Corporate Kindness

The KC Clown Car addresses the challenges of corporate culture and kindness.

Transcript

0:20

welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, where once again, we hope to inject the world with a dose of the Minnesota kindness that it desperately needs. Thank you for holding your mud on that one. I really appreciate it. The owl. Stop that. Uh, once again, welcome to the clown car. We got Michael Dempsey with us again this week. Hello. We got, uh, Steve Brown. Hello. Fresh off of, uh, whatever he does. We got the intern, Jeff here. Thank you again. And we're gonna be talking about corporate kindness, contraction, and expansion. Wow. And speaking of contraction and expansion kg, sounds like my waistline. Yes. Yes sir. Emphasis on the expansion. Hello? Exactly. Um, I wanna start first, however, a couple of weeks ago I was at, I failed to talk about the. Masonic Children's Hospital Wine Fest, the big gala that they have at the depot in downtown Minneapolis. And one of the people that got a big award for the work that they do, uh, for children was our old friend, Dr. Shanti. Oh, wow. Nara ha so cool. Haha. I'm not even gonna try and pronounce her last name, but she could not be sweeter. Yeah, she tracked me down. To get a picture taken with me. Really? I felt like kg. That's cool. Yeah. Aw, you're the miracle. The, I wasn't the mayor of the, of the gala. I could have been Well, you, you could have been. I could. Did she remember you from the podcast? Yeah. You could do that. Yeah. She came up and she's, yeah. Wow. I, I think that's amazing. But what I am like less amazed about because it's becoming a habit, the guests that you have on these shows. They, they emerge in other places. How many times have, have, I heard Parker Fox. Oh, recently. Oh my goodness. He's omnipresent in the, in the, in the, in the last couple of years. You guys had him on like, wait, like probably right when he was leaving Northern, right? We were still waiting. I was also at an event with, uh, one of K G's buddies. Did we talk about this? Did we talk about seeing Yeah, we did. We talked about Ryan Carter. You know, it'd be great if you guys could get somebody that someone has actually heard of on this podcast. That would be terrific. Uh oh, speaking of which kg where are we calling you at? I'm at home with the puppies in, uh, Minnetonka, Ben, William, and Brooks. Uh, had a nice walk this afternoon. Can I ask a question? Kg we're in between Canterbury and the wild. Um, I, I hear you on these podcasts. What do you, what do you like fill the time with in this short, tiny, little window? Culver's. Okay. Nah, well, Culver's is not the wrong answer. There's one stones throw from where I'm sitting right now and it might be calling my name after we get done recording, but no, I mean, there's about a two and a half to three week gap and it's great because after all the travel and you know, all the running around, which is great. Love the hockey season. There's a different cadence to Canterbury and so everything shifts and you know, we do a couple things out there. We, we do a bunch of commercials for social media, so we'll record that. Um, we'll get a couple things in the can that we use on our broadcast Yeah. At Canterbury on a daily basis that we'll put in the can. But truthfully,, there's stuff to do around here and I'm gone so much all the way through the end Ofoff, which is usually right around. So we did the big garage cleaning, uh, last week. We're in the process of donating a bunch of, uh, after Chrissy's mom passed away, we took on a lot of her stuff and furniture. So we're doing that. Mother's Day was very emotional, so, you know, family stuff. And yeah, John mentioned the trip to Madison. But no, it's been great. I'm ready to go. I'm ready for Canterbury to, to open up again. But, um, yeah, it's a nice couple week break for sure. That's great. I have one more follow on question. I heard you on, uh. One of our favorite radio stations recounting a Roy story about wearing a suit and sweating through that suit. We talked about that on our show. Oh, did you guys? That was our show. It, it was here, it was there a show, but it was a funny story maybe. And, and, and, and Roy made some comment because, you know, you were sweating so bad. Uh, I thought that was a funny story. But I'm curious why the suit at Canterbury, why is it that you guys wear a full suit to do what you do out there? We only do it on very rare occasions, and that particular event was back when we hosted the claiming crown, which ended up being, um, our feed got picked up nationally for that. So we had to, if you come out on a regular basis and see a Canterbury, I, I should be sponsored. Short sleeve button down. Got it. They're comfortable. I wear those almost every race or race. Um. His point was a valid one as as sweaty and as gross as everything was that day. There is probably not a day where Patrick Roy imagined he'd ever wanna be Kevin, go boxer short. So I kind of walked into that one and he kind of put me in my place. So, so KG you could say that. Your normal everyday wear at Canterbury in the summer is something out of, uh, George Costanza's father's, uh, uh, cabana wear the, the beach attire. Yeah. I'm looking forward. You know, when you see me, it looks like I'm getting ready for shuffleboard Okay. In Boca Raton. But, uh, you know, I listen, it's a welcome change after wearing the suits. Yeah. Uh, for what normally 85 90 broadcast. I, I don't love wearing a suit. I get why we do it, especially at the ice arena. Totally fine with it. But I don't know how you guys feel. And I know, John, you were all decked out when you went to your charity event. That's right. I was, uh, recently I, I don't love wearing, uh, all that dress up garb, but some people enjoy it. I do not. Well, speaking of dress up garb. Yeah. The topic for today's show is, kindness in a corporate setting. Yeah. And, you know, there's TPS reports and there's all those things and it's, you know, you gotta address a certain way. I am not, there's a not guy. Yeah. There's a culture, you know, sometimes the, the, the clothes that you wear, it helps define the culture. Yep. The, my, the, the, the guy that used to run the show where I'm at right now, he used to wear a suit every single day. Yeah. And I would say to him, you know, do you like when you walk on the beach, do you wear wing tips and black socks? And he told me that he's never owned a pair of shorts. So can you imagine what those. Pasty white legs. No kidding. Like Elmer's glue sticks. So what is it now, John, what have you enacted with a group there? You know, I like to wear a, uh, I look like I'm going golfing every day. A polo shirt, you know, polo shirt, you know, sometimes I wear a quarter zip, you know, usually very highly fashionable. Yeah, I've seen the quarter zip in a lot of photos, a lot of darks, to, I dunno, cover up the situation that's taking place underneath the clothes. You don't need a towel kg. I was golfing with some guys the other day and. I said, Denny, you guys ever wear just a white shirt? And they're like, why would you wear a white shirt? You know? I don't wanna see where somebody's belly button is. Oh, oh my. But I'm serious. It's disgusting. I would agree with that. Yeah. Men should wear nothing but dark shirts as I look around. Okay. We're all doing okay here. Yeah. Yeah, leave the white shirts. I'm with you on the dark shirts. Yeah, me too. Yeah, just I think the cam, that's the tip. I think pro tip, I, I think thinking that it's camouflaging something is, you know, a bit of a misnomer, but it helps, you know, I, I like it. It doesn't hurt if the room's dark, the lights are out. It sure does. But other than that, I don't know what we're hiding. So, of, for kindness of all of us here, the, the one who's probably most into the corporate world at this point in life is, uh, is Michael. Yeah, KG, you have sort of a pseudo corporate gig, I guess I kind of have a thing. You got a thing I did the intern, he's outta work. So he's got, but he's got a lot of experience. Major corporate guy. Can I piggyback on that? Of course you can. So one of the things I learned from our CEO for which I worked 19 years, mark Benioff and I look up to, and I have a lot of affinity for,'cause I love the story, but he always would talk about the Japanese word called hin. Which means a beginner's mindset. So I'm happy to be your intern'cause I'm learning a lot, watching and listening from you. Jeff is kind of a new study. He's been really kind of scouring all these episodes, kind of binging the Kindnesses Chronicle episodes. This is, uh, what episode one 40. It's become, it's become my job in a way to just take notes. Hi. That is I so sad. So have you, have you noticed that, have you noticed a cancellation issue with us, uh, on the line there? there's a, that'd be hard for you to tell. It's, it's what's funny that's coming to mind. Sorry, Michael, for a, another media reference. No, but I can't help it. But have you seen, there there's an SNL skit where it's like white guys that have a podcast and they, they want to hear themselves talk. And so when he said, we just like to hear ourselves talk and nobody's really listening anyway, there's a skit. Exactly like that. Yeah. And they give them a Fisher Price podcast set. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's what basically what we have here. Yeah. Oh, that's fantastic. Well, we don't have listeners. No, well John does.'cause they call him about it all the time. I, I, I think you guys are hilarious and that's why I'm sitting here. I just am trying to like. Add, uh, the straight person When I brought the topic up, it really wasn't about, uh, visits to hr. Yeah. I mean, that wasn't, that wasn't the basis of the, the, the basis of the topic was, um, as the economy sort of, uh, constricts a little bit or, you know, all, all of the time the economy's up or down and corporate America expands and contracts and as they're expanding, they really want to lean into. It's about our culture. It's about our values and, you know, we wanna embody these cultures, this culture, and these values and kindness may be in there and integrity and honesty and all of those things. But the question is, does that go out the window when the economy goes down and how hard to hold onto that. Yeah. And how Holt Right. And, and, and do they hold people accountable to it?'cause I, I, I have, uh, various experiences with that. I, anecdotally, for me. I think it depends on the leader for whom you work there are some that are steadfast and will stay, uh, will have integrity through thick and thin. But I, I also see behavior depending on who you're dealing with, um, survival behavior and, you know. The targets on your back and those kinds of people start gossiping. So it sort of depended'cause we were a 70,000 person organization. Right. And um, and now you're 69. 9 99. No, it's, um, I, and, and I have. Nothing but gratitude and positive things to say about that company and learned a ton. So you won't hear any negative, uh, things. Good decision. Yeah, but I, but I got his point where it's like they have their mission, vision, values, and it's a, it's a, they indoctrinate that, and I understand why they have to have it because Right. It kinda sets a tone for everybody. But are they, do they always hold onto that when, when all of a sudden, you know, the trust in your job? We had massive layoffs at Target. Right. And like what we thought we had this. Sweet little culture here and everyone was helping each other. And before, you know, like whole teams of people are gone. It was just me and my former boss after these huge layoffs in marketing. It was just me and my former boss who, that was just my coworker. And we had to take care of all the work that Right. 10 people did. And it was a really odd thing. And I felt exactly what you're saying. I felt that kind of like, well, what happened to that happy culture? We, we, we, I thought we said family all the time. Yeah. This is not what you do to family it fast, right? Yeah, it does. Um. Uh, I, I want to get back to your commentary'cause you, you mentioned leader right now. When you say you, you're talking to Jeff. Jeff, yes. Yep. Thank you. Thanks, John. Yeah, thanks John. Cameras are on right now. This is not a visual medium. Yeah. Jeff, you, you mentioned leader. Thank God. I thought that was, uh, apropos because the, the leader of the team, the group, the organization. They do set the tone right and they, they, they, they offer permission to be empathetic, right. And to be respectful. And they hold people accountable if done right. So let's look at a CEO amongst us.'cause there is one That's right. There is, how do you, oh, looking at you, John, how do you, how I, I mean, do you take this on, do you think about this? I mean, how does this Oh, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. The thing is. The better you treat the people that work with you, the better they're going to be for the, you know, I always think that the bottom line isn't always necessarily driven by the dollar signs, right? The bottom line is driven by the way that your people treat the customers true. And if they treat their customers well, that's gonna ultimately serve the ultimate bottom line. Better than anything. But of course, you know, times are tough. Right? And this past year, cost of living went way up, right? And, you know, we gave everybody a 4% cola because that's kind of what the cost of living did, and that hurt the bottom line. But, we gotta be fair to our employees I just wanna switch gears to, to, to make this about sports for just a second. Good. For, for kj. Oh, you just woke up. Yeah. No, in all sincerity, imagine the coaches for the wild and you've got these young kids that make the team and they're playing, on the big team and they get sent back down to Iowa. tell us about the feeling that people have in that sort of corporate environment because a hockey team is a business and Yeah. I would imagine that, if you're winning, yep. You got a sale, you got sales going, but what do you hear about that? Are there some coaches that are better at letting people down than others? It is a really fine line that those coaches have to walk and the general manager, because I think it's a, it's a group decision, not different than an office. On the corporate side, you have multiple people making a decision. It starts with Bill Garrin and, and the head coach John Hines. And it's a, you know, it's very impactful for these, for these players because, you know, we've seen, like locally a guy like Sammy Walker, who was a pretty high respected prospect in this organization. As recent as two or three years ago and he would get opportunities to play with the wild and, and even though he was producing in the American League, that didn't always translate to what you got at the NHL level. And the hard thing was he was an incredible kid, so he was great in locker room. You could put him on any spot on the rink and he is gonna kind of blend in and very best translate the success had. Huge because when he gets sent down, it's a different pay structure. So you go from making NHL money to American League money, and so it's a big demotion. And for prospects that get drafted and have plans and build homes, uh, think about the emotion involved in that decision. Oh man, they don't take it lightly, but again, the Minnesota Wild, they're a business and they have to put the best team on the ice every single day and sometimes. Those decisions they have to make and they sit down, they call the guy into the office, they have a conversation, and then the wild travel guy takes over and then they make all the accommodations to go back and forth. And sometimes, you know, with Matt Boldy, he was in Iowa for a couple of months, stood out like a sore thumb, got to the NHL, and the rest is history for others. You know, Marco Rossi kind of went back and forth and, and obviously Sammy Walker's the story on the. He's kind mired now in the American League and likely will not get back up anytime soon. Sammy's a Edina kid, right? Yeah, he is a great kid too. And it's, you know what it, it's not your typical, and I hate to label aina because we, we hear Edina and we think, you know, these rich families, these blue bloods that have generations of millions of dollars. That was not the case with Sammy Walker. You know, he was a kid that played in Edina. And, you know, his family was, I would say, middle class at best, and they found a way to get him involved in the game of hockey. He turned out to be a great player, played for the University of Minnesota after playing Edina. But, um, you know, the, the NHL career just doesn't look like it's in the cards, so I can't imagine, you know, how tough that is to hear. But, you know, from, from the wilds perspective, John Hines and Bill, they've gotta do what they've. You know, when, when they talk to those players, they, they're very empathetic to the emotion involved. But, um, you know, just that's part of the, the gig I have. Uh, just kind of some, some thoughts too as I was listening to KG and, and you John, um, why don't you share them? Yeah. So edit this, silence out as I collect my thoughts here. No, it's good. I mean, those are very, for a podcast, silence is, silence is great on a podcast. It's not. what happened at Salesforce, um, I, I'm it's way above my pay grade to really truly know what's going on in the C-suite, the c the CXOs that have to make these decisions, and it sort of trickles on down. Um, but, with the advent of artificial intelligence, it's really disrupted the technology industry big time. We had some activist investors come in and, and this is new to me, but they, they came in and said, you know, I don't know the full story, but they, they definitely took hold of the co company, not full control, but they, they got some seats on the board and shook it up and disrupted it quite a bit. And, and it, I think it. Took probably two years to trickle down, maybe a year and a half. As I look back at the, the chronology, and they had to, you know, then, then a new performance culture got enacted where you had to jump through a certain number of hoops just to kind of, you know, stay within. Ranks. And I, I just came to a point in my life where luckily, because I didn't live high on the hog and I saved my money, and I said, you know, this has been a great run. I, I wanna make a change though. And I stepped away proactively and now I'm networking and I'm kind of having to reinvent myself. So hence this podcast, which I'm super grateful to be on, but. My, I it for what it's worth, save and invest your money and don't live beyond your means because you never really truly know what's gonna happen. And I'm really glad I did that because now I can kind of be patient and think about it and talk and network with people. So I I I just want to, uh, tie these, uh, two stories together because I, you didn't say it, but I think what you were trying to say was the culture had changed. It got more intense for sure. The culture had changed. It didn't line up. And so you said you made the decision. It, this, this just does not feel like it lines up. And so Michael, it's been a, it's been a journey for me for, for a few years. Yeah. Where I was, I, it, it had started off awesome. I joined him in 2005 and just the, the, over the 19 years, it was great. And it ebbed and flowed, you know, there's, there's times when it's better than others, but there was a, the last few years there was something inside me kg I actually heard an interview. Um, this is gonna sound like I'm stalking you, but I was just trying to learn everybody, don't learn everybody's personality and Jesus, you, you, you, you talked about during covid, how you took a job, uh, selling cars and I did, you were giving some advice and wisdom to whomever was interviewing you. Like, do what you love. You know, do definitely do what you love.'cause I had to take a job. And it was definitely not a fit, and you were unhappy and it reminded me exactly of what I'm going through. And I took that to heart and I thought, that's good. I, I'm hearing this multiple times through multiple people, um, that you should really take an inventory of your values and what you want to do and what you're good at, and then figure out how to monetize that and go find a job doing it. I, I think I couldn't agree more. If you find something. It doesn't feel like work. Like I'm counting the days down until Canterbury starts. When the wild season comes around in the fall, I'll be counting the days down until training camp starts and the people at that Walzer Toyota where I worked were incredible. Like the, the silver lining was, there were two. Number one is the people I got to know a whole new set of friends. I still connect with a lot of those folks. Awesome people. And they were so helpful'cause they knew I was in over my head, not a car guy, not doing technology. And that was the whole job. Um, but there, you know, I do have the salesmanship to at least get my, you know, my game on and try and I did and I tried real hard, but it was overwhelming and mm-hmm. You know, it, it was also a reminder of how blessed I've been now for. 19 years covering the wild, and for 25 years working at Canterbury to have these jobs. Very, very lucky. Um, because when you look at me, and this is, you know, we joke a lot on the show here, but when you look at me, you don't automatically think, well, this guy should be on tv. And so been very blessed. I've never thought that, no. That, that Toyota gig, if you guys could have seen me, I'll give you one example. My daughter, Maddie, God bless her, she came in to get a car and she needed a new car and I was gonna be her sales guy. And you know, I, I wasn't exactly light in the world on fire during Covid there, at that dealership, but she came in and most guys, you know, when they sell a car, you know, we do the financing and, and walk through the whole thing. The pros over there can do it in probably an hour and a half, two hours. It took me eight and a half hours to sell that car to Maddie. Oh no. It was just painful. It's your daughter now. She still has that RAV4 and it's a great vehicle. Oh, nice. I got her a good car. But I'm telling you that day, the mistakes and the, just the stress, it should have been a, a, like a, a double Seinfeld episode where you. The Curb Your Enthusiasm episode where Larry gets a job selling Toyotas. Oh, I didn't. It's the best. Oh, come on. My God, it the best. So funny. The kj, you have to watch that one. His, his wife shows up at the car dealership and she's like, what are you doing? Doing? And he's like, all his friends did too. So I'm trying to sell some cars here. And the guy doesn't know anything about vehicles. No. The other day I was at, I've never gotten gas at Costco. And my wife is like, we're going to Costco. Oh boy, we need gas. Get some gas. And they've got a guy that's in there that's directing people in. Super nice guy. Yeah. And he goes, oh my God, Toyota Land Cruiser. I love these cars that got the five, seven, the eight two, whatever, whatever. And I said, yeah, 5, 7, 5 8. You have something like that. But if I were trying to sell cars, it would be. Let's look at the colors. Oh, you know, I mean, I don't Yep, me too. That's what you had to have been. I, but you know what, the fact that you did that just says everything about you, I mean, you're willing to kind of, I try. Swallow your pride and, yep, yep. I, you know, I, I do wanna, I, I remember a couple days I was, you know, Saturdays was always a busy day at. You know, there's a, it was a really busy place. It's right on 4 94, uh, in France. Very, very popular location. And, you know, people would come in and once in a while, you know, there's a line of us waiting to, you know, we kind of line up, oh, a bunch of come in and all of a sudden I, I would get these people that would come in. And they'd be hockey fans and they, they, they would pick me only because Nice. They wanted to talk about the wild and how much they missed hockey and professional sports, and the other guys would just shake their head because they'd be like, these people have no idea. What they'd just gotten into was this guy in cars. It was so bad. Can I ask you this a little bit bad kg, did anybody buy a car? Because of your hockey thing. Like, did anybody throw a bone at you? Just'cause they, you know, it's kg I bought a car from kg. No they didn't. Um, and, and I think the, the beauty of that place is I got a lot of sit downs with hockey fans. I had a lot of test drives and stuff like that, but truthfully. When you, when you work with people that know everything about cars, and I would watch the, you know, they had the videos to watch and the training stuff, and I'd read all the books. You can't fake it though. Like I learned, you know, I don't care. I was there for a little less than a year. You just, either you know it or you don't. And it's so complicated. And the hardest part of that job was, like I mentioned, one of the rare dealerships where. And you're going through everything. I just, it was a, it was a very, very. Incredible experience, but yeah. Humbling to say the least. I, I, I, I just wanna, I, I'm gonna make one car sales, uh, comment about salespeople.'cause I always got a kick out of this. And then I wanna go back to corporate culture. Just super quick. This is still corporate culture. It is, it is, it is. We're gonna go back because I think all this, we're there. Yeah, we are selling car, we're social, corporate. It is. I always liked when I would, uh, go to buy a car, uh, and the sales person would say, well, let's go take a look at the, you know, f blah, blah, blah. And you would go, and the first thing they would do is pop the hood. And I Oh, yeah. And I, I just would go, what? There's an engine in here. Are you serious? Yeah. Is this, oh my God, this is just got an overhead cam. Wow. I don't even know what that means. I take a look at that engine. Yeah. And I would be like, you have no idea. That is a, I didn't, you know, I got here, it's warm, and I thought there was gonna be no engine. Yeah. And there's an engine in there. You know, how much can I give you if they did that to me? And I've had that happen. Yeah. I would say you should probably just close that. I wanna see, I wanna see how comfortable the seats are. Yeah. Yeah. That's ultimately what am I gonna fit in this car comfortably? Yeah. Now what do you ask? Yeah. What, what do I ask? You ask about the theft proof issue. Uh, concerns. Yes. Yeah. Tell me about your theft proofing. Um, do you remember when George Costanza bought the car that belonged to John Voight? Yes. And he could prove it because of the bite marks on the pencil. Yeah. Oh man. Okay. We digressed. So that's corporate culture. The, the corporate culture, the, the, the tie in, in the corporate culture, um, is, it's interesting you mentioned Salesforce and the culture there, and you were talking about your role as CEO and, and KG when you were talking about going, you know, moving people from the minors to the NHL and the consternation. It, it leadership. I think it always goes back to leadership. I think it always like, what, what are you instituting? And do people want to be a part of that? That's where the culture really emanates. It's not, you know, the banners and the slogans and the flip side is the, the look at the Denver nuggets firing their coach a week before the playoffs. I mean, and now they're playing better. Crazy, right? But I mean, using the sports example again. Mm-hmm. There is somebody who didn't create. A culture where people said, I wanna come every day and to give 110% because I feel like I'm a part of something bigger. No, I come and I get the crap kicked outta me and I get yelled at and berated and, and it was so bad. It was so bad. They fire that guy a week before and now they're killing it. I mean, so leaders, I think, whether appointed leaders or emergent leaders, uh, within any corporate, they're the ones that set the tone for kindness. As a part of the culture, I don't, I don't think it's a slogan. And, and if you buy into that, you're gonna be sorely disappointed. I, well, and I agree. I can tell you that one of the ways that I kind of measure the, the vibe in my office is I love hearing people laugh in the office. Ah, yeah. The other, just today. Just today. Uh, my new CFO has, uh, you know, his team of all the finance people, and they are meeting in the conference room that's right next to my office, and I can hear'em in there laughing and I'm like, it's a good sign. That's a great sign. Yeah. Mm-hmm. It really is. And I am blessed to have, the, the tenure of the people that work. Uh, on my team, so to speak. The 24 directors and managers. I think the, the shortest tenure is nine years. Oh geez. Other than the, they've seen the shift. Yeah. The culture's been great for many, many, many years. It has very, you know, my job when I went in there is not to screw it up. Yeah. Mm-hmm. That's kind of how I looked at it. Stewart, how are you doing? And the other thing is, is yeah, is it working, empowering the people? Well, you know. Empowering the people. You know, I am not an expert in, in nursing or senior care, any of those things, right? We got people for that. When they ask me, you know what my job is as the CEO, I tell'em, my job is to be an advocate for the things that you wanna get accomplished. And my job is to separate the board from the money to get your things accomplished. But. It all starts with them. Well that's setting the tone that, that's what I'm talking about when I talk about leadership. That's setting tone. It's funny that you put bottom line. Number three. It wasn't number one. That's, that's notable. I just have a just a, a, a critique or a like a, some advice. I don't work for you. You're gonna be kind. You're gonna be kind. He's gonna be kind. I don't, I don't work for you, John, but I wanna know, um, in your listening, uh, ability. Is it often that you stop someone and say, is this gonna be a long story All the time? You do say that at work. I do it all the time. And you still get good ratings? Absolutely. Okay. Alright. That shows appreciation and gratitude. No, and, and you know, part of it is, part of it is, is, is I do believe that there's something to have a jocular relationship with the people that you work with. Yeah. People will come in and they, I think that most of them get me. In fact, I'll, I'll give you an example. We were talking about the scholarship presentations that are taking place on the 21st Yeah. Of, that, that would be tomorrow. Yeah. Uh, the 21st is tomorrow. Yeah. Anyways, I said we were talking about the, the how, the names of these students and how we can't really ask'em to give us a phonetic pronunciation of their names. And I said. We will just do our best. And Beth, who is the director of our scholarship program, she says, please don't do accents when you see names like Rodriguez. And she said, she goes, I understand. Good advice. Good advice, but, but like, if you don't get me, you know, and there's an Indian name on there. And if I were to do an Indian accent, uh oh, that would offend people. Yes. Unless you know me and you would know that it's meant to be joy. Joyful. Well, that's the line. You gotta, you gotta, it's be careful. You got some advice for me? I'm not gonna do it. No, I don't. Um, I, I just wanted to circle back because, um, I think the leadership and Salesforce. Culturally, uh, leadership wise, especially if you go Mark Benioff, he and he invented this thing that informed how we went to market and it was called a V two Mom, and it stood for vision, values, methods. How are you gonna execute on the vision? By the way, did the, how did the values, what's important to you? Inform our vision, what we're gonna be out, what obstacles are you gonna run into on? And then, uh, how are you gonna measure your results? And, and every department down to the individual employee had to do a V two mom and it all rolled up. And I thought that was awesome and a great experience to just be a part of it. And I'm just gonna borrow another, a line from a Zig Ziglar. Was that a movie when Zig Ziglar was a, a professional speaker? I'm kidding. I'm kidding. But I remember he would say Ziglar falls in these tapes. Um, what's inside a person? You'll, you'll know when pressure sets in of what comes out. I think he used an, an analogy of an orange when the, when the orange is getting pressure and he used even re Ronald Reagan when he got shot. One of the first things that he did when he got rolled into the hospital and he was literally on, on life support, was gonna die. But he said, I hope you're all Republican to the doctors. Fantastic. He heard that and said, that's my president. That's, that's, I wanna see that optimism. So my point is, I think. There are different levels of people that that can be a leader and, and can withstand that pressure and some buckle under pressure and some don't. Yeah. And they there, when you get big, like 70,000, there are gonna be some that just aren't as advanced as others that in the leadership world. So that's all I wanted to say is, um, it was a great 19 years, but go ahead. And one of the things that I always remind people, especially that are on the administrative side of things is it's like nothing that we do. Is really life changing, right? Yeah. You know, don't get so wrapped around the axle. Now, the people that are, you know, in the nursing home, the nurses and stuff like that, that's different. I mean, that is very different. But to get stressed out about things that really, in the grand scheme of things are kind of nonsense. Having perspective, it's just perspective is so. So important. Don't forget the kindness. Well, and I mean, it, it all really boils down to that, right? I mean, I, you know, there the, you've heard of the golden rule, you know, do unto others as you'd want them to do unto you. Um, you're familiar with the platinum rule. Do unto others as they want you to do unto them. Because when you look at somebody, you gotta kind of. Empathize with the way that they're gonna react to things and they're not necessarily gonna react to things the same way that you do. Yeah. So think about how they would respond, put up in their place a little bit and put yourself in their place. Don't put them in your place. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Right. Does that make sense? You gotta read the room a little bit. That makes sense. Well, I mean, that's why on Thursdays you bring the donuts, right? Tuesdays. That's why Tuesdays from the Donuts hut. Oh, oh. Tuesdays, I'll be there tomorrow. Www donah.com. Yeah. Anyways, pre-order. We've uh, we've been on for a long time. Does anybody have any final words of wisdom? No, I don't. kg Good, good wisdom from you through that interview. Whenever it was. I saw it, but that was excellent to hear in my perspective. So I wanted to just let you know. Thank you very much. That's all nice. look at the kindness. one last thing when I hear about artificial intelligence. I look around the studio and I see a lot of artificial intelligence in here. Why don't you have your mic up to your mouth anymore? That was a good laugh. Yeah, it felt almost legit. Wow. Like it was genuine. It was a, it was a mock mocking laugh. It was a mocking laugh. Yeah. Okay. With that, off we go.