Meet the newest member of the FISD School Board of Trustees Beau Egert. He is a businessman, husband, father of three, community leader and all-around dynamic person. Listen to his fascinating views on the future of education, leaping into discomfort and the value of failure.
Meet the newest member of the FISD School Board of Trustees Beau Egert. He is a businessman, husband, father of three, community leader and all-around dynamic person. Listen to his fascinating views on the future of education, leaping into discomfort and the value of failure.
Speaker 1 Right. Speaker 2 I'm just messing with you. Okay. So what? I'm watching. So I watched. I did try that Lord of the Rings thing on Prime because I'm a bit more of a Rings fan. But I was hesitant because I was like, I'm going to be disappointed with my expectations. Speaker 1 So this is a big game that's going to. Speaker 3 Oh, yeah. Did you read all of the books? Yeah. Yeah. My dad and brother read all the books. Speaker 4 I see. I thought. Speaker 3 I don't know anything about it. Speaker 4 That people were not happy. Is that. Is that the one I'm thinking? Speaker 2 I think so. I think people weren't happy overall. So that's why I didn't try it, because I was, you know. Speaker 1 That was my I. Speaker 2 Didn't know if I could do the soul crushing disappointment, you know, compared to what the original ones were and everything else. Speaker 1 Oh, crushing. Yeah. Speaker 2 I mean, I just I just wanted to frame that appropriately when it comes to Lord of the Rings. So. Yeah. So I. I watched it and I'm not done with it, but I was pleasantly surprised. But it's all about expectations, right? Right. So I heard every everyone else wasn't happy with it. So I lowered my expectations and I was a super, super pleased. Speaker 3 I mean, in general, I think that the general rule, a a show, a TV, it will never hold up to a book, in my opinion. I mean, I can't think of too many times that. Speaker 2 A good book. Yeah, you're. Speaker 3 A good book. Yeah, you're right. Which wasn't the series of Lord of the Rings. Well, in books where there are a lot of different books. Yeah, like 13 or I'm totally. Speaker 2 There was the main ones. And then they started having all these spin offs like, Hey, this happened a thousand years before, and. Speaker 3 But the main one was, like, huge, right? Yeah, big. Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 4 Okay. You're Lord of the Rings fan. Have you ever been to that restaurant in Houston? That's Lord of the Rings themed. Speaker 2 Whoa, No. Speaker 4 Yeah, okay. I can not remember it. So my husband used to live in Houston. Speaker 2 And I'm glad you didn't say he used to live in the restaurant or something because that. Speaker 4 He did not. Yeah, good. But he's. I live in Montrose, so. Speaker 1 Oh. Speaker 4 But yes, he. We went there one time for brunch, and the guy who owns it, he's actually a little person and he, like, loved The Hobbit. So, you know, like it literally the building looks like. Speaker 2 Oh, that's fantastic. Speaker 4 Like grass, like the the hill with door in it and everything in there is themed and like, all the, all the drinks and the food is all named after like Lord of the Rings stuff. Speaker 3 It was been. Speaker 4 Yeah. We went for brunch. No. Oh okay. That was we got when the owner was there so he and he had his shirt on with. Speaker 2 I'm going to have to check this out. Speaker 4 Yeah. I can't remember the name of it for the life of me, but I'll have to. I'll have to figure that out and I'll ask him and. And let you know. Speaker 2 Yeah, please do. And that'll, that'll make my list. Speaker 4 Yeah. Speaker 3 Well, we would like to welcome today our newest board member Bogut. Unknown Oh, that crowd. That crowd. Cinnamon. Speaker 3 Yeah, I know. Right. They'll quiet down in just a second. Okay. Speaker 4 Thank you. I think about time. Speaker 3 And I'm just going to start out with the obvious question. So just tell us about yourself. You're our newest board member, our massive audience out there, the thousands, tens of thousands of listeners would just like to know who you are. Speaker 2 So absolutely. Yeah. So I grew up in northwest Houston. I what we call Cypress. Now, I didn't call it Cypress then, so had a great public school cipher. Ice-T out there, that was part of I went to Baylor University Second Bears. Speaker 3 Infamous. Speaker 2 Although we've had some losses lately that I'm still working through. Speaker 3 We were at Baylor TCU game I. Speaker 2 Can we not talk about that. Speaker 3 So I had to. Speaker 1 Go. Speaker 2 Back to soul crushing. Speaker 1 I'm. Speaker 2 I'm still still recovering on that one. Yeah And then I met my wife was still in college and so here's where all the things come together. She's from Friendswood and you know, started visiting Friendswood. I didn't know a ton about Friendswood, but, you know, my in-laws, Larry and Martha Dyck, had been in this community. Goodness, I think think since the seventies. Speaker 2 And my father in law was a school board member. So that makes me kind of legacy. I mean, I'm grafted in so yeah and so I my went to Baylor, studied public policy in graduate school, loved it always been sort of public problems, things that are more widespread. I think it's driven by, you know, a hope or maybe a belief that can can make some impact and improve lives and worked in in government, in politics for a while and then stepped into business and and been in the energy business for about 17 years, something like that. Speaker 2 But constantly with a foot in public policy served on several campaigns, presidential campaign in oh eight, been involved in different campaigns in between there and and then I did take some time off from from work. I don't think I'd ever hit some big home runs. I could do it for too long, but spent time with Harvey Recovery because I was a big part of what I was doing when I was working in government was Hurricane Katrina and Rita and helped put together a group of about 30 churches doing rebuilding after Harvey. Speaker 2 So that's the big question. The one of who am I? So I, of course, rattled off a little bit more of my my history. I would say my my heart around, you know, public policy, public issues. And my attraction even to this was, goodness gracious, is the community I live in. These are the people that I'm with, you know, every day. Speaker 2 And is there something that I can do from the background that I have and maybe the skill sets and the people that I know to to make an impact for my own children, for my friends children, and then for the larger community. Speaker 3 That's awesome. Speaker 4 I do think you you left off a certain big I. Speaker 3 Was about to say the exact same thing yet. Speaker 4 So I think you know what we're talking about. Speaker 2 I think I do. I'm a Baylor grad and so I just want to reiterate that No, in every way. No. I studied public policy at Harvard. They did. They just. Speaker 3 Looked out the hallways of the Harvard. Speaker 1 Model. Speaker 2 Well, they call it the H-bomb, like when people just like, oh, sure. Speaker 3 I can see that. And I don't think that's your heart in who you are. Speaker 2 No, no, no, and who we are. Speaker 4 So that's why we're bringing it up. Speaker 1 Yeah. Speaker 2 Like when I'm when I'm in the oil field. I mean, that's the last thing I'm going to bring up when I'm with guys out on a rig or something that's just like sick and bears, you know, from there. But. But, yeah. So I had a great opportunity to go there. It was a it was a fantastic blessing. I would say I was even more blessed by the people that were there when I was there, the students, because I've talked to other folks that, you know, went to school there and they had a good experience. Speaker 2 But I had a fantastic experience and just so many of my closest friends and people that had a great impact on my life. Speaker 3 Do you still keep up with a lot of your Baylor friends as well as your Harvard? Speaker 2 I do, yeah. Yeah, I do. So probably I'm trying to think, you know, friends can be so geographical. So you have to sort of a lot of my friends from graduate school are all over the world. The school that I was in, the Kennedy School was about 45% international. So that makes it super fun when you're, you know, throw a dart at the map and, you know, you probably have a friend or alumni in there probably doing something interesting, you know, in the country where they're from. Speaker 2 And so but that takes a bit more effort, right, to keep, you know, the friendships going. Things have changed last 20, 25 years. You can jump on WhatsApp or face time or whatever and keep up, but yeah, keep up with a lot of them. And then just as I do more things in life, you know, you're just always surprised and you cross paths again, which is a lot of fun. Speaker 3 Well, you may not like to drop that bomb, but I do think it's an interesting part of who you are, right? I mean, it's you know, it's a fascinating part of who you are to me. You did also leave out one other thing that I find to be very interesting I don't know a lot about, but I hear you're a Enneagram eight. Speaker 2 Oh, no. Oh, no. Here we go. Speaker 3 Can you explain in general, what does that mean? What does an eight? I mean, I am an eight, by the way. Oh, good. Okay. Okay. Kelsey, you're. Speaker 4 A one with a two in. Speaker 3 Line with me. Speaker 2 My wife is a one with a nine wing, so I feel like I'm, like, staring at myself right now between us. I'm a in a while and. Speaker 1 Yeah, we are partners. Yeah, I did go to Harvard. Speaker 3 Yeah. You get to understand it a little bit. Speaker 1 But. Speaker 3 But for those people listening that may not know a lot about it, just a small glimpse into what is innate to you. How would an eight describe you? Speaker 2 Okay, can I just say something upfront? I don't like the sort of personality. Speaker 3 Traits of an eight. Speaker 2 One that no one's going to go. Speaker 1 There. And just so it's like. Speaker 2 You know, I'm not the and I know this is going to hurt a lot of people when they hear this, but I'm not the biggest fan of the Myers-Briggs Enneagram, so I think they're helpful right in. And of course, folks that really are into those things, including my wife, you know, would say, Oh, there's a box for you, too, for the people that, you know, don't don't like it. Speaker 2 So I think but at the same time, let's just give props. I think it is a good lens for a basic understanding of personality types, character. So what is an eight mean? So I'm confessing that I haven't studied it to a to a T. I think I just think of sometimes the negative points and maybe something about my, my character. Speaker 2 So I would say a healthy eight, right. Can be a can be a strong leader, could be someone that takes on difficult challenges and tasks. And then an unhealthy eight is a bully, is probably the way it goes. I mean, there's a healthy and unhealthy side of of of all of those things. But I think a healthy eight is someone that, you know, frankly I think they say in eight goes to a to in in health which means that they're going to be there me serving and and I can tell when you know I'm having my good days and bad days that I'm probably more I'll more come alive when when I can you know Speaker 2 come alongside and help you know others and challenges so that that's my that's my best Enneagram answer for you. Speaker 3 I read a comment the other day on this Enneagram that I follow on Instagram and it said than an eight a description of an eight would be a loaf of French bread. It's crusty on the outside, but warm and gooey on the inside. Speaker 2 Like, you know what? Speaker 1 I like that. I like that. Speaker 2 The crusty pack that or maybe we should maybe we should. Speaker 3 Be hard and sometimes not nice or too direct or. Molly. Speaker 1 I know right now. Speaker 2 I have a nine wing, so apparently that takes a little bit of the edge off sometimes. So. Speaker 3 So you're saying you're not really crusty? Speaker 1 That's just. Speaker 2 Debatable. Okay, Debatable. Speaker 3 Yeah, but I'm with you. I don't really know a lot about it, and I don't ever like to say, you know, this is exactly who this person is. But it is interesting. And I sometimes I, you know, handed the phone to my kids and said, we do these. And which one do you think you are? It's very interesting. Speaker 3 And it's it was fun for me to have conversations with my loved ones about how they see themselves just kind of reading through the description of a number. I think that's a whole discussion in itself of how kids kind of see themselves. And then you can get into why do you think your one, what makes up a why, why, you know, and then just especially they're adults. Speaker 3 So it's great to just have those conversations that we've never really had about why. What makes you nervous or why do you see yourself as a perfectionist or the unhealthy parts of you to be able to ask those questions, you know, with your family members? Just interesting. Speaker 2 No, I think the the any grim side of health and non-health because my my criticism of some of the other personality things is it can be a crutch, right? It can be a crutch of, you know, I'm not going to do this because that's not my tendency or that's not my and then it doesn't really unpack. Is that is that good or bad? Speaker 2 Should we be changing? Should we what what part of this is just who I am versus what part of this is an area of growth for me right. But what I like about DNA, Graham, is it does talk about the healthy and unhealthy and in the tendencies that people will have in those things. I think that's instructive. And, you know, whenever you're working in teams to to understand, hey, somebody's going to approach it this way or that way, I mean, there's the predictive index, I think is is quite, quite helpful. Speaker 2 What motivates people? What's their heart? So maybe you can if the question comes off a certain way and might sort of rattle you, you can sort of say, wait, wait, wait a second. What a what are they really getting at? What's the heart of this? And I think it can facilitate much better communication, teamwork, etc.. So here I am now, now praising it after after criticizing it. Speaker 3 Well, I think you're finding the positives in it. Right. So, I mean, you can take anything and make it trash and terrible and you refuse to pay attention to it or. Okay, let's look at the positives of this and how can we use it for our benefit, you know, sort of thing. Speaker 2 It's the team piece right? That's the part that I think about. I mean, somebody I think Peter Drucker said, like, what is management? Right? And the answer he gave is joint performance. And I think that's just a phenomenal definition. And that means management, leadership of organizations, of people. And so you're getting this joint performance, all the people, all the processes, the culture, the values, moving in the same direction. Speaker 2 And to really do that well, you have to understand individual personalities and people and and making sure that you're not just, frankly, running people over in the name of a vision. How do you handle the folks that, you know, give the alternative perspectives? And how do you make sure that that's heard, even if people don't agree? And that's why I think sometimes the integration of these things around teamwork and leadership can be can be quite critical. Speaker 3 Well, speaking of teamwork and leadership, you have a board you're going to be taking. Right. Robert McCabe's position, who was an attorney. So we have our board currently is made up of a faith leader, former pastor, community leader, former educator, slash principal, a dentist, a walking encyclopedia. You can put all these titles as to who you think they are. Speaker 3 And now would you say a businessman, What would you say as your see. Speaker 2 This goes back to my critique of the personnel. Read it I. Speaker 1 Think you so. Speaker 3 Many things. Speaker 2 Oh, thank you. Speaker 1 Thank you. Thank you. Speaker 2 I feel like I'm just so complex and hard to put in a box. Speaker 4 Should we just say Mr. Harvard? Oh, you love that so much. You just kept dropping it. Really? I mean, like, clearly that's what you want to be doing. Speaker 1 So I would say. Speaker 2 I would say a business and a community leader. Okay. Would probably you know, I've served time in church leadership, served time in the nonprofit, in the public sector and then in the business. So but most of my waking hours have been in business. So so that's that's probably we. Speaker 3 Will not narrow it down to one thing. Let's just let's keep it at that, that it's not fair for anyone. Speaker 2 I can everyone else have a single label and then I have a paragraph. So that would be that'd be great. Exactly. Speaker 3 Okay. Now we know that's that's good. So just thinking about the beauty of this podcast today is really getting an insight to you and who you are and talk to us about a little bit about your family and your role as a father. Speaker 2 Hmm, Yeah, great question. So I am privileged to be the dad of Grace Lane. Ruby Grace is a sophomore. She's 16 and she Grace has a way of loving people and making people feel comfortable. Well, she I mean, her her name kind of kind of says it all. She is a grace and a kindness, I think is just, you know, huge. Speaker 2 So Lane Lane is one of my kids that constantly surprises me of he started doing raps and beats and he, you know, put it all together and started like publishing them on iTunes and wow. And I was like, Whoa, whoa, okay, okay. This is this is great. He's they're all athletes. He's an athlete. I just enjoy hanging out with him. Speaker 2 All my kids now, Ruby is my Ruby is the I think she's a two. She's just the servant like she is just just a heart to serve and just a heart to serve the world. So it's a great question because as a father, I mean, obviously when you step into a board position like this, you're seeing it from the lens, first of a father and you know what? Speaker 2 Why what do I want education to be for my kids? And then you also see it through the lens of what was education for me right. And then you recognize that, you know, there's pieces that you're missing from that as well. But I would say for for my kids, you know, I'm like, what? What do I want? And I first have to look at what is the world, what's happening in the world? Speaker 2 And I think we're in one of the biggest transition points in the world than we have seen. And of course, you can say, oh, we're always in transition or something. No, I mean something a little different. If you look about every 80 to 100 years, you will see some very massive transition points. The last one was the end of World War Two, where the institutions, the assumptions, the values, the even the world order, if you will, and I mean more of just which countries are powerful and less. Speaker 2 But then you add in technology and you add all these changes. And when you say transition, you're sort of admitting the old is gone. But I don't know really what's coming. And so the reason why I give that macro view is because my kids have to be prepared for that. My kids have to be prepared for the world that they're inheriting that will be different from the ones that that that I inherited or, you know, stepping into now. Speaker 2 And so what does that mean for education? That means we need learners. We've got to foster a love for learning, and we have to understand what people are passionate about and giving more avenues for them to run with it and run hard. You know, I would say we need bridge builders. You know, we need kids that know how to build bridges so people that think differently than them, they come from different places. Speaker 2 And and I'm not just throwing out some sort of diversity idea. That's not what I mean. What I mean is that our world is becoming more polarized. Look at anything and you'll see it's polarized. Who can build bridges? Who can build bridges? Who can find the common ground? Because at the end of day, we've got to live together. Speaker 2 So I think about learners, I think about bridge building. And and then there's just the, you know, hard fundamentals of education. You know, we have to have people that just have certain skill sets and know things from the stem to the you know, I'm I studied liberal arts in undergrad. And what I think is most important about liberal arts is it teaches you to think critically, you know, write critically, communicate well. Speaker 2 And so it gives this foundation and kind of a lost art, if you will. And when I say liberal arts, I mean the math and science and also the English and the literature. And so do we do we have the kids that are learners and have that broad set of skills because the jobs that they think they may be having or the world they think that is going to exist. Speaker 2 There's so many jobs that won't. They'll be gone and they'll be new ones, and so can they adapt to that. And I think that pace of change is different than than we've experienced. And you've seen it in the last 5 to 6, seven years. It's it's not you know, I don't think it's some great novel observation on my part, but I think we still got probably 5 to 10 years to go. Speaker 2 And we don't know completely what the world is like. And then we also want to prepare our kids to shape it, right? So do they have the skill sets to shape it? Many of these things of a transition aren't inevitable. They depend on leadership and they depend on the character of our kids. And so I'm a nerd. I read a lot. Speaker 2 And one of the quotes I think about an education. There was a ancient Greek. His name was is Socrates, not Socrates. Same period of time. But he has this quote and he says, So the education of children, so goes the future of nations. And and it just it it grounds it, right? It grounds it. And that's what I think as a as a father. Speaker 2 That's why I think of, you know, as a business and community leader. And I would just say one last thing that I think if you want to know me, is is very, very important. My family of origin, where I grew up in how we experienced education, a single mom, four boys, all my brothers were adopted. And so we were a multiracial family, you know, coming from a lot of different places. Speaker 2 And then, you know, you have issues of family breakdown. You had issues of public education, the positive, the negative. And so I guess I would just say that how I see the world, I see it also through my brothers and the experience that they had and just being candid and not trying to be heavy. You know, one of my brothers was killed last year and I look at his life and I look at, you know, hey, what what could have been done differently so that when he ended up at that place of the last, there were hundreds of steps. Speaker 2 There were hundreds of, you know, people make these arguments. Is it choices? Is it the environment? Is it structural, is it blah, blah, blah? And and I kind of get frustrated that because it's always both, always, both. And, you know, so I look through education very much, not always through my kids. Lynn Spears, because my kids, by the grace of God, are not facing those same challenges. Speaker 2 But I look at it through through my brother's lens. Speaker 3 Excuse me, There's so much to unpack there. Speaker 2 There was a lot that was a big, big You got a lot of dump of my stream of conscious thoughts. Speaker 3 But what I love, though, is that I think you you spoke to a lot of the challenges of education because I feel like we've been talking about I've been in education, you know, my entire adult life. And I don't I don't know how to say it other than we tend to we we continue to try to prepare kids for specific pathways. Speaker 3 A lot of times, listen, all educators are do it. Fantastic job. And I respect all educators, but we don't even know what lies ahead, if that makes sense. That's right. And that's right. The skills that you talk about, I think, are so important to prepare kids for those jobs that we don't even know that are going to be around lane. Speaker 3 He is not I don't know. He prepared himself for what you just did. I never did not teach him that. You did not teach him that. So we have to wake up in some sort of way and see that. Are we prepared? We need to ask ourselves, are we preparing kids for what they love, what they're good at, what interests them? Speaker 3 And then on some level, kids are preparing themselves. If we're not right, which is great. Yeah, but then what can we learn from that? Yeah. And do we need to continue to do what we've done as far as our kids need to sit in this many hours of. Yeah, this, this many hours of this because we think kids are all going to be either a doctor or an attorney, a lawyer or. Speaker 4 I don't know, maybe it's a more important to just and still like you are talking about, like the love for learning and exactly during that creativity and to to allow them the freedom to be curious and to to try things that are new and that are different from what they're learning in school. But just like the almost the soft skills, like the communication open aspect, things that will always be around. Speaker 4 Yeah. Because yeah, like you said, like I think we watched a video in DLT maybe two times ago where it was Lauren showed it like 65% of future jobs don't even exist yet. Absolutely. Something crazy like that. So yeah. Speaker 3 Yeah. Then to even be able to applaud Lang and say the fact that you were courageous enough or you have created a very safe space in your home, that he took those risks to try those things because he felt this calling or urge to take those risk and try those things and then to tell you about it and then to push it out. Speaker 3 Yeah. On social media for. And you didn't see his age. What grade? Speaker 2 Yeah, seventh. Speaker 3 Grade. Okay. So hello, you have a seventh grader creating his own art, pushing it out to complete strangers to say, I am going to show you what I'm proud of as a seventh grader. That is huge in itself. Speaker 2 You know it is. And and I mean, I wish I could take credit for I don't know. I hope we've we've created a safe space for it. I, I think I mean, several things that they all said. I mean, like when it comes to the broad skills in the specific skills, I think to always to some degree, it's both right. Speaker 2 You know, somebody uses I heard the term I can't in education they'll say, hey, there are certain books that just need to be put on the shelf. Like you've got to have an understanding of history if you don't kind of understand how we got to the moment that we're in, right? And then it's just like, Oh gosh, most of our kids are going to need to know statistics because big data is just real. Speaker 2 And that was not a part of any sort of core curriculum, but understanding and be able to see patterns in big data in the aggregate is is critical. But back to this point, you know about my son, right? I think the creativity. Right. How do you foster this? So how do you put the books on the shelf so that they have these these knowledge bases and these skill sets and then you're able to, you know, really let them let them thrive. Speaker 2 And that speaks to so many things in business. It speaks to entrepreneurship. You know, I think the culture of entrepreneurship in this country, distinguished is us from so many other areas, and many of the great entrepreneurs are attracted to come here because it's the you know, frankly, the no shame in failing, you know, no shame in failing like you. Speaker 2 It's the myth of the entrepreneur here in the U.S. of like you fall, you fail, you lose your money, and then you get back up again, right? Well, that applies to other areas as well. What is this resilience around creativity that we're teaching our kids of? Hey, maybe that first beat or that first song you did that bombed, you know, You know, But but actually, I didn't hear his first one. Speaker 2 I just heard the later ones. And I think they're pretty good. But, you know, how how are we teaching that resilience in the midst of creativity and getting back up again? Because that is what will shape that is the things that's going to going to shape the world shaped individual communities and shape the world. And so how do we, you know, put the books on the shelf and then also allow these different pathways, which I think is is more about the broad skill sets, right? Speaker 2 It's the thinking critically. It's the being able to have, you know, you know, from from the hard sciences to the very ambiguous to the to the very ambiguous and being comfortable with the ambiguity and being able to put structure around it. Speaker 3 And I mean, you set it perfectly with, you know, failure has to be expected and no one puts out a first good anything. No. And if and if you don't even put something out, you know, my son won't mention any names, but one of my boys really wants to do something as a career path. And, you know, it takes really putting yourself out there in a in a different way, getting on stage and and, you know, until he puts himself out there and gets on the stage, he's never one. Speaker 3 You can't ever get better because you won't put yourself out there. And then you can't work on your craft, you know, to like even statistics, just thinking about how we first started and statistically what our numbers might have been and then what could we do better to grab more people, whether it's on social media or a podcast or whatever? Speaker 3 I didn't want to do a podcast for the longest time because of the obvious fear of no one's going to listen and why would anybody care about what we're talking about? And so I just kept thinking, Well, I'm not going to do it. And Kelsey finally said, What day are we doing? Our first podcast, which is what makes team members so valuable and important? Speaker 3 No, we said, we're doing it. What day are we going to do it? And I finally had to face my fear of, okay, let's just do it. Well, you have to just do it. So many times. You can risk. Speaker 2 Taking. Speaker 3 So many things about that subject matter, but you got to just do it. Speaker 2 You know? No, I couldn't. I mean, that's just a question of itself. Like how do we foster that risk taking? And then also how do we create an environment where, like especially at a young age of like, hey, it's good to fail, it's safe to fail. Like, I think of businesses that I was a part of that didn't do well. Speaker 2 You know, I think of, you know, organizations that work, things that didn't, you know, whatever it was. And do we have you know, there's a lot of talk around mental health these days. Right. Right. And and so are we are we fostering good enough mental health to say like, hey, this is not who you are when when you fail? Speaker 2 And this is actually a part of the process? Speaker 1 Yes. It's a. Speaker 3 Beautiful part of the process, A. Speaker 2 Beautiful part of the process. I mean, this whole idea that, you know, you just step into something and master it, Right. That's hilarious. That that's just not, you know, not the case. And I think sometimes that's the expectation. And then I think the goal so many times is this immediate high performance. I'll say this when I was in school, I was afraid to take certain classes if I felt like I couldn't really excel. Speaker 2 And I was afraid to try certain sports if I felt like I really wasn't going to excel. And so I just stuck with a few. And then I would slowly broaden. And then I remember when I got to grad school at Harvard, Thank you very you. I mean, with me to say that I was. Speaker 4 Waiting for it. Speaker 1 And. Speaker 2 In any way we, I, I was looking at the classes. Right. And there was this class. And remember, I'm a nerd. So it was International Monetary Exchange, economics, blah, blah, blah. Oh, my. Speaker 3 Gosh. And you chose that class. And we just point that out place. Speaker 1 How do we screen these people? Speaker 2 Who is in You had to have all these prerequisites. That's to be in the call. And it was actually over. You could take classes over in the College of Arts and Sciences. So it was it was in the economics. And long story short, I didn't have any of the prerequisites. And in the past I would have said, Oh, gosh, I don't know if I can make an A in that. Speaker 2 What does it mean if I don't make an A and all of these things and thankfully I had at least I'd learned enough and I threw myself into that class and I did not make an A, and I learned more than I had learned in I don't know how many classes. And there was also just a freeing part of it, too. Speaker 2 You're like, This is not what this is all about. And I think that's what, you know, when you hear Thad talk about, you know, how how we do grading and things like that. And I know some people recoil and be like, no, no, we can't give everyone a trophy. Well, that's that's not what we're talking about. We're now we're talking about what is the goal and how do we best put markers and indicators along the way to help to know if we're meeting those goals and preparing our kids? Speaker 2 And I think that's a a very valid, you know, conversation. Okay, Bye. Ruby knocks it out of the park and, you know, as she often does and gets a really high a in a class. Right. What does that mean? Speaker 3 Right. Speaker 2 Like, does she know the material or was she really able to just because she could pick it up quickly, you know, learn it for the test in time. And so I know I'm kind of meandering and wondering, but I think the failure piece, the risk taking, you know, how do we create an environment where that's not what our kids are feeling, right? Speaker 2 I mean, you go talk to an average, you know, high school sophomore, like like my daughter is, and they'll just talk to you about pressures of performance and they're going to talk to you about how they can avoid failure as much as possible. Speaker 4 Well, and I think to just like looking at our society as a whole, like we are are all about instant gratification. I think social media has played a huge role in that, too. So I think the idea of having to really work towards a goal and and that it might take lots of time and you may never end up as the best. Speaker 4 That's a hard concept for us because our our attention span seems to be so, so short nowadays. So I always think that like I think it's almost the sense of like, I want it right now. And if it doesn't happen right now, I'm not I mean, there's not going to go for it or I'm going to give up almost immediately. Speaker 2 And that's why I think the value of sports, the value of learning a instrument, I mean, I could go through multiple, you know, different different things, but learning a skill and the perseverance and hard work that it requires to learn a skill which is then applicable to everything in life and that's why so many of the I mean, their value in and of themselves, the beauty of this and that. Speaker 2 But then there's also the process that is extremely applicable for life. Speaker 3 What would you say? We're talking a lot about education, obviously. What would what would be one piece of advice that you would give a student? But I want to go more than that a young, you know, younger student and then an older student like almost ready to go off to college. Like, I would think your advice would be a little bit different for those two. Speaker 3 Maybe Not but what would be some advice that you would give students today? Speaker 2 Don't take yourself too seriously. I think it's so hard to realize that the world, you know, just like the schools and the communities and everything that you've grown up in, that you just extrapolate out that this is the way it's always going to be. And so I've got to perform, I've got to do this like your current moment is going to be, you know, the future and the rest of your life. Speaker 2 And it's just not. And I would say, don't take yourself too seriously. Maybe this is too stereotypical, but I mean it. Follow your heart. I mean, like there is you know, I mean, sometimes you just have to you know, we all do things every day that we don't necessarily like. So that's not what I mean. You're always going to get to do what you like and you love every moment of the day. Speaker 2 That's that's ridiculous. You know, we're not going to be able to do that. But the things that, you know, grab heart and the things that get your attention, the things that you have to pay attention to that pay attention to that. And then it's it's also so I would say I mean, your first question was the younger one. Speaker 2 So I would say work hard and have fun. I mean, really, you know, develop a strong work ethic, realize as hard as it is, that some of the opportunities you have are fleeting and just have fun with them. You know, I mean, we talk we get so excited about sports. I love sports, you know, the best of the best of the best are going to be done. Speaker 2 And unless you're Tom Brady, you're going to be done in your twenties and you have years and years of life ahead of you. Right? So so think about that. And I'd say for the the older students, it would be very similar. Again, I think my don't take yourself too seriously would be would be a big part. I took myself too seriously. Speaker 2 Right. And I think that hurt me at times. I think that narrowed my opportunity set. I've had good opportunities. I'm really grateful for that. But I think I missed out and missed out on things, you know, because of it. And and I would say, do throw yourself into something to try to to learn it and learn it at a high level. Speaker 2 Because learning that skill, I mean, there's there's some statistics out there and I can't remember and this may be wrong, so don't quote me, but you know, like 7000 hours, 10000 hours that it takes to really, really learn something and be be a sub, you know, be excellent at it. And what are you what are you doing there? Speaker 2 Like what is that. What is that for you. It it really does it matter what is much is It matters the why in the how you know and I think that's a that's a fantastic you know point. So I meandered again but I hopefully I answered your questions. The last thing I would say is I work in a team and learn how to work in a team. Speaker 2 And that can be, you know, we try to do that in school projects more. That works in sports. I works in a symphony, right? So so be a part of a team and understand what joint performance looks like and and get out of your get out of your consistent social circles and that in that way as well. I guess that was the last thing I would say is that's the bridge builder part, right? Speaker 2 Do we have kids that are comfortable operating? I mean, that's what I want my kids to be. I want my kids to be able to operate in multiple different environments where they are. Everyone is exactly like them and they're very comfortable for whatever statistic we want to do to an area where they should be very uncomfortable and I want them to be comfortable. Speaker 2 So yeah, I think that would be my my biggest advice. Speaker 3 Well, you said you spend a lot of time taking yourself too seriously. Yep. And I always love the conversation of the beautiful things that fall on the other side of the behind the door of fear, which I'm assuming you mean by you took yourself so seriously, you were afraid you wouldn't be really good at that thing, whatever that thing was. Speaker 3 So you really didn't go towards that thing. Speaker 4 Or worried about what people think or the judgment. I think that's a huge part of that too. Speaker 3 Yeah. Or not being as successful as you thought you would be. I love the thought of holding yourself or pushing yourself towards those things. I think great things fall on the other side. Simple example is the podcast. Yeah, I knew we needed to do one. I was drawn to doing a podcast, but I was really afraid. I mean, if you want to get down to it, I was afraid so I wouldn't set a date. Speaker 3 It's easy not to set a date. I didn't know how to do it. Why would I think anyone would? Would I be able to speak towards things or would anyone want to hear what we have to say? So it's just easier to just not do it. It's one of the best. It's one of the most enjoyable things I've ever done in my life. Speaker 3 I can say whether or not we're changing lives. I don't know what we've had so many people. Yeah, that's really good compliments on this and say they've learned so much about the different people that are in our district, which is why that was our hearts behind it of why we wanted to do it, to introduce people in our district and tell their stories. Speaker 3 So just talk a little bit about that because I think it's so important to do it when you are really afraid of something. I think there's something really strong behind that thing. Speaker 1 Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Speaker 3 Yeah. So I'm not saying it the way that it needs to be said, but maybe you can help me. Yeah, with what I'm saying. Speaker 2 Yeah. No, that is. That is huge. I would say. Let me talk about our first for a personal level and then from a from a, I guess, more historical levels. What I would want to talk about, you know, I think from a personal level it was the being afraid of failure and like, what does that say about me? Speaker 2 And it was an insecurity, a very deep insecurity of what does it mean? And not even even if I fail, but what if I'm not the best? What if I'm not the best in this? What does that say about me? And can I handle that? And I think at younger ages, the answer was no, I can't handle that. Speaker 2 And I think, you know, when you get through much and there's lots of reasons, I mean, there's personalities, you know, growing up was was not stable. And so there were certain pieces of that that were that were real. And we can talk about family structures and education, too, and all that kind of stuff, but that that contributed to it. Speaker 2 And so I think for me, I think it can be, you know, what are other people going to think? And I think ates are supposed to not care what other people think. I hopefully have a little bit of a heart that I can care what other people think. I think what drove me more was less what will people think and much more of like what will I think, right? Speaker 2 Yeah. What can I look at myself in the mirror? But then I pivot to say one other thing about this, because I think you're making a fantastic point about failure and the other side of failure. So there's a leadership book. It's called Failure of Nerve by Ed Friedman. I think it is the best leadership book by far. It's on a different plane. Speaker 2 I read it about every year. And when you first read it the first time, you like, I don't know what I was talking about. And then you when you read it more and more and more, it's it's just it's unbelievable. But he opens the book and he opens the book talking about Columbus. So let's take Columbus out of the current political dialogs for a second. Speaker 2 So and hopefully folks can just hear me on the point I'm trying to make around it. But if you look at the state of European civilization in the late 14th, it's there was conversation that basically it had reached its peak. You would never had I mean, you hadn't had a lot of innovation happen. You were still recovering from sort of the plague in the Middle Ages. Speaker 2 You were looking back a thousand years to maybe the vestiges of Rome, and you were thinking, hey, we're we're here's where we are. And if you even look at some of the publications that were there, which there weren't many there was conversations around this, like, okay, here's here's where we are. And Columbus took a risk. And I think with all the political dialog we've we've lost that fact that going straight out into the ocean and going west to get east to India was unbelievably courageous, unbelievably courageous. Speaker 2 And so he had a view and he had a view that this would be a shorter route. Copernicus is right, and all these people about the world is round. But it's not just sitting in a lab saying the world's around. It's like, hey, roll the dice. I'm going to die if I'm wrong. And he goes, And guess what? Speaker 2 He was wrong. He was wrong. He well, he missed something, right? There was a massive move. North America and South America in between. Right. And, you know, some of the mistakes he made, you know, are clear. And I'm not people are human, meaning capable of great good and great evil. So we're not getting into that. I'm making the point that he took a risk and he found something far greater. Speaker 2 And it was it was a it was a civilization. It was a piece of his land. It was where we are today. We would not be here, you know, or here would be different if he didn't do that. So it's often in the risk taking, Friedman says. There's this serendipity, meaning something you would never see except when you're on the other side of taking the risk and getting past the fear. Speaker 2 That's when people are like, I don't want to start a business. What if I fail? What if I fail? Yeah, that'd be also if you fail, right? I mean, how's your family going to make it? I mean, these things are real, right? But the point that Friedman says and then he makes this point, which I think is really interesting, he says. Speaker 2 So he argues that Europe at the end of the 1400s was stuck in and he makes the case that what Columbus did for the psychology of Europe, meaning, oh my gosh, there is so much we still don't know. And I think we need that moment. We need that moment as as as a people, as a civilization, because we we get in our arrogance, if you will. Speaker 2 And it's it's there's there's so much we but there's so much we still don't know. And then if you look what happened in the 1500s, you had the Renaissance, you had the Reformation, you had this opening up of creativity, of learning in a period. There was one of the most prolific week in history. And Friedman would say, when you have a society that is more oriented towards safety than towards risk, you're stuck. Speaker 2 And I will let you come and, you know, talk about, you know, where where are we? And then and then and then line is directly back to education. The line is directly back because how are we fostering this opening up of, hey, there's so much we still don't know. Yeah, there's so much we still don't know. And are you willing can we build the the be it the persistence, be it the just, you know, aplomb to what word I want to use to basically in our kids in this community to take these risks and to keep going and that the the hurdle of what discourages them is so high it's not even funny. Speaker 2 I mean, because that's what I want for my kids, right? Lane came back and he said, Dad, I tried some new beats and I published him on the site. And he goes, Look at this. And there were all these comments and they were they were hateful, right? And he was like, and I was like, you're right. It's like, yeah, no, I'm fine. Speaker 2 You know, I'm fine. And I was like, Do any of those people do bits? And he's like, No, they actually don't. I was like, Okay, yeah. Speaker 1 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Speaker 3 It's amazing. There's a, there's a saying a ship in a harbor is safe, but that's not what they're made for. Speaker 2 Absolutely. Speaker 3 And you know, that's exactly right. If we as parents number one could get past saying we want our kids to be happy and we want our kids to be happy, I understand that. But if if we cared more about we want them to be risk takers and we want them to be able to get back up again and, you know, grit and all of those sort of things, happiness comes. Speaker 3 And so, you know, being comfortable should not be an end goal for our children, you know, So we spent so many times as parents moving those big rocks out of the pathway so our kids could have this, but we're messing it up for them. You know. Speaker 2 Maturity goes is is equal to discomfort. I mean, it's just yeah, we say things like growing pains. I mean, it just it doesn't go together. If I, I had a professor at Baylor, I almost went and studied overseas and I was applying for this scholarship and, and I didn't get it. And a back to me being afraid of failure, I went for it and I failed. Speaker 2 Right. And when he came back and he goes, he goes, Hey, Bow, he said, if you would have won that scholarship, I would have been, you know, your biggest fan. But I'm so glad you didn't. And I'm like, What? What, what? What do you mean? You know? And he he was like, they're these people that have success after success, after success, and then they're just like an inch deep, you know? Speaker 2 And it's only through the failures. It's only through the I mean, let's let's be honest, the suffering that the character is built, that frankly, happiness and those things are on the other side of that. On the other side. And and I think if we first of all, we can't prevent it with our kids as much as we try, we can't prevent it. Speaker 2 This is the world we live in. This is this is reality for human history. But we can help them have the grit, have the sense of self to be able to, you know, get to get to the other side of it. Speaker 3 MM This is some good conversation. Speaker 4 I know. I'm like, Jerry, it's been great. It's been very thought provoking. Yes. I think I loved when you talked about like how we can be really arrogant sometimes. And so that prevents us from really humbling ourselves to to accept like, there's so much that we don't know. I love I love that because I think there's so much beauty in humility and there's a lot of strength and humility. Speaker 4 So I love that. I love that I. Speaker 2 Couldn't agree more. Speaker 3 So I don't like to leave without just asking some random questions. So if you don't mind, I'm going to go into the random questions and then we'll be done here. But so just is Christmas time. What is your favorite Christmas movie? Speaker 2 Oh, it's a Wonderful Life. Speaker 3 It's a Wonderful life. Speaker 2 Yeah, without a doubt. Speaker 3 If you couldn't do what you do, what would you do? Speaker 2 Hmm. There's a few things I'd love to teach and I'd love to teach at some point in life. So I. I really. Speaker 3 What would you teach? What would the name of your course be? Speaker 2 I would like to teach a course on leadership, and I would like to pull a lot of different disciplines together to do on a course on leadership. I'd also love to teach history, and I'd love to teach literature because I just think with great literature, so many of the great lessons, a good book is about everything, right? Everything that matters. Speaker 2 And so I would I would love to teach and I still wouldn't mind coaching as well. Life is too short. I'd love to do all those things. Maybe I'll maybe I'll get the chance at some point. Speaker 3 Life is short. If you could donate $100,000 to any philanthropic cause or charity organizations, which would you choose and why? Speaker 2 Yeah, so a friend of mine runs a group called Hope International, and it's this microlending group that goes after the poorest of the poor around the country. I'm sorry, around the world. It's it's worldwide. And so it's, you know, the common target would be a young female in a very poor area of, say, Africa or Middle East. And they give them access to capital loan and really let them unleash their own entrepreneurship. Speaker 2 And it has been so successful in bringing people out of poverty and it is a loan. And so they actually pay it back and they have a phenomenal payback rate, better than most most banks. But the track record of So if I give 100,000 of them, it's going to be used paid back is paid back in the impact on lives of the poorest of the poor that realize what is in them, and they realize that they have the skill sets with just a little bit of support and may be just reminding them and what it means. Speaker 2 So yeah, that would be I would, absolutely. So there's my plug for my buddy. Peter Greer will be happy, but there's my plug for for Hope International without a doubt that dollar could go further and impact more lives. Speaker 4 That's amazing. Yeah, I. Speaker 3 Love the thought of that for sure. So would you rather have no elbows or no knees? Speaker 1 Freezing wedding? Speaker 2 Oh, yeah. Yeah. This was in our ethics class. Definitely a no elbows or. I've never gotten that question. Speaker 1 Really? Yes. Speaker 2 Before I'm going to go with no elbows. Yeah. Speaker 1 No elbows. No elbows. Speaker 2 Yeah. Yeah, completely. No, no, I still have shoulders. You're putting your arms out wide. I still have shoulders. Right. Just no elbow. Shoulders. Speaker 1 But how do you it. Right. Speaker 3 Okay, so this is what I would have done if you would've said no knees. How do you eat? How do you wipe your mouth? Speaker 1 You just have a really long spoon. Speaker 2 I would develop a new skill set and a it would be it would be amazing. Speaker 1 So there is no doubt that you would. Speaker 3 Do just fine. Yes, that's for sure. So I always like to finish with this in it, and it's not. Speaker 4 Always the best. Speaker 3 I've found over time, but if anyone can give me an answer, it will be Bow. Speaker 2 Oh, I'm nervous. Speaker 3 So finish this sentence. One thing I know for sure is. Speaker 1 I'm. Speaker 2 God is good. Speaker 1 You in there? Oh, yeah. Speaker 3 Thank you so much for coming today. It has been a joy, Truly. It's been a joy talking to you and getting to know a little bit more about you and who you are. And we look forward to working with you for the next four years for sure. Speaker 2 Thank you so much and appreciate the opportunity for this. And I'm really excited about jumping on the school board. Speaker 4 It's going to be great. Yeah. Speaker 3 Thank you. Have a great day. And.