Nice Bike_with Mark Scharenbroich

What. A. Guest. Intern Jeff lands another excellent storyteller! Enjoy. We did.

Transcript

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Oh, sound drop. Is this a long story? I did not know that. Welcome to the Kindness Chronicles. We don't know what we're doing here. We're, once again, we hope to inject the world with a dose of the Minnesota kindness that it desperately needs. Jeff, our 55-year-old intern has been having a little bit of fun with our equipment here. While we were away last week, we got some nude sound drop buttons, we got Jeff, Hoffman, here in the studio. We've got. Steve Brown in the studio, all and kg. You are in Piqua Lakes as I understand it. Yeah. Beautiful country. Uh, up here in Northern Minnesota in loving it up here for a few days before I head back, uh, to work at Canterbury this weekend. And, uh, really enjoying the, uh, the new digitized format Oh yeah. Of our show. We're, we're big time here. Yeah. Are you up there doing community service i'm just relaxing. Oh, okay. Yeah. You know, 4th of July weekend at Canterbury was kind of a grinder. It was the humidity. John, you were down in Michigan, uh, at the lake down there in New Buffalo. I'm telling you right now, the, uh, the humidity last weekend at the racetrack was off the charts. Um, so yeah, I'm, I'm happy to be up here doing very little and I'll get back to work on Wednesday. Jeff, you have a special guest. We're gonna get right into this'cause we got one that, uh, that we all have a history with. Yeah. Yeah, super excited. I'll, I'll just kick it off here. So today on The Kindness Chronicles, we're joined by someone who made a lasting impression on me, even if it took a few decades to fully realize it. I first heard Mark Sharon Brock speak in 1985. During my sophomore orientation at Forest Lake High School, I was 15. Fairly overwhelmed stepping into a big new school of over about 1500 students. But something about Mark's message must have stuck with me all those years because about 18 months ago, his talk randomly resurfaced in my memory, I. And I couldn't recall his name, but I remembered he was there with Jostens, who was also promoting class rings and yearbooks. Yep. Well, that clue led me to a video called The Greatest Days of Your Life So Far, which was written and performed by Mark and seen by millions of students in the 1980s listening to his message. Now as a husband, father, and career professional. I realized how deeply the message had taken root. So I read Mark's book, which is called Nice Bike Making Meaningful Connections on the Road of Life, and it further confirmed that it's a message worth hearing again, Mark's an Emmy Award winner, a member of the National Speaker's Hall of Fame, and a storyteller whose dedicated his career to helping people create authentic and meaningful connections with one another. In a world so quick to divide Mark's message is one that powerfully unites. Guys, please help me welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, Mr. Mark Sharon Brock. Woo. Welcome sir. Sweet. Thanks, Jeff. Yeah. That was really nice. Well, thank you for coming. Really, uh, once again, this is a second week in a row where Jeff was virtually hyperventilating. He was so excited about the guests that we were having on with, with good reason. These are great guests. He's Mark's a great guest. I, I am well aware. I remember Mark. Yeah, me too. Well, yeah, to know that I'm a part of random memory. Is, uh, well, and, and old, old memories. I was a high school assembly speaker for, gosh, about 25 years. in. All 50 states, all provinces Canada. And I loved it. I I love high school assemblies. It's like a lion's den. Yeah. Yeah. need to know the mascots like you guys are in the studio in Monte. That's gotta be what, the ze right? That's right. Wow. Wow. If Barb trivia had high school mascots, I, I think I'd, how does one become a high school?. what do we call motivational speaker Kind. Motivational speaker. I mean, did you just decide one day I'm gonna be a, a high school assembly speaker, or how, how does one find their way into that line of work? the figure senior year in high school, you either make really dumb choices or some fun ones. Ours was both. We decided to, to form a comedy team, a comedy group. Uh, so four of us guys got together, a couple young women with us, and we did sketch comedy. This is pre Saturday Night Live. Uh, kind of the money, Python Days, ACE Treking company, old comedy groups like that. Mm-hmm. You know, deadly Rigs type of sketch comedy. Yeah. our group kind of caught on, not, not as big as Johnny Clueless, but the, oh boy, the group cut on. So we started performing in school. You know, we'd, we'd go to a thing called Stay Quit. We're in a quarter go tour, uh, playing high schools and small colleges. And then when the group broke up, because my wife, Yoko Ono, um, I ended up, uh. You know, maybe high school is not the best time for everybody, but as long as you're there, you know, make some moments count. Mm-hmm. So that, that's how it happened. And Jocelyn's heard about me, the class ring people. I never had to talk about the product. They just said, you know, just be a, a kind of value added for us. And so, uh, they said, we get a lot of demand, none of you. And so we made a film of my, my speech to high school students called The Greatest of Your Life So Far. And so that was played in, I don't know, 10,000 high schools every year as an orientation film for about 10 years. Oh, wow. mark, I, this is Jeff again. I have a crystalline memory of a couple of students that would've normally, I would've thought never you're, you're talk would've never maybe resonated with them. But I remember them specifically saying, wasn't that awesome? Wasn't that great? Two kids with jean jackets, kind of the mullet, you know, picture of the eighties. But I tough guys that that made an impression and the entire auditorium just roaring with laughter made an impression. And so you had us. From the get go and took us on a journey. It was awesome. Did he have you at Hello? Well, I, I didn't, I don't remember. I didn't remember the exact elements of his talk. But I do remember, as I was reading your book, mark a story, and, and I, and I thought about this, how interesting is it that I'm 15 and all these kids are laughing, but you are telling the story of. The birth of your first son, and I think it was a difficult labor from your wife, and you said something like, I swear this is all I said, and, and, uh, do you remember that? And then everybody just broke out laughing, like they knew the girl, the lady would be in pain. And I just, I couldn't believe it, but I, at that age, I was laughing. Maybe we had seen enough TV shows with labor pains and stuff so it could resonate. But you did a great job. I don't know the, the piece was su had terrible back labor and, uh, apply pressure her back and back. You know, all I said were was, wow, my arm hurts. And the next sensation I felt were free nails digging deep into my arm, uh, deeper than I thought they could ever go. That was great. And I said, I'm fine. I'm, I'm really fine. I'm okay. If, if I may, I have to share a story about my wife in labor with our first child, Jack. And it's a very similar story to what Mark just described. She had 24 hours of labor with Jack. Jack had an enormous melon, this huge head. And about 20 hours into it, I started getting kind of hungry and I excused myself and said I was gonna go to the bathroom and I ran down to the, uh, the cafeteria and I snuck in a cheeseburger. Oh, John. And she smelled it and she goes, oh, what the f is that? And I looked at her, I said, I'm kind of hungry. She, I'm telling you, I wish she was down here.'cause she would. Light my ass up because it was one of the big, to this day, I'm still paying for sneaking that cheeseburger and it wasn't even that good of a cheeseburger. Aw, that's funny. But anyway, I, um, I just, one last thing. do you remember the skit where Chris Farley is interviewing? Uh, Paul McCartney. Paul McCartney, watching, getting hints of that with Jeff right here? Yeah. Sage, do you remember that? That's exactly what he looked, I thought the same thing. That's good. That's all right, Jeff. That's totally okay. I feel like that right now. I, I will say, mark, I remember what I, I did not remember your name, but Jeff, uh, sent us a clip. And I immediately remembered you because I remembered your humor and I also remembered the, the, the really great message that came out of that. Yeah. And it affected me as a 15-year-old as well. Yeah. It was cool. So I just Oh, that's great. We're gonna let you talk at some point here, mark. Yeah. Um, I, we're clearly excited to have you on at some of us more than others. Um, but Mark, this is the Kindness Chronicles and I recall. That some of the stuff that you talked about is so consistent with the stuff that we're trying to do on this podcast. Yeah. And it takes me back. I, was watching one of your videos on YouTube and you described an exercise that was done in the school where, known and named and known. Um, oh yeah. Why are you on the Kindness Chronicles? Tell us why this is such, you're such a great guest for this program. Well, I love being with four guys that are Minnesotan. That, yeah. Yeah. Isn't that what it's called? Yeah. YouTube like a. Well, the, that story is phenomenal from the standpoint. There was a, uh, it's a, it's a middle school down in Texas, about 900 students, and the principal, uh, had a whole staff together the day after vacation, Christmas vacation, and kids came the next day. He said, welcome back. We, we had a good start that end big. I put the names of all nine kids up on the, and. Every student is named and known to you, uh, not just by their name that you know, I know kg, but the fact that he went to St. Thomas, the fact that he played for the Burnsville Braves was the goalie for the 85 hockey team. Woo. And to this day, people come up to him in the streets of Burnsville saying, yeah, that was a great day. Yeah. He peaked in high school too. I. 30 didn't have a sticker. Wow. And he said, I, I know we're good, but I know we could be great by connecting with more kids. And I don't need you to be be big brother, big sister. Just, just go out there and make a connection with kids. Find out something about, be curious, make a connection in some way, acknowledge kids and honor them. And they did. And, and shoot. 50 schools in the county, they were rated number 26 academically, and they moved up to number five within a three year time period. So it, it's just the power of connection, the power of acknowledging others, um, of honoring them and, and, you know, letting know that who they're, and what they have to say matters. I am convinced that I have stolen Yeah, you have virtually my entire shtick. Explain what what you do with, with this information. Let, lemme me just explain. So Mark, I work with an organization called Minnesota Masonic Charities and one of our programs that we put on, and it's relatively new, but it's something that, I did with my children when they were in high school. and we call it, uh, civility School. And essentially one of the overarching themes of civility school is, it's important to make people feel like they matter. And one of the exercises that I have these kids do when we, ask them to bring their yearbook, to the program, go through the yearbook, and I want you to find three or four people that you've either never seen before or you've just never noticed before. And I want you to make a point of going and saying hello to that person by name. You know, we do the whole Dale Carnegie, the most beautiful sound is the sound of your own name. And just see what kind of a reaction that you get from those kids and report back when you come back to, to the second part of our program. And like these kids, they, they get like teary eyed because. If you're not being seen by them, you're probably not being seen by anybody. And I have this belief that, a high school lunchroom is the most lonely place in the world if you're not connected with others. And I swear, I, I've stolen my shtick. You have from you, you have concept because it sounds so similar to concept. Similar what you're trying to sell. Yeah. Yeah, but it's a, it's a universal message. Mm-hmm. You know, it, it's one of, of finding purpose and meaning what you do. I mean, why are we in this world, um, you know, answer some of the basic questions if it's not to bring a sense of kindness. And you, I mean, the thing of it is you never know what's what's going on in other people's lives. I remember I had a high school presentation. I mean, now presentations. I spoke at a really sweet school and a nice theater, and there was a, a woman, a teacher up front, front row, uh, right in front of me, did not crack a smile. The entire presentation was just kind of Scully, and it was, I mean, you should be looking at the people in the audience that like you, not the ones that don't like you, but, um, I. Did I say a thing to offend you? You know, did I, did I drop the F bomb or something? Was I, did I say something? And she said, oh, I, I'm sorry. I just, I just found out our, my husband has got terminal cancer stage four. We didn't realize it, and I wasn't even in the room. I, I apologize. Oh boy. Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm, that's, you never know somebody else's life. Maybe lift it up just a little bit by your kindness. I can relate to you as a performer, you wanna find the person who's not into it and figure out what you could do to get them into it. You're challenged by the least person, and that's a very, a lot of comedians do that, but performers too, like you want to, why isn't that guy clapping? What, what's going on? Yeah. Why is he scowling at me? Like, let's get that going so I can totally relate. Sometimes I really don't like you. And that's, that, that could be it. Yep.. I want to bring KG into this because I have a great example of a past episode where Kevin, you'll have to refresh the memory, but a goalie, a, a, a hockey goalie, didn't have a good game, and I think you texted him or texted his mom or something and mm-hmm. Like state championship, wasn't it? Yeah. Could you It was the class A state championship. It was the kid, uh, who led him a really bad goal, uh, in overtime that allowed his team to lose. And he had played great all weekend and it was a heartbreaking finish for him. And I, I just wanted to make sure I acknowledged him from the broadcast privately. How well. And his mom and, and grandpa had stopped by the set to say hello, uh, during the pregame show. And so I connected with her on Facebook. She gave me a cell number and I texted him during the medal ceremony and he was clearly upset and uh, just told him, know, I, I've let him worse. NHL boys have let him worse, like, like this is gonna happen if goal goal goes, doesn't competed. Six minutes of them leaving the ice. He had texted me back and, and later that night, during the double A Championship, he actually by himself walked over to the desk and introduced himself and thanked me for the message. And I was blown away. You know, this is a kid that's an underclassman, so he's another year of high school left. So he is 16, 17 years old. And uh, I just told him, I said, the fact that you're up here doing what you're doing, tellie in. Yeah, I mean, when you go to the airport, you, you see the signs, you hear the messages from tsa. Uh, if you see something, say something. Yeah. Well that works for Kindness Chronicles too. Ooh, I like that. Uh, if you see something really good in life happening, say something. You know, because a lot of us in our head have that statement, well that was really kind of them, or that was really nice of them. Or God, that was a great job. Um, but then to actually take the action just simply, if you see something, say something to support people, I'd like the intern to write that down because we're gonna start using that. I mean, that is, that, that is ultimately the theme of what we're trying to get accomplished here. I do have a question. About your website is nice bike.com. Mm-hmm. And typically when you have a branding person, nice bike does not scream what you're talking about until you understand what it means, and then there's brilliance in it. Can you just explain how you came up with Nice Bike? Yeah. From a marketing standpoint, it's confusing. It's. But it's not. Once you understand, you know, well once, yeah, once you get it. Well, I had a presentation in Milwaukee, um, flew from Minneapolis, Atlanta, Milwaukee, rented a a car beige Ford tour from national pick, pick any car. And I took a beige Ford tour, God flashing, and I realized immediately. Hardcore Harley Davidson riders. It happened to be the Harley Davidson hundredth year anniversary and there were bikers and throughout the world it was just packed. And I'm not a Harvey guy. I'm more of a pontoon boat fellow You in? Well, a base Ford fellow. Yeah. But I. You see this big tough Harley guy, the beard, I mean, right outta a Game of Thrones. And this little guy walked by him, look at him standing by his, his Harley Davidson, just chrome gleaning. He'd go, oh, nice bike. And all of a sudden this conversation started. The guy, there was a Harley rider would talk. Yeah. My dad and I were in bikes and my dad did this and we worked on this thing and his stories are being, and I realized that had nothing to do with the Harley had everything to do with that connection. You bet. Yep. And the next day I was talking to a group of teachers said, you know, tomorrow is the first day of school for you. And when students are walking through the door and you, you know, you know some of their names instead of saying, hi, welcome. Hi there. Hi there. Hi. There're doing a flight attendant walk. Say, Jeff, it. I said that's, that's nice bike. And all the teachers nodded. I went, I think I'm onto something here. Mm-hmm. So nice bikes become the metaphor for, you know, how you connect with others. At least the starting point. It's so good. Yep. It's just so brilliant. When Jeff initially sent the, uh, you know, this nice bike guy is gonna be on, I'm like, what the hell is nice bike? He works for Eric, the bike man or something. That's honestly, I thought, is this guy gonna be selling like some special bikes or something? What's going on here? Cannondale or something. And then you, you, you go on your website and it's like, oh my God, this is really clever. We like clever. Yep. We're big fans of Clever around here. Oh good. Well, it, it, I mean the last name's Sharon Brock. Nobody. Yeah. I mean, you can hear any speaker in the world's darn near, and then you walk outta their session and five minutes later. I know, but I like to talk. And so the only way for to find this is, yeah, go find the nice bike guy, Google. Nice. And you find the guy. And so that's worked for us. Connecting with big audiences in that setting is so hard to do. And you know, John. Mason Charities has that. Oh boy. It is it, no, it's an art. And I, I gotta ask you, how much of your on a given day is pre-scripted and how much is you reading the audience? Because I'm certain part of the skill that allows you to have that connection with those groups is, is. How much of it is scripted? Do you have writers for this? Do you write it and then how much of it's just free flowing feeling, you know, kind of what the audience is giving you? Great question. Susan, my wife, uh, bride of 40 plus years, she's my co-writer. I was run things by what she think and she's my training. It's Friday afternoon, last hour before, you know, vacation break. Oh, and the room is hot. Um, the are all in the hallway, not sitting with the kids. And you, you had to read the room. You had to focus more on the students, in the audiences know what's going on constantly, um, so you can stay ahead of them. Uh, and so my whole life has, uh, in speaking, the audiences have been to know my stories well enough. That I'm more focused on the audience than I'm on what's next. The Marx Brothers, you know, Chico, Groucho Harpo, that group fact, one of their, the first show at the Orpheum, downtown on Avenue, done by the Marx, done by the Marx Brothers, they opened up that theater, huh? And every time they did a show, they would tweak a line until they found the perfect laugh. They went, that's it. At the end of the run, they'd make the movie knowing where every single line would hit and knowing that it would play. So I think to know your stories, to know how they're, they work, but then the transitions to get some story A to story B, that's all free flow. That's all in the moment. That makes it, makes it more of a. Versus a presentation, I always feel like a well timed curse word gets their attention, you know? Well, I, I will say what the school district's looking for that, John. Yeah, I, I will say Mark, though, you do customize it based on bringing different people up, and that actually creates, you know, a customized, uh, show or a, you know, an event for that room, because all those different personalities will bring your message to life. You do a really good job of that too. Oh, it's fun. I mean, audience interaction is, yeah, it's part of the game, but I always, I always say, you know, where are my Harley writers out there? And there's always a Harley writer Uhhuh, and I bring them up on stage and interview them, uh, partially to tie in what that group is all about. And, but then to talk about the hundred anniversary and, and to set up the story, uh, and talk Harley. Yeah, that's always a fun element. Yeah. in your history of doing the, the, the school programs, have you gotten some, feedback of stories that really connected with a particular student that reached out to you afterwards? Other than Jeff Hoffman doing that? I think we, We had talked earlier about the birth of our firstborn and or any of our children. Each one's being so new. We have three. And I remember when our son was about six months old, um, he was looking in the mirror like all little kids do, but there was a, a light bulb that went off in his head. It realized. All babies, no matter what the zip code or country code is, when they look in mirrors and they realize it's them, I mean, what do they do? They lean forward, touch the mirror, and give the reflection of big kids. Oh. And yet for a lot of us, we woke up this morning no matter where we were, and the last thought in our mind was lean forward. That reflection of kids. Yes. And, and the question is, you know, what, what happened? What happened to us along the way? What, what changed? That kid that would in first grade threw their hand up in the ear, not because they knew the answers, but just because they wanted to, to engage and participate. You know, what if that kid used to see value in their lives and now, you know, questions, everything they do. The only answer I could come up with is, is when we as human beings, uh, stop sharing that joy and start comparing. Mm-hmm. The example I gave to students was true. I mean, I grew up in a big Catholic family in cloud. I was number four or five kids, and I always had the cigar box, crayons, junk drawer, crays, you know, the ones were really gnarly. And when I was in first grade, I got my first of five. Beautiful. Never touched by another human being. Crayons. And I remember when it, when it was time to, to draw pictures, I was so jazzed to put that box of five up in front of me and little girl sitting next to me reached inside her little la attache case and had the big box of crayons. I mean the 3000 crayons, the electric, sharper in the background, gold, silver, copper, crayons. I remember her looking at me saying, I have 10, 17 different shades of orange. Oh, Jesus. And me thinking, I don't even have orange, and I, I think it said, that moment when you stop getting excited about coloring and start counting the crayons instead. That you lose sight of? Well, if I had as many crayons as they did, or if I only had what they had, then I could, but if I had that location, if I had this, if I had that, but life's not fair and they're more worth more and I'm worth less. And you can't win because no matter how many crayons you end up with, muscle always have more. You know, so the, the message I. Just draw pictures. Love it. And that message seemed to resonate, uh, for kids to, you know, be your personal best, find out what you're good at, pursue it. Was just, um, reflecting on the film the, the greatest days of your life so far. And I think probably the most emotional moment in that, uh, by the way, the song is so cool, even though it's very eighties esque, uh, it brings me right back and all those images. So yeah, you and Jo's did a great job on that. It's fun to watch. Um, but, uh, kind of that, that end where. You, you shared that story about the crayons and, and sort of all the beating up of a, a person goes through in life and then they just say, you know, I'm not gonna raise my hand. I'm not gonna take that risk. And you, you made a really good impression on me in that you said, you know, I'll just, I'll wait till I'm a senior and then I'll, you know, you know what? No, I'm gonna wait until I graduate. And you kept going on and on. And then eventually it's maybe, you know, I'll wait until I'm dead and then I'll have all the time in the world. And it's like, wow. That like hit, uh, hit me at the core. And I, and that's why I feel like maybe you set the trajectory in a way, because it wasn't until I saw Ferris Bueller's Day off. And he said life moves pretty fast. Mm-hmm. That kind of became a, a mantra for me. Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and take a look around at once in a while, you might miss it. And then a year later, dead Poet Society came out, Carpe Diem and, and, and it, I always thought it was those two and, and it was, but you were the first person that said that same message in a different way. And it made that impression. And that's when I'm like, I definitely saw you live. I'm happy that one hit. I have a question for you, mark. So you've obviously made a huge impression on Jeff and me. I remember too, and I really, really did appreciate it. At a time when you kind of, you know, you're in that vulnerable state, you're kind of pivotal. You're gonna be, what are you gonna be when you grow up? Kind of that kind of thinking. My question is, sounds like you've been, this is your. Mission in your life, you've been, you're still doing it and you're doing, sending that message out. Have you altered your message, what angles have you taken because of the way of the world, or haven't you changed it at all? Reinforced., When you're in your twenties, you have a certain set of beliefs. But you're not sure if they're really correct or not. You know what I mean? Yeah. Idealistic kind of thing, you mean? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, what you think is important or what. Yeah, and I, I, I mean, I had a really cool experience in Las Vegas. I spoke, uh, to I-C-C-F-A, which I'm sure you guys are all familiar with. Oh, yeah. Totally. Cemetery Cremation Funeral Association. Yeah, it's one of my favorite. I got the tattoo associations speak. Speaking of, uh, maybe when I die, I know, but it was a thousand people in the eye, all that deal with death on a weekly basis. And, but the two things I learned, a people that deal with death on a weekly basis embrace life on a daily basis. They don't, they don't let moments by them or people get past them. Jeff and I touched on this a little bit. I I met a guy named Vinny. He grew up in New Jersey. What are the odds? What a surprise. Bob was a sound, he was a sound tech, right? So always has his big crew. I mean, this guy had Mike four presidents, was on tour of the Stones, uh, worked with Tony Bennett chair. I mean, he was the guy, he was just fascinated in the middle of conversation before the show. He turned me and he strange. I'm curious, what are your core values? And I just kind of sta it around like, um, I dunno, you know, to be nice, um, lead the campsite better than I found it. I, I don't know. And he rolled up his shirt. Steve on Army had three tattoos. They red, uh, respect, honor, loyalty, a. I was impressed because, I mean, if you sat down with a group of friends and, and you're at a table together and said, okay, table topic, everybody, what are your core values? You know, the question is, could you state them? Could you, we all have these random thoughts in our head, and you ask me, you know, has my message changed or have my thoughts changed? And what's happened is just to me, more clarity because. Two and a half hours, just kind of really focusing in on what are my core values? What's my moral compass? Can I state them? Can I answer it and support those. And I think that's a big turning point for a lot of people to really understand what it is they're doing and why, um, that brings meaning and purpose to their lives. And I mean, the core values chronicle's. Other than making the lives of others around us, just, just a wee bit better. Mm-hmm. In some way, because you never know what that small thing, I mean, the, the message, the text message to a goalie, uh, that hit that kid so hard, you never know what you might do. That's gonna really impact somebody's life in some way short term. So I think that's one of the biggest things that's happened to me is to really be able to define core values and know how much of a, a moral compass that is. Cool.. I just have to say, I wish that my memories of the. School auditorium presenters was as strong as yours. I might have early onset something. My memories tend to be around the girls that we went to high school with. Yeah. But hey, we're different that way. We're different that way. I gotta tell you, people need to, to consume your message. Where do we find more about,, nice bike. Nice bike stuff? I'm assuming Nice bike.com is a great place to start, but are you still doing speaking? Are you, still going? Can we hire you to come and speak to a group? I'm still speaking. I still love it. It's telling stories, it's, uh, taking universal messages and, and bringing them alive. So people go, I mean, it's like the TSA thing. If you see something, say something. If you, if you have some words with a hook to them that people a week, a month, a year later can remember. yeah, I mean that it's, it's fun. Yeah. I mean it's a nice bike.com. I think our book Nice. Yeah. Nice bike is on Amazon. I. Something, it's actually, you've not, you've, you've not experienced a book until you've had Alexa read it to you. And, uh, she actually does a pretty good job'cause I couldn't find the audio audible version, but it, it, she did a pretty good job. But then why I did look at why did you have her do that? I bought Kindle and I, and I'm constantly like trying to do two things at one. I didn't know that was the thing, but Mark, I did want make a connection. I'm, I, I, I went on the Kindle and I'm like, oh, look at these cute pictures of these kids in the backseat. And I wonder who drew those? And I went to the front and it looked like it was your son that illustrated some of those. So it, it looks like it was a family affair. It was. I map it off his, uh, car that way. It was great. Wow I'm gonna pivot here real quick because you had mentioned that you were part of a comedy troupe and last weekend I was in Chicago and for the first time went to Second City. Ah, cool. I've never been there before. And. my expectations were frankly kind of low going in there. It's like, you know, how funny, can this be improv, Talk about a great place to start to learn how to connect with people. Yeah. The way that those people fed off of the crowd. Yeah. And it's kind of magic. It is magic. It's a language they learn, but when it's put to to good use it, it feels like magic in front of you. And I just think that what a great foundation for the stuff that Mark is doing. Yeah. You know, having done that while he was at St. Cloud State. So you did, you grad, you graduated from St. Cloud State. Thanks for that question. And after five years, yes. Hey, that's enough compared to some of these people. Mark, could I interject too, if you, uh, tell the story about that, but could you tell us a little about like,'cause. When I'm reading your book, and by the way, I'm an auditory learner, that's why I had to have Alexa read it, the Kindle version. To me it's not okay. Alright. But I did look at the visual thing and saw the picture. So, but anyway, does your wife know you're dating Alexa? Sorry. Um, but I, when I'm reading something like that and listening to someone who is telling these great deep stories that are like, wow, this is moving, this is, uh. Really resonating. I, I then think to myself, what happened to this person? Were they born always this way? Did they just kind of come out into the world with these core values? Did something happen that shaped them? And I did a little bit of backstory research and learned that you were in student council and this Dr. Earl room was a mentor of yours. So maybe factor all that in as you're responding to John. I'd love to hear that backstory. my mentors have always been, uh, teachers. I think they've in, in large and small ways. I mean, the, um, a 62nd interaction with Leroy Radanovich, uh, my shop teacher back in high school kind of changed, changed how I. One of the fun exercises in life is to go through,, make a, a three column list of the person, the experience and the lesson. and it's a great writing exercise too, but you go through different people in your life and then throughout all the years, some experience you had with them. And then what was the lesson that you took away from it, and how do you apply it to your, what you do every day now? And I, I think you find that we all think that heroic people, big heroes of these superheroes, but oftentimes it's just little interactions that you have with people along the way that just stay with you forever. I heard a quote from Barbara Jordan years ago. Uh, first representative from Texas first. And she's on 60 minutes, but she said something that just changed my life. She said It's, it's more important to be interested than interesting. Come on. Used that all the time. You know, it's, it's As Minnesotans, I always thought that people from California and New York are interesting and they're people from Italy are interesting. Yeah. And they. It's, I found out from her that just to be curious that everybody has a story and you spend less time trying to tell your story, more time, trying to find out about somebody else's story that has a huge impact on, on what you learn and how you interact with others. That might be my favorite guest of all time. I'm not kidding. Yeah. So, um, this is really good. uh, We're at 40 minutes and we usually don't want to burden our guests with too much of our silliness, but kg do you have any final questions for our guest? Well, I think we've hit the, the main topics. Is there a guy that or a, that inspired you? Like, you know, I. Have a gift. Someone somewhere maybe Was that spark that ignited this whole thing? Or do you still have somebody that you watch and maybe they do stand up so it's a little different and, and you try to use them as a mentor? Sweet question both ways. I mean, I remember when Jerry Seinfeld come, came to Minneapolis and we were like in the fourth row, and I, I didn't laugh for 20 minutes because I. In awe of what an so good, amazing artist he's that everything he does is so, I mean, so you look like, you look at people like that. Um, but then, the Renaissance fair, the state fair, the Piqua days, bean hole days, um, county, county fair. You go to all these different experiences related in some of how to. I think he had a wide range of lessons that way. But I mean, the biggest influence would be my wife Susan, who is without question, good answer. Beautiful woman. I know she's the most beautiful woman that ever said hello. Back was. It was incredible, huh? Most of them just walked by. I was invited by some students to speak up at a graduation in Superior Wisconsin. And, uh, early, early in my career, I was in my early twenties and I went way too long. It was really stupid, it wasn't a good speech. And on the way home from Duluth that night, I said, I, you know, I, I would've been this different, I would've done that different, but I really liked it. I wish I could do this sort of thing. And she said, then you should. Wow. I don't know what, I don't know how we get there, but I think you should. So I think to have somebody in your life that say that is a, I think you should person, um, and then there's everything that they can to help you find the rocket fuel for that. That's, that's the biggest influence. Awesome. I agree. That's awesome. Well, Jeff, this is your guest. Any final words? Are you, are you with us? He's Speechless Sim similar to you with Jerry Seinfeld. I just don't, no, I could go on and on. I mean, I just don't wanna, um, I, I guess we know that you could go on and on and on. Maybe we could maybe I Exactly. Our, our guests need to listen to him and see how, how talented he really is too. So we gotta get the clip out so we can't take it enough for the time there. I don't know if we can wrap it up with, um, I'm always looking for applied ways that I can take a teaching and, and apply it in, in everyday life and see something, say something that, but I think that we're in a, we're in a day and age right now with artificial intelligence and with smartphones and everybody. You know, performing for each other on social media with, I'm thinking of the kids, you know, and taking pictures. It's, it's increasingly difficult to sort of get their attention and understand and learn. Then again, you've got a wealth of information to learn a lot about. What they're interested in and what it, it gives you a vi a window into some of their values when you, you, you can do some of the backstory research. Is this a long story? He's using my sound pads against me. But the, the, I don't know if you, I don't know. I was just, um, wondering if you had any, uh. Last minute anecdotes or anything that, um, we should be thinking about when we're trying to engage or get the intention of someone and trying to just help them. Hasn't he just done 45 minutes of that? We might have gone a bridge too far here. Sorry. You know what, mark? We're gonna, we're gonna save you from answering that question. We are grateful for your time. We've gone way over our budget. Do you want me to hit the theme music as I, as I like to say, we've given them more than they deserve. Great guest. And with that, thanks, mark. Thank you, mark. Off we go. Thank you, mark. Thanks guys. It's great with you. Alright, see ya. I'm glad I entertain you guys.