Frame of Reference - Profiles in Leadership
"Frame of Reference - Profiles in Leadership" and "Frame of Reference - Coming together" are conversational style shows with local, national, and global experts about issues that affect all of us in some way. I’m, at heart, a “theatre person”. I was drawn to theatre in Junior High School and studied it long enough to get a Master of Fine Arts in Stage Direction. It’s the one thing that I’m REALLY passionate about it because as Shakespeare noted, “all the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players”. Think about the universality of that line for just a moment. Think about the types of “theatre” that play out around us every day in today’s world. The dramatic, the comedic, the absurd, the existential, the gorilla theatre (it’s a thing, look it up) that is pumped into our Smart Phones, TV’s, Radios, and PC’s every minute of every day.
Think about the tremendous forces that “play” upon us - trying to first discover, then channel, feed, nurture, and finally harvest our will power and biases in order to move forward the agendas of leaders we will likely never meet. Think of all these forces (behind the scenes of course) and how they use the basic tools of theatre to work their “magic” on the course of humanity. Emotionally charged content matched to carefully measured and controlled presentations.
With that in mind (and to hopefully counter the more insidious agendas), I bring you the Frame of Reference "Family" of podcasts, where the voices of our local and global leadership can share their passion for why and how they are leaders in their community and in many cases, the world. Real players with real roles in a world of real problems. No special effects, no hidden agenda, just the facts and anecdotes that make a leader.
And at the risk of sounding trite, I sincerely thank my wife Ann and my two children Elisabeth and Josiah for continually teaching me what leadership SHOULD look like.
Frame of Reference - Profiles in Leadership
What If Hope Became A Habit In America
Outrage is easy. Unity is a choice—and a craft. I sat down with Adam Mizel, co-founder of Us United, to map out how everyday people can shift our culture from division to respect without waiting on politicians or viral headlines. Adam shares the origin story sparked by Sheriff Chris Swanson’s powerful decision during the George Floyd protests to remove his riot gear and walk with the crowd in Flint. That moment reframed what leadership can look like: disarm with respect, listen to lived experience, and turn down the temperature before it spikes.
We get practical about building unity as a brand and a habit. Adam breaks down why symbols matter—purple hats, a clear logo, visible rituals—because division already has its own marketing machine. He offers a field-tested playbook from a cross-country listening tour: trade arguments for personal stories, listen to understand, and step back when respect drops. We explore how sports, music, food, and even our dogs create instant common ground, and why a stadium of strangers can model the collaboration our politics often lacks.
The episode also introduces National Unity Day, recognized on the second Saturday in December, designed to make action simple and contagious: wear purple, take the Unity Pledge, post a positive story, or call the friend or relative you cut off over politics. These small weekly acts add up, especially when shared. Hope isn’t naïve here; it’s a system. By making unity visible and easy to join, we give the quiet majority tools to re-engage and reset the tone in their homes, workplaces, and feeds.
If you’re ready to stop doomscrolling and start doing, this conversation gives you a starting line and a community. Subscribe, share this with someone across your aisle, and leave a review telling us the one unity action you’ll take this week. Then grab something purple and tag us to keep the momentum going.
Thanks for listening. Please check out our website at www.forsauk.com to hear great conversations on topics that need to be talked about. In these times of intense polarization we all need to find time to expand our Frame of Reference.
Welcome to Frame of Reference. Informed, intelligent conversations about the issues and challenges facing everyone in today's world. In-depth interviews to help you expand and inform your frame of reference. Now here's your host, Raul Labresh. Well, welcome everybody.
SPEAKER_03:Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome again to another episode of uh Frame of Reference, Profiles and Leadership. And it's been this has been a great time lately. The past few times I've been able to interview guests, it just seems like we we just jive. And I um my guest today, Adam Meisell, were talking a little bit before, and I've read some of his bio material and thought, you know, no, this is somebody I could hang with and be really happy about it. So uh the this next uh 50 minutes or so, hopefully you will enjoy as much as I think I'm gonna enjoy this. Now I'm probably jinxing our whole thing, Adam. Sorry about that. But you know, I I am trying to just be positive about this because the topic we are on today is something that uh all of America needs to get behind. So uh, anyways, I will just give a brief intro here. Um, Adam, after being in the what, uh business for about 40 years, something was a crazy amount of time. I'm not that old. Please. 142. That's I thought that's what you were gonna put in. So all about longevity.
SPEAKER_01:No, I I had a I was in both investing in finance and then in business and leading and running companies probably for 25. Okay, 30 years, maybe, but not 40. You know, don't age me that much. Okay, please.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I'm 65, so I'm like trying to make everybody at least make me feel better about being 65. So if I you know try to eke it up, it's nothing about you, it's all about my you know insecurities with you know feeling a lot older, you know. Well, I feel a lot younger on the inside. I I'm still probably six years old inside. Just ask my wife, she'll tell you. So, but then you you had this sort of epiphany, right? Yeah, I I love the story of you, I mean it was during the gor uh George Floyd incident. Didn't that that's kind of changed things radically for you? Because your wife said, uh, you know, nobody hears you when you scream at the television, right?
SPEAKER_01:So it's very important to be married to someone smarter than yourself.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, I totally agree with that, completely agree with that. So they uh they figure things out way before you do, and then they kind of help you along as you catch up. So, but so and that that was the beginnings of this, was it not? Of the because you are now the CEO, co-founder of Tell Me About Unity. United United.
SPEAKER_01:Um, which is a movement to build unity in America by giving all of us, every American, the resources and tools that they need to reunite our country, right? Because we, I think all can agree in the current environment, that is not going to come from our political leaders. It's not coming from our media, whether traditional nor social. So if we want to change the culture and if we want to change the behavior, the reality of the country and become more unified, it's up to us, we the people. And I always like to say unity does not mean uh unanimity, does not mean uniformity, it's not that we always agree, but it is that we respect each other, we communicate with each other, we listen, we learn, and we try to find ways, you know, find some areas of commonality and ways to move forward because we have to solve problems. I mean, all of us do this every day in our life, and somehow it it's broken down and certainly at the federal level and often at the state, and sometimes even the local level. And so that's up to us to fix. Right.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, totally. I I you know there there are no great examples out there anymore, people that are doing it at least on a leadership stage or the national leadership stage. In fact, they seem to want to make uh more divisionism. It's it's more profitable in a lot of ways for them to just keep catering to that fire that they're building. And uh, you know, when people can't see that and all they see is their side of the coin, that's something maybe you can help uh uh think think about too is the biases that have entrenched us so much to make it uh even undesirable to have unification. You know, that it's like there's so much rhetoric, so much divisionary rhetoric built into everyone's mindset these days. I mean, how do you, if you're listening to Fox News on a regular basis or Newsmax, or you're listening to CNN and MSNBC, which aren't even that polarized anymore, but at least you're getting a different, you know, dialogue. Uh yeah, how are you ever going to come together, right? It's just uh crazy.
SPEAKER_01:Anyways. I'll I we'll get to it. I have some more optimism and hope than that when we get into it. But um I certainly agree with you that we have a a media that is financially incentivized, right, to gat gather eyeballs and drive division. We have a social media the same, and um it's very easy when you're anonymous to say anything you want. Um those are all challenges. But I do think that as we'll talk about, most Americans, and I've seen this firsthand because I drove across the country this summer, having these conversations with people, are wise to that. They understand that. We there are absolutely, I simplistically saying each side of sort of let's call it the political divide, 15% of people that are invested in division and from a personal, emotional, financial, whatever it may be. Most Americans are not. And they understand that they're um being manipulated, being influenced, and that they don't think we're as divided as presented by our political leaders and our media, but they also don't know their way out. And that's part of why Us United exists is to be a movement to give people a brand, give people content and storytelling, give people ideas and tools that they can use. Because how are you going to have a movement? How are you gonna can fight back against division if you don't have those things? I ask everybody and I ask you. Right right now, think about you don't think they but think about brands that are brands of division in this country. And I don't mean, you know, think you're a consumer, right? I mean whether whatever organizations, brands that are all about division, I know you can think of at least five, ten. Everybody can, and that's on both on all sides. Right now, tell me a brand that's out there for Unity. It doesn't exist. Yeah. How are you going to have it? Right. How are you going to have it? Right. If you haven't brand, you you can see me wearing one of our hats, us united hats with beautiful purple and white logo, purple color in the back of the hat, it says be community, right? Because what's in community but unity, right?
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_01:But if people start wearing hats and t-shirts, and you know, think of the old lift run bracelet, or you've got the pink ribbon for Stan Hampton breast cancer, go down the list of things. Symbology and brand are incredibly important as just one of the elements of what we do. But those are if we want to build unity, we have to approach it from that kind of business marketing and real content and substance perspective. And I don't think that's been done enough. And that's what for sure what Ask United is trying to do.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Well, I mean, you know, I was telling you beforehand, right? I'm a big Star Trek fan, you know, I United Federations of Planets. And part of the reason I've always been so attracted to Star Trek is because it does present a future where we've gotten past all this nonsense. You know, it's it's a future where now we are, we have figured out that the problems we were we are causing by divisionism are only going to be solved by coming together. So I wish they would have explained more about that happen, how that happened. I know that they in their world, you know, World War III has to occur and things are so devastated that they realize we never again. This just can't happen again. So that is the beginning of it. But, anyways, we digress. I'd love to start a little bit with uh just maybe people getting to know you a little bit. And I found one of the best ways to do that is to do my favorite things. Um, so this is very, you know, uh Rorschachtian. Whatever comes out of your mouth is fine. If you you know say something you want to retract, maybe I'll let you. You know, it depends on how much trouble it would get you in with, you know, people that are close to you. But uh, you know, otherwise, it's just whatever. Hey, it goes. I'm gonna ask an easy one because I think you would you would be able to tell me right away. It's favorite color. Blue. Favorite fruit? Blueberries, favorite food in general.
SPEAKER_01:So many. Um, but generally speaking, um, all kinds of Italian cuisine, pasta in particular.
SPEAKER_03:Okay. Is there a favorite comfort food that you go to? Like when you just kind of uh just need whatever. And that could be like not necessarily a brand, but like a whole range of things. For me, it's potato chips, you know, or chips of any kind, so just bad.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, for me it's probably a chocolate chip cookie.
SPEAKER_03:Any any particular brand?
SPEAKER_01:I just wondering if there's no, I mean I mean I particularly like it when they're homemade, right? Yeah, but yeah, that's why that chocolate chip cookie is pretty darn good.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. My uh my wife is a big uh chocolate chip cookie fan as well. So, and she doesn't like to eat a lot of sweets because she's pre-diabetic. So we found if we got those little pre-packaged famous Amos cookies, it's a decent chocolate chip cookie, you know, not soft and mushy, but it's a decent, decent tasting one. And there's always four in a bag, you know, little tiny ones too. So she has the rationality of it. It's not so much, but it is something I really like. Um, how about a favorite quote or favorite words to live by? Do you have anything of that?
SPEAKER_01:Um God, there's so many. Um let me I want to get the words exactly right. Um, there's a great problem, Picasso quote.
SPEAKER_03:Mr., I'm gonna really throw the world up here. Mr. Picasso, boy, there's a there's a guy that can turn the world on his ear.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I'm always doing that which I cannot do in order that I may learn how to do it. So I think that one. Okay, and for obvious reasons being like, and that's part of what I've always tried to do in my life is push the border in the envelope and try to learn to do two different things. Another one that um my college roommate said when we were in college together and it stuck with me is dare to fail gloriously. And that inspires me a lot because you know, you learn as much, if not more, from your failures than your successes. And if you don't dare to fail gloriously, then you're not gonna really try something new or innovative or exciting. And you know, that's certainly guided much of my professional life and personal too, but certainly professional of being an entrepreneur is take those chances. And that's how we people change the world. And I'm not saying I will or I won't, but I just want to try.
SPEAKER_03:Right. Well, why leave it the way it is, right? If not, if especially when we have children, we start. I I know I started thinking about boy, I don't want to leave the world like this and not have done something. What's Teddy Roosevelt saying about the man who's in the arena, right? You you you come under fire. Even the what uh there's a Japanese proverb that says the nail that sticks out gets hammered, you know, and it's like that's okay. Um, and you know, there is something about that fear of failure too that has to be kind of overrun. Because I think it was really more about ego than it is about, you know, really you just don't have the you know the the uh enough ego to take the fact that well, if people might not like me or they might get mad at me, but I gotta do this thing, I just gotta. So how about a favorite recording artist?
SPEAKER_01:Um my favorite band has always been U2. U2, really?
SPEAKER_03:Bono?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Lobano, love, love, love their music. Um and so that that's my go-to one. I like, I need to be picked up, or I need I need to or relax. I put on some U2 and it takes me out of whatever headspace I'm in.
SPEAKER_03:Actually, is there a favorite song there that really kind of every time you hear it, it's like, oh man, it's a great song. Bad. Bad? Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, especially the live version, but either the live or the recorded.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Cool. Do you have a favorite movie?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, so many. Um that's a hard one, I'm gonna say, and sort of in the theme we're in, one that I often go back to similarly for that inspiration of pickup is Jerry Maguire. Oh, really? Okay. Same thing. I mean, it's sort of back to my Deredus Bell gloriously, right? Okay. There's a person the character, right, that Tom Coos plays, effectively says, I'm gonna write a manifesto of a better way and a more caring way, in a more human human way to do this business of being a sports agent, and you know, becomes able to find hits has to hit rock bottom, has to find his way back. But um he does, and he finds his humanity, you know, all those pieces. And I think there's a is an important message in there for all of us of that, you know, you do have to find your humanity, and doing what's right is more important than doing what is financially right, and if it's not ethically, morally, spiritually, emotionally right. And so when you have those moments of God of my like this was so hard, sometimes I'll go back to that movie just you know, and that it's it's too easy. It's not easy, but it works. You know, there's a happy ending in the movie, and maybe you have to mean all we'll always have a happy ending in what we're doing, but it's it's inspiring.
SPEAKER_03:Right. Well, you know, another kind of courage, right? I mean, fit facing your failures and then learning from them and growing beyond. So how about a favorite place to go when you need to de-stress?
SPEAKER_01:Um, for me, interestingly, that's often exercise.
SPEAKER_03:Right, okay.
SPEAKER_01:Uh like I can turn my brain off, I can you know sweat, I can, you know, get rid of stress that way. And often when I turn my brain off, the answer to whatever's troubling me will emerge because the subconscious can work. And we know so that's I say that because I can always do that. I mean, there are places in the world I like to go visit. I mean like there's the mountains and different things, but like I can always go, I can always get an exercise in, whether it's in at home or at the gym or whatever it is, that will help me sort of reset myself.
SPEAKER_03:So, what's your favorite kind of exercise then? Biking, walking, running? Um, I love my boxing classes.
SPEAKER_01:Boxing, really? Okay. There's nothing that gets her distress on hitting something, as long as you're not getting hit back. Good luck with that. That out you can focus on, you can pretend that's what's in front of you. Okay.
SPEAKER_03:I take it it's like bags and stuff, or are you doing it sparring with people?
SPEAKER_01:So I don't spar with people, bags and bits and different things, but it's great. It's one of the best workouts you can get, so it exhausts you, but it also is you know, there's something cathartic about hitting something that's not hitting you back. I mean, again, I'm not looking for violence, I'm looking for that catharsis. Sure.
SPEAKER_03:Well, it's like people why one of the guys that go into their you know a carpentry shop and just pound nails for a while, you know, that's the same kind of thing. Or the I love the smash places now, you know, where you can just go in and just bash things. So that I have to do one of those one of these times. So how about I'll finish up with this one? How about a favorite memory from childhood? Or, you know, even if if there's something that happens to you that will bring you back to a place where you're just like, oh yeah, and you you you know, don't necessarily have to just stay there, but it's always kind of a revitalizing or you know, or a kind of a recentering of you when you think about it.
SPEAKER_02:Um I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:That's a harder one.
SPEAKER_03:I don't I don't know. Is there a person maybe that you that when you think about that you you know well, you said your roommate is really kind of a neat neat person for you.
SPEAKER_01:But you know, for sure. Like for for sure, like when I need that grounding, I resent it. It's absolutely my wife. I mean, uh she is I mean, she's my best friend as well as my my spouse and um we met in college. So I there's a lot of so if I think about it, there's a lot of probably memories and places. If I want to go back to that happy place of like innocence and excitement and learning and all of these, certainly, you know, college in general, and certainly that we met at the very end of our time in college. So whether it's my roommates or most of my closest friends, not all, but most are from my college years.
SPEAKER_03:Sure. Yeah, I remember my dad telling me right before I started my undergraduate degree that, you know, he said, make the most of these years right now, because these will be the best years of your life. And, you know, I think back on that, how there's something about that cocoon of especially undergraduate. I mean, graduate school was a little bit more of a, you know, you know, because you're grinding to get through much more difficult stuff, right? But uh yeah, there's a fondness. I mean, I have so much memories of like, you know, concert choir and the retreats that we would take, and you know, the friends that are still friends, right? Because they you grew up together in a lot of ways. So different kind of growing up than in high school and grade school, too, right? Because you're more of the person you're gonna be. So, which is uh they like you for working on adult with guardrail.
SPEAKER_01:You're an adult with guardrails because you still have your parents financially supporting you. You're you're not, you know, you're in a university setting where there's a lot of you know things around that support you. You don't have to, you know, you don't have to like what's insurance? We have to pay for that, like whatever it is. But you're not living at home, you're on your own, you'd have your own rules, you kind of like so it is that perfect transition point with not a lot of responsibility other than what's in front of you in your life, and you get to explore who you are and figure that out. So it's a special time. Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_03:So let's talk about U.S. United. Um, so you started that. If I remember the reading material that I looked at, you started it with a sheriff who was what in Flint, Michigan, and this all he was kind of brought to the same concept or idea through their experience after the George Floyd event. And you know, baby people all over the country were, you know, rioting or whatnot. And he commanded his force of sheriffs to take off all their riot gear and just walk with the people that were you know protesting for Black Life Matters. Um how did you two meet and what were those first convert uh conversations like?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, my partner, now one of my very one of my closest friends, um Sheriff Chris Watson, who is the sheriff in Genesee County, Michigan, which is where Flint is. Okay. Um is also actually now running for governor of Michigan, as hopefully, hopefully he'll be the next governor of the great state of Michigan. Okay. Um, but you're exactly right. He you know every every entrepreneurial journey starts somewhere off in different places for different founders. I mean, Chris, Chris was started as you referred to on May 30th. I started way before that, but I think the world saw the heart and the authenticity of him on May 30th, 2020, when that was the night when many, many American cities were burning with protests and riots. And in Flint, the same thing was brewing, and Chris rolled in with lots of officers, and they were afraid that the protesters were going to march down to the Flint Township police and burn it down, and they were ready for battle. And in that moment, he saw hundreds of people and said, This isn't right. Like this is not what we should be doing. He's like, I'm not and so he took off, he took off his guns, his body armor, his helmet, walked into a crowd in his sweatshirt and said, What do you want? You know, and that hostile crowd. I mean, he had friends in there that he because he does he had done lots to go community, and they started chatting walk with us. They said, All right, let's walk. And for the next three or four hours, what ended a group of thousands of people came together and walked arm in arm because he's like, This is not a law enforcement easier. They don't we don't murder people, we should, we're with you. And CNN happened to be there, and 3.2 billion people saw there or you know, rebroadcasts of that moment because it was one of the few, if only American cities that didn't burn that night on television. And um, so I met Chris about six months later in November 2020, when uh Nico Frandon was sort of our third co-founder who's moved is still a close friend, but is raising five children and now is involved in us united anymore. Um, Ken, his name's Ken Wataky Jr. And Ken said, Adam, you gotta come with me to Flint and meet the sheriff. And I said, What are you talking about? But okay, because I've learned in my life that often the calls, meetings, experiences you had the least expectation about, but turn out to be the most interesting in your life when they've been introduced to you by someone you trust, right? Sure. But so I said, Ken, if you tell me this, I should go, I'll go. And that weekend they put me on a podcast, they put me in a town hall, they put a whole host of things I didn't think I was doing. And it and Chris and I hit it off. And at the end of that, I said, you know, I haven't risked my life the way both of you have in trying to create we didn't use the word unity at the time, I think, and peace and build building and bridging divides and different things. But I said, I would if I had to, I haven't, but I'm not saying I wouldn't. But I have some I I have a unique, I think a pretty good talent. I can write really good business plans. And I said, You've inspired me. I'm gonna go write a plan. And if you like it, we'll do it. And if you don't, we'll do something, we'll figure something else out. But I want to do something with you because back up for me, yelling at the TV, I and my wife saying, dude, what are you gonna do? I said, I don't know, but I am an entrepreneur, I've always been one. I'll figure it out so I will start on this journey because I know when you you're not gonna figure it out sitting in a room by yourself, you get out in the world and you talk to people, and it'll lead me to the right places. And um, you know, uh energy, spirit, spirit, spirituality, whatever you want to describe. Everyone has different views of how there is an energy and a power in this world that drives things, and it led me to those guys, led me to Chris. And the business plan I wrote is there's elements of what we do in it today, but I mean it's changed a lot as any good startup to growing company will. But um we started, and so I did was formed in the spring summer of 2021 officially, you know, and you know, we were methodical and thoughtful of what we were doing, and then really, you know, over the last several years, I'm sure the last year, I think, built a platform and a set of resources and infrastructure that are critical for a movement for unity. Um and more and more people have gotten involved, and it's been an amazing journey that has a long way to go because as you noted, it is not easy to take on politics and media in America. Um take on is too strong a word, but to provide a different narrative and a different story and a different model to groups that have some of the biggest microphones out there.
SPEAKER_03:Right. Yeah, it's almost like I I think of uh there's a book by I forget the name of the gentleman. He was a police officer too in St. Louis, and he uh it's called Verbal Judo, if you've ever heard of that book. Um but it's fascinating because he was a police officer in St. Louis and he talks about these people that he he would work with over the years, and I think I think he was an officer for 10 years. Um, and there were these experiences where he would see these very experienced officers come into situations kind of like you know, sheriff was going into, where highly volatile, all kinds of you know, things going on, and he would just address it in such an unexpected way that it disarmed people, for one, and they had to look at the authenticity of what he was ultimately trying to do, which was to say, we can't go keep going down this path. This does not go to a good place. So, and he did it with humor, they would do it with humor. And he talks about one guy came in the middle of a uh a fight between a man and a wife at like 2 a.m. And you know, he came in and right away sat down on the couch and started reading this paper, you know, and they're they're kind of looking at him like, what are you doing? But they're still mad at each other. So finally gets to when they start heating up and he's like, Guys, guys, can I use your phone? And they're like, What? He said, Can I use your phone? I gotta call this guy. He's got a 1972 Ford truck just like the one I'm looking for. So and he gets, you know, says, Yeah, it's over there, and he picks up the money, off the number, and you know, all of a sudden he's like, I'm trying to buy and ask dating. I'm like, Can you imagine that? He hung up on me. I was just calling about the car. He said, You know, come to think of it though, your neighbors are probably upset that you're having this fight, this fight at two o'clock in the morning, too. You know, and you you think about that, that these people that know how to just almost instinctually disarm instead of arm. You know, and I think I think you're right when you say, you know, we didn't want to, you know, stand up or, you know, go against this. Instead, we're almost trying to do that jujitsu thing where you're just letting it pass by and say, okay, let's try something else, right? Let's see. Because the people I talk to about this same thing um are mostly exhausted. You know, they they I have yet to find there are very, very few people that I'm talking with regularly that are not just like, we gotta, we just gotta stop. We just gotta stop. The ones that are not, that are still stubbornly saying, oh, he's absolutely right in what he's doing, you know, who whichever side of the coin. Um, those guys, I don't know, you know, if they will convert because they're just so stubbornly dug in to their you know belief now. Um it's all that that does worry me that those are kind of the cultish people that they just can't see anymore beyond what they've been indoctrinated or you know, have allowed themselves to get indoctrinated so deeply. So what do you do with those people? When you do you do you just um I mean, my tendency is that gets so far with some of the people, I'm like, okay, this is isn't gonna go anywhere. So I'm just gonna let you believe what you want to believe and let me focus on the people that still want to have a dialogue. Uh how do you make that transition in in the conversations you have?
SPEAKER_01:I think there are a couple pieces. And I mean, I agree with you. I think that out simplistically, there's 15% of the people on each side who are invested in that division and are very hard to change, right? But that means 70% of us are not. And so at the core, but I think that 70% has and we're in a sort of negative spiral of disengagement because most people that you're probably referring to that you talk to or that I talk to show up every two years or four years in an election to pay attention and see what's going on and hear what's going on, and they're just more disgusted, right? They hold their nose and they vote, and they're like, look, this this I have no interest in this world. I gotta go to work, I gotta go to school, I gotta raise my children, I gotta pay a mortgage, I gotta watch TikTok, whatever it is. I am not worrying about this, and it just grows, and then they show up again two years later and it's worse. And they say, I'm further removing myself. And what happens, right? What is left is the loudest voices drowning out even more because people disengage and there's no one to talk to. So one is we have to engage those, all of us as Americans in look, you don't have to be a political junkie, you don't have to be diving into every issue, but you have to pay attention and you have to make your voice heard for I don't want the culture, I don't want the fighting, and here's what I'm gonna do about it and come back to that. That's one. Two. Um, and I on our on our road trip this summer across the country, I talked to thousands of people and plenty of people that are thought to be pretty dug in on one side or the other, right? I can tell you from talking to thousands of people, first of all, nobody I've talked to, and I'm they're out there, and nobody said this division of this fighting is what it needs to be. We got to vanquish, whatever. I didn't hear that from a single person of the thousands in every almost every state in the country. I definitely heard um you know strong positions. And what I and sometimes that people say, Hey, look Adam, I we I want unity, but they won't listen to me, whoever they is on the other side.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_01:And I said, and and so I I started to give advice and to your question of a tool that I find useful. Um don't argue, right? Don't say I'm right, you're wrong. And this is why. Has that ever worked and convinced you to change your mind? No. Nobody, nobody, nobody, yeah. So here's what I do. I try to think about whatever the issue or disagreement or topic is some type of personal story that either happened to me, to a friend, to a family member, at work, whatever it may be, on that point in the topic, and I explain, hey, look, I hear you. I I've experienced this differently, and let me tell you this story. Because stop right at the end of that. Nobody can tell you your your story is wrong. It's your lived experience. It happened.
SPEAKER_02:Right, right?
SPEAKER_01:They can say, hmm, I don't I never saw that, I didn't think I don't, but or that has never happened to me. But someone will leave that conversation and you will have changed their opinion, either just five percent, because this happened to you or your family, whatever it may be. So that I think is one way to diffuse any kind of confrontation, because at the at the core, all of us are storytellers as human beings. That is the nature of our species and our shared history. Right. So be a storyteller. Right. And and by the way, listen to the story back because you will hear and learn things that you never experienced, and that will make you see the gray as well, but you won't be arguing over stories.
SPEAKER_03:Right. I I keep thinking there's a saying that I actually One of the guests not too long ago quoted that um something about most people listen with the intent to to speak or to reply. And instead I try to listen with the intent to understand. And I thought, boy, that that's part of the issue too, is you know, just listen and try to have the intention of I want to understand this thing. I mean, Simon Sinek talks about, you know, asking questions when you're listening to not say, you know, like you're saying, you know, attack or say, you know, well, no, I think about he'll just say, tell me more. You know, what's that like? You know, I I want to understand more. Can you tell me more about that? So in that interest, I mean honestly, it's part of what I like about this podcast, is I've had people that I don't necessarily agree with, but I want to understand more about how they got to where they did to that that thing that I don't agree with, you know, and then you do have the opportunity then to talk about the things that happened to you that this is why I have a problem with that, you know. And again, it's not about the person, it's this is why I have a problem with that, which is you know, a little easier than this is why I have a problem with you, because you're a redhead Nick, you know, whatever. Um are there people's are there looks, are there things that happen where you know that this the time is right? Because I I think there are, you know, there are people that I've talked to, and like, okay, I think they might get, but this isn't the time, you know, or uh you know, is there uh are there cues that you look for that, yeah, yeah, I should I should do more? Or they're ready. I'm gonna I'm gonna give them you know even a higher dose of this.
SPEAKER_01:Um yeah, I think you're right. You look it's on all of us to be an observant listener and an observant speaker. And you'll know when you get into conversations. I mean, always trying to start with whatever, but if it's someone you don't know, even someone you do know, what's that icebreaker into the conversation, right? Um so and as you progress through those, that can often give you a sense of where someone's you know emotional state is, because a lot of it is emotional state. And they're look we all have at times you're like, think of you know, spouses or friends, or you're having a you're like, I gotta walk away or else we're gonna have a big fight. Like one of us is not in the right place, right? So you do. Um so I think you have to be aware of that. And um I think at the core it starts with respect. I mean, one of the most powerful we have a lot of conversations one on our road trip we sat down with Shaquille O'Neal, which we're a mutual friend, and I was impressed with him just from what I'd read, seen, and I mean as a public person, but in talking with him, we were talking a lot about this question, and he said, look, I start and I believe unity starts with respect. If I respect you and you respect me, then we can find an ability to have a conversation in common ground. So if you see that that respect is not there, the answer is not to get to fight then. I mean, the answer is to respectfully walk away. Like if something nice, something simple, and but gives you that exit because what you're saying to someone is if you're not gonna respect me, I can't have a conversation with you. I don't have to agree with you, but I treat you with respect, you treat me with respect, we're we're fine. So I think that's what I always look for. If you're not getting respect, it's very hard to have a thoughtful conversation with somebody and you don't want to bring up certain issues. There may, you know, there may be another time where they're more in that place to do it. You'll know it by the how the respect is flowing between the two people. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and that's interesting from the standpoint of you know, where did all the respecters go? Because there's so much, you know, being trained into people ultimately. I mean, being so bombarded with, you know, leaders that are so disrespectful in so many ways and you know, in it revel in it, you know. I mean, I think I think of it as a kind of that strong man mentality or that, you know, you're gonna show people, um, which, you know, has been a part of the American psyche for quite a while. You know, the the strong person wins, survival of the fittest. Um, and the reality is that that, yeah, that that can be successful in some realms and for time, but at the end of the day, uh that's not the way we're gonna really solve problems, because you don't solve problems by crushing your opponent. You know, you solve problems by learning what your opponent needs or, you know, and work with them and they give some of you, some of what they're need. I remember my mother in la, my brother-in-law years ago, he used to work with uh the Wisconsin uh Technical College Association. And after 20 years, he had to get out of the work that he did to uh try to uh promote the Wisconsin Technical College colleges. And when he got out of it, he said, you know, the thing that drove me away is that used to be when I started this 20 years ago that there were these people that could negotiate between both sides of the equation. They would find ways to build a compromise in a coalition. He said, in those days, those people were considered great statespeople, you know, great statesmen because they could broker those deals. Nowadays, those people have become anathema and they're seen as, you know, wusses or, you know, why can't you, you know, take a stand and stay with your stand and your platform and everybody just rank up here and stay with it? How do you get past that? Is there a what happened to that respect? That you I mean, are there people that you think can still be convinced that no respect is a real thing? You can, this is how you do it. You know, there are are there tools in your kit that you're supplying people with that help them to find that way to find the mutual because all of us, I mean, all of us are human beings, right? There we all love, we all, you know, have things that really we love and you know want to do, whether it's fishing or sunsets or whatever. Um, you know, how do you cue into that um commonality?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I mean, first of all, I think most people are in that same place. I mean, like I said, as I talked to thousands of people across the country, they all said the same thing, right? And they looked at that as you know, from a respect, from a conversation, all from a listening. I mean, one of the questions I asked everybody on our road trip was, hey, I started, I'm gonna promote you. Or in your opinion, this may be a demotion, but I'm gonna make you president, I'm gonna make you president for a month. And a lot of people are like, I don't want the job, that's a demotion. I'm like, you got it for a month. But my question was, what's the first thing that you would do to try to build unity in America if you were the president? And invariably, I mean, you got a range of different answers, but to your point, most people said I would behave differently than the current president on the issues of how I talk to people, how I bring people together. And yeah, that was people who are huge supporters of President Trump, and probably huge against President Trump. It didn't matter. So to your to your first point, I think, and this is part of the hope that I left our trip with is Americans get it, right? Now, they're looking at lots of different factors, and you know, civility and respect is only one of them, and there are other things that can be equally or more important. But America, what I one thing for sure I left from our trip with is at the core, I saw good people looking to do the right things. That's one. Yeah, two, I think we you know, we have to, it's where we started with this conversation in part of us united, which is we have a culture that absolutely prizes is presented to prize division, right? Whether that's politically, whether that's um in the media doesn't matter. And so we have to change the culture a little bit, right? And so that's why I look at sports so much, right? What still unifies Americans? Sports, music, food, and I have golden retrievers, because I haven't found anyone. Dogs in general, right? Yeah, dogs in general. Look at Pete Herbstreet. I was just texting with my daughter who's in New York, and she's like, Pete is my biggest, my biggest fan crush. I mean, she's 24, she's like, and I text her, he's in New York today. She's like, oh my god, where is he? I have to go find him, right? But the point is, Kirk has made a dog, is probably a bigger celebrity than him because we all see something, just love and pure love there, and we want that. So it's like sports, right? It's all about unity per second. Any locker room in any sport, they can't be more diverse. You know, obviously, not globally, much less and everything else. All of those players, coaches, everyone came together for their common purpose and goal, and they figure it out. That's what we're talking about right here. No one prizes a division. And in like sports, people we we can for three hours be incredible, either people we don't know, we wouldn't necessarily know, cheering for the same team and getting along, or we could be there with fans and rivals who but after the game, we're still friends. I mean, look, I'm a huge New York Yankees fan. We get devastating to lose last night. I got a bunch of texts from my friends who are Red Sox fans saying, hey, you know what? Welcome to the welcome to winter with us. But you know, sorry, right? They weren't like they weren't like rubbing my face in it. They're like, I got you, man. You'd be just a way to go and so I felt like, but we get along, right? And those we need to be reminded of those and elevate those things. I mean, Tom Brady just we we reposted in our socials, did a speech. He's like, you know, I unity. Like I get 70,000 plus people in the stadium every weekend cheering for the same thing. Of course we can get united, of course we can come together. Right. Those are the stories and the reminders we need to tell and show people this is it can be done. And I think that's a big part of how to address what you just said.
SPEAKER_03:Right. Well, I, you know, I have to remember my arts background. You know, there are those moments in art which uh we call them transformational moments, right? Where you you all experience something. And that's why live theater, I think, is so much more critical because there's that live energy going on between performers and the people that are in the audience. And you you literally you can feel the that happens when something is so critically core to what human beings are and things that people experience, and all of a sudden it's right there in front of you going, Yes, or you know, oh my God, you know, there that that essence. I I wish we could do live theater in, you know, uh bigger circuits or take the same show and take it all around the country. Because I think there's unity theater that could be done, you know, united theater that is um just on the streets, done as a crowd, you know, sourcing kind of thing, whatever, um, to get people to recognize that we're all in this together, man. You know, we all put our pants on one at a time, we're all gonna die eventually. You know, let's make something good of all of this. Is there a favorite story that you have? I mean, you know, having met thousands of people, it's probably hard to come up with one. But is there one that a conversation you had, or you know, I mean Shacak O'Neill, you know, but still, there is there something that really stood out has been like, man, this just gives me so much hope that we can do this thing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, I there's a there's a there's plenty. Um, and but one the one that always comes to mind for me was we were in Montana, a small town in Montana. Um ended up a conversation with an interesting woman, her name was Misty, and she was at a stand where she was selling all kinds of um MAGA and Trump um t-shirts and hats and bandanas and all with strong messages. And I bookended that with another conversation I had in Omaha, Nebraska with uh a young man and woman who were working in a t-shirt shop that was more or less the same, but selling very aggressive, let's call them liberal messages. And so you had both of those. And in each cases, right, I got into conversations back to telling stories, right? And so um in Missy's case, we talked about you know, I asked her a lot of things, and one of them was just like, if she described what unity, how she defines unity and how she tries to bring people together, and does she want us to be united? Same words that I would have heard, I heard from like in the teacher's shop in Omaha, right? And I asked both of them this question, like, okay, but then if I look around just at what you're selling, right? That contradicts what you tell me you believe. So how do you hi-why? And and they said different things, but interesting. I mean, in her case, she's like, look, we need to be heard, and we haven't been heard, and this is the way to get heard, and you know, this is our way of screaming so that people pay attention to take us seriously. The kid and the teachers are in Omaha said almost the same thing. He said, Look, he's like, I actually think we find unity in these teachers because people come in and they don't agree what they say, but uh most of the time they talk to me, and we find and we find out, and I explain why they're here, and we find out that on a lot of things we don't disagree as much. So here are these aggressive uh symbols and words, and they can be unifying if people then have the conversation versus the assumption, right? And both of them kind of told that story, and the thing is that we can't be hurt if we don't get it out in front of people, but we're not doing that to pick a fight, we're doing that to actually have a conversation, and I think I thought that was an interesting uh observation and lesson, and I think it's it's a reminder that actually said don't jump to conclusions. You see somebody, you know, and I can tell you lots of stories of on our road trip to people in deep red or deep blue paraphernalia, then you talk to them, they're not what you think. Yeah, they're not what you think. And that starts if you talk to them with respect, they'll they'll talk to you back with respect, and you break down those barriers. And so I think that that those were really interesting conversations. And I learned a lot. I mean, and each of those went deeper and other other things, but I learned a lot from talking to people that way. And like we can't get every American to do that, but we're gonna that's we're gonna share those stories. We shared a lot of them. We're gonna that's why we're making a um an episodic series out of this. But I think that we have to talk to each other, and I think that's that's the message, and people do that, yeah. And they'll be surprised what they learn.
SPEAKER_03:That's been the greatest um, I guess, uh, grief, maybe, or sadness that I've seen is the number of people that have cut themselves off from relatives or friends that are on the other side of the divide. Um, and I'm I I almost did that in my life too. I have a close friend that for years we've gotten together, um, you know, and it's interesting because it's three guys, you know, and I'm the you know, artsy, fartsy, you know, guy that that is uh, you know, always um he's always, you know, you're Biden lover, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, screw you. I'm not a, you know, blah, blah, blah. And the but one of them is extremely MAGA. And so, you know, Trump can do no wrong. And the other one is in the middle. You know, he sees both sides of things. And it's such wonderful conversations because I know he cares about me and I care about him. He knows we're not just playing games with each other. We care about you. How are you doing? You know, if I know that his back is hurting, you know, it's just like, hey, did you take care of your back this week? You know, it's just the there's the constant reiteration of that stuff is not as important as this stuff. And I don't ever want to make that stuff so critical that you and I don't continue to have this stuff. And that that has been so helpful to just say, you know what? God, just help help me keep, you know, from getting all how can you think that, you know, kind of thing. And instead be like, tell me more about that. Why do you think that that's a good way to do this? You know, because I I need to understand that. In my framework, it doesn't make any sense. You've got an event coming up, too, don't you? Uh December something, isn't there a United Day coming up?
SPEAKER_01:Right. So, yeah, we one of the things that we created is National Unity Day.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Um, and we said that we we've for this will be the sixth year that we've been doing a holiday giving spectacular on the second Saturday in December.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:So Chris and I said, why don't we make we need a National Unity Day? Let's see if we can have it on that second Saturday which is December 13th. And so I applied. There's something called the National Day calendar overseen by the National Day Registry that maintains a listing of all of the different national days. I'm like, oh what there's there's a national cookie day, avocado day, like this is like okay. So I applied and they got back to me and said, We love this. We're we're creating, we're granting and registering national eating day. And they said, we accept 20 out of 30,000 applications a year. Holy crap. I was like, wait a minute, I didn't realize this was so hard. And I was like, but like and but I guess, I mean, I guess there's a lot of people sitting around, you know, they're drinking one night, they're doing whatever, they're like, Oh, I know we're gonna have national, you know, King of Raccoon Day, right? Let's apply. And um, but so they said, but we and they but we were granted this, and they said, Look, this is exactly I mean, to your point, like, God, this is exactly what America needs, right? So here's a day where everyone can come together. And we have you know, it's not ours. We created it, but it's it's just like you know, National Ice Cream Day. I think Ben and Jerry's created it, but anybody wants to do whatever they can do. You know, so the answer is national unity, do whatever you want. We will have and have a bunch of ideas and suggestions of things you can do from our unity pledge that you can take on our website or on our Instagram or TikTok, and then sharing positive stories, wearing purple. As you see, I am purple. I blue, blue and purple are probably tied now, but like wear purple, take a picture, right? That's the color of unity. Red and blue make purple, wear purple for unity day. To your point, one of the things we will be putting out there is call up that friend or that family member that you're not talking to because of politics or division, and offer the hand, build the bridge. Someone's got to take the first step, take it on National Unity Day, right? Because you shouldn't not be talking over these things. There is no chance that Donald Trump or Joe Biden or Kamala Harris or anyone else is thinking about you and worried that you're not talking to your brother, your sister, your mom, your dad, your friend because of them. They're not. So why are you not talking to them? Right. Call them. And National Unity Day is a great day to do it, right? And you have an excuse. It's National Unity Day, I'm doing this. Or volunteer that day. You know, you're in line to buy us a sandwich or a coffee. Talk to someone you don't know, offer to buy some kind of coffee if you want. Or sit down with them, like something like we'll have a set of toolkits. But hey, let's have a day. And if everybody could take a moment that day and do something for unity, oh, now we're starting to change culture. Right. And maybe then it can be not just once a year or maybe twice a year at the 4th of July, but it could be every day a little bit or every week a little bit. And so that I'm really excited about what National Unity Day could be. And it's important that more and more people are aware of it because there's no right or wrong on that day, but it is a day to take a moment in time. And we will be we're trying to tell as many people as we can the National Day calendar has 20,000 plus media followers that they push out there. And sure, hopefully people realize and they just say, hey, I can do this. That's what it takes. All of us.
SPEAKER_03:It would be cool too if it becomes National Unity Week and then National Unity Month and you know, national unity season. So I think, you know, the season of change, which you know, you'll be right before the end of the season of change and coming into winter, it's actually a good timing in terms of what the mentality is. Not quite the shortest day of the year yet. Um, you know, but um good good work. Is there uh is there a challenge that you think is perhaps more pervasive right now? Um, that you're trying to gear up for find strategies to get past it all? Is you leading people through this?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, I think there's two things you run into. Um one, I I mean, maybe uh maybe the biggest thing that you run into is to mo to a lot of people, this feels too big. It's too big for me to do anything about it. It's not I mean it's not there's nothing I can do, right? You know, I'm not the president, or I'm not this, or I'm not that. I'll vote, but there's nothing else I can do other than I can vote. And that's just not right. I mean, there's 360, 70 million Americans, right? If all of us who believe in unity, which is most, I mean, like I said, I didn't hear anybody say, God, I don't want unity, we're not we're the disunited things of America. That that's just that's not what people think. And most don't think they have to be right to our earlier conversation, but they do think, what am I gonna do? Like I was so I mean, people need hope and need inspiration. But if every one of us once a week wore something purple and posted about it, if every one of us took a picture or a video of something nice that someone did in our community that you know builds in your unity that way, or every one of us said, I'm gonna talk to someone I don't know and just say, Hey, I hope you're having a good day, or you look like you need a little pick-me-up. I think you look great today, right? Whatever it may be, and and document it, share that on social media. Everybody did that. The culture would change. Right. So the idea that you can't do anything or it's too big for you is not true, especially with all the technology and tools and resources we have. And so convincing people that it can be done is the hardest part of what we're trying to do, right? But um I'll plug into your sci-fi a little bit. I mean, I've always been a star, a Star Wars fan, I mean, not fanatical, but I mean, but but you know, George Lucas wrote a lot of great things, and there's two lines that stick out related to what we're talking about. I forget which movie it is, and the first the second set of the first three, there's a moment where um Dally Portman's character, Queen Amendala, is in the in the in the Senate, and you know, the Emperor is making whatever speeches. She says this is how democracy dies with thunderous applause.
SPEAKER_02:Right?
SPEAKER_01:So I I I think that's out there as a very good observation and warning for us. And then you know, the other one that was just in the Andor series, you know, rebellions are built on hope. Hope is one of the most powerful words in the English language. Love is another one, but hope is a really powerful one. As I traveled around the country this summer, that's what I heard from a lot of people like, we need hope. And me showing up with a team, a film crew wearing purple and a purple and white pickup truck, talking about unity gave people hope. A lot of people said, geez, if you can do this and drive across the country, I can do something. And sharing stories of what I saw someone in New Jersey versus Texas versus Montana versus Arizona saying and doing, like, wait, I'm not alone. Hope, right? That's what we have to start with. Hope, which leads to action, inspiration, which leads to action, which leads to if all of us do a little bit, this will change. Because we are a republic, we are a democracy in which we vote, we are we create our own culture, we created, we get the government we deserve, we've created what we have good, bad, or indifferent. We are the ones who can fix it. And it's but convincing people of that is where the challenge lies. And so that's my evangelical mission is to go out there and keep saying that because I believe it. I saw it with my own eyes this summer.
SPEAKER_03:I I I keep thinking, you know, you gotta have faith too in this whole thing. And the my favorite uh scripture about faith is faith is the evidence of things hoped for and the substance of things unseen. So, you know, we that we have the faith because we hope for it, and that you know, it's these are it's that evidence. I have to have faith that we can be unified again. That's the the most difficult challenge for me is being able to come above the noise that's saying there is no faith, there is no hope anymore. This is we're too far down. Our democracy is gone. You know, you you hear those people that are just you know done. And I think, no, we have to have faith that we can do better. We have to have, and I I love what you're doing because you're seeing all those people that give you faith because you see the people that are thinking the same thing. That's what gives you faith. That's what gives you inspiration, is that I'm not alone. I'm not the crazy person in this whole thing. I get it and I want to be a part of it. So hold the door open for somebody. You know, ask somebody who looks like they're having a bad day because they're a cash register, you know, runner at a grocery store. Say, hey, how you doing, man? I saw that per person before was not having a good day, and I hope you're not feeling that now, too. So you're doing a great job, thank you. Who's it? Tom Papa, the comedian who always says, You look at you, look at you, look at you, you're doing great. You're doing great, you're doing great. I love the way he starts his, he always starts his comedy routines that way, right? So, and it's just always so I I do that with my dogs now. Look at you, look at you. So, and they just get so excited, right? So tell us how people can find out more, Adam. How can they, if they want to know more about this whole thing, want to get involved, what's in what do they need to do?
SPEAKER_01:Well, very easy. I mean, one, do it, do just do, right? Don't get mad, do. That's what's in a lot of my friends. But one, in terms of us united, you can learn a ton about us. The old school website, us-united.org. Go to our social media on our Instagram, our TikTok, our Facebook, our LinkedIn. Instagram is, you know, if you you'll search us united, you'll find it. It's a purple and white logo. It's got us with the United written in it, us for US, all of us, United, whatever. It's uh purposefully got multiple meetings, however one wants to interpret it. Sure. Follow us on socials. You'll see what the stories we're sharing, the content we're sharing. Then take a unity pledge and do something about it. We have 30, we have so many different opportunities, and we have a 30 for us monthly Zoom where you can show up and end up in a breakout room of five random people on a topic, and you're all of a sudden you're talking to other Americans and you're not in your bubble. There's so many things. Just start. Just start. And whether that's with us or anyone else, but I mean, I think it is easy if people are willing to just take. And I have a 24 and 21-year-old. It's a I get it's a 30-second to two-minute commitment that they're willing to do. Like I said, Unity Pledge. Share positive posts once a week, wear purple once a week, share it. Call that, build that bridge. I mean, these are these are things you can do. You don't have to go drive across the country like me. You don't have to start a movement for unity. Sure. You just need to do a little bit.
SPEAKER_03:Sure. More importantly, how do I get one of those hats? That's I've been thinking about that from the beginning.
SPEAKER_01:They're for sale on our website. Okay. They are. They are for sale on our website. A bunch of people asked about that on the road trip this summer, so they're up there. I take orders. I'm not stocking huge inventory. Right. Because until we get we have a big enough flow of orders, I'll get inventory going. But if people want to buy a hat, they can buy a hat because again, that's a brand, right? You need symbols of unity. Well, if I had a million people, much less one day, 10 million people wearing us united in these hats, people start seeing them everywhere. Well, hey, that's pretty cool. Maybe there is unity out there.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Or you see someone say, like, look at that, we may have more in common than I thought. Just people wear the same hat.
SPEAKER_03:Fantastic. Well, I'll be on there. I I, yeah, as you can tell, I'm a hat person. So trying to cover my increasingly large uh bald spot, but I gotta just embrace it. You know, that's just the way it is. So, anyways, folks, my guest today has been Adam Mizell. Uh, Adam, you've been a total inspiration and a total upper to talk to at the end of the day for me, end of workday. That's a that's a good thing. I get to go into the evening, go see my dogs now. I mean, this is just turning out to be a fantastic day. So uh Adam is the co-founder of United. So, right? United, US United. Yep. Um, and uh just if you want to know more about them, go to U US dot or US-United.org. Is that in my roommates? Okay. So uh find out more, find out a way you can take the Unity Pledge. Um, because it it uh it sounds like that is a a fantastic hope for America that we can all most more and more of us, if we can get that 70% for all of them to take a unity pledge, oh my god, get out of the way, right?
SPEAKER_01:So thanks National Unity Day on December 13th is a good excuse to do it.
SPEAKER_03:There you go. Excellent. Thanks, Adam, so much for your time and your energy. And uh maybe we can get together sometime after National Unity Day, you know, have some stats we can share. So or for the new year, wouldn't that be a great way to start out the new year 2026? Hit it big. Right from the start.
SPEAKER_01:So pick your folks. And remember, it'll be the 250th birthday of our country. That's right. It's a good way to celebrate it.
SPEAKER_03:Exactly. Yeah, so you're going to wind up for that too. We're hoping going to have something going on on July 4th. Okay. That'd be fantastic because I'm sure there's opposing forces that will not want to have a Unity Day that day. So thanks folks for listening. I hope you enjoyed this broadcast as much as I did here on Frame of Reference, Profiles and Leadership.
