The Kindness Matters Podcast
So. Much. Division. Let's talk about how to change that. Re-engage as neighbors, friends, co-workers and family. Let's set out to change the world. Strike that. Change A World. One person at a time, make someone's life a little better and then do it again tomorrow and the day after that, through kindness.
Kindness is a Super-Power that each of us has within us. It is so powerful it has the potential to change not only your life but those around you, too. Let's talk about kindness.
The Kindness Matters Podcast
Kindness as a Calling: Tom Mohr on Faith, Purpose, and Making a Difference
Tom Mohr was struck by lightning and it changed everything. From that moment of literal shock came a spiritual awakening that would transform not just his own life, but the lives of countless business leaders he would go on to mentor and guide.
This conversation delves deep into Tom's remarkable journey from newspaper executive to digital media president to startup founder, revealing how each professional step prepared him to coach CEOs with extraordinary effectiveness. With five business books to his name, Tom brings profound insights about leadership and organizational growth that would be valuable on their own—but his story offers something even more powerful.
What makes this episode truly special is Tom's vulnerability in sharing his spiritual journey. After losing his mother to suicide at age eight, he rejected faith entirely until life-altering events set him on a new path. Now, as he prepares for his Difference Makers Retreat in Plymouth, Minnesota, Tom articulates a vision where faith calls us both inward toward personal growth and outward toward meaningful service.
The most inspiring moment comes when Tom addresses the common feelings of unworthiness and incapability that hold many back from making a difference. "Never underestimate the power of a committed person," he encourages, sharing stories of ordinary people who've created extraordinary change. His powerful statement that "God does incredible things with broken tools" serves as both comfort and call to action for listeners questioning their own potential impact.
Whether you're struggling to find purpose, looking to integrate faith with leadership, or simply searching for inspiration to make a difference in your corner of the world, Tom's wisdom will leave you believing in possibilities you hadn't previously imagined. Listen, be inspired, and then share this episode with someone who needs to hear that they too can be a difference maker.
This podcast is a proud member of the Mayday Media Network. If you have an idea for a podcast and need some production assistance or have a podcast and are looking for a supportive network to join, check out maydaymedianetwork.com.
Like what you hear on the podcast? Follow our social media for more uplifting, inspirational and feel-good content.
It's one thing to highlight the kindness that we see in the world, but it's another to, as I put in many of my social media posts, #bethechange. I am donating all of my royalties from the sale of my book, Change A World; In Order to Change The World to local and national non-profits. Your help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Well, hello there and welcome. You are listening to the Kindness Matters podcast and I am your host, mike Rathbun. What is this podcast all about? It's about kindness. It's a pushback against everything negative that we see in the news and on social media today, and it's a way to highlight people, organizations, that are simply striving to make their little corner of the world a little better place. If you want to join in on the conversation, feel free, Go ahead and follow us on all of your social media feeds. We're on Facebook, instagram, tiktok. We're even on LinkedIn under Mike Rathbun. Check us out. We're even on LinkedIn under Mike Rathbun. Check us out and, in the meantime, sit back, relax, enjoy and we'll get into the Kindness Matters podcast. Hey, welcome to the show everybody. So so thankful that you are here. I'm grateful that you've chosen to take 30 minutes out of your day To listen to this podcast, and if you hear anything in this podcast that inspires you or uplifts you or motivates you, please feel free to share it with your friends, your family, your coworkers, random people on the street, your coworkers, random people on the street, just you know, spread the word that there's a good, uplifting, positive podcast out there. I know there's a few. Let me be one of them, if you don't mind, I would appreciate that as well.
Speaker 1:My guest today. I could have written five pages for this intro but I had to cut it down, so I'm going to miss a ton of stuff. But he is the founder and CEO of CEO Quest, where he helps technology CEOs improve their performance so as to increase company velocity. He founded and run a startup. He has led a $200 million digital media company. He's raised lots of venture capital money. He's bought and sold companies and participated on boards and he's learned many lessons along the way. Oh yeah, he's also written five business books. But Tom is more than just a businessman. Tom is more than just a businessman. He's also a husband, a father, a musician. But for Tom, his most important role is child of God. Welcome to the show, tom. We'll get into what that means a little bit, but welcome I'm happy to have you here.
Speaker 2:It's a privilege, Mike. Thank you for the opportunity to chat today with you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's so. I'm not even sure how I found you, tom. How did we find each other?
Speaker 2:Don Prisby.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's right, Don Prisby from the Blessing Post.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mind like a sieve anyway.
Speaker 2:Hey me too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but really there is so much to you, tom, I mean, and I don't, I think most people would say you know well, I'm not just a one dimensional person, you're like what? 16 dimensional. Let's talk about your business experience First of all you. You founded and ran a startup. What was that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, just going back a bit, in the 90s I had been a newspaper guy and in 1990, I was recruited to join the Star Tribune, and so that was when newspapers used to make money. Right, this was a previous phase of of our economy, uh, pre the internet sort of uh. And so did that um work for I don't know about a decade, uh, at the star Tribune, ended up as head of marketing and sales and I ended up being recruited um, eventually out to with a little stop in Nashville, we won't talk about that but out to San Jose, california, and I worked for Knight Ritter Corporate where, eventually, I became president of Knight Ritter Digital. Now, knight Ritter was the second largest newspaper company in the US at the time and I ran the digital side. And when it was sold and broken up, yes, I started a startup.
Speaker 1:Nice. I've also had some experience in the newspaper industry. In the late 80s I was a route manager for the Omaha World Herald.
Speaker 2:Oh sure.
Speaker 1:Or the Weird Herald, as it was affectionately known back then. And you know, I look back at that now and I'm like that was wild, because they had two editions. They put out every single day a morning and an afternoon. Yes, and now. Yeah, now it's all digital right.
Speaker 2:Well, it is so. You know, I used to. When I was at Knight Ritter, I was in charge of the classified area of the business for all the 32 newspapers owned by Knight Ritter. That was my first job before becoming head of digital. And you know, gosh Craigslist just cut the heart out of the classified business, right? I never thought of that A 10-person team sort of wiped out one of the primary revenue generators of newspapers. So the internet turned things upside down for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, okay. So then you started your own company, and what was that like? What was that?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So then you started your own company, and what was that like? What was that? Yeah, so it is. The company is still going. It's a digital platform for auto dealers. That is when we initially started it. It was focused on more effective responses to incoming leads Giving, as opposed to saying, thank you for your interest in buying a car. We'll get back to you in five hours, if ever it's more along the lines of you asked for this vehicle. Here's three options that are on the lot right now. Here's exactly what it's priced that kind of thing. So, yeah, we did that. It was the most humbling experience I've ever had.
Speaker 1:Startups usually are, aren't they? Yeah?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. It was a really fascinating journey. I thought I knew a lot about leadership when I started in that company and you know when you're staring in front of a whiteboard to start a company and then you know dealing with everything that comes all the way up to. You know six years later where we have you know a large team of people and customers all across the country. It was unrelentingly hard, but it was a great learning experience and it prepared me to do what I have done ever since, which is to coach CEOs.
Speaker 1:CEO quest. So now the train left the station, Tom, so you help CEOs improve their performance, right? Is that what basically?
Speaker 2:Yeah, basically what I tried to focus on is a coaching model, not a consulting model. So we get together with CEOs every week for an hour and have a conversation, and I decided to. There were a lot of executive coaches out there. These play a very important role. These are folks that are working on the human dynamics of leadership and really focus there. That's certainly a part of what I do, but I really have tried to focus on what I call the applied science of company building and to really get into a deep understanding of what it takes to scale a company and help CEOs sort of sort out what are the things standing in the way of us getting to the next level. So, yeah, it's just been a joy and a privilege to do it.
Speaker 1:That's so fun and then. So how does one go about writing five business books?
Speaker 2:Have you ever heard the phrase trying to run around the block to get to the head of the band? I've never heard of that. Okay, well, if you want to coach CEOs effectively, you better know what you're talking about. And as I was in the midst of this coaching experience, I recognized that not only were they needing to be students of the applied science of company building, so was I, and there's no better way to be a student than to be a writer, because it forces you to get your thoughts organized. And so when I wrote Scaling the Revenue Engine, I had to think deeply about marketing and sales and the whole revenue engine in a way that I was able to use for to coach more effectively, and similarly for all the other books.
Speaker 2:So, uh, yeah it, it, it very much that, uh, and and just the opportunity to to uh sort of be ready that when I'm in front of a CEO, I don't want to waste their money, I don't want to waste their time, I want to be there for them. So I felt I needed to do the work, and I will admit, writing books is a lot of work. But you know, I spent thousands of hours writing those five books. It was a long time, but it was worth it and I'm glad I did.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, oh, that's so fantastic. And now anybody who wants to learn about leadership and business can go to your book. Yeah, and they're all five different topics, right?
Speaker 2:Yes, correct, there are five. We won't go deep into this, but there are five domains of company building that are relevant. The specifics change but they're relevant at every stage of company building and so you know, scaling the revenue engine was about, obviously, the revenue engine, the fit systems, enterprise people design, the four way fit, which is about, you know, not just product market fit, but market, product model and team fit, et cetera, and it was just around trying to get clear in my own mind and for others what it takes to build a good business, and I've tried to support the CEOs I work with that way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, that's perfect. Okay, so we got the business stuff out of the way. Let's talk about faith, and you take a kind of I don't know if it's a unique approach, but it's one that certainly piqued my interest about the role of faith in improving people's lives. That might be a little too broad, but I think you know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know. Because of the journey of my life I have sort of been all over the map, you know when I was a kid.
Speaker 1:I grew up in a.
Speaker 2:You know my dad got us to the United Church of Canada we were living in Canada at the time which is sort of this amalgamation of Presbyterian, congregational and Methodist, and so, you know, kid, you're just sort of take it all in at face value and that was that. And then, in the events of my life, my mom, you know, committed suicide when I was eight. I, you know, totally abandoned any sense of any relationship with God, rejected all that. And you know, coming out of college, I'm down in Florida with my girlfriend and another couple leading a relatively dissolute life. And on the way back one night in a driving, torrential rainstorm, I begin feeling this sense of dread and pull up into the parking lot of our little townhouse that we were living in, stepped out of the car and was hit by lightning. That we were living in, stepped out of the car and was hit by lightning, knocked unconscious and literally crawled in after I came to into the townhouse. And that was an opportunity to step back and rethink my life a little bit and, you know, cut to the chase.
Speaker 2:It took many years after that for me to begin on peeling the soul tangles that I had going on inside of me, but over the course of time, I would say. At first I grudgingly allowed God to have one spoke on the wheel of my life, and then I met this girl. She became my wife, you know, catholic, going to church every week, and she sort of helped me come back into the church and then to begin what became a multi-year journey, of sort of coming to sense that, you know, not only did God love me, to sense that, you know, not only did God love me, but he needs me. He needs me to be his hands and feet in the world, and just as he needs all of us, and there's a purpose and a meaning to our lives that goes beyond our own selfish stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah, people often talk about doing something bigger than themselves, and I think that's kind of where you're going with that right and stuff.
Speaker 2:I've always been sort of conscious of the fact that you know there's a lot of needs in our world. There's, whatever context we inside, our families and our communities and our churches and our cities, nation, world, you know, no matter what level you look at it, there's a lot of needs and we've known and that's always been true, of course. But my dad was an activist, he got in there and he joined that board, he got involved in Boy Scouts and, becoming a Boy Scout master he did things and I think that set for me a frame that even as I was off in the wilderness in college and stuff, I still would get active and stuff. And you know it had been like I was on the board of the cookie cart in North Minneapolis when I was there in the 90s when I went out to California. I was on the board of the cookie cart in North Minneapolis when I was there in the 90s when I went out to California I was on the board of Cristo Rey High School. There's a Cristo Rey also in Minneapolis and you know prison ministry stuff.
Speaker 2:But so for me there's been this juncture between, you know, my faith life, my consciousness of that as being important to me my growing understanding of the power of leadership and this sort of consciousness of the woundedness of our world, and I believe we are at a point in time in our world. We're so divided, there's so much conflict, that people are yearning for meaning and purpose, and the world needs leaders to step up. Not just any leader, though, leaders of goodness. And so what I've been working on the last four years focusing on our Christian brethren and sister and whatever you know, across all denominations, yeah, yeah, across all denominations is to say, look, if we are going to call ourselves Christian, we can't just focus on our vertical relationship upward to God.
Speaker 2:That's important, the interior journey, union with God. But as God calls us inward, he also calls us outward. To see the guy lying in the ditch the good Samaritan story. See the guy lying in the ditch, do something, get in there whatever you're called to do. Get in there whatever you're called to do, and I believe that in servanthood, we can live out our true nature, that we were born to have impact and to have meaning in this world, and it's not just about ourselves, it's about all those around us. We're all connected.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so yeah, and I really feel that too. I feel like, and this is not.
Speaker 2:I mean, you're obviously Catholic and so you speak a lot to the Catholicism portion, but this really goes for all people of faith, right further to say for of all people you said it right of all people, and even non-faith like I believe that in the heart of every human being is a desire to be good. Yeah, and for me, that journey has led me into this deep internal sense that God exists, that he loves, that he loves me, that he's there for me, he's in me, with me and for me, and he wants me to be in him, with him and for him, and to get out there and do something. But I also know that we can journey together with other people with different sets of beliefs and work side by side for the betterment of others. It is absolutely. Goodness is not exclusive to Christians.
Speaker 1:No, yeah, we don't hold the patent. That's right On goodness. Yeah, and I think so. As you're going through this and as you're working through this, you had an idea to bring people together and you've got it set up. Now it's coming up on November 8th, I believe.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And that's the Difference Makers. Difference Makers Retreat.
Speaker 2:Retreat, I believe, yeah, yeah, and that's the Difference.
Speaker 1:Makers Difference, makers Retreat, retreat. Thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so the origin story is that in 2021, I made a decision that I felt the need to speak to a diverse you know, interdenominational Christian community about that. Hey, we can't make this just about our internal relationship with God. We are being called to be difference makers in the world, and so I started by getting a list of people that worked at churches all across North America 40,000. And I sent a weekly email every week in 2020, 2022. The first 13 letters who is God. Second 13 letters who am I. Third 13 letters where's the need. And the fourth 13 letters what's my call. And that became my book Letter Strizing Leaders that I published in 2023.
Speaker 2:And last year did a podcast series just covering the exact same ground, which set me up for this year and, to your point, I, in consultation with others, we decided the right next step is a retreat, and so we're going to hold this retreat called the Difference Makers. It's a half day retreat on Saturday, november 8th, at Plymouth Playhouse Theater, at the intersection of 55 and 494 in Plymouth, and we're going to go through the exact same journey who is God, who am I, where's the need, what's my call and have a lot of music and, you know fellowship and you know witnesses and everything else.
Speaker 1:So it's going to be good, that's going to be fantastic and for those listening outside of the Minneapolis-St Paul area, that's Plymouth, minnesota. Worth a trip if you don't have anything else to do on November 8th. So you talk about our call, our call, and, as somebody who probably is not as active in Christianity or really any kind of faith as I have been in the past, my mom's looking down disapprovingly being the staunch Catholic that she was.
Speaker 1:People might say well, how do I know what my calling is? You know, I don't hear God, I don't hear whoever it may be, whatever deity you might worship. So how do I know what my calling is?
Speaker 2:you might worship. So how do I know what my calling is? Well, I think the first thing that that you know. I my perspective is that um, consciousness of a higher power, um, is going to ebb and flow. Perhaps, and for some there just might not be any felt sense that that's there, to the point of saying, you know, I don't believe in God and there's nothing wrong with that. Here's what I say from my vantage point God believes in you.
Speaker 1:God believes in you and, by the way, and again, just my vantage point.
Speaker 2:Not only that he loves you, it's on the scale of judgment versus love. It's all love, right, it's all love. And knows your potential, knows all that your life can be about. And I don't think it's very complicated this thing about a call. I think what it is is that in our intentionality to live the good life, to be a contributor to humanity in whatever way that manifests for us, we will be made conscious of needs around us at times when we have the capacity to do something Now. It's always going to be our choice, but if we are seeking to live the good life, I have great confidence that we will be exposed to opportunities to step up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah Is this like one of those things? And I had a guest on. He'll be the week before you. His name is Rob Bergfolk. He lives up in Anoka and he and his wife were watching TV in 2018. And there were news reports about homeless encampments in Minneapolis and they had video of all these tents and the propane tanks and all this, and I think any caring human being, anybody with a shred of compassion, would say, oh my, that's horrible, right. But he felt it a little differently and he said I think we're supposed to do something about that and it took a while, but eventually he's worked up to the point where he became ordained and he's opened a coffee shop where they employ unhoused people, teach them life skills is that? Is that kind of like what you're talking about there?
Speaker 2:Yeah, sort of One of the privileges of being in Northern California for 20 years and coaching CEOs many times VC-backed CEOs that are in their late 20s, early 30s with hot startup concepts. I have become deeply acquainted with the capacity of human beings to move mountains. I've seen it even in quite young people, right, and what I think often holds us back is we don't feel worthy or we don't feel capable. One of those Either you know we're not good enough to be that good person doing that thing or I'm not capable. Now, sometimes it's I don't care.
Speaker 2:That's the third possibility, right, but you can care and not feel capable, and my encouragement to every listener is to know you are capable of massively more than you consciously are aware. You're capable of doing and I can say that with authority because I've seen it time and time again Never underestimate the power of a committed person to make a difference, and so believe in yourself. And are you worthy? None of us are worthy. None of us are worthy, but God does incredible things with broken tools. He can change the world with broken tools, and so we give what we can as our contribution to this world and we let the rest he'll take over. He'll do the rest.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I absolutely love that Because I think in talking about capable, love that because I think in talking about capable, it's so easy to look at this world and all of the things that are broken in it, the hunger, the starvation, and your head goes. That's too big. I can't do anything about that and it doesn't have to be a huge problem. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Let me give you one example to make it real and there are many. I could refer to many, but I'll give you just one. I had the privilege and pleasure of meeting Bill Doherty. He's a professor at the? U. He has spent his life doing family counseling. You know couples that are really struggling, maybe almost heading towards divorce, getting in there and supporting them and helping them and coming out of the elections in 2016,.
Speaker 2:He got a call from an associate somebody in another city who did the same thing. An associate somebody in another city who did the same thing and he said hey, I'm concerned about the level of animosity going on in our country here between you know the community I see right outside of Omaha here, and you know my friend who has a community in Manhattan. I mean, they just see the world totally differently and I'm doing something about it. I'm pulling together 10 Trump supporters and 10 Hillary supporters to come together for a weekend. And he said and I want you to facilitate because you have your family practice background he got in there and he did this and, by the way, to prepare he had watched an Oprah thing where they had done sort of a similar thing bringing together by the end of the Oprah segment she was going around asking how do you feel about the future of America? Half the people were saying we're headed towards civil war. Right, that's what it was like for her. But he got in there and were using the principles of family, you know, counseling and support. By the end of the weekend they wanted another weekend. They were all friends and this is a true story.
Speaker 2:He did it for a state legislator group that he won't name, the state because it's private, and only those who wanted to be. I think they got 10 and 10 Republican and Democrat state legislators together and the question he asked each of them that broke everything open was what life experiences have led you to your beliefs? And in the going around it turned out that two of the legislators had grown up in the foster care system. One had become a Republican, the other a Democrat. And as they went around, at the end of that whole session he was asking what they feel about the hope for the future. And the Republican guy said well, I'll tell you one thing I can't fight somebody the way I used to fight them when I've come to know their heart. And there's a difference maker. Bill Doherty has gone on to start Braver Angels, which has chapters all around the United States.
Speaker 1:I know Braver Angels.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely I can connect them. You should get them on your podcast. And whether it be terry esau, who started free bikes for kids, or sister jean theroff, who started the cookie cart in north minneapolis, people who had no background in it doubted their capabilities, but something in them said I'm gonna do something. And there you go. That's how the world changes for the better.
Speaker 1:That's how we change the world. And you know what? Maybe it's one person at a time, but that's how we fix our world, how we fix our country. One person at a time or a group Could be a group. That's such a fantastic story. Thank you so much for sharing that, Tom. I am so excited for your upcoming retreat. I'm going to try to make it.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Love to have you. I would love to attend. I would love to probably not speak, just sit in to attend.
Speaker 2:I would love to probably not speak, just sit in, well. Ticket sales uh, ticket sales go on uh on stream at uh on uh July 21st, and so the site is. If you go to the difference makerssite, that's where our website is.
Speaker 1:We will have a link to that in the show notes and also to your website. And yeah, folks, just you know what never think that you're not good enough, not pious enough, not anything enough to be a change in the world. Thank you so much for coming on the show, tom. I really, really appreciate it and I'm so excited for you and your upcoming retreat.
Speaker 2:And thank you for that. But I want to thank you because you are focused on kindness. That's the whole thing you're doing and, in using my language, you are a difference maker. So thank you for being who you are.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Maybe this is my calling I think it might be probably is all right all right.
Speaker 1:Take care, tom, and we will talk soon take care hey guys, I want to thank you so much for taking this time to listen to this episode with my guest, Tom Moore. I hope you were able to take something positive from the time you spent with us. Maybe you were inspired, Maybe you were motivated, Maybe you'll be moved. If you experienced any of those positive feelings, please consider sharing this podcast with your friends and family. Those positive feelings please consider sharing this podcast with your friends and family. I'm always striving to offer you a better podcast, so give me some feedback if you think I need it. Let me know how you think I'm doing. Email me, Leave me a message. It would mean the world. Also, feel free to follow us on our socials like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok.
Speaker 1:This podcast is part of the Mayday Media Network. If you have an idea for a podcast and need some production assistance, or have a podcast already and are looking for a supportive network to join, check out maydaymedianetworkcom and check out the many different shows, like Afrocentric Spoil, my Movie Generation Mixtape In a Pickle Radio Show, Wake Up and Dream with D Anthony Palin, Staxo, Pax and the Time Pals. We'll be back again next week with a brand new episode and we would be honored if you would join us. You've been listening to the Kindness Matters Podcast. I am your host, Mike Rathbun. Have a fantastic week.
