is that it allows you to think differently about your year than just straight up monetary goals. It really does look at it holistically, but also forces you to really prioritize and focus on what’s going to make a difference in your business, so that you’re not creating these really labor-intensive crazy goals that you’ll never achieve.  Creating Your Marketing Tasks + Plan  Now it’s time to start fleshing out the timeline and tasks needed to accomplish what you’ve created on your 1-4-1-4. Here’s my example to walk you through the tactical side:  If I have a goal, like sales goal of I want to have X women in the mastermind, or X people joining the academy every month, or X strategy sessions happening, I know that I can break that down into sales goals by month.  This helps me know what I’m selling and promoting and when. Writing out numbers and how I typically sell into these programs helps me break down whether that means I should do quarterly or monthly or annual launches. Or do I just need to have more sales calls?  Then I can work backward to what I need to do to ramp up to a launch, or what events to attend to find dreamy women entrepreneurs I could talk to in person or on the phone so that I am doing the work that I know works well because of this process to hit the sales goals I’ve outlined I need to hit to reach my goals.  Well, then that becomes my marketing plan for this step because then I know when I should put these things on my calendar.  So to do this for yourself, go down your list and write down the tasks and actual work you have to do to accomplish it.  If I write “I want to become well known for local marketing locally,” then I know that one of my things should probably be to start creating some buzz around local marketing in my own community. So I’m going to do that with workshops.  So one of my things, honestly on my list of to do’s for 2020 is to hold quarterly workshops locally in my market for local business owners, because I can do that. I love the face to face thing. Maybe eventually I’ll bring them online too. But for right now, what’s one tiny segment of my list is to be known locally as a local marketing person.  Another example is you know one thing for me is I just love planning, but the downside is there are so many things that I know I want to get done. And I don’t always do them well. So I know I want to get as much as possible scheduled out and planned…. And if I don’t do it well personally, it’s what I need to hand over to a VA.  By figuring out my tasks and what it will actually take, helps me figure out who to hire in 2020 to do it better.  The other thing you need to do to finish your 2020 Marketing Plan is to make sure to write out the things that happen in your business automatically, like events you’re leading or attending, or workshops, or promotion weeks, vacation, etc. Put it all on a calendar.  For example, I know for my mastermind, I hold two retreats every year in the spring and one in the fall every six months that all my mastermind members get to come to for free. Sometimes, I open up the doors for other women to join us as well.  But I have to plug those into the calendar and figure out when I’m going to start talking about these if I’m going to invite others in or want to have all the spots filled by Mastermind members be the start of each retreat. Other questions I ask to flesh out my tasks are: “What are the big things that I want to do inside my Facebook group, the #GirlBoss club?  Mapping out your marketing plan last like this allows you to not only do the fun stuff that moves you forward but also still accomplish the daily work of being a business owner without forgetting to work ON your business. 

If you’re ready to move away from destructive habits and become a productive sales professional, where do you start? Are there daily nuisances distracting you and dividing your focus? In this episode of Sales Reinvented, Barb Giamanco joins Paul to help you get down to the root of your struggles and delivers some tips to get you started! Barb Giamanco is the founder and CEO of Social Centered Selling. She’s all about helping salesmen and women find transformation and start reaching sales goals. One of her career goals is to encourage more women to become sales professionals. If you’re looking to jumpstart your sales productivity, listen to this transformative episode! Outline of This Episode [1:05] What is productivity? [1:45] Why is it important? [2:45] Sales Technology: Less is More [6:50] Steps to improve day-to-day productivity [8:45] You NEED to know your numbers [11:50] Top productivity tools [14:45] Top 3 Do’s & Top 3 Don’ts [17:35] Barb’s favorite productivity story When it comes to technology—less is more Barb points out a stunning statistic: Salespeople are only using 15-20% of their time to engage in the sales process. Why? One reason is that companies expect their sales force to be data collectors. But should that really be their job? Probably not. If you’re in a leadership position, Barb advises reducing the administrative duties carried out by your sales staff. She also notes that there is too much focus on a tech stack. Eliminate apps, systems, and tools that don’t integrate well into your CRM. Stop using unnecessary software that makes you constantly shift between platforms. A sales team needs to be allowed to focus on making phone calls, sending emails, and connecting with people on LinkedIn. If something distracts them from that, it’s not worth using.  Knock out what you find most difficult Are you ready to improve day-to-day productivity? According to Barb, it’s all about planning. You must go into every day knowing what you’re going to accomplish. Scheduling time to complete specific tasks is how you drive results. She takes Sunday evenings to plan each day of the upcoming week—and blocks time in her schedule.  She does not let anyone interfere with that time. She advocates protecting your calendar. You need to prioritize your focus on what gets you closest to the cash. One way to do that? Knock out the difficult things first. Stop focusing your time and energy on the easy things that don’t drive results. They can fall into place later—or even be delegated.  You better know your numbers A good salesperson is focused, committed, and carries out the plans they’ve made for their schedule. Because in reality, if things don’t get done, you only have yourself to blame. This is why it’s beyond important to know your metrics. How long does it take you to close a deal? What is the average value of each opportunity? How many opportunities do you need to hit your quota?  Barb has run into many sales professionals who don’t have answers to those questions. There is no excuse!You need to know on average how many calls, appointments, demos, etc. will get you to a sale. Take ownership and learn your numbers. Barb’s top suggestions to be successful Here are Barb’s top tips: Eliminate distractions: Expounding on the “less is more” philosophy, one of Barb’s “Do’s” is eliminating unnecessary distractions. Remove all non-essential apps from your phone. Turn off notifications that drag you away from work you need to be focusing on.  Block similar activities: Do batch work for sales activities. You will be more productive when you aren’t shifting focus from one task to another.  Use Templates for personalized outreach: Take advantage of templates that you create that can be used for personalized outreach. It will take some research, but gives you a handy framework. Being a successful salesperson involves knowing how to solve the problem of your target market and offering them the solution. It takes time and diligence to learn how to do this well. Becoming more productive is one of the best things you can implement to become more effective.  Resources & People Mentioned Barb’s Book: The New Handshake Hubspot Connect with Barb Giamanco Social Centered Selling Barb’s Personal Website LinkedIn Twitter Connect With Paul Watts  LinkedIn Twitter Subscribe to SALES REINVENTED Audio Production and Show notes by PODCAST FAST TRACK https://www.podcastfasttrack.com

This morning Pastor Brad starts a new series he calls Brain Games. Pastor's Notes: 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 NKJV 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not [a]carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. INTRODUCTION Good morning, everybody. I’m so glad you’re here today! I hope you enjoyed Pastor Shane last week. How, what a word! Thank you again for all of your kind words, cards, and gifts. They really ministered to us. I really couldn’t do it all without a great staff. This morning, I want to start a brand new series entitled “Brain Games”, and we will be dealing with some very strong teaching that I believe will help you in your life. In this series, we are going to deal with the mind, and how to walk in victory. Why? One of the biggest ways the enemy of our soul attacks us is through our mind. Can I share with you a secret? It’s a big one. Lean in just a little. You ready? TRUTH: The devil is not your biggest enemy. Yup, you heard me right. “Hold up a minute, pastor! Haven’t you been teaching us about the Devil and demons?” I sure have, but He is a defeated foe. When you learn how to recognize his attacks, you can get victory. The Devil is defeated, but your greatest enemy is you! - POWER STATEMENT Today, I want to talk to you about “Tearing Down Strongholds”. What is a stronghold? A stronghold in the greek text means “a fortress” or “ a fortified hiding place”. The dictionary defines stronghold as : 
 1. a place that has been fortified so as to protect it against attack. Look at the second definition..... 2. a place where a particular cause or belief is strongly defended or upheld. In our scripture, the word “strongholds” is used in the sense of the spiritual battle, and is used in a negative aspect. In the Bible, the enemy having a stronghold in your territory means he has snuck in, set up shop in your land, and has put up walls to keep you out in order than he might keep a place in your life. The trouble is, in our minds, we actually build the stronghold in our mind, and we do our best to protect it. People can have strongholds of doubt, unbelief, poverty, religion, lust, and many other things. A stronghold is nothing but a safe place to hide in. Let’s look at what Peter gives us as some insights into the mind. ILLUSTRATION 
 1 Peter1:13-16 NKJV Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” In this passage, Peter is talking living for God, and he uses an analogy of a runner. In this culture, when they would run, they would have to take up the loose ends of their toga robes that hung down by their feet, and pick them up and tuck them in, lest that when they started to run, they would trip over it. -  We need to get a hold of the loose ends of our thought life. -  The loins are reproductive, so if we don’t get a hold of those thoughts, they will reproduce and produce fruit. Thoughts become words, words become actions, etc -  If we don’t get our thoughts in check, they will cause us to stumble in the race. 
 TRANSITION With this information, let’s see how we attack this. How does bondage get in our lives? 1. Bondage begins as thoughts. - A thought is not a sin. David seeing Bathsheba naked wasn’t the sin. Even acknowledging that she looked nice wasn’t a sin. Looking twice was the sin. James 1:15 NKJV “Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” Thoughts become arguments (justifications, imaginations) - What would it be like? - I deserve it. - It would be nice to get revenge. - My sin isn’t as bad as others. Justification become a stronghold. - It becomes the acceptable pattern of thinking. - It becomes an ingrained pattern. - This is how habits are formed (repeated behavior). So how to you tear down a stronghold? It’s more than just us laying hands on you. When you come to the altar and get charged up, you are going to have to tear this down brick by brick. APPLICATION 1. Take your thoughts captive. - If you don’t take them captive, they will take you captive. - You can’t stop the thoughts from coming, but you can stop them from staying. - QUOTE: You can’t stop a bird from flying over your head, but you can keep it from building a nest in your hair. 2. Cast down arguments -  If you skip step one, you have to be more violent. Now you must cast it down. -  Don’t coddle it. Don’t let it linger. throw it far away from you! 3. Tear down strongholds. -  Get crazy with it at this point. -  You have to really determine to get free from this. -  Destroy your thoughts and arguments and get them in the open. -  If you don’t embarrass sin, sin will embarrass you. CONCLUSION Are you willing to submit yourself to the process of getting free from bad thinking? Next week we will carry this further.

One of the side effects of a broken healthcare system is that there isn't enough fertile ground for innovation. How can innovators choose the most viable business models and go-to-market strategies? Where can we optimize and accelerate within the system in order to create growth? How can we rise above all the noise in the market? On this episode, healthcare entrepreneur, influencer, and Health Rosetta co-founder, Dave Chase shares how to solve the key issues that hinder successful commercialization.    3 Things We Learned  The healthcare system can lead innovations to the zombie graveyard. The optics of landing a big health system seems like the golden ring, but it too often ends up being a boat anchor for most innovators. Everything that encompasses the essence of a health system is the polar opposite of what it takes to successfully bring an innovation to market. Proof of this is a zombie graveyard littered with promising healthcare innovations that failed to materialize. Why? One reason is that we have to be incredibly smart about picking our customers.   Benefits brokers are an overlooked linchpin to solving healthcare. The relationship between employers and benefits brokers is the tip of the spear when solving problems in healthcare. Benefits brokers are the single most underestimated role in healthcare and the economy. For better or for worse, they make the decisions that most companies defer to and that’s what drives the state of healthcare.    Think beyond your own innovation. Don’t solely focus on promoting your own products. One of the best ways to accelerate the adoption of your innovation and create a highly defensible market position is to create a new product category and establish a leadership position in it. We should seek to be the voice in our sphere of influence for the category. Be a thought leader. By taking this approach, great outcomes will inevitably come your way.     

Fresh off his baptism, with his hair still wet, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The first thing that happens to Jesus when he launches his mission to save those who are lost is temptation. Why? One reason is because temptation proves our meddle, our integrity. If there's one thing that people who have lost their way need it's a fixed point of reference. They need someone in their life with integrity. Is your life a fixed point of reference for others to find God?

Where? River Gambler When? Sunday August 25th, 2019 12pm-5pm Who? Urban legends family What? Flavahs the ‘orange’ boatride Why? One of the hottest events for the summer in the city

In this episode, Teresa and Kevin discuss generations, employee caricatures and how change can suck. Are you typecasting your coworkers? We all do it but part of our growth as a manager is how we handle our professional interactions no matter our personal feelings.  Kevin shares the different DiSC personalities and what he’s seen so far for each position.  Dominance: managers and dentists Influence: RDHs Steadiness: dental assistants Compliance: a mix but more clinical Teresa recalls a recent class in which the audience was very clued into the generational differences and had questions about the infamous Queen Bee personality. We give you some solutions in case you find yourself in these situations. The real tip is to make sure your environment doesn’t foster this type of character. Items of note:  We will be holding team events around the country in 2020. We’re staying out of the big cities though. Why? One reason is to find new strains of bacon. We love bacon. Stay tuned for dates/cities! Kevin’s watch list includes the new Spider-man: Far From Home and Yesterday. Can you imagine a world without the Beatles?   Teresa recommends Dark on Netflix but you’ll need a character guide. It’s not a simple series. We discuss the infamous Fonzy Jumping the Shark episode of Happy Days. Yes, we’re dating ourselves but it’s relevant – we promise!  Fat Thor and Skinny Thor – thoughts?    Thanks for listening! If you haven’t already, please consider subscribing to the podcast.  Odyssey Management – Teresa’s site and newsletter Teresa’s Instagram: treeduncan IgniteDA – Kevin’s company and newsletter Kevin’s Instagram: kgh23

This Friday the streets of Tel Aviv are going to be bustling with probably over a quarter of a million people. Why? One word says it all. Pride. While we’re not at the top of the list, Tel Aviv boasts one of the world’s most impressive Pride Parades. Being situated in the heart of Middle East might have something to do with that. But what is pride? What is it that attracts over 250 thousand people to march through the streets of Tel Aviv? To many, this topic is still controversial. Not just the idea of non-hetero relationships, but also the institution of marriage, the roles and makeup of parenthood and the definition of gender itself. Shirley Charlie Kleinman is an activist, a public speaker, a journalist and the Bis Dev manager at LGBTech which is a non for profit which facilitates a social business network for the LGBTQ community in the tech industry. Shirley Charlie also advocates for the community on various media platforms and outlets. We’re very excited to have Shirley Charlie on the podcast today to talk about their life story and to enlighten us a bit about what pride really is.

Title- Why does God Save-----Scripture- Exodus 14----Thesis-----One of the most frequent questions is, Why---One of the most important questions is, Why-----Why are you here-----Why does God save-----Why can God Save-----Why would God Save-----God saves so that God's people will praise----Our God--- 1. Sovereignty - meaning -supreme power or authority.-----Our lack of faith leads us back to our Egypt---- 2. Knows what is True - meaning -in accordance with fact or reality----- 3. Protects his people - meaing -keep safe from harm or injury.-----God uses the same means to protect and the bring judgement. The parting of the sea- safety for the jews, and drowning for the Egyptians.----How did God's salvation feel- seeing God bring death to the Epyptians, and savlation to the Jews.----Why did Jesus come-----Why would a Holy God save a sinner like you-----Because of His Love-

In 2 Corinthians 3:7-11, God tells us (through Paul) that the new covenant is better than the old covenant. Why? One reason is that we have a tendency to want to live by rules, to have someone tell us what to do. Continuing his series in 2 Corinthians, Pastor Dan Brenton tells us that God has something far better than a set of rules that we can't keep on our own. Instead, he offers us a loving, empowering grace through Jesus Christ.

The Daily Marketer is a podcast about pushing through the noise, swimming through the water, and breaking through the surface. Marketing is about compounding breakthroughs; not about customers, but about human nature & what gets us to make a move. Colossal paid ad giants are heaven sent yet a huge gamble. Why? One word: complacency. Why bother exploring new channels when the 2 biggest drive amazing volume and low CPAs? Learn about channel testing and why its key for the livelihood of your startup. Show Notes Sean Ellis on Product-Market Fit: http://www.startup-marketing.com/the-startup-pyramid/ Quicksprout on marketing experimentation: https://www.quicksprout.com/2014/01/08/how-to-find-and-test-new-marketing-channels/ Eric Benjamin Seufert on marketing saturation (a unique take): https://mobiledevmemo.com/its-impossible-to-saturate-a-marketing-channel/ Episode in blog format: https://jakubkubicka.com/channel-testing/

It’s called “baby wearing” or “baby carrying”--- you may have heard of this technique and wondered what it’s all about. It’s a good idea logistically, but the great news is that it supports mental health and overall well-being in parents and caregivers when a new baby comes into the family. We’re finding out more about the ins and outs of baby wearing on today’s show.   Laura Brown is a baby wearing expert. She has been passionate about this topic for over a decade. She’s here to share details about this practice from her perspective, and how she uses her experience to help moms and partners after baby comes home. Since the birth of her first child, Laura has dedicated herself to providing the latest evidence-based information and support to caregivers throughout the birth and postpartum period. She founded one of the largest baby wearing non-profit organizations, helps train other birth and postpartum professionals, counsels manufacturers, and speaks nationally about baby carriers and their use. In addition to being a baby wearing consultant, she is also a full-spectrum doula, child passenger safety technician, lactation educator, and is kangaroo-care certified. I personally used this technique with both of my kiddos, and I saw firsthand the many benefits of baby wearing.   Show Highlights:   Baby wearing: the act of carrying your baby on your body with a baby carrier Laura’s work, and how it began 10 years ago with the birth of her first child, when she noticed the benefits to baby, maternal mental health, and the freedom to leave the house with baby How she teaches baby wearing classes, works with other healthcare professionals, and consults with baby carrier manufacturers The importance of teaching caregivers this skill set  How to find a carrier that’s right for you and why most people will need more than one type of carrier Why ONE carrier will not fit your every need and every situation How a baby wearing class, consultant, or expert can help you find the right carrier and the right fit Why baby wearing is important in the postpartum period: Babies need constant attention, so baby wearing can alleviate stress for mom Helps the baby’s muscle development, social development, and brain development Helps bond the baby to their caregiver Why baby wearing is just another tool in a caregiver’s toolbox, shouldn’t be used all day every day, and can be custom-tailored for how you care for your baby How baby wearing helps with anxiety and depression for mom, releasing oxytocin and connecting mom and baby When baby wearing may not be a good idea: when baby has complex health issues or the caregiver has chronic pain Where to get help with baby wearing: most localities have groups or non-profits where you can learn about different carriers and take classes; even some retailers and manufacturers offer help, and YouTube has videos with troubleshooting information about baby carriers The hopeful message about baby wearing: “Keeping baby close to you enables you to do what you need to do in the postpartum period.”   Resources:   Visit Laura’s website: www.mamabirdlosangeles.com   Find Laura on Instagram: @mamabirdlosangeles

1Corinthians 10:16 This cup of blessing which we bless…the communion of the blood of ChristThe good thing about an empty cup is that it can be filled. We can have three cups and pour water over all of them. One is filled and the others are not. Why? One is turned upside down and one is filled up with so much matter that it cannot receive water. It is about being willing to receive, being emptied of what doesn’t matter, and always willing, always receiving. The supply does not stop, just our receiving, or being filled up with other matters. Ephesians 5:18 … be (being) filled with the Spirit…Acts 4:31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. Luke 11:13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”There are many doctrines concerning the Holy Spirit (The baptism, anointing, intercession). We do not need more doctrines of the Holy Spirit, we just need more of the Holy Spirit. God wants us to receive the Spiritual blessings and they have already been given.Ephesians 1:3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Compare the blessings to Jacob and Esau. They represent to two sides of us, our Jacob self and our Esau self. They each wanted different types of blessings. Jacob felt empty until he reached out hungrily for the heavenly blessing. Esau reached out hungrily also, but for a worldly blessing. Jacob was filled and ended up walking with a limp, to remind him of his struggle to go through anything and to wrestle with everything, even God, to receive the blessing. (Isaac/Ishmael, David/Saul, Jesus/Adam.People cannot relieve the stress of the emptiness of their lives by focusing on emptiness and seeking to fill it with things to have, or things to do, or things to know, but only by having the emptiness filled up with God Himself in the fullness of His Spirit.How do we deal with evil in the world around us - can we eradicate it? No, we simply do not focus on the evil but we fill our world with the presence of God and his goodness. In a similar way, the experience of salvation is not the absence of sin in us but the presence of God. Light removes darkness. In the same way problems and difficult circumstances exist and are always with us. But they do not dominate our inner being. He does not always take our problems away but gives us the Emmanuel answer.  How does this make the problems lose their power over us? They simply have to move over because we are not focussing upon them but upon a reality, the greatest reality – the Emmanuel reality. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. We cannot have our focussed attention on the two arenas of activity at the one time. It is from the place of realized Emmanuel presence that we receive wisdom to address the problems with faith and not with fear or unbridled imagination. Romans 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.              The empty cup

All around the world tennis players perform much better in practice than they do in matches. Why? One of the biggest reasons is they bring their practice mindset with them into competition which severely limits their chances of winning! Today’s episode of the Essential Tennis Podcast clearly outlines exactly what you should be focusing on in practice and the big shift you should make when you walk onto the match court. Execute what you learn and you’ll win more tennis matches, period!

Does RESPECT exist in today’s marking and advertising world? Listen as world-leading branding expert and author, Bruce Turkel, discusses with host Mike Domitrz how respect plays a role in the media and advertising world today. * You are invited to join our community and conversations about each episode on FaceBook at https://www.facebook.com/MutuallyAmazingPodcast and join us on Twitter @CenterRespect or visit our website at http://www.MutuallyAmazingPodcast.com**   SCROLL DOWN TO READ THE TRANSCRIPTION   BIO:  Bruce Turkel. Useful, Valuable, Enjoyable. Whether creating brands, books, or explaining brand strategy on national TV, Bruce’s energetic creativity makes brands more valuable. He’s created campaigns for AMEX, Miami, Discovery, Hasbro, Bacardi, and more. Simply put, Bruce is a brand builder, keynote speaker, TV personality, and author. Bruce appears regularly on MSNBC, CNN, and CCTV. He’s been inFast Company, The New York Times,andForbesand has authored five books on branding and creativity.   Bruce has helped create some of the world’s most compelling brands, including Hasbro, Nike, American Express, Charles Schwab, Citicorp, Discovery Networks, Bacardi, Sol Melia Hotels, Partnership for a Drug-Free America, HBO Latin America, Canyon Ranch, Miami, and many more. He is a keynote speaker, author, musician, artist, and runner who tours extensively.   Perhaps you’ve seen Bruce on TV.He is a frequent guest expert on the national news and appears regularly on FOX Business, CNN, CBS, MSNBC, CCTV (Chinese Television) and NPR.   Perhaps you’ve read about Bruce.He has been featured inThe New York Times, Fast Company, Communication Arts, AdWeek, andSpeakermagazines.   Perhaps you’ve heard Bruce speak.He has spoken at MIT, Harvard, TEDx, and hundreds of corporate and industry conferences around the world. In 2017 the National Speakers Association inducted Bruce into their Speaker Hall of Fame.   Perhaps you’ve read one of Bruce’s five books.His most recent book,All About Themwas chosen as one ofForbes Magazine’sbest business books of 2016.   Perhaps you’ve heard Bruce playing his harmonica.Bruce fronts the popular Miami R&B band Blackstar.   Perhaps you’ve seen Bruce’s artwork.Bruce is an incessant doodler and is famous for his caricatures of the local and national business leaders he’s worked with.   Perhaps you passed Bruce in your last marathon.He is a dedicated — but slow — runner. Meet Bruce Turkel.He is about to share some of his simple yet proven powerful brand building techniques with you.   LINK: http://www.BruceTurkel.com   Books: All About Them, Bruce Turkel Orbiting The Giant Hairball, Gordon MacKenzie Designing Your Life, Burnett & Evans READ THE FULL TRANSCRIPTION of the EPISODE HERE (or download the pdf): **IMPORTANT: This podcast episode was transcribed by a 3rd party service and so errors can occur throughout the following pages: Mike:                       Welcome to the Respect podcast. I'm your host, Mike Domitrz from MikeSpeaks.com, where we help organizations of all sizes, educational institutions, and the US military create a culture of respect. And respect is exactly what we discuss on this show, so let's get started. Mike:                       This week. We've got a very special guest also a friend of mine's, I love having friends on the show. That is Bruce Turkel. He's a brand builder, keynote speaker, TV commentator and author. If you watch any business news on cable, you've probably seen him, whether it was MSNBC, or CNNI, or Fox News in the past, you've seen this guy. I've gotten to know him and I realized he sees things others of us just don't see, and that's one of the cool things about getting to talk with Bruce. So Bruce, thank you for joining us. Bruce:                     Thanks for inviting me, Mike. You're right. It's fun to do this with friends. Mike:                       Absolutely. And you and I are going to get into a decision you've made recently and publicly, via blog. It's really powerful. Before we get into that, I want to talk about how you view respect in its role in advertising and marketing. For everybody watching and/or listening. Bruce is a guru in the marketing branding world. That's what he's known for. He's worked with some of the largest brands in the world. How do you feel that respect plays a role? Bruce:                     You know, there's two ways to look at marketing, branding. I think there's two ways to look at a lot of things. There's the positive way and there's the negative way. And you hear people talk about the negative way that advertisers and marketers try to convince people to buy things they don't want, don't need, and can't afford. And that's certainly the negative way of doing it. Or you can say the positive way, which is that advertising, marketing. Branding is the engine of the economy. It's what keeps people interested. It's what keeps people involved. It's what keeps people engaged. Bruce:                     If you're running a business, it's what allows you to actually provide the products and services that you provide, because people are interested in them. If in fact, you are consumer, it allows you to find out what's out there, what's available. It also subsidizes a lot of media that we take advantage of, whether it's radio or television, or online, or any of the things that we don't pay for. Bruce:                     Part of the reason we don't pay for that content is because of advertising and marketing/ So I, of course, prefer to look at the positive side of. That being said, then respect becomes very important, because if you're going to do this from a positive point of view, then in fact you have to be careful not to be selling people things they don't want, don't need, and can't afford. But instead, to be demonstrating to people why your client's products and services, or why your products and services actually will make your customer's life better. Bruce:                     That's what the respect is about. Now, you're providing something of value. I tell people that when I speak, when I write, when I commentate on television or when I create marketing campaigns, I want the stuff I do to be useful. I want it to be valuable. And I want it to be enjoyable. Mike:                       What- Bruce:                     In order to accomplish those things. It has to be respectful as well. Mike:                       What percentage of advertisers that you see out there, companies selling, do you feel fall into that negative stereotype that brand has such harmful viewpoint of advertising marketing that people get. You know, the old stereotype which could be unfair, that used car salesman stereotype. How many people do you feel that are out there? What percentage that is manipulative? That it's not based on respect, that it's based on emotional and psychological manipulation, just to sell? Bruce:                     Well, as soon as you use the word percentage, then you're asking for metrics that I don't actually have. I don't know what percentage. I do know that often the pieces we remember, the pieces that put a bad taste in our mouth tend to be those. I mean you used as an example, the used car salesman. Now you're thinking of the sleazy guy, the polyester jacket, the sleeves rolled up. And the guy who's just trying to get you into a car and get your money. But again, think about the other side, you have to get your kids to school. You've got to get to work. You want something safe. He wants them to reliable. A used car salesman who knows what they're doing, and is intent on providing service is not like that at all, but what do we remember? Bruce:                     We remember the negative stereotype. And there's plenty of it. Believe me, I am not making excuses for the industry or for the negative practitioners. I'm simply saying that what a lot of us do in my opinion, actually makes the world a better place. Mike:                       Oh, I agree. And that's why I said that whether it be an unfair reputation of that used car salesman, because we buy used. So I'm not somebody that runs from a used car salesman at all. If you find the right person, they're wonderful and they do take care of you very quickly. But it is, you're right, it's that negative impression people have about- Bruce:                     That's right. Mike:                       ... marketing. Because the media environment is so confrontational right now. Do you think that respect is passe? Bruce:                     Passe? No, not at all. I think respect is less and less prevalent. I think what's happened is there's an old political saying, "There's no margin in the middle." And I think what you find is a lot of the practitioners will avoid names for the sake of whoever's listening and might have an opinion different than mine. But a lot of the practitioners are using the bassist most, brutal forms of communication because they're always easier, cheaper to use, and they always hit hard. I mean, getting hit with a bat is a pretty low level communication received, right? If I want to convince you of something, I could try to convince you. I can quote the masters, I can give you good information. I can hit you with a bat and say, if you don't believe me, I'm going to hit you again. Bruce:                     It works. It just doesn't work well and it's a brutal backward facing way of getting your point across. And I think that's what we're seeing now. We're seeing that so many of these backward thinking strategies are working that people are utilizing them. So no, I don't think respect is passe at all. I think that respect right now is taking a backseat in many instances to things that maybe work a little quicker and a little stronger but don't ultimately work better. Mike:                       So there's a documentary out now, at the time we're recording this on Mr. Rogers, called "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" And this discussion is actually prevalent to that, because he talks about when TV came forward and really hit its mainstream, how it was the lowest forms of comedy the TV was turning to. The pie in the face, the violence, the cheap violence. And he was so offended that why would such a wonderful tool, why would be a wonderful medium be used at the lowest common denominator spread these messages? Mike:                       And that sort of what you're saying right now is that there's so much of that lowest level being used, that it's overwhelming. So the question became in the documentary is, can there be a place? How do you get back to that place where respect can be at the forefront where you can think at a higher intellectual level in the advertising? What do you think it would take for market advertising to have that paradigm shift, to go to a place that's really built on respect, dignity for the consumer, for people watching? Bruce:                     I think what happens is over time, technologies and use of new technologies adapt and they adapt progressively and get better and better. So when movie cameras were first created, the silent movies, all they did was record plays because plays. Because plays where the way, theater was the way you presented a story. And it never dawned on anybody that you could do something different. So what do they do? They set up the camera, they set up the tripod, and they filmed the play. Then someone said, wait a second, we don't have to keep this camera in one position. We can actually take it outdoors. Bruce:                     We don't have to make believe we're on a wagon going into the wild west, we can actually go out and film it and they went out and changed the way they did that. When television took over from movies, took over from radio rather, what did they do? They took the same radio characters, the Amos, and Andy's, and the Lucy Balls, and all of those who were on radio and they simply put them on television, because it never dawned on anybody that you could create a new paradigm, a new visual language with this new technology that you had. Bruce:                     And what we're seeing now because of where the Internet has gone, is that people are saying, "Okay, I have this new technology. I can go on a Facebook. I can go on a Linkedin and I can change people's opinions, and I ... " Same thing that marketing and advertising has always tried to do. And what did they do? They use the old tools and techniques. But over time, what happens is those things fall by the wayside as people start to see different ways of utilizing the tools. Bruce:                     Now remember, there's an old saying in marketing, "Does marketing take its cues from popular culture, or does popular culture take its cues from marketing?" Meaning, if you see somebody wearing an outfit on television that you like, do you go out and buy it? You took your cue from popular culture or are the people who were putting out popular culture walking on the streets and saying, "Oh, I like what that guy's got on, and then moving it into popular culture." Bruce:                     And my answer is, it doesn't really matter. As I see it, it's a back and forth. It's a constant give and take. So if what's going on in popular culture is of a lesser respectful nature, less of a regard for people's individual rights, people's individual space, however you choose to define it. Then you're going to see that reflected in popular culture and then of course the popular culture. And, I'm sorry, the actual culture builds on popular culture and vice versa. As you see respect returning to the mainstream, you will also see it happen more and more in marketing materials. It's a constantly moving, constantly self-perpetuating, self-feeding process. Mike:                       And what do you think it's going to take for respect to come to the forefront in either one, so that that cycle you mentioned, you know, if it comes to the forefront in society, then marketing will follow? Or if marketing leads, what do you think it's going to take for that to happen? Bruce:                     Leadership. People standing up and saying, this is the way things go. I mean, if you think about respect, if you think about respectful behavior throughout history, you can find certain benchmarks in history based on people, based on leadership. And whether its religious leadership, or political leadership, or business leadership, or technology leadership, or medical leadership, irrelevant. You can find that different fence posts, signposts rather, where respect, concern for the other became the way you get things done. Bruce:                     Conversely, you can also find times in history where the opposite was true and you can see where those trains were driven to completely mixed my metaphors. And if you think about the statues in a park, you never see a statue with a group of people pointing in a direction. In fact, the only statue I can think of with a group of people, is the flag raising in Iwo Jima where all the GIs, the marines rather, are putting the flag up. Bruce:                     Every other statute is one person, tends to be male, but that's because of the way history was written. Right? But one person on a horse with the sword pointing, because it's these leaders that show us the right way. PART 1 OF 3 ENDS [00:11:04] Bruce:                     It's these leaders that show us the right way to proceed, the right way to move forward, and the right way to behave. Unfortunately, it's also leaders who drag us backwards and show us that the other works as well. Mike:                       Yeah, my wife was driving by a billboard this weekend and stopped and took a picture because the billboard, and I'm paraphrasing, was a simple statement, but powerful. Something along the lines of, who I love should not be able to get me fired. That was the whole billboard, and you thought, "Wow, that's an important discussion," and obviously, in the line of work I do, we believe strongly in that, respect and dignity for all, but you don't see a lot of billboards like that, and if you do, it tends to be, as far as from a moral or civil comment, it tends to be of a religious organization. Bruce:                     Well remember that for a billboard to be there, someone had to pay for it. Mike:                       Right. Bruce:                     In order for it to be paid for, it has to be an institutional viewpoint. You're not going to pay for it. A billboard costs between 3, 10, 20, $30,000.00 a month. You have those good feelings, that who you love should not get you fired, but are you willing to reach into your bank account and buy that sign? You're probably not, so most opinions that you see in popular marketing tend to be institutional, businesses, governments, associations, religious institutions and so on and so forth, because they're able to put their money where their mouth is. They're able to go out to their constituents and say, "We're going to promote this viewpoint." Bruce:                     What's changed in today's society is social media. Social media has completely democratized communication, and completely democratized information, and completely democratized the individual's ability to go out and make a message, so one person can go out and say something on social media, that we never could do before. This broadcast that you and I are doing is a perfect example. Neither one of us is investing the kind of money that billboards would cost to get our opinions out there, and so what you are going to see is more and more popular speech become more and more widely disseminated. Of course when that happens, you're talking about non-sophisticated marketers, who don't understand how to use marketing tools yet, and they're out there screaming into the chasm, and hoping they hear something back, other than their echo, and what gets somebody to scream back the quickest? Being provocative, saying something that will clearly upset somebody else, that's how you get the back and forth, if you don't know how to utilize creativity, if you don't know how to utilize psychological tools and techniques to get people to pay attention. As this social media gets us more and more democratized, what you're going to see is more and more low level marketing until the populace learns how to use the tools. Mike:                       How do you, or who do you feel is a good example of somebody that is leading from a moral conviction and getting messaging out there? I can think of one. For the past decade it was the Dove campaign, and the Dove campaign had the women in underwear, and saying all shapes and sizes, that everybody is of value, that we should be able to love your body. Actually I know, Stacey, one of the original women in that campaign, is a friend, a fellow speaker, an NSA member. They were leading the way at that time. Who do you see leading the way right now? Who are some top brands that you've seen? Saying, "Hey Mike, they're taking on social issues," and in doing so maybe taking risk, but it's in alignment with what they believe institutionally. Bruce:                     Well, it's not only through marketing. It's also through corporate behavior, so for example we saw what happened when Starbucks had that issue, I believe it was in Philadelphia, where two African American patrons were waiting for a friend, didn't purchase anything. The manager called the cops, and that became a big issue, and we find that offensive on a very basic level, which is that didn't happen to the White patrons, it happened to the Black patrons, therefore we're all offended. It was offensive on even a greater level to Starbucks' authentic truth, which is they provide what they call the third space, the place you and I can go and have a meeting, and use a bathroom, and have a cup of coffee and chat, and air-conditioning and lights, the Wifi and all of that. Bruce:                     In response, Starbucks could have very easily said, Howard Schultz could have said, "It's one store. It happened once. It was in Philadelphia. We have," I don't know how many stores they have, "We have 28,000 stores around the world, come on, give us a break," but he didn't do that. Instead, what he said was, "This is unacceptable." He didn't blame the manager. He said, "We have not done our jobs making sure that everybody in our universe understands the way we treat our patrons, and therefore we are going to commit ourselves to providing a respectful environment." They closed all their stores for half a day. They did training to all of their employees. They are committed to continuing training. They've already hired 10,000 veterans. They're committed to hiring another 10,000. They're committed to hiring another 10,000 inner-city, Black, Hispanic, and other minority workers. They are committing to keeping their bathrooms open for people who don't have access to bathrooms. They are doing it on every level. It's not simply, "Look at our advertising," although the advertising reflects exactly what they're talking about, and they're not making jokes about Black coffee, you know, which they could, right, because that's the quick way to get that message out. Bruce:                     Instead, they're saying, "This is who we are. This is what matters to us, and this is what we're going to do about it." Why? One guy, it was Howard Schultz, who came back from being, he had moved from CEO to Founder, to Chairman of the Board, to whatever, but he came back and said, "No, no, no. It's not going to work this way. Here's how we're going to do it." One guy on a horse with a sword. Mike:                       Your book's all about this. Your latest book title is, All About Them, which is what we're talking about right now. They made it about their alignment of their customer, and their client, and their demographic, not about just getting out there and defending themselves, that would be all about me, right? That's not even who I am, that's one fluke like you're describing. Mike:                       When we talk about All About Them, why do you think we fall into the trap of whether you're a speaker, an expert, a big, large institution, organization of making it about ourselves, right? Look at me, look at my product. Why do we fall into that, and how can we be more aware and present to making it about them? What are steps that we can take to make sure we're making it about them every day? Bruce:                     Well there's three reasons why we do it. The first one is just personal insecurity. "Look at me. Look what I've done, because I need to build myself up. I need to feel good about myself." That's for a different show, and people with different expertise, but the other two reasons that we do it, reason number one is because in the old days, pre Internet, if you didn't blow your own horn, if you didn't tell people who you were and what you did, who was going to tell them? There was no way for anyone to find out about you. Bruce:                     If I was interested in having Mike Domitrz to come and speak at my event, how could I find out about you, other than calling you and saying, "Hey Mike, would you send me a video tape? Would you send me a brochure?" You needed to go, "Look at me. Look at me. Look at me," but today, before I call you on the phone, I know everything I want to know about you. The key is that I want to know because some people go to your website, go to YouTube, look things up. Go to Google, what we call the belt and suspender people, right, they wear both because they want every detail. Other people don't care that much. They don't bother, but you being out there yelling, "Look at me. Look at me. Look at me. Look at me," is a fool's errand because that information is available. We used to say, "Imagine if we each had a magical device that knew everything." Siri, Cortana, Google, Alexa, Echo know everything, so being out there and yelling, "Look at me," there really is no benefit to it. That's reason number two. Bruce:                     Reason number three should be the simplest one of all, no one taught you this. Nobody said, "When you're marketing, when you're branding, when you're building your business, stop talking about yourself." You know about it when you go on a date. You could be that guy on the date who says, "Yeah, I did this, then I did this, then I did this, then I did this," but you understand that if you do that, the conversation's not going to go very far, but when we talk about our businesses, nobody said to us, "Look, here's the way you do it." Bruce:                     Look at the best advertisers. Look at how they promote themselves. What you will see is, they never talk about themselves. Apple does not tell you why their computers are better. They don't talk to you about speeds and seeds. They don't talk to you about technological advances. What are they saying right now? Behind the Mac, and they show a picture of a person with a laptop. Oh, I don't want to print this so I'll open it, and they show the person behind the computer. On the billboard I saw yesterday, they guy's like this. Now you don't know what he's looking at. You don't know what this means. It could mean, "Oh my God, I just declared bankruptcy." It could be, "Oh my God, look at my new granddaughter." You have no idea, but you have been in that position before, and so they're not talking about their equipment. They're talking about you and I. They're talking about the experience of being behind the Mac. Bruce:                     When they had their campaign thing different, they didn't say, "Think different because we have an M17 megahertz processor." They talked about the people who have thought different in history. Joan of Arc, Leonardo Di Vinci, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, and so on and so forth, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and why you can be like them. Why Apple empowers you to do this. We see these messages all around us. We see the best companies, the best marketers, do it. We just have never been told, "That's how you do it." Now you've been told. Mike:                       Right. Bruce:                     That's why I wrote the book, by the way. Mike:                       Well I love that, and so pick up the book and we can all learn that. That becomes really important to talk about. How does someone help people find, like you said, you can do anything to find anything you want about people, so are you referring to the fact that you need to be serving up content, you need to be serving up valuable information? If you're going to put yourself out there, put it out there in a way that you're serving, that you're providing helpful information so that when they are searching, and they run into you, they see somebody who aligns with what they're looking for, is that what you're referencing there, versus look at me? Bruce:                     Of course. Mike:                       No, no, let me just ... Hey I've got some info., helpful information here. Bruce:                     That's right and information is only one way to look at it. It can also be entertainment. It can also be explanation. It can also be editing. I mean, for example, some of the most popular sites on the net are travel sites because when I travel somewhere, I don't know where to go, so I look for people I trust. The reason I think that Anthony Bourdain was so successful was we could relate to him. We felt his pain. We felt his normal-ness. He was one of us. [inaudible 00:21:41] what we should do. He became our editors. We went to Paris, or we went to Peking, we could see what did Anthony Bourdain suggest we do, so editing is a great thing you can provide for people. "Hey, here's what I know a lot about. Let me help you have a better experience." Travel, food, music, electronics ... PART 2 OF 3 ENDS [00:22:04] Mike:                       Food, music, electronics, software. Whatever it is you know about, providing that level of, let me help you. I use an algorithm in the book, CC 2 CC. The first CC stands for company centric, the number two stands for to, and the second CC stands for consumer centric. How do you take what you know, company centric, and how do you transfer it to your consumer? And more importantly to your potential consumer. And that's what we're talking about. Put the content out there, that there's things I want to read, because either I'm interested in the information or I find it amusing. Or I find it thought provoking, or I find it provocative. Or I find it helpful. Again, I don't know what your interests are, and you don't know what my interests are. Mike:                       But if your an expert in something, you know what it is you can provide. And you have to demonstrate to people that by interacting with you, with your materials, their lives will be better. Bruce:                     And so, is the mistake that some people are making today, in thinking when they put out an video, or they put an article, they put something out in the world, is they're thinking, what do I need to say to get attention? Versus, what is the best way I can entertain, serve those who would enjoy this the most. Bruce:                     Right instead of just saying, look at me, versus how can I be of service or of entertainment? Is that what you're referring to there? That idea that, "Hey, I'm going to do this video, because then I'll be the one everyone's talking about". Versus, "I'm going to do this video because nobody's saying this right now, and we need to have this conversation". Mike:                       So I love the word serve. Because if you say serve, that includes inform, entertain, excite, edit, whatever because it all fits under the umbrella. Yeah, you don't want to be the little kid at the pool, on the diving board going, "Look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me". And at that point there's only two things he could do to make it worth my while. He could either do a perfectly executed double back flip. Or he can jump up in the air, and belly flop and make me laugh. There's nothing else that kid's going to do that's going to make up for him interrupting me. Mike:                       Think about old school marketing, the look at me, as the foot that someone sticks out in the isle of the airplane or the movies that you trip over. It interrupts your day to day. It makes you pay attention, but it's not necessarily a good thing. And the provocative statements tend to do that. Whereas the person who says, "Oh, you're going to Des Moines, well let me tell you some great places to eat". I've never been to Des Moines before, I'm interested, I want to hear that. That will make my life better. "And when you go to this restaurant, you know what, the maître d's name is Christina, tell her I sent you and she'll take really good care of you". Wow, now I get to travel like a local, that's awesome. Very different than the person tripping you and saying, "Hey here's some coupons, when you go there you can save money on stuff". Bruce:                     Yeah. Mike:                       One's respecting your time. One's respecting your intelligence. And today's show's obviously all of our shows are all about respect. For you Bruce, who instilled respect in you the most? Through your growing up? Through your development? Through the business years? Bruce:                     There were I think probably three or four people who did it. The first two were my parents. My parents were real sticklers for this. My dad's belief was, you do the right thing, because it's the right thing to do. I remember when my friend Alan got $5 for a B and $10 for an A. And I came home, and said, "Hey, Alan just got" ... Alan wasn't that smart I don't think he got that much money, but. "Alan just got 25 bucks for his report card Dad, and looking at you owe me 70 bucks". My father looked at me like I had three heads, and he said, "What are you talking about?"I said, "You know, Alan gets $5 for a B and $10 for an A". And he said, "You're supposed to get A's, that's your job, my job is to clothe you, feed you, house you, teach you about the world. Your job is to be the best you can be. Now I'm not saying that you might not get a D occasionally, or a C and that's so terrible, but your job is to do well". There was no reason why. There was no explanation right. It was the right thing to do. And I saw my dad do that in business. And I saw my dad do that in all his social activism. Bruce:                     My parents did the first anti-segregation sit in's in the South in Miami in 1959. My parents did amazing things. My mother was just as upright, but also added an intellectual component. Where she wouldn't just say it's the right thing to do. She would give me five books that I had to go read. That explained throughout history, why these things mattered. Bruce:                     And then, when I was in the orchestra. My orchestra leader, and crazy enough, my band leader, because I was a musician in school. Both of the two of them, really instilled this idea, that music is this ideal that you strive for. And the reason you strive for it is because you have to respect everyone who's come before. The composers, the musicians, the audiences. And if you get up, and you don't do a good job, you're not only disrespecting yourself. But you're disrespecting this entire tradition of music. And you're disrespecting the people who are listening to you. They didn't say you had to be perfect. Hey we were Junior High School musicians, we weren't that good. But the point was, you're doing the best you can do, because you respect yourself. And you respect the people that you are producing this music for. And you respect everyone who's come before you and who's laid the path. So we stand on the shoulders of giants. And that's how we become giants ourselves. And I think that is a clear indication or why respect matters. Mike:                       I love that. And you spoke of your mom giving you books to read. And I know you're a big reader, obviously your book is one that we'll have a link to for everybody, All About Them. You also told me about two other books that you're a big fan of. And that is, Orbiting the Giant, I believe it is Hairball by Gordon Mackenzie. Bruce:                     Orbiting the Giant Hairball, yup. Mike:                       Yep. And Designing Your Life by Burnett and Evans. Can you explain what about these two books you love? Bruce:                     Well let me, you brought up three points. So first of all, my mother and books. I had brunch with my mother yesterday, I left with two books. I need to read The Undoing Project and The Sense of an Ending, so my mother still does that to this day. Mike:                       That's awesome. Bruce:                     Designing Your Life is sitting right on my desk. It's not because I thought you [inaudible 00:28:10]. I have notes on every single page. Designing Your Life is a great book. It simply talks about, what is it you want out of life? It was a class at Stanford that has no become the most popular class at the university. And every student is required to take it. And they make you do something that I thought was fascinating. They make you write just a 30 minute, one pager, it's easy to do. A business plan. Here's where I think my business is going. Here's what I think I want to accomplish, on and on and on. A couple of pages later, they ask you to write a life plan. Here's what I want to accomplish in my life. Here's who I want to be. And then they say, okay now put the two of them together. And you find a sense of congruity between the two. Does the business plan help you achieve what you want to do in life? Does the life plan help you decide what you want to do in business. Amazingly enough, I have never thought of that before. And my guess is, the people listening are going, "I never thought of that either". So that's why I like that book. Bruce:                     Orbiting the Giant Hairball, which is back there on my bookshelf, is a book written by the guy who was the creative director for Hallmark Cards. And he's the one who took Hallmark Cards from just having the plain, sappy greeting cards, to all those little wacky cards. And cards that talk to different groups, and different people and different interested. And the entire book is about moving forward towards being the ultimate manifestation of who you are. And why you matter. While bureaucracy, entropy, all the other forces try to drag you back. Accept even though those are big words, by the title of the book, Orbiting the Giant Hairball, you can tell that he doesn't take it seriously. And so he's talking all the time about Why you matter. Why Earth matters. Why music matters. Why you need to express who you are. And it's just really an inspirational and a wonderful, wonderful book. Mike:                       I love it. Thank you so much for sharing your brilliance with us, Bruce. I know you and I just recently got to spend a little time together. And being around you, your energy, your spirit, your brilliance is always awesome. So thank you. Bruce:                     Wow. Thank you. Mike:                       Absolutely. And for everyone listening, remember you can join us on Facebook at our discussion group. So it's The Respect Podcast Discussion Group and really dive into your favorite parts that were shared today by Bruce. Insights maybe to check those books out. But let us know what you loved. That's on the Facebook discussion group for The Respect Podcast. Mike:                       Thank you for joining us for this episode of The Respect Podcast. Which was sponsored by The Date Safe Project at datesafeproject.org. And remember you can always find me at mikespeaks.com. PART 3 OF 3 ENDS [00:30:55]  

Who is Jase Harley? I met Jase a few weeks ago. A super-talented artist and an amazing musician. I was hooked to his music immediately. One week later, the whole hip-hop world was talking about Jase Harley. Why? One of the biggest hits of 2018 – Childish Gambino’s “This is America” sounds VERY similar to Jase’s song “American Pharaoh” – created in 2016. Do we talk about this in the interview? Not really; INSP.EAT is not that much about sensations. We rather talk about creativity, inspiration, about Jase’s philosophy of Urban Futurism. Why he doesn’t agree with Picasso’s “Good artists copy, great artists steal”? Check the video interview from the Forbidden Spot in Prague with Jase Harley.

Who is Jase Harley? I met Jase a few weeks ago. A super-talented artist and an amazing musician. I was hooked to his music immediately. One week later, the whole hip-hop world was talking about Jase Harley. Why? One of the biggest hits of 2018 – Childish Gambino’s “This is America” sounds VERY similar to Jase’s song “American Pharaoh” – created in 2016. Do we talk about this in the interview? Not really; INSP.EAT is not that much about sensations. We rather talk about creativity, inspiration, about Jase’s philosophy of Urban Futurism. Why he doesn’t agree with Picasso’s “Good artists copy, great artists steal”? Check the video interview from the Forbidden Spot in Prague with Jase Harley. Or listen to the podcast below the article or on iTunes here: https://bit.ly/inspeatpodcast. Follow Jase Harley on Instagram or check his YouTube channel! Quotes from the interview: “[My inspiration comes from] living, breathing. Every day that I wake up, every new experience. That’s the key to inspiration – it’s just living. I think that’s the best process. I surround myself with good people. And living becomes an inspiration.” “I have drafts of different songs. I freestyle stuff. I mostly write in my head.” “Friends that […]

This episode centers around the topic of trust. Trust in others, even in ourselves can be one of the greatest challenges alive. Why? One word, fear!

When you were a kid, a combo meal from McDonald's would cost you no more than $5. Now, you can't leave Mickey D's without spending as much as you would on a Chipotle bowl with chips. Why? One word -- Inflation. In this episode of #MYDM, we take a look at the effects of inflation on the cost of goods and on those working toward or already in retirement. Ben & Malcolm also share their views of an NCAA pay-for-play scandal. Hosts: @mydm1 and @malcolmonmoney Music: @beatsbybeemen Speak you mind! Send us an email at info@manageyourdamnmoney.com.

Tom MacDonald is in business to be with and support free enterprise. He has, since his military career, wanted to protect and defend smaller businesses from giants like Telus and Bell. While they earn billions in profits – some to shareholders, most to the bank, ask yourself, where does it come from? Small Businesses. Family Businesses. People that work too hard and fail too often. Why? One reason is that HUGE companies cannot and do not have their interests aligned with both their customers AND their shareholders! Alternatives exist rather than supporting Telecom Companies with your hard earned money. Tom has challenged BC TEL / Telus for over 25 years, Nortel too. What you’ll learn about in this episode: The fight Tom had against the big phone companies at the beginning of his business where people picketed his business and smashed in his headlights Why downsizing is happening in technology companies right now The rate technology is changing right now and why you have to embrace that You only have one life: how Tom’s life changed after a motorcycle accident that was supposed to leave him unable to walk Why you need to get a mentor in your life as soon as you possibly can Why you need to desire to be better and then seek out people who are better than you in the specific areas you want to be better in Wisdom = knowledge + experience Health, relationships, and money: why you need mentors in all three of these categories Get to know yourself: why you need to follow your heart Seek answers: why you need to be perennially thirsty for knowledge Why you need to network with people who are better than you are The power of setting goals Building your company to sell — no matter if you have plans to sell it soon or not Ways to contact Tom: Website: www.tmsi.ca Facebook: www.facebook.com/TMSI.Telephony1.800.667.2818 LinkedIn: Who is Tom MacDonald? YouTube Videos: How Do I? The Extreme Business Talk Show with Tom MacDonald, Telecom Entrepreneur – CKPM 98.7FM 8:30am PST every Saturday – www.CKPMFM.com (to stream LIVE)

Affectionately known as Mary Poppins for the new millennium, Gorgeously Green’s Sophie Uliano is a New York Times bestselling author passionate about helping people live life in a more holistic way (check out her previous episode 178). And you know our other two guests from episodes 112, 151 and 179, Joy and Jay the Jing Slingers, superfood organic chefs, experts in anti-aging, longevity and tonic herbalism, and authors of the Food with Benefits recipe book. They’ve cracked the code to create culinary masterpieces packed with health-boosting superfoods and tonic herbs. We couldn’t think of anyone better to start the year with! Let’s set those New Year intentions! How can we feel more empowered, more gorgeous, and healthier than ever? First tip: resolutions are out! New year’s resolutions simply don’t work. In fact, over 90% fail. Why? One reason is because when we set ourselves rigid goals, we set ourselves up to not carry them through long term, and this leads to feelings of shame, blame and judgement. The underlying emotion is: I’m not good enough. And that feeling makes positive change almost impossible, and keeps you feeling like a failure. So much for a “happy” new year! We all want change because we think it’s going to make us happier. It might be losing weight, getting a new job, buying a bigger house, getting married. But that’s the lie. Because happiness doesn’t come from external factors. Happiness comes within. If you can be happy by being grateful with what you have right now, you’re vibrating at a higher energy, and that’s when beautiful things happen. So why not ditch the new year’s resolutions, and have a new year’s evolution instead? Evolve to be more at home and comfortable in your own skin, be more present, and be there for those who matter in your life. Here are our New Year VIP Health Panel’s tips on making your 2018 happier and healthier than ever! • Take baby steps—otherwise you won’t keep it up long term. Make small manageable goals that are sustainable. • Return to the present—when you’re present, time becomes more malleable. It’s not about the coming year: it’s about the now. • Change the way your talk to yourself. Set intentions in a gentle way and trust in the flow of the Universe. • Have a rampage of gratitude. Wake up and be grateful for your pillow, the roof over your head, the comfort of your body… If you start your day with gratitude, you open your heart to see the beauty all around you. • Open yourself to guidance. The Universe will steer you to the right path. • Expand your perspective to get yourself out of the ego state that locks you into your mind. • Be willing to take what you want—there’s no need for shame. • Be grounded in the present—what’s going on with you right now? Journaling can help you work out what you’re feeling, and let go of difficult emotions. • Realize that the ups and downs are all part of the experience of life, and part of being human. Experiencing the darker emotions helps you to appreciate the lighter ones. • Allow yourself to feel the whole range of your emotions. Even depression can lead you to something better. Tips to release weight in a healthy way: • Know where your weight came from. • Be really clear about why you want to lose weight and where you want to be. • Get to know your body, it will help you work out the best diet for your unique needs. • Weight-loss is a metabolic and hormonal response—you need to take a long-term sustainable approach. Crash diets don’t work. It’s about quality of food and nutrients. • Exercise is a huge component of health—strength training can turn your body into a fat burning machine. Challenge yourself to do something you couldn’t easily do last week, or change it up and do something completely different. • Focus on a whole food plant-based diet. Being hailed as “Sex and the City for Food,” The Food Heals Podcast brings together experts in the field of nutrition, health and healing to teach you the best-kept natural secrets to being a hotter, healthier, happier YOU! The Food Heals Podcast is hosted by Allison Melody and Suzy Hardy – two self-proclaimed natural chicks who will rock your world and change your beliefs about health! This sexy, savvy duo provides eco-friendly advice on a variety of issues including the healing power of nutrition, living authentically, turning your passion into your career, choosing the best natural health and beauty products, the benefits of a plant-based diet and so much more!

Hey, I hope you guys are doing great. I've got somewhat of a fast episode for you today, but this is a powerful lesson. Look, I used to do door to door sales, and a lot of you guys know that. That I was a door to door sales guy, and I wasn't bad at it, and I was a telemarketer as well. I chose to do those things on purpose because I wanted to be able to go through experiences that would teach me how to sale in high pressure environments. I wanted to learn how to sale in environments that ... Frankly, I wanted to get uncomfortable. Which was a weird thing for me to realize that I needed to go do, but in order for me to grow and get out of my shell I had to do that. So I went and I started doing door to door sales. I started going, and I wasn't bad at it, like I said. In fact, I was the number two first year salesmen for like half the summer. Then there was this experience I had that completely ruined me. One day I was driving out to the area, and I was with a bunch of other guys. We were in my buddy's it was either a truck or SUV, I can't remember what kind of car. We were driving out and there was all these billboards on the highway. If I've told this story before just kind of bear with me. There's an aspect to this that I think you should hear. We were driving out, and all these billboards on the side of the highway. Then suddenly I had the thought hit me, hard. This was my exact thought. Isn't it interesting that I am driving out to convince people to spend money, who woke up and were not planning to spend money today versus people who call these billboards off the highway are trying to get information on how to buy. I was like that's interesting. That's very, very interesting. You guys ever heard the term, prospecting pushes while marketing pulls? I was basically prospecting. Door to door wise I was prospecting. I was going door to door prospecting this thing, and that's the reason I don't like to go to the mall. I'm not telling you not to do that. I'm not telling you to not sale ways that you've proven to go do it. If you're a master at home parties awesome. I'm not, and I don't want to learn to be. That's part of the reason why though. Is because, prospecting pushes and marketing pulls. Right? I want to be able to market and kind of pull people along who are already in motion. What I did though is a kind of actual door to door thing. What I did though is I remember I was kind of ruined the rest of the summer. I went back home after the summer, actually before I went home I started placing all these ads all over the internet. I started placing these ads out, and I started saying things like hey here's our ... I basically put our pitch, the same pitch that I was giving the people on the doors I put in ads on free classified sites on the internet. I didn't realize that I actually was breaking some laws by doing that, but I was just taking action. I had to take them down after a while, but what was crazy is my phone started blowing up, and I was getting phone sales like a beast. More sales than I typically was averaging in a single day were just coming to me. My boss was like, "How are you doing that?" I was like, "Dude, I literally just placed these ads out on the internet. Oh my gosh this is crazy." I was ruined though. I was ruined. I had to take them down, and I couldn't stop, but there was this opened fleet window of just all these sales coming, and these sales coming. I was like, "Oh my gosh. What is this?" It ruined me, because I kept walking around thinking I know that I could sale today, but how did that happen? How can I replicate that? Was that just a fluke? I mean, it happened so quick, and there was all these people, and I got tons. It was like holy crap. So I was ruined the rest of the summer because I was like there's a different way to do this. How do I do this? You can use the internet for this kind of stuff? I was so new, I was so green. This was four and a half years ago. When I first really started to learn about funnels, sales funnels, and the internet, and things like that. Anyway, I've never forgotten that. I went on to go learn how to place different ads in different places, and how to communicate to a bunch of people at once rather than just one on one. Fast forward a little bit. So Russell Brunson and I run an event currently right now called the FHAT event, Funnel Hackathon. Okay? For three straight days we basically help someone set up the funnel, and business, and structure, and sales message, and offer to get them from zero to seven figures. That's the whole event, and it's kind of high ticket, and it's a ton of fun. It's three days long. We really don't let people sleep much, and it's awesome. We had this realization though. We were prepping for one of these, and he gets onstage and teaches a while, I get onstage and teach a while, we'll get on together we teach a while. That's how it happened in the last one anyway. Then he leaves, and then I pretty much take the full second day almost, and then almost the full third day. It's a lot of fun. We go from 9:00 AM to midnight. It's a long day. It's a long day to be on stage, long day to be on, long day to be turned on and be in on mode, presenting mode the whole time. I really like it. We were planning for one of these events, and we had done it many times, but we were just refining. We were making things better. We had this epiphany. We had this realization while we were preparing that one of the major reasons why we were being so successful with this stuff was because, what we had learned how to do was instead of selling one to one ... This is super key you guys. Oh my gosh, what I'm about to say here can change your entire MLM for good. This is the reason why ... I know why I'm being successful with this. I know why my funnels work. I know exactly ... It's not an accident. I know exactly what is pulling people to me, and I know exactly why I'm able to still breath. I know exactly why I'm still able to live, have time, do things that I'd like to. I know why. I know exactly why they convert, and why, why it's being successful. Which is worth way more than being successful by accident. Here's why. It had to do with this realization, I don't know how many months ago this was it was a while ago though, we were preparing for one of these events and we had this realization that the reason we were being so successful was because we had learned how to sale one to many, instead of one to one. That's the reason I don't like to go do hotel meetings, it's the reason I don't like to do talk to people at the mall moves, or talk to people ... I'm not good at those things. They stress me out. I'm actually not that amazing person to person. I'm fine onstage. It's funny enough, I actually am more relaxed on stage then sometimes one on one. It's not that I don't want to meet people, or that I don't like interviewing people, I do. I love that stuff, it's awesome, but for some reason face to face I don't know what it is, it's my personality. I'm not shy, but I'm more comfortable on stage in front of a ton people than just one on one. Which is interesting, because selling one to many is the whole thing that I teach people how to do at that event. The type of presentation that allows the entrepreneur to do that. All I've done, all I do with my actual down line is I teach them how to sale one to many. How to pitch one to many, how to be prospecting, how to be marketing one to many. Instead of one to one, instead of thinking through the two or three people that you could get into your down lines. Do you know the average person only pulls in like, I heard the stat was like 2.3 people in their whole MLM career ever? Holy smokes. Guys I pulled like 20 people in in my first week. Why ... And I'm not bragging. I am not bragging. I'm just trying to prove to you that what I'm talking about works. Then they all went out and they recruited people. I have no idea how many people are actually in my down line, it's a lot already though. Which is awesome. It's just so cool. Why? One to many. So you got to start thinking through yourself like ... Here's one of the easiest ways to start thinking through a one to many presentation. You've got to include some automation behind it. I'm not telling you to become a tech guru, or tech whiz. Will it help? Sure, because everything is technology now, but you don't need to be. The first time that I ever put a one to many style pitch out there, I didn't realize I was doing it. I stumbled on it. There was a course that I was putting online, and at first I was making people buy it, but I thought like how interesting if I just made this thing for free. What I did is I took these videos ... And I know that some of you guys are from those early days and you've been following me that whole time, and I appreciate it, and that's awesome. What I did though is instead of making them locked, I actually just made them available to everybody. Funny enough, weirdly enough I was testing a few concepts at the time without actually being in MLM at the time. I had left my first one. You could say I was between MLMs, but I was testing some concepts. This was probably three years ago. Yeah, three and a halfish, three years ago, somewhere around there. Anyway, I released them, and I put them out there. What was funny is at first no one saw them, because they were still like a paid thing. I think. It was so long ago, and I've built so many funnels and pages, and lived on the internet so long that I'm trying to get the story straight. Regardless of timeline, all I did is I put these things, I made them public on YouTube instead of hiding them, instead of making them unlisted. What was interesting is how many people on a steady stream started reaching out to me asking to join my down line. I was like fascinating. Oh my gosh it's working. All these people started jumping in, and I ended up joining one. So I guess this is my third one. Interesting. I didn't do anything in that second one. I joined it out of frustration, because so many people were asking me to ... I won't say the name of it, but I joined it out of frustration simply because, my boss was in it, and there were so many people who were asking to be a part of what I was doing. I just needed a place to go, but I got out of it because my heart wasn't in it. Which I do believe does matter to a degree, so I got out of it. Anyway though. That's all I'm trying to say though. Is guys think through the pitch. Think through, what is the stuff that you say to every single person? I know you say the same thing to every single person, which you should, which is great. That's the script. Stick to the script. Understand you deviate very, very slightly if you need to, but how do you make progress if you can't measure it. How can you measure it if it's different every time? It should be the same. You know what I mean? What I did, and what I'm doing right now just so you guys know, is I am furthering my one to many pitch. My one to many pitch. So what I do is when someone wants to join my down line they go through an application process at joinmydownline.com. Which I did a whole episode about that, if you want to hear about it. How I do it, why I did it. Please don't go apply unless you're serious about it. It is an actual live thing. Which it's crazy guys. Get anywhere from one to two people applying a day almost, which is awesome. With no ad spend, nothing else. That's crazy. It's grown all over the place. Again, this is not me beating my chest guys. I just want you to know that gosh it freaking works. You should do it. No one teaches this in MLM. That's the thing that frustrated me so bad. That's why I decided to come back to the industry. I was like are you kidding me? No one told me about this stuff the first time I was going to that first one. Are you kidding? So what I've did, and what I'm doing is I'm creating a one to many pitch. So after somebody applies to join my down line, I'm creating a one to many pitch. Meaning I recorded all of the ones of me doing it live over, and over, and over, and over again, so I know what all the common questions are. I know what the biggest questions are. I know what the biggest concerns are, and I know ... There's an episode I talked about getting fuel for my auto closing script. I think like two or three episodes ago, but this is the evolution of that though. Is selling one to many. What I'm trying to do, I'm trying to hit this topic again because I feel like ... It's always funny for me to see which episodes of these I get a lot of feedback on, and which ones I don't. The ones I don't I'm like, are you kidding that was one of the biggest pieces of gold I could've given you. Please for the love, did you understand that? So I feel like I have to hit it again. But go create a one to many pitch. That is the reason why this thing works the way it does. You don't just create a one to many pitch, or an auto closing script once. You go through it and you refine it, and you refine it, and you refine it. If you've never done the pitch live, or if you've only did it a couple times do not automate it. Okay? It's terrible to automate something that's broken, that wasn't good in the first place. Don't automate crap. Make sure you're automating good things. That's the whole purpose of this guys, and that's what I was telling people at one of the last events I was doing too. It was day number one, I was getting on there, I stood up and said, "Hey look, I want you to understand that what you guys have the opportunity to learn is the opportunity to learn how to sale one to many." Which is very unique, very unique. The easiest way to go about this is to start looking at how you ... Getting fuel for your auto closing script, that episode two or three ago, that was all about getting critiques and responses, and writing down the concerns of all the people who are coming in and telling you no. No or yes, but specifically no. What were all their main concerns? They're giving you a lot of fuel, that's why it's called fuel for the auto closing scripts. But, the other flip side of it, the reason I wanted to bring this up. Which has taken me a while to get to. I'm so sorry, but the reason I bring this up is so that you start paying attention to the things that you're saying over, and over, and over again. The auto closing script is this marriage of both those sides. Both what the market is telling you no over, or yes but mostly no, and then all the things that you're saying over, and over, and over again. It very well may not be related at all to the script that your MLM has given you to say. It may not be related to that. It may not sound like the one I gave you. That's fine. That's fine. Anyway, that's all I've got for you guys. I guess it really wasn't that much of a shorter episode, but that's it. You guys understand it. Start thinking through the things that you're doing over, and over, and over again as far as pitching, and learn how to automate it. Then go ... You could do it with YouTube videos honestly, and just put them out there. Someone who is looking for information on how to get better on their MLM on YouTube, that's the kind of person who's there to be successful. That's the kind of person who's there to be a rock star. They're looking for information. It's a great place to be. Or podcasting, or whatever it is. Whatever you decide to do, but learn how to sale one to many. The secret sauce is there. If you look at the way a lot of the top people in your MLM are number one, I guarantee you there are several of them that are there because they created a one to many pitch, and they sold it from stage. Hey we're going to get it in the order of the people who are ... How shall I say this? Order forms in the back, and you join my down line in the order that we get the order forms in the back. There's a big table rush that happens in the back, and people go running to the back, and they fill out the forms, and they're throwing the forms back because they want to get first, because they know everyone else is going to be below them automatically. That's a one to many pitch. I'm not telling you that you have to go that extreme, but there's some aspect to that that you can pull into your own MLM. All right guys. That's all I got for you. Hope you're doing great. I am refining really phase two/three of my auto closing area. I'm building it as I need it. Just like anything else, so I need it now. All right guys, I'll talk to you later. Bye. Hey thanks for listening. Please remember to subscribe and leave feedback. Would you like me to teach your own down line five simple MLM tricks for free? If so go download your free MLM masters pack by subscribing to this podcast at secretmlmhacksradio.com.

“Culture is the only human practice that can actually dig into the root of a trauma and try to undo it in the first place. And this is why people are so afraid of culture, and in particular theatre. ‘Cause when there’s a human being in front of you having an experience, it’s very difficult to ignore them. It’s hard to ignore a play.” — Dan Fishback Dan Fishback and Motaz Malhees both made waves in the New York theater scene this fall with plays about Palestine. Motaz performed with the Freedom Theatre of Jenin in "The Siege," at the NYU Skirball Center. Meanwhile, Dan's play "Rubble Rubble" was abruptly and controversially cancelled by the American Jewish Historical Society. In this joint interview, Dan and Motaz talk about their work, and explain why culture is their weapon of choice against the injustices of the occupation. This episode of Unsettled is hosted by Max Freedman. Original music by Nat Rosenzweig. Recorded at The 'cast Sound Lab in Brooklyn, New York on November 6, 2017. Edited for length and clarity by Ilana Levinson.  Photo credit: Sammy Tunis Dan Fishback is a playwright, performer, musician, and director of the Helix Queer Performance Network. His musical “The Material World” was called one of the Top Ten Plays of 2012 by Time Out New York. His play “You Will Experience Silence” was called “sassier and more fun than 'Angels in America'” by the Village Voice. Also a performing songwriter, Fishback has released several albums and toured Europe and North America, both solo and with his band Cheese On Bread. Other theater works include “Waiting for Barbara” (New Museum, 2013), “thirtynothing” (Dixon Place, 2011) and “No Direction Homo” (P.S. 122, 2006). As director of the Helix Queer Performance Network, Fishback curates and organizes a range of festivals, workshops and public events, including the annual series, “La MaMa’s Squirts.” Fishback has received grants for his theater work from the Franklin Furnace Fund (2010) and the Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists (2007-2009). He has been a resident artist at Kelly Writers House at the University of Pennsylvania, the Hemispheric Institute at NYU, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and BAX/Brooklyn Arts Exchange, where he has developed all of his theater work since 2010. Fishback is a proud member of the Jewish Voice for Peace Artist Council. He is currently developing two new musicals, “Rubble Rubble” and “Water Signs,” and will release a new album by Cheese On Bread in 2018. Motaz Malhees is a Palestinian actor born in 1992. He received his professional training in Stanislavsky, Brecht and Shakespeare at The Freedom Theatre in Jenin Refugee Camp (Palestine), and in Commedia dell’Arte at Theatre Hotel Courage in Amsterdam (Holland). Motaz has trained with internationally acclaimed directors such as Juliano Mer-Khamis and Nabil Al-Raee (The Freedom Theatre), Di Trevis (Royal Shakespeare Company), Thomas Ostermeier (Schaubühne Theatre), and Katrien van Beurden (Theatre Hotel Courage). His stage credits with The Freedom Theatre include: “Alice in Wonderland” (2011), “What Else – Sho Kman?” (2011), Pinter’s “The Caretaker” (2012), “Freaky Boy” (2012), “Courage, Ouda, Courage” (2013), “Suicide Note from Palestine” (2014), “Power/Poison” (2014), and most recently “The Siege” at the NYU Skirball Center. Motaz has also acted in films, including: “Think Out of the Box” (2014, dir. Mohammad Dasoqe), which screened in Palestine, Germany and Mexico; and “Past Tense Continuous” (2014, dir. Dima Hourani). As a versatile actor, Motaz has performed in multilingual plays as well as in scripted, devised, physical, epic and fantasy theatre. Motaz also produces and performs in short films about social issues in Palestine, which have received a wide following on social media platforms. Having grown up in Palestine, and experienced the economic and political hardships of life under occupation, Motaz has been actively interested in acting since he was nine years old. He lives through theatre, and believes in the potential of art to transform people’s ideas and lives. REFERENCES "Arna's Children" (dir. Juliano Mer-Khamis, 2004) "The Life and Death of Juliano Mer-Khamis" (Adam Shatz, London Review of Books, November 2013) "Center for Jewish History Chief Comes Under Fierce Attack By Right-Wingers" (Josh Nathan-Kazis, Forward, September 6, 2017) "Jewish Center Faces Backlash After Canceling Play Criticized as Anti-Israel" (Jennifer Schuessler, New York Times_, _October 11, 2017) Program note by Oskar Eustis for "The Siege" at NYU Skirball Center (October 2017) Indiegogo campaign for Dan Fishback's "Rubble Rubble" "Return to Palestine"(The Freedom Theatre, 2016) in Arabic without subtitles Theatre of the Oppressed NYC Housing Works  "All Your Sisters" (Cheese On Bread, 2017) danfishback.com @motazmalhees thefreedomtheatre.org TRANSCRIPT DAN: So many people warned me against making work like this. And yeah, I got canceled, but in the process, I have tremendously powerful friends now that I didn't make before. MOTAZ: Doesn't it make you stronger after they cancel it? DAN: Yeah, of course. Yeah. MOTAZ: Didn't it make you more like want to do it? DAN: Oh, yeah. MOTAZ: That's a good thing, then.   [MUSIC: Unsettled theme by Nat Rosenzweig]   MAX: Welcome to Unsettled. My name is Max Freedman, I’m one of the producers of Unsettled and your host for today’s episode. Now when I’m not working on this podcast, I’m a theater artist, and I know how hard it can be to make a life in the theater and get your work out there. However hard you think it is, imagine you’re trying to tell stories about the occupied West Bank. Enter Dan Fishback and Motaz Malhees. Dan and Motaz both made waves in the New York theater scene this fall with plays about Palestine. Motaz was in New York performing with the Freedom Theatre of Jenin in “The Siege,” a play about the Israeli siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, during the Second Intifada. Dan, on the other hand, made waves because of a play that didn’t happen, rather than one that did. His play, “Rubble Rubble,” was supposed to go up at the American Jewish Historical Society, but they cancelled it. I’ll let him tell you why -- and what happened next. Dan and Motaz didn’t know each other before, but I had the privilege to get them in the same room to talk about their work and as you’ll hear, they had a lot in common. In preparation for this interview, I dug through years of old journals and found my entry from the day I first met Motaz, when I was in Jenin, three summers ago. Really big and underlined a few times, I had written two words: CULTURAL RESISTANCE. So that’s our theme for today. Quick note: besides the three of us, at one point you’ll hear the voice of my co-producer Ilana Levinson. I think that’s all you need to know, so, let’s get started!   MAX: Welcome to Unsettled. Uh, why don't you start by introducing yourselves? MOTAZ: Eh, first of all I am so happy to be here with you guys that's before I introduce myself. I am Motaz Malhees, so I am an actor from Palestine, I used to work with the Freedom Theatre since 2010. I do a lot of politics theatre but also the same time I do also for community, I do like for kids show. But I feel like, whatever needs, I give, like...it’s not important the type of theatre I do. But nowadays I'm freelance, and I work like with all theatres in Palestine, my country, because I don't want to be just involved with one place -- even that's I always say that the Freedom Theatre, that's my place and my home. DAN: I’m Dan Fishback, I’m a...I make performance and music and theatre in New York, I’ve been here since 2003 -- I don't know, what do you want to know? MAX: Where’d you grow up? DAN: Oh my gosh! I grew up in a pretty normal American Reform Jewish family, outside Washington, DC in Maryland. In a family that...was essentially a liberal Zionist family, although I don't think they would have necessary articulated themselves like that, they just imagine themselves being normal. And I heard growing up, “If only the Palestinians were nonviolent, then they would get what they want. Because they're asking for something reasonable, but it's because they're violent that things are problem....that that's the reason why there's a problem.” And like, the older people around me as I was growing up were always saying, “If only there was a Palestinian Gandhi” -- that was like the refrain, over and over again. And now I find myself 36 years old, going back to my communities and being like, “There’s this huge non-violent Palestinian movement! And it’s international and we can be part of it, it’s boycott, and blah blah blah.” And everyone’s like, “Oh no, no no, this makes us uncomfortable too.” I'm like, “This is what you were begging for my whole childhood! And now it’s here! Why aren’t you excited? Why aren't you as excited as I am?” That’s where I’m from. MOTAZ: That’s cool. DAN: And it’s an honor to be here with Motaz, whose performance in “The Siege” was absolutely amazing. MOTAZ: We not sure, but there is like people who really want to bring it back to the U.S. again, because it was a really successful show like for the Skirball Theatre, even like they almost sold out. MAX: Let me back you up a second, because, I want you to imagine that I have never heard of “The Siege,” have never heard of the Freedom Theatre. Can you tell me -- tell me what it was, tell me what it is. MOTAZ: “The Siege” it's a story about the invasion happened in 2002 in Palestine. There was like eh...invasion for the whole West Bank: in Jenin, in Nablus, all the cities. Like, one of them was Bethlehem, and in Bethlehem there was like a group of fighters, freedom fighters, who fight and defend back from their homeland. They have like many guns defending themselves, and they have in the other side -- the Israeli side -- there is tanks, Apache, Jeeps, all kind of guns you can imagine your life, heavy guns. And they were like around 45 fighters, 250, 245 civilian -- priests, nuns, children, women, and men, from both different religions -- who’s like stuck inside the Nativity Church for 39 days. With the like first five days they have food, after that they have no food. And they surrounded with around 60,000 soldiers from the Israeli army. They want, like, to finish it. So they, they have pressure, they don't wanna -- even the fighters, says khalas, it’s enough. Their people are suffering, their families are suffering outside because of that. So, they sent them like a paper, they have to write their names, the number of their IDs they have, and their signature. So, the fighters sign on it, and they know that's thirteen going to Europe and twenty-five are going to Gaza. They don't know even where they going. So, they sent them to exile the same day. DAN: When my friends and I were leaving the theatre, all we were talking about is, we were so curious about what their lives would be like after fifteen years of exile and we couldn’t wrap our minds around it. MOTAZ: I know one of them is personally, and he told me a lot about it. And it’s really important to bring this piece because of one reason: they didn't choose. Even they signed the paper that say they have to go to exile, but like they was under pressure, and they thought it's temporary and that they would return. And eh, I know how much they are really broken from inside. They never show this to people.But from inside, if you know them personally, they are really broken, and they just...all they want, just to see like at least their families. Some of them, they can’t. Their family, like they can't get the visa to go to visit them -- like, for example, the two guys, Rami Kamel, and Jihadi Jaara who living in Dublin, they haven't seen their families at all. One of them, like Jihadi he have a son that's his wife give birth like after one week he was sent to exile. He didn't even touch his son, he's fifteen years old, like...at least, like, okay, you don't want to send him back to Palestine. Let his family visit him! Like, this is the minimum of humanity. And eh...a really important point we have like always to say: those people was in their homeland, they was in their own city, and they fight back. They didn't went to...yeah, to Tel Aviv to fight, or to somewhere inside Israel, to fight the people over there. They was fighting the…defending themselves from the Israeli army. MAX: How did you get started with the Freedom Theatre? MOTAZ: Woo hoo! Since I was like, eh…fourteen I heard about it, or thirteen -- and I was dreaming about to be in there cause I’m, since like eight, nine, I start doing acting. It's like something I really love from inside, like I really really want to be an actor. Not because like I wanted a name. Because I can hold the stories, I can share stories for all over the world, I enjoy it, it's something beautiful and strong in the same time. So when I was sixteen, I heard about the hip-hop workshop, dance hip-hop workshop in the Freedom Theatre. So I went there and I apply for it, and I get involved with the workshop, and the last few days Juliano just came and he said, “We open a new class for theatre.”   MAX: Juliano, who Motaz just mentioned, is Juliano Mer Khamis, who started what is today, the Freedom Theatre. Real quick, I want to tell you the remarkable story of the Freedom Theatre of Jenin. During the First Intifada, Juliano’s mother, a Jewish Israeli Communist named Arna Mer, came to Jenin, where she helped to establish housing and educational programs for children in the refugee camp there -- and eventually a children’s theatre called The Stone. Arna died of cancer in 1995, and during the Second Intifada, the Stone Theatre was destroyed. Arna’s son Juliano returned to Jenin for the first time since his mother’s death in the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Jenin, and made an incredible film called "Arna’s Children" -- Motaz will tell you more about this in a bit, but it’s on YouTube and I highly recommend it. It was after finishing this film that Juliano returned again to Jenin to found the Freedom Theatre. In 2011, Juliano was assassinated, but the Freedom Theatre has persisted. Alright -- back to Motaz.   MOTAZ: So I get involved and I put myself in that place since 2010. And it’s been like around...now, now you could say like eight years almost. It is...hard and eh, good in the same time. It is, ‘cause you face emotion, a lot of different emotion. But I love it. It's like, it’s become my home now. I’m always there. Even if I have nothing, I go pass by drinking coffee there like, chill, see what's going on, if they need help or something, because I'm part of the family. MAX: Well we met because I went to visit the Freedom Theatre. And you were just hanging around and we sat there and talked for an hour. MOTAZ: Yeah yeah. MAX: Alright, so, Dan. DAN: Yeah. MAX: Tell me about your work and particularly tell me about “Rubble Rubble” and the genesis of that project. MOTAZ: I wanna hear about it. DAN: Well I've been working for the past decade on a trilogy of plays that sort of explore the inner life of the Jewish left in the United States over the past century. And this last play, “Rubble Rubble,” which I've been developing for the past few years, starts in the West Bank in an Israeli settlement. And you find this family that I've been writing plays about -- which is a very far leftist socialist radical family -- you see that that family has split off, and there's like a right-wing side of the family that has become settlers. And the left-wing anti-Zionist member of their family travels to visit them, after they haven’t spoken in twenty years. MOTAZ: Whoa. DAN: And the family confronts each other over his huge chasm, where one person is like a Palestinian solidarity BDS supporter and the rest of the family are like... MOTAZ: Pro-Israel. DAN: They're like settlers! Like living on stolen land, even though, but they’re middle aged American Jews who in the sixties were like radical New Left, you know, people. I’m fascinated by how many American-Israeli Jews were like super far on the left in the United States and then became these horrible oppressors in Israel. It blows my mind that it's possible to make that transition within the course of one life. And so, and that's where the play starts, and um…and I've been developing it for a few years, I went to Israel-Palestine to research for the play, I spent two weeks with interfaith peace builders traveling all through the West Bank and meeting with different non violent Palestinian and Israeli activists. I spent a week interviewing settlers, which was extremely disturbing. Um, and then I’ve been developing this play, and it was gonna have its first public reading at the American Jewish Historical Society in Manhattan and, um, a couple weeks ago -- I guess now around a month ago -- we went to their offices for a meeting and everything was very positive, they were very excited to have us, the staff was very supportive of the work. And we heard that there was a right-wing smear campaign against the organization's new CEO. And we were told, “This is all happening but don't let it bother you. We might have to cancel that other thing, but we're not going to cancel your play, because we, we're really excited about it.” And literally the conversation we had was about raising the budget for our play. Eight hours later, I got an email saying that the play had been canceled. MOTAZ: What? Was there any explanation about it? DAN: Well, I knew that it was... The institution itself never sent me like a formal letter or anything, but I knew that it was because of this right-wing Zionist pressure campaign that they were being pressured to fire their new CEO, and in order to try to get rid of that critique, they were just going to get rid of us. And the staff of the American Jewish Historical Society was very supportive of me, and I don't see them as my enemies at all. It was the board of directors, or at least a small group from the board, met in the middle of the night and made this decision. And this is what happens all the time in Jewish organizations: the people actually doing work are willing to make brave choices, and the people who are funding that work are not willing to let anyone make those choices. MOTAZ: Yeah yeah yeah, this happened with the same thing almost with us. DAN: Yeah, at the Public, right? MOTAZ: Yeah yeah yeah, it's almost the same, I like, I don't know who’s stand with us or who is against us, but we had this question for Oskar, which is the Artistic Director of the Public Theater, and his answer was really diplomatic answer and I respect -- no Oskar, he’s really great guy and he was one of the supporters to bring this play over here, and the most important thing, he says, that's to bring “The Siege” for the New Yorker people and we did it. It’s not about the place. DAN: Well, that was interesting about Oskar Eustis and “The Siege,” is that it was supposed to be at the Public Theater, the board canceled that choice. But Oskar, who is the Artistic Director of the Public Theater, he had notes in the program for “The Siege” production at the Skirball Center. And I was like, this is so unusual that you open the program and you see notes from the director of the theatre that canceled the play! MOTAZ: Yeah yeah. But, I want to hear more about Dan play, man. DAN: Sure, yeah. MOTAZ: I would like to know what is the story? DAN: Well, I can tell you about the story of what happens in the play, but what I also want to say is that, after we were canceled, the New York theatre world became incredibly supportive of us. And people really came out of nowhere to offer support and offer help. We raised our budget that had been canceled from American Jewish Historical Society within three days. MOTAZ: Whoa. DAN: Yeah. And we were offered resources that we couldn't have ever imagined. And to me, that was a huge sign that the people who are trying to censor dissident voices around Israel-Palestine are going to fail in humiliation. Because our work is stronger than ever after having been canceled, because people are so angry about it. People who are, who don't really know very much about it, are angry about it. And there are left-wing Zionists in my life who don't agree with me, but who are so angry that the play was canceled -- and it’s put them in a situation where they are more open to my ideas, and more open to considering the ideas of the play. So, I mean -- and we’re going to do the reading of the play, it's going happen next year, the details aren't confirmed, but it's going to be bigger and more interesting and more spectacular than it would have been if it hadn’t been canceled in the first place. Which is interesting. The play itself -- it’s funny because the people who canceled it never read it. And it's weird, like if they read it I think they'd be like, “Oh, this is weird.” It's a weird play. The first act is like a very traditional living room drama in a family. So, there's the aunt and uncle, who are middle-aged formerly left-wing radical American Jews who live in a settlement. There's their radical nephew, who shares my politics but is not a sympathetic person. He’s kind of...nasty and annoying and neurotic. And he’s there with his partner who’s Colombian and has no context for any of this. So I really wanted there to be a character who doesn't really have any stake in the game, doesn't have any history with Israel-Palestine, just comes from another part of the world entirely, but who has...a personal history of violence. Because he grew up in a part of Colombia that experienced a lot of violence. Whereas, I think a lot of white American Jews, violence, revolution, all these ideas are abstract concepts, and we don't experience them in our real lives. So he's coming at -- that character, who in a way is the central character of the play -- is coming at things from a totally different context. And I don't want to give anything away, but by the end of the first act, things go horribly wrong, and the first act ends with an enormous disaster. And the second act begins, and it's a musical, and it takes place in Moscow in 1905. And it's the same family, but a century before, and the matriarch of the family is building bombs for the socialist revolution of 1905. MOTAZ: So it’s almost flashback? DAN: It’s like a flash -- it's like an ancestral flashback. MOTAZ: That’s interesting. DAN: So you see the ancestor of the same family, and she's like a socialist revolutionary. She's building a bomb, she wants to like blow up the Tsar. And...and the ideas of the first act are sort of filtered through the music of the second act, where you see her with her socialist comrades. And what I want to ask is: How did this family go from here to there? How did it get from one place to the other? And, and the other question that I'm really interested in asking is like: Once you learn that there's an enormous injustice around you, how far are you willing to go to stop it from happening? How much violence are you willing to accept in order to stop something? Which is a huge question, I think, for anti-Zionist Jews when it comes to Palestine, like how...what are we supposed to do, knowing this horrible thing is going on? It's a huge question within Palestinian society, obviously, like what are you willing to do to stop this from happening? And it’s been a huge question throughout Jewish political history, which is full of violent resistance to injustice, and we act like were so horrified by violence, but Jewish history is full of it. So, those are the questions that I'm dealing with, and I don't think that the play offers any straightforward answers. And that's the interesting thing about the play being canceled or censored, is that the play itself is about what happens when two sides of a Jewish family can't communicate, and shun each other. And that’s what’s happened with the play, that we were being shunned just like family members are being shunned. And when I was in Israel, researching the play, and I would tell people what the play was about -- you know, it's about a Jewish family that's separated over Israel, and the Israeli side doesn't talk to the American side -- and every single person I talked to was like, “Oh, that's just like my family. That's my family, that happened to us.” And I was like, oh, right. This is bad for everybody. This destroys families, this injustice is destroying everybody involved in it. MOTAZ: Yeah, I mean like, even if it’s happened, like something like, my grandparents, whatever it takes place, I will not do the same thing in a different place. DAN: Right? This is the big Jewish catastrophe of the twentieth century, that you take one of two decisions, right? You either, you take all the trauma and you say, “This will never happen to us again, and we will do anything to protect us.” Or you say, “This will never happen to anyone again.” MOTAZ: What, like, Jewish used to live in Yemen, Morocco, Egypt, Palestine, many Arab countries, there was normal to see like this Muslim, Christian and a Jewish neighbor and eh, like an atheist beside him, and all of them are living in the Arab world like normally, like -- let's be honest, even though the Arab history is not clear, like there is many bad things from the Arab history also like... But eh, we used to live like together, so the thing is not religion. I don’t believe it’s religion, it’s mentality. It’s... DAN: I was talking, I was having an argument in a restaurant a couple years ago with a Zionist Jew, and we were fighting really passionately. And someone, a stranger came up to our table and said, “Guys, stop fighting about this. It's an ancient struggle that's been going on thousands of years.” And we both looked at him, both of us agreed, we were like, “No, it isn't! This is new, this is in the past like less than 200 years that this has happened, come on.” We were like, “Go sit down. Finish your lunch, hon. Get out of our faces.” There's so many lies about it. But this is...I feel like this is the work, this is the cultural work of American Jewishness right now. We've been brought up with such a distorted understanding of the world. And it's gonna take so much cultural work to undo it all. MOTAZ: Yeah, and it's gonna make a lot of enemies at the same time. DAN: Oh yeah. But I think my situation proves that it's also gonna get…it's not gonna be completely a disaster. You know, everyone -- so many people warned me against making work like this. And yeah, I got canceled, but in the process, I have tremendously powerful friends now that I didn't make before. MOTAZ: Doesn't it make you stronger after they cancel it? DAN: Yeah, of course. Yeah. MOTAZ: Didn't it make you more like want to do it? DAN: Oh, yeah. MOTAZ: That's a good thing, then. Okay, what’s the next question? MAX: So, for both of you, why is culture your weapon of choice? MOTAZ: Woo hoo! Because eh… Dan, you go ahead. DAN: ‘Cause its more powerful! Like…violence only ever creates more violence. I think this, like, even when it's necessary, it ends up being true. Culture is the only human practice that can actually dig into the root of a trauma and try to undo it in the first place. Um, and this is why people are so afraid of culture, and in particular theatre. ‘Cause when there's a human being in front of you having an experience, it’s very difficult to ignore them. It's hard to ignore a play. And, and so many…especially, so many American Zionist Jews are under -- on an emotional level, understand that their perspective is impossible. ‘Cause if you ask most American Jews, “Do you believe that it is right for a country to privilege one ethno-religious group over others?” Most of them will say, “No, that’s wrong. That is a wrong thing.” And then you say, “Well, what about Israel?” and they'll go, “Uhhhhhh…” But the fundamental truth, the deeper truth is that none of us actually support this. It's, the the support for Israel is the more superficial belief. The deeper belief is that this is wrong. Good plays, good art, good visual art, good music, good anything about this will help strip away the sort of superficial attachment to the, to the story of Israel, and help people get to the deeper belief that supremacy is wrong. No matter who is supreme in any given situation, it will always be wrong. ILANA: Sorry, I just wanna um, in the conversation about Zionism, I’m wondering... DAN: Do you want me to define that? ILANA: Yeah, I’m wondering specifically if you think any form of Zionism involves supremacy and that kind of thing. DAN: You know, I identify as an anti-Zionist Jew, and a lot of people, a lot of people will say, “Oh, don't say that, because it’s icky, it makes us uncomfortable to say you're anti-Zionist. Because, 'cause what does that really mean.” And for me, if it was the early 1900s, maybe I would have identified as like a Cultural Zionist. But to me, the way the word Zionism functions in the world, it’s support for a Jewish state of Israel. And to me, that means that Zionism inherently requires one to believe that Jews should reign supreme in this land, and I think that that's an untenable option. MAX: I…I sort of wanna respond. DAN: You wanna get into it, Max? MAX: No, I don't -- no, I don’t wanna argue with you…that's not… I will confess that I am skeptical of people who call themselves anti-Zionists who are not Jewish and not Palestinian. I... DAN:  Yeah yeah yeah, me too. I think that part of the, part of what it means to liberate Jews in the world, is to liberate us from our trauma, and to liberate us from that pain that…that distracts us from the reality of the world. And that requires our friends to help us get through that trauma, and to help us liberate ourselves from that trauma, and that requires non-Jewish people who oppose Zionism to make sure that we are emotionally capable of, um, of joining with them and being in community with them. And to me that's always like a challenge to my non-Jewish friends and comrades to be like, if we’re gonna do this together you need to understand that we’re…we just barely made it alive into this century, and a lot of us have like legitimate fears for our lives. I mean, we’re living in the United States where there's like a Nazi problem, right? Like our fear of violence is real and legitimate and um, when people say there's like no anti-semitism on the left in the United States, to me that's like so foolish. Like obviously, there's some anti-semitism in any part of the world, in any community. MOTAZ: Of course, of course…that's true. DAN: And when we pretend it doesn't exist, then we’re...I think we make so many other Jews feel unsafe joining us in this movement, because we're saying something that's obviously untrue and they don't trust us ‘cause it sounds like we’re lying to them. From my perspective, we need to say it: yeah, there's totally some anti-semitism on the left. And we need to deal with it, and our non-Jewish comrades need to deal with it, so that we can see that this is a safe place for us to be. MOTAZ: Nobody called you before, like you are anti-semitic after all the things you did? DAN: Oh yeah. MOTAZ: And you are Jewish. DAN: Oh yeah. Motaz, I need to tell you, I've gotten a lot of hate mail in my life and it's never as aggressive as other Jews. They’re the ones that tell me I should die. What they always say is, “You should go to Palestine, where they’d kill you.” They say this all the time, and I’m like, “I’ve been to Palestine, dude!” MOTAZ: So if some of the guys gonna hear this interview, Dan, you more than welcome in my house in Jenin. Nobody gonna kill you, you gonna love it. So come back to the first question? MAX: Yes, yes, finally... MOTAZ: Why cultural... Because I'm fed up. I have seen like many people got killed in this entire world since I was born. And see blood everywhere, why it’s need to be violent? Why that question? Why don't we turn the opposite question: why we have to be violent? Because it's like, we fed up, we are like, we are human. There is many people that think, like, “Oh, they was born like this.” No, they was not born like this. There is something happen to them. Like, if you watch there is a really important and good movie, it’s called “Arna’s Children,” Little kids, he talking about this story a lot, little kids. And they was dreaming about to be a Romeo of Palestine, them want to be Juliet, one of them he want to be Al Pacino. They wanna be actors. Suddenly, in a moment in 2002, you see those people got killed. And they became a freedom fighter before. Why? One of them his mother got killed by a sniper. One of them, after they bomb a school, he went to the school and he grabbed the body of a girl and she was almost alive, while he was running through the hospital, she died. So, his...of course he was gonna have a flip in his mind, and he gonna hold the gun and fight. So those people, they didn't like came from nothing. There is a reason always to do this. Even like I'm not into like guns or things, that's why I choose also art because I believe art is more stronger than a gun. And I don’t want to see any person on earth suffer. Like death is coming anyway, like you gonna die, but why we have to kill each other? Destroying, destroying. Like, I can make art which is strong, I can bring the messages, not just from my place, from all over the world and develop it to the stage. And eh… I think it's, let's make it, let's be cultural more. Let's let the art talk. And eh, we not gonna fake history, we not gonna fake stories, we gonna bring the story as it is. DAN: And this is why they’re so afraid of theatre. MOTAZ: Yeah! DAN: Because theatre shows the reasons why a person does something, and they don't wanna look at the reasons. MOTAZ: Man, I start to believe in this thing in 2012. I was going to the theatre in a taxi and there was checkpoint, and they stop me. ‘Cause I have no ID. I told him, like “I’m late for my theatre.” And he said, “Oh, you’re going to the Freedom Theatre.” He said like, “Come on man, they killed Juliano, they could kill you too.” And I said like “Why?” He said like, “Art will not change anything man. Why you need it?” And I said, “It's fine, for you it's nothing, but for me...” And he told me, “If you don't have your ID next time, you go to prison. And I promise you.” So since that time I just realize how much art is strong, and how much they afraid from art.   MAX: Here’s Motaz in a scene from “Return to Palestine,” devised by graduates of the Freedom Theatre acting school. [Excerpt from "Return to Palestine," in Arabic]   MAX: So, the work I do here in New York City is mostly with an organization called Theatre of the Oppressed NYC. MOTAZ: Yeah, I know. MAX: Where I work with a lot of different groups of people. Right now I’m working at Housing Works, which is an organization that um…I think this is the blurb from their website, “works to end the twin crises of HIV/AIDS and homelessness.” MOTAZ: Whoa. DAN: Easy. MAX: Yeah, right? I’m working with a group of folks from Housing Works on a play that they created about their experiences trying to keep and get affordable housing, with housing vouchers that they have because of their status. And… that’s just one example, I’ve worked on a lot of plays, and the way that sometimes I think about what those plays are meant to do, is is kind of in two areas: there’s the sort of, I mean, the way that I talk about it with my family, which is very much in the kind of like raising awareness camp, in the sense that people come to see these plays, they don’t know anything about tenant harassment in New York City and they learn about it. And then, really what it was designed to do by the folks who came up with this stuff in Brazil in the seventies, which is to build capacity in that community. Um, these theater tools are tools for people to work together to make change. I’m wondering if that resonates with you at all, and sort of -- what do you see your work in theater doing? DAN: Obviously I like plays that do all of these things at the same time. MOTAZ: Yeah. DAN: But, as a playwright, if you go into a project with too much of a vision of like what kind of responses you want from your audience -- an audience knows when you’re trying to manipulate them, and at the end of the day, an audience knows when something is authentic. So, being a playwright is about balancing your vision for what you want to happen in the room, and your relationship to your own imagination and your own impulses. MOTAZ: And the thing is like, if you don’t believe it, the actors will never believe it, then the audience will never believe it. DAN: Yeah, totally, and a lot of political theatre gets a bad rap, because I think a lot of political theatre is only thinking about, how can we make an impact with this audience? And it feels false. MOTAZ: I’m interested to know about, Dan, like -- normally, when you write, you give solution for the people? Or you give them a question to find the solution? DAN: I don’t give solutions, no. MOTAZ: You give a question. DAN: I give the questions. Yeah yeah yeah yeah. MOTAZ: Good, yeah. DAN: If I feel like I know concretely an answer to something, then I don’t need to write the play. I will just write an essay.   [MUSIC: Cheese on Bread, “All Your Sisters”]   MAX: Motaz had to leave, and I got to talk to Dan for a little while longer about the difference between boycott and censorship, and why he wants to start identifying as a “liberationist Jew.” If you’re not already subscribed, SUBSCRIBE to Unsettled on your podcatcher of choice -- because, in a couple weeks, you’ll get a bonus episode with the rest of our conversation. In the meantime, you can find Dan’s work at his website, danfishback.com, and follow Motaz on Instagram @motazmalhees, that’s M-O-T-A-Z-M-A-L-H-E-E-S. The song you’ve been hearing is "All Your Sisters" by Dan Fishback’s band, Cheese On Bread, from their forthcoming album "The One Who Wanted More,” coming out next year. You can find the song, a full transcript of the episode and other resources at our website, unsettledpod.com. Unsettled is produced by Emily Bell, Asaf Calderon, Yoshi Fields, Ilana Levinson, and me. This episode was edited by Ilana Levinson. Original music by Nat Rosenzweig. We recorded this episode in a studio for the first time -- shout out to Cast Sound Lab in Brooklyn, New York. Go to our website, unsettledpod.com, for more show information. We want to bring you more content in more different forms, and to make that happen, we need your support! So you can become a monthly sustainer at Patreon.com/unsettled. You can like Unsettled on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Overcast, or wherever you get your podcasts, to make sure you never miss an episode of Unsettled.

Recycling tires and what is Bolder Black? A sustainable alternative to traditional carbon black produced recycling tires that would otherwise be placed in landfills or incinerated. Early influences My first taste of entrepreneurship with my first job out of college and I worked for a guy who had invented voicemail. And he was an Indiana guy who came back home to invest in a series of companies, and I was working directly for him in one of those companies. Following your passion One of those customers turned out to be in the medical device industry and offered me a job in a startup company.  I learned a lot about products, services, and feeding a market, but more importantly, I learned about following some passions. It was in the women’s healthcare space, and waking up in the morning and knowing that when you wake up and every patient you see has a better outcome and a better day because of it, you want to work a little harder, put a few more hours on the road, just get that extra patient because every single patient you touched had a better situation. The charter The goal, the mandate was take waste products, generate more power than we need, reduce water usage from traditional methods, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce landfilling, and create jobs in areas that are needed. Our first real product It is a product called Bolder Black. So our business is reclaiming tires, and also industrial rubber, and using our understanding and technology and manufacturing know-how and our trade secrets to understand how we create the ingredients to bake the cake for the end-product customer. The first lesson in entrepreneurship I learned there was no reason to spend excess money on anything ever. Lean operations win. Gates Rubber This is a production trial run for a company called Gates Rubber, which is the largest non-tire rubber manufacturer in the world. They’re based out of Denver, Colorado, which is wonderful. And we’re getting them to take a look at some of the stuff and they have a sustainability focus. They care. So if a company cares about the environment, cares about the people, cares about the future, which they do, they’ll try to work this in. Tires disposed per year in the US We could take every tire that’s disposed of in the United States, which is about 300 million tires a year, annually, to interject some scale. I was in a conference speaking and somebody raised their hand and said,” I heard the numbers are really like 350 million. One seat at a time This seat was important for a contractor to achieve an additional LEED credit. They were looking for additional LEED points in their contract to build a number of schools in a city in California, and one of the places to go was to furnishings that are put in here. And our Bolder Black worked with this particular seat. So there’s gonna be hundreds of thousands of these seats manufactured, using this product, to go into school systems. Why? One, the environmental impact of using our product versus other is pretty massive, so that’s a really good story for the world. We’re getting rid of some tires. That’s a great story for the world. And then, now this school system and this contractor now have access to LEED points that they did not had before, and that’s valuable to them from an optics and doing their job well perspective. And it actually really works. So it was a great example of us solving a problem that we didn’t even know really was a problem. We wound up in a lot of places We didn’t know any different than to just call up to a local phone case manufacturer and say, “Hey, man. Look what we’ve got.” And they didn’t even know what carbon black was, because in their supply chain, it’s so far down. So there’s a lot of education. We’re talking some of the sustainability...

Your view of agreeing or disagreeing with a pretrib imminent rapture matters. I explained that there are implications to holding to imminence theology. We should, instead, take a biblical expectancy position toward Jesus's return, which I explained what I mean by this. There are three features to biblical expectancy if the Christian is going to […] Related Posts: A Response to Pretribulation Imminence Theology - Ep. 151 Situating Pretribulational Imminence Theology - Ep. 141 A Response to the Criteria for Pretribulation… The post Why One's View on Imminence Theology Matters – Ep. 90 appeared first on ESCHATOS MINISTRIES.

Managing For Career Development with Claire Lew and Dan Hodos Follow us on Twitter @techdoneright (http://www.twitter.com/tech_done_right), leave us a review on iTunes, and please sign up for our newsletter (http://techdoneright.io/newsletter)! Guests Claire Lew (https://twitter.com/cjlew23): CEO of Know Your Company (https://knowyourcompany.com/) Dan Hodos: Table XI’s (http://www.tablexi.com/) Director of Operations Summary How can you get honest feedback from co-workers, even when you are their manager? How can you support your team's career growth and support them as they improve their skills? Claire Lew, the CEO of Know your Company, and Dan Hodos, Table XI's Director of Operations, join Noel to discuss why listening is the most important thing you can do when getting feedback, how specific questions can break the "fine" reflex, how sticky notes can help with career growth, and the one thing you should never do in a one-on-one meeting. Notes 01:33 - Why One-on-One Meetings Are Important 03:16 - Creating a Safe Space for Employees: Make Empathy Your Mission 05:03 - Active Listening and Asking Questions 07:15 - How often should these meetings occur? 08:58 - Sponsorship and Career Mentoring 10:19 - Table XI’s “Sticky Note Game” 12:56 - What are the things you shouldn’t do during a one-on-one? 15:18 - Receiving Feedback - Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High (https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-Conversations-Talking-Stakes-Second/dp/1469266822) - Yes, And: How Improvisation Reverses "No, But" Thinking and Improves Creativity and Collaboration (https://www.amazon.com/Yes-Improvisation-Reverses-Creativity-Collaboration-Lessons/dp/0062248545/) 19:41 - Favorite Questions 21:03 - Balancing Natural Conversation with Asking Tough Questions 24:12 - Conducting Remote One-on-Ones 25:29 - Investing in Your Mentees 29:17 - Surprising Revelations Learned While Building Know Your Company - Our Biggest Blindspots (https://knowyourcompany.com/learn/guides/1-blindspots/1-our-biggest-blindspots-as-CEOs/) 32:24 - Creating Environments for Employees to Flourish Resources: Claire: * Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High (https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-Conversations-Talking-Stakes-Second/dp/1469266822) * The Know Your Company Blog (https://blog.knowyourcompany.com/@cjlew23) * The Know Your Company Knowledge Center (https://knowyourcompany.com/learn/) Dan: * Yes, And: How Improvisation Reverses "No, But" Thinking and Improves Creativity and Collaboration (https://www.amazon.com/Yes-Improvisation-Reverses-Creativity-Collaboration-Lessons/dp/0062248545/) * Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (https://www.amazon.com/Drive-Surprising-Truth-About-Motivates/dp/1594484805) * taking an improv class. Noel: * RSA Animate — Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us (https://vimeo.com/15488784) * Bossypants by Tina Fey (https://www.amazon.com/Bossypants-Tina-Fey/dp/0316056898/) Special Guests: Claire Lew and Dan Hodos.

I write a little blurb like this for every episode, but I feel that some books hardly need any introduction. This is one such example. Malcolm Gladwell is one of the most celebrated journalists and writers of the early 21st century, and his book Outliers caused a splash in people's thinking about success. Why? One answer is that it popularised the idea of the so-called "10,000 hour rule", initially discovered by K. Anders Ericsson, concerning how much "deliberate practice" it takes to become a world-class expert in any field. "Popularised" is the key word here, as several others were writing the same thing, but when Gladwell writes, everybody reads. And, for the most part, everybody believes. (So another answer to "why did the book cause a splash?" would be "because it's Gladwell, and he's famous, and everybody likes him.") The strange thing is, the 10,000 hour rule makes up a minority of what he writes about in his book, but people seem to often forget the rest of the ideas. Since we've already seen the power of extended deliberate practice described in other books (Bounce, Genius Explained, and The Talent Code), it's actually these remaining ideas where we find Gladwell's unique contribution to our knowledge of the development of expertise. And it has a message with is quite at odds with the spirit of the 10,000 hour rule. Gladwell's unique yet oft-forgotten contribution, then, is the idea of success as being a gift. He's not talking about talent, which he more or less rejects by reference to the aforementioned 10,000 hour rule, but about life circumstances. You don't choose where or when you are born, or the culture you are born into, or the state of the job market or of national demographics or of technology as you are growing up, and yet these very factors have a profound effect on whether somebody is successful. Would Bill Gates have become so rich were he born in Burma instead? Or in the 1920s? Or in fourth century Phrygia?  Although some of Gladwell's historico-cultural musings can be somewhat open to doubt, in several places he gives evidence strong enough to convince even the careful reader that something funny is indeed going on. In this episode, I hope to help you see where he might be onto something, and where we need to be wary of the potential of his masterful storytelling to obscure his shaky arguments. Enjoy the episode.

WARNING: Today’s episode is a bit of a departure from the norm. If you shy away from controversial or semi-political discussions, then you may want to skip this episode. OK. Now that that’s out of the way, the recent Supreme Court ruling about Hobby Lobby is of weighty importance to the homeschool community. Why? One […]

Why?One reason – It is God’s desire to dwell among His people and assume the responsibilities of the Father.Another reason – He needs our bodies. More ...

Do we have a treat for you! Geno Bisconte (In Hot Water on Compound Media and Comics Watching Comics on Amazon video) joins the boys as he HATES Uncut Gems with a passion. Why? One reason is that the bets Sandler puts in...DOESN'T HAPPEN in real life. Can Geno convince KG and KI that this film makes Don't Mess with the Zohan look like Caddyshack? Follow us on Twitter - https://twitter.com/GeekVibesNation Website - https://geekvibesnation.com Instagram - https://instagram.com/geekvibesnation ( https://instagram.com/geekvibesnation ) Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/geek-vibes-nation/donations Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands