Focal Points of Leadership - Scott Coble's Journey

I'm thrilled to welcome Scott Coble to the show—a seasoned executive whose leadership journey spans over three decades in the financial services industry. In this episode, Scott opens up about the pivotal lessons he’s learned, the values that have shaped his path, and how he’s now channeling his deep reservoir of skills and experience into coaching the next generation of business owners and executives.

As the former Senior Executive for the Southeastern U.S. at Wells Fargo, Scott led with clarity, collaboration, and a relentless focus on aligning strategy with results. Now retired from that role, he's leaning into his passion for mentorship—empowering high-performing leaders to scale their impact while living more purposefully.

Scott’s commitment to excellence is matched by his dedication to community. Through active roles on boards like Operation New Hope, the March of Dimes, and NE Florida Boy Scouts of America, he continues to give back in powerful ways, fostering meaningful partnerships and driving civic engagement.

Tune in to hear Scott's insights on building performance-driven cultures, applying data-driven solutions, and creating sustainable business growth in competitive markets—all while staying grounded in service and purpose.

Transcript

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Jesse Stakes: Hey, everybody! Welcome to this week's episode of making sense of it all. I'm your host, Jesse Stakes, and I'm very pleased to bring you, Scott Koble this week, Scott, thank you so much for joining me.

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Scott Coble: It's a pleasure, Jesse. Thanks for having me.

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Jesse Stakes: So I'm sure we're gonna have a lot of people that will tune into this that know who you are. But for those who don't like. Just give us a quick, high level, you know. Who is Scott Koble? What is your background?

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Scott Coble: Well, Jesse, I spent 38 years in the financial services industry as a leader. My last 7 or so I led the southeast us for Wells Fargo on the retail side.

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Scott Coble: but enjoyed living in a lot of different places as I moved around with my career North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, but I spent 18 years in Florida and really considered Florida home until I moved back home

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Scott Coble: to North Carolina with my wife

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Scott Coble: after after retirement. So yeah, that's who I am.

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Jesse Stakes: In a nutshell. So I thought this was kind of cool. When we were talking before we recorded you moved back to your hometown in North Carolina. Correct.

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Scott Coble: I did, I did, and if anybody's ever seen the the Andy Griffith show the fictitious town Mayberry that was based on my hometown, Mount Airy, North Carolina. Andy Griffith grew up here. He played in the church band where I went to church. He was a few years older than me.

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Scott Coble: But yeah, it's a town steeped in that kind of history pop culture type of history, but also a lot of those things are true about the town where I live now.

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Jesse Stakes: Gomer wasn't running around the streets, was he?

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Scott Coble: I never saw him, but you never know.

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Scott Coble: Maybe I just didn't meet it.

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Jesse Stakes: I thought it was interesting when when you had told me that I had mentioned to a friend that we were recording, and he actually shared that with me, and I didn't know that. So that was a really pretty cool fact. There.

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Scott Coble: Oh, yeah, yeah, a lot of those places do exist. A lot of those people, the characters, names were people who actually grew up here with Andy.

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Jesse Stakes: That's really cool. That's really cool. So you had also mentioned one of the other things that I thought was really cool was that you guys decided to renovate a hundred. What was it? 150 year old home that you guys are living in now?

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Scott Coble: There's a hundred 15.

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Jesse Stakes: 100 and 15.

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Scott Coble: It felt like it was a hundred 50 a time.

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Scott Coble: Pretty pretty long renovation we did over time and kind of split time between Florida and North Carolina, and then we finished it up last June and got to move in. So it was actually a house I rode by on my bicycle as a little boy growing up. So it was pretty cool.

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Jesse Stakes: It is a really cool project, and I'm sure it's nice to be able to think about memories of your you know, of your childhood, and to kind of everything comes full circle in your life and in your career.

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Scott Coble: Yep, it seems to.

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Jesse Stakes: So so kind of as part of that. You know, we can talk about what you're doing now, because when you talk about coming full circle. You really are taking all of your experience that you've gained throughout your career. And you're starting to give back to people that are executives that are people that are looking to kind of. Take that that step from good to great, if I can steal, you know, steal a line from a famous author.

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Jesse Stakes: But but tell me a little bit about what you're doing with with your your new business, your new venture that you have going right now.

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Scott Coble: Well, thanks, Jesse, I'm a focal point, certified business coach, and what I do is I help small business owners and business leaders

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Scott Coble: who know that there's more out there for them to achieve, and I help them through a very structured process that really calls on a lot of things the structure that has been put together and proven over the years along with my business experience.

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Scott Coble: and we help them understand where they want to get, to which they drive, that I don't drive it for them. But what I help with is how to get from point A to Point B to build bridges, and I help them achieve their goals faster than they ever thought possible.

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Jesse Stakes: I think it's fantastic, and I think that one of the things that that I really want to impress upon the audience here. This isn't something that you had to do. This is not something to where you were looking for a job, or you were looking for something to generate an income. This is something that was really, I mean to me. It's it's almost like it was a calling. It's almost something that you you're doing to truly give back or to pass on information, pass on some of the skills and things that you have developed and learned over the last.

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Jesse Stakes: Like you said 30 plus years.

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Scott Coble: Yeah, you're exactly right. I I couldn't get up and just sit on the porch, and I'm not a good enough golfer.

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Jesse Stakes: Like that.

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Scott Coble: Off every day.

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Jesse Stakes: Don't have to be good at it.

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Scott Coble: Yeah. And really, though, one of the things that drives me in one of my core values is a purpose. And I told my wife. When I decided to retire, I said, I'm going to retire, but I'm going to find my next purpose, and this is it. I think it helps people achieve their goals. It helps people gain clarity because most people, when they buy a small business or they open a small business.

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Scott Coble: There was a reason they got into it. They had a vision of what they wanted to create. And sometimes, you know, life intervenes with the business, and they get really focused on keeping the doors open that day. You know a lot of things that you just have to do as a business owner, but what they can do is, take their eyes off of the entrepreneurial side of it, where they're looking out into the future

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Scott Coble: and developing long term plans, strategies, and it becomes more about just the operations of the business. So if I can help people regain the focus on that, you know and achieve it, then, you know, I figure I've done a good thing at that point.

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Jesse Stakes: 100%. I think it's 1 of my favorite reasons for doing this podcast is to ask people what their why is and I didn't have to ask you. You have your you know what your why is, you know, and it's and it's top of mind, or it's that center.

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Jesse Stakes: you know it's that it's that true North, if you will, on a compass for you is, you know, making sure that you're taking care of your why. But I but to your point a lot of people get lost, and they and they forget about the why or they don't necessarily keep it. That true north when they're when they're looking at what they're doing day to day. And we talked about that before we ever, you know, when we were talking about doing this recording. I thought it was a really great conversation

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Jesse Stakes: talking about the fact that, you know you've got people who they started a business for a reason

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Jesse Stakes: they find success. They're making a living. They're they're creating maybe wealth, or at least a, you know, at least a good quality of life for their family. But there's that point at which there's diminishing returns, or they get stuck in kind of a they get stuck on kind of a plateau, and and I think that that's 1 of the, you know. One of the biggest things that I took away from our 1st conversation about this was that you're trying to help them get, you know. Get off of that plateau and find that next gear, or find that next level. If you will.

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Scott Coble: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And you know a lot of times, too, Jesse, when the so much attention has to be put into the the opening of the business each day, and really dealing with things like turnover and surprises that come along.

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Scott Coble: It takes their eyes off of other things in life in general, and a lot of people that we work with are people that you can't always make it to events for the kids. You can't always do things at home that they want to do and really gaining control of time. And if you think about it, there are typically 4 things that are somewhere on the radar with people that they want to improve. You know one is time.

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Scott Coble: Typically a big one, the second one naturally money, the 3rd one people.

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Scott Coble: and then the 4th is strategy. You have a strategy having a vision, a vision shouldn't just be a dream. A vision should be something that you, as the owner, see and you want to achieve. But yet, where we come in to help is when we can help put together a plan to get folks there, and then, if we engage long enough, hold each other accountable, you know, for taking the steps that would keep you on track, so that you don't drift

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Scott Coble: and end up where you were.

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Jesse Stakes: I think that's huge. I think that that's a it's a great point, because I think when people do have that owner's hat on, or have that executive hat on where they don't feel like they have somebody that they can speak to as a peer, or speak to as a coach, as somebody that they look, you know, kind of look up to.

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Jesse Stakes: They do drift, and they don't like, but they don't feel like they have that. So I think that that's you know. It's a great point that you know, engaging somebody actually seeking out that coaching is incredibly important. When you get to that point in your career, or that point in your business life.

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Jesse Stakes: So

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Jesse Stakes: what I do want to go back to, I think out of that list of 4, I think the 1st 2 are natural. First.st The 1st 2, you know, kind of take care of themselves is explaining them. The 3rd one, you said was, people, can you dive into that a little harder. Tell the audience what you mean by that.

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Scott Coble: Well, you know, people, that's a it's a vast topic. Okay.

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Jesse Stakes: 100%.

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Scott Coble: But many times what you see when when you engage with business owners or business leaders in larger companies is, there's a there's a concept called the the Carnegie Triangle.

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Scott Coble: and you know, in some environments it's a bad word to talk about attitude. But what the Carnegie Institute did was went out and studied the thousands of successful people and listed the attributes that made them successful.

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Scott Coble: and they compared the data that came back, and there were. It broke down to 3 things, knowledge skills, attitude.

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Scott Coble: Okay?

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Jesse Stakes: Okay.

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Scott Coble: Between knowledge and skills. As they looked at the data that made up 15% of the attributes.

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Scott Coble: the other 85% were attitudinally based.

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Jesse Stakes: Traits, next, crazy.

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Scott Coble: Yeah, I mean. So people who came in and had a positive attitude, people who came in and they were going to look for ways to get over the hump over the hill people that were focused on being victors instead of victims. You know a lot of that is based in attitude.

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Scott Coble: And so what that did for a lot of companies that took those studies and put them into place is they began to work attitude into some of their hiring criteria or some of their criteria as to what they expected out of people, you don't hire somebody in a customer facing position that doesn't know how to smile and be pleasant to people.

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Scott Coble: You know you don't hire people to resolve conflict in their role, who can't resolve conflict because of you know the the what they might project to folks. So a lot of it is about when it comes to people, it's about understanding. It's about really seeking to understand many times it's about listening to people

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Scott Coble: to understand what's troubling them. Yeah, when it comes to leadership and coaching one of the lofties skills that you can develop is the ability to listen to people.

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Scott Coble: And one of my core values is understanding.

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Scott Coble: Well, that doesn't mean understanding from the standpoint of oh, Jesse. I understand

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Scott Coble: it's it's the active process of listening to try to understand what's going on with the other person where they're coming from, so that hopefully together, you can work on a solution. You can build a bridge together to get on track if things are off track. So

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Scott Coble: so that's where it comes in with people that you know, we could, we could probably talk for 2 or 3 more of your podcasts about people talking 100%. Yeah. But it's also what makes it beautiful, too.

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Scott Coble: because it's not a widget. It's not a block that you're stacking up. People are moldable. They change one day is different from the next, but also over time. You know, it should be a pretty consistent process to work with people. If you employ the right approach.

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Jesse Stakes: Well, and what I as you're saying this, what I keep, what keeps ringing in my mind is that we overcomplicate the simple.

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Scott Coble: You know we did.

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Jesse Stakes: We we absolutely do. And there's things that you know. There's that the whole thing where you know people need certain things from us as leaders, as people who are employing them. It's in most of the time it's pretty common sense what they're looking for, but but we overcomplicate it, we overthink it, or we just move past it sometimes, and we don't put the focus on it where it deserves to be put.

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Scott Coble: I agree.

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Jesse Stakes: So

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Jesse Stakes: you chose to do business with a company called Focal Point, and it is, I think, that you know not that it. I think it bears saying is that you could have gone any direction you wanted to go. You could have. You could have made a choice of any any number of businesses that would have absolutely loved to partner with Scott Coble.

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Jesse Stakes: Why did you choose to to partner with focal point.

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Scott Coble: Well, first, st I appreciate you saying that the reason that I chose to join Focal Point as basically a franchise owner is number one. The rich history for those that are familiar with the author, Brian Tracy. He spent years studying business, studying people what makes people successful. And so there's a lot of material that I have to draw on.

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Scott Coble: The second thing is just the quality of the people focal point. I can do business as a coach anywhere in the world.

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Scott Coble: I'm not locked into one geography, which is great, because I know and care about a lot of people in Florida. So you know, why would I do something and not be able to to work with people in markets that I care about? I think the other thing is, when I was exploring this. I probably talked to

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Scott Coble: 20 coaches. I didn't meet one that didn't offer to help me along the way that every one of them said, there's going to be a day that you're going to need help. I want you to have my number just the genuine care. It's a collegial atmosphere, and I didn't meet one person that I thought I got a question about teaming up with that person. So just the high quality of the character of both the people and the company overall.

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Jesse Stakes: I think it it bears saying here you didn't 1 time mention the tools and the actual, the things that they provide you, that that are. You know, the

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Jesse Stakes: the actual

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Jesse Stakes: physical things are the actual, tangible things that the company provides, which they provide a ton. I mean, there's I mean, I've looked at it. I've done a little research on it since you and I started talking about doing this, and there's I don't think that there's another company in the in the executive coaching space that's going to provide you the backup, or you. It's not going to give you the things, the tools and the

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Jesse Stakes: visual aids, or the anything that where? Where your customer needs something to, where you're not, gonna there's nothing that you're gonna need, that you're not going to be able to call upon from Focal Point that support your you know kind of your journey that you're taking with your client as well.

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Scott Coble: Yeah, you're right. It it's fast. But you know what what my job is is to understand who I'm working with, what their specific needs are, because, you know, you can boggle number one, my mind. But

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Scott Coble: clients, mind if you pull things off the shelf to come to them with that don't pertain. You know, they're gonna scratch their heads. And my goal is to add value. You know, I don't help people unless I'm adding value every time we get together. Well, 1st thing I have to do is I'll go back to listening and understanding, and then bringing the right thing to the table for each person that fits their exact needs.

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Jesse Stakes: Yeah, I you know, I'm gonna tell a little story here on you and I. And I can't believe I was thinking about it the other day. It's 15 years ago now, like it blows my mind that it was 15 years ago, but but when I, when I 1st went to work for Wells Fargo in a partner role.

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Jesse Stakes: It was very, it was very. It felt very big at the time it felt. You know it was. It was an intimidating task. Just because I had went from a very focused sales role into saying, Okay, help this large region, you know, sell the same product and service that I was selling, but it just it just felt big. And you were one of the 1st people that I met when I came in the door, and it was it left an impression on me, my whole career, because the 1st thing that you said to me was, How can I help you.

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Jesse Stakes: and I'm I was used to many executives or many people in a position of of power and influence.

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Jesse Stakes: essentially telling me, here's what I need from you, or here's what I'm expecting of you.

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Jesse Stakes: And it was. It was very unique. Because when I came in the door you said, How can I help you. How can I serve you? And like I said, it left an impression on me that I haven't forgotten in 15 years. So so you know, if if listeners can take something you know just about you and about your approach to people, I think it's second to none. And I also think that it is very. It's very different when you see somebody that has a you know, the true ability to help somebody, and the desire to.

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Scott Coble: Well, I appreciate that you did your part, too, though.

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Jesse Stakes: Not well, I mean that that part that part I had control over you don't have control over the the way that people have their attitude towards you, and how they how they welcome you in the door.

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Scott Coble: Well, Jesse, I used to tell a story about

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Scott Coble: yeah, I began 40 years ago as as a summertime teller.

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Jesse Stakes: Okay.

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Scott Coble: There used to be 2 people in the commercial area that I would send folks to, and one was named Jim. One was named Jerry.

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Scott Coble: and I'd send folks to gym. I'd never hear anything back.

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Scott Coble: Jim didn't really correspond with me as he walked through the lobby, and then, on the other hand, Jerry.

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Scott Coble: would come back to me and say, Hey, thanks for sending Mr. Or Miss so and so over to me. Let me tell you about what we did. Let me tell you why that was so important. Well, how do you think that made me feel

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Scott Coble: oh, like a million bucks, right? And so I.

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Jesse Stakes: And he actually learned from it.

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Scott Coble: Oh, yeah. And I used to tell that story to people throughout my career, and I would say, be, Jerry, don't be Jim, you know

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Scott Coble: into that

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Scott Coble: successful. Be, Jerry, don't be Jim, and these days there are a lot more Jane's and Dolores's, and and folks like that, too. So pardon me for the lack of diversity there.

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Scott Coble: but it was the times. I'll just tell you.

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Jesse Stakes: No doubt. Well, and it's you know, I think, that that's what like you said. It's the times and everything. You know. Everything has to change with the times, but the point is very well made, and we shouldn't get we shouldn't get lost in the language of it. That's right.

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Jesse Stakes: So with your, with your partnership with focal point? Are you guys, are you focusing on any industries in in specific like, like, specifically? Or are you? Are you open to all. Is it kind of a is it kind of open to anybody who is interested.

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Scott Coble: Yeah. Well, 1st thing I'd say is, I am open to all. I want to help people. I want to help companies, because I think they're the backbone of communities.

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Scott Coble: The the 2 target markets I have, though, are small businesses. Between one and 100 employees that are you know, in sales range anywhere between, you know, Startup to 50 million.

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Scott Coble: and then on the corporate side mid to Senior level business leaders who want to grow. I've got a lot of experience in helping leaders grow within larger companies as well. So it takes advantage of the 2 things I spent basically my life

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Scott Coble: doing, and that is helping leaders be better leaders, but also working with business owners on things they want to achieve. And you know. But again, I'm open to helping anyone that needs help.

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Jesse Stakes: No doubt. Well, this is probably gonna you know, it's it's a it's a question that we kind of touched on. But is there? Is there a high demand? Do people realize that? You know when they get to a point? Are they? Are you? Do you find that people realize, hey? I need coaching. I need somebody to help me. Or do you think that it's something more that people have to get pushed towards like, okay, you have too much on your plate, and you need to seek out. You know that that next level of teaching, that next level of coaching which do you see? One, you know. Kind of. Is there one or the other, or is it a mix of both.

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Scott Coble: I think it's a mix of both, and you know, is it a high volume thing as you know, as

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Scott Coble: Is it as robust as the sale of self-help books? No, but a lot of business owners that I've interfaced with? That's where they began.

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Scott Coble: What happened, though, is maybe they got the book read, maybe. But then, a week later, life happened, and

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Scott Coble: all the plans that they thought they made, which, by the way most didn't write down.

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Scott Coble: They went by the wayside right?

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Scott Coble: And and so what I would say is, there's no one path that leads somebody to wanting to work with a coach. One is maybe personal desperation, because they feel like they're paying a price at home.

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Scott Coble: The other is, you know, Jesse, over 10,000 people in America turn the age of 65 every day.

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Scott Coble: Okay. And so some people are starting to think about transitioning the business, whether that's just selling the business and retiring, transitioning to another generation, you know, or transitioning to somebody who's working with the company. And so there are a lot of reasons that lead people to seeking the help of a coach. If somebody's getting ready to exit a business, you know. They need to be thinking about that at least minimum 5 years ahead of time.

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Scott Coble: If they don't want to sell a devalued business, you know, when a catastrophic health event happens that that business has just lost value.

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Jesse Stakes: No doubt.

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Scott Coble: Yeah. So there are a lot of reasons to to sum it up. And and you know I'm willing to talk to. You have conversations all the time with folks. It doesn't mean that I'm the right coach for them. It doesn't mean that they're the right company or business leader to work with. But it all starts with a con conversation.

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Jesse Stakes: I think that's a hundred percent right? It's people have to be willing to look at things and figure out if it's right for them. Scott, did you? Did you ever think that you would be a gift that somebody would give their children as part of the you know the sale of a business.

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Scott Coble: Try. I try not to think of myself in those terms.

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Scott Coble: But yeah, but certainly willing to help. Let's.

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Jesse Stakes: It's interesting to me because I think what you you know what you said. It makes me think of that old Mike Tyson quote where they say everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.

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Scott Coble: Yeah.

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Jesse Stakes: And it's and it's easy to liken things back to sports. But I feel like there's a you know, the fact that somebody wanted to own their own business in the 1st place, or the fact that somebody desired to go into leadership. You have to have some level of like to desire control and to desire to hold on to what you're doing. And I think to me, I think that's 1 of the biggest challenges that that person has to overcome. It's why they are where they're at. But at the same time they almost have to like. When you get to a certain point, you have to be able to

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Jesse Stakes: to release some of that control in order to take that next step, and to to grow within your, whether it's your career or to grow your business.

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Scott Coble: Yeah, many, we used to say in leadership, there's no higher form of control than to be vulnerable.

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Scott Coble: you know, to show that's a form of strength.

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Scott Coble: Show vulnerability. But I realize why some business owners and some business leaders don't feel like they can show that vulnerability to the people that work for them.

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Scott Coble: And you know, while you don't want to shut that out as a strength that you show to anybody. But when it comes to having concerns about the business or having concerns about, you know themselves and the impact on them. I don't want people to feel alone is the bottom line. Nobody should feel alone in running a business, but also, you know, it many times doesn't lead to the right ends when you're venting with your employees.

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Jesse Stakes: 100%.

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Jesse Stakes: So along those lines. And I think that this is

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Jesse Stakes: technology is starting to make people feel like they're not alone. And artificial intelligence is, you know, starting to creep into everything. How do you see artificial intelligence interfacing, interfacing with that whole coaching and consulting business model.

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Scott Coble: Pretty.

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Jesse Stakes: General, pretty general question there, but but I'll let you run with it.

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Scott Coble: Yeah, but you know the the bottom line is.

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Scott Coble: It's in every business right now.

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Scott Coble: and it's it's a irresistible force, so to speak. But you know, like, when I think about me

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Scott Coble: I use AI when I'm doing communications with people.

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Jesse Stakes: Yes.

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Scott Coble: Cause. I'm talk about being vulnerable. I'm not so self assured to think that when I send an email that that my way of you know I'm no Longfellow or anybody.

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Jesse Stakes: Yeah.

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Scott Coble: I'm writing. So I've gotten swear with the when the tools available I'll click to say, what's a better way to word this. And many times. I'm like, Yeah, that's that's good. That's good.

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Scott Coble: Now the the base information came from me, you know, so it wasn't like AI did it for me. AI recrafted it for me.

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Scott Coble: Things, too, like scheduling appointments.

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Scott Coble: AI is driving some of that. In my practice. Ai sends a little note saying, hey? Thanks for the conversation afterwards, you know. So it's a it's a communication tool, but also it's being used in deeper ways in coaching. Now, I don't employ this, but it is being used in things like data analysis.

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Scott Coble: Certainly. Looking at. You know, what are some data driven insights that might

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Scott Coble: suggest certain types of coaching strategies. So it is at work there. But then the other thing is, you know, you got to look at some of the risks as well. Yeah. The information security risks

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Scott Coble: that are present. You know you dump too much into an AI bot and say, you know, hey, do this for me? Well, there's nothing to ensure that that is

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Scott Coble: safe in every.

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Jesse Stakes: Yes, people don't realize it's the open web, like when you're when you're putting something, unless it's your own, you know, contained artificial intelligence model. It's it is you're putting it out there for really, for everybody's consumption. And people don't think about that. They think they're just sharing it with chat Gpt. Or a co-pilot, or something like that.

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Scott Coble: Yeah. And and so you've got to be cautious. And that's why I've got limitations right now on how I use AI. I would never put a client's any of the clients information in AI.

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Scott Coble: Because you know, I deal on a strictly confidential basis with clients, and that includes artificial intelligence. So I think you gotta watch it with it. But what I'm doing is I always try to be realistic about changes, and I've dabbled with AI some in certain parts of my practice. And it's helpful to me.

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Scott Coble: But I'm not going to relinquish the human side, the human connection side of things. I find that's the best way to develop relationships to develop business with people. And so that's never gonna go away with me. I'm I'm that kind of old fashioned, but I also want to make sure that I'm enough on the cutting edge to understand

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Scott Coble: right? I you know. It's 1 of those things, I think helps with that whole, the old out of sight, out of mind where you can like you said you can audit. You can have an automated schedule. Make sure that your name and make sure that your your thoughts are staying in front of somebody, whereas before these tools existed.

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Jesse Stakes: You had to schedule that out. It had to be part of what you were doing every single day, and so it took up your time, which is one of our greatest assets that we have. But you like. If you were, you know that old adage that somebody has to have 7 touches before they remember your name. Those things can be running in the background where you can be continuing to move forward with every like all of your daily things that you need to do. I think that's an enormous piece that AI has given us

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Jesse Stakes: from A from A, you know, from a partnership standpoint with technology. I think the other part of it to your point is like, I think of myself. I'm not an incredibly analytical person. I have to be sometimes in my life, and with what I do. But but that's not where my strengths lie, so I can, you know

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Jesse Stakes: again, like you said you have to protect a customer's information, but if I can, but if I can outsource some of those, the analysis of what you know of what somebody's doing to AI, then it allows it allows me, or it allows you, whoever is in front of them, it allows them to focus on. What do these? What do the analytics actually show us? And what are we doing with that rather than spending so much time trying to get to those numbers? So

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Jesse Stakes: yeah, I think it's, I think, that there's tremendous value. I also like to your point. You have to. You cannot. You cannot look at all the positives without acknowledging the negatives either. So I mean, I think that there's, you know, just as you said, there's some. There's some very negative things that could potentially happen because of it, but it's but so I think it bears, you know, weighing both sides of the equation. But I think that you know to your target audience and to a lot of people listening it, there really are a lot of things that it that it brings into brings into play for us.

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Scott Coble: Yeah, you know, Jesse, I worked with 2 young ladies, high school freshmen, and they were in an entrepreneur contest.

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Jesse Stakes: Okay.

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Scott Coble: And they were the only kids that used AI to go out, and they they had like a jingle for their product. They

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Scott Coble: a rock version and a country music version. I mean, they they had really harnessed it, for what I felt like was the right stuff. And then, as I read one of their write-ups. It didn't sound like these 2 young ladies, and so

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Scott Coble: went to him and said.

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Scott Coble: Let's take a look at rewriting. This this looks like AI. I want to get your thoughts on this paper. And and so they went back and redid that. But you know it was a little bit controversial, because some of the judges of the project said, Well, can we really give them credit for the jingle because they didn't write the jingle? Well.

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Scott Coble: they didn't. But my point with the judges and they, they agreed, is that AI is here, and AI is something that these 2 young people are going to have to learn how to master in the right way.

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Scott Coble: But what you got to do is also help people understand what's acceptable, you know. So for this project what's acceptable and in business, what's acceptable in your particular business, and what the business has said. No, that's off limits. And so even it's coming into play in a lot of things these days, and I was proud of those 2 young ladies, and it didn't hurt them. But the point is, the topic had to be addressed.

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Jesse Stakes: Yes.

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Scott Coble: It just had to be addressed. And it kind of shows where we are generationally technology, wise and everything else that it hadn't already been addressed, and these 2 ladies brought it to the forefront. For this particular competition.

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Jesse Stakes: Yeah, no. And it's it's it's funny because I used to say it, you know, calling out our kids here. But like, when our kids were in school, and it's like like, if somebody got if somebody was cheating on something it's like, do you? Do you admonish them for cheating, or do you acknowledge them for using their resources that were available to them? You know, it's like you can look at it any way you want to.

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Scott Coble: That's right.

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Jesse Stakes: On that note. Let's talk about your philanthropic efforts that you've had through your career. You know there's you know you're not going to toot your own horn here. But, like I said, I've known you a long time. You've been. You've been part of things like the founding of City or Jacksonville.

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Jesse Stakes: You've been on the board for march of dimes you have. You were a huge part, and I do want to talk about this, because I think it was huge for the city of Jacksonville, as far as the Springfield Community Center that you helped Wells Fargo open in downtown Jacksonville. I thought that was enormous. But you know.

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Jesse Stakes: philanthropy, or just giving back to your community, has always been something that has been near and dear to your heart. It's important to what you do. And I just you know I wanted you to talk a little bit about this, because I think that everybody who's in a position of leadership, or who is, you know, has been blessed with the ability to be successful. There is a responsibility, or there's, you know, there's something that I think people have, you know, a responsibility to community, a responsibility to other people to give back.

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Jesse Stakes: And you do it willingly. You have done it because you want to, not because you have to. So I would love to hear your thoughts on on that. And you know, just in general you don't have to call out a lot of the things you do. But but I do think that what you do has been. It's been fantastic, and it definitely has benefited the communities that you've lived in.

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Scott Coble: Well, I appreciate it, you know, Jesse, just growing up, you know. Look, my dad died when I was 3 years old, and

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Scott Coble: I I got to reap the benefits of a lot of other people's volunteerism.

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Scott Coble: As a as a boy people took me in I would have never done some things, hadn't. I would have never gone on a camping trip. You know. I didn't have a father to take me on a camping trip at the time, and so you know. So I benefited. And so the way I looked at it

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Scott Coble: is, you know, one of my responsibilities in my community was to find ways to give back. I was really fortunate to work with Wells, Fargo, and Wells Fargo's commitment to communities. You know the the Springfield

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Scott Coble: historic Springfield Community Center. It.

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Scott Coble: It started out as about 15,000 square feet on the second floor of a building that looked like people had just gotten up 30 years ago and left their desk, and you know.

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Scott Coble: and you know there were roaches on the floor and all kinds of just stuff, and we got into it. And we started talking to partners in the community around, what do you need? And at the time that that was developed there was about a 33% failure rate among nonprofits as far as just going out of business.

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Jesse Stakes: Yes.

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Scott Coble: It was in that 2,008, 2,009 time period. And so we you know what what was. 1st and foremost is they didn't have square footage.

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Scott Coble: So what we did was we worked to come up with an idea. We put it out for bid to say who would be a good nonprofit partner, because what we want to do is be an incubator.

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Jesse Stakes: Right.

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Scott Coble: And the Urban League has been a great partner there. So what we showed is that a nonprofit can come in and partner with other nonprofits for good to do good things, and the last number I saw was well, over 75,000 people have been served

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Scott Coble: in that center, and I'm sure I'm way under on that now. So it was good, you know. Operation, new hope there in Jackson. I was on the board for 6 years. Great

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Scott Coble: hated to leave that board, but I was moving away, and I thought it was the best thing for the organization, and you know they take people who yep, they made a mistake in life. They got caught up in the justice system.

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Scott Coble: and really what it does, though is it helps bring them out and give them a chance, so that they don't find themselves back in the justice system later. And that's not only just with a job, with clothing, a stipend on finding somewhere to live. But it's also emotional counseling.

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Scott Coble: And the thing that really impressed me is the dads that go into that process

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Scott Coble: when they're through and they get a job.

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Scott Coble: The occurrences of them paying child support when they've got, you know, kids in the family that have been impacted. It triples okay.

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Jesse Stakes: Wow!

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Scott Coble: It triples. And so it really is about people that want to do the right thing. They want to do good. But they just need a helping hand. So I was proud to be a part of. And the coolest thing about, you know Florida is, you know, Floridians typically get their arm, put their arms around their community. They give folks a head up, you know, a helping hand up. They can be tough, but but also fair is what I've.

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Jesse Stakes: Yes.

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Scott Coble: And so I just always enjoyed working on things that reminded me of the help that I got

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Scott Coble: when I was that kid in a little town in North Carolina.

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Jesse Stakes: And I think that's fantastic, and not to bring this. You know too much about the whole operation. New hope here in Jacksonville. But you know, one of the things that you said early in our conversation is giving. You know you were looking for purpose for yourself, and it's and and I think that that's 1 of the things that they give people when they come out of a bad situation is they give them. They help them find purpose in their community. My wife's organization vision is priceless, works with them as far as helping people get

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Jesse Stakes: optometry and ophthalmic appointments in case, because sometimes, when people have a rough upbringing and they get involved in the system, they don't realize what physical limitations they have, and sometimes things like something as simple as never having an eye appointment in your life to realize that you can't read the board in front of you when you were in school.

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Jesse Stakes: End up sending you down a very bad path. So it's that organization recognizes all of those things, and they make sure that they're checking all those boxes to give people the best shot that they have to be successful coming out of a bad situation within their life. But then, also saying, Okay, we're going to reintegrate into society. And what do you need to do so? So I think those things are fantastic, and it's fantastic that you've been a part of it.

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Jesse Stakes: you know with this new stage in your life. Is there anything that you'd like to talk about? Things that ways that you're giving back now that that also kind of, you know, kind of help, like with what you're doing. You know how it, how it involves your community. Now.

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Scott Coble: Well, the the big thing I'm doing now is working in local high schools.

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Scott Coble: you know, I'm working with a yes Surrey program. That is a youth entrepreneur program. And the cool thing about it is, you know, because the I mentioned 2 young ladies that I worked with, they didn't win, but they're freshmen. And what happened was, they grew up

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Scott Coble: yeah. And like clockwork, I went every week. And what what made me go there every week was, I was going to get a charge out of what I saw them, learning how I saw them growing, and just the progress, and being able to brag on them at the end of it. So I enjoy working with youth.

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Scott Coble: I really do. We're right in the heart of downtown where we live. So we work with the downtown area here, people here. And so you know. I'll get more and more involved in my new environment here. It's great to be back, and of course I work with my local church as well. So it's

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Scott Coble: good to be back good to be in a new but old community one.

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Scott Coble: Yes, familiar, but it's changed. Lives gone for 42 years.

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Jesse Stakes: Yes, so I'll give you one more testimonial before we wrap this thing up. You actually inspired me to become involved with junior achievement. When we worked together at Wells, Fargo and I had done a semester where I was teaching a high school class.

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Jesse Stakes: Basically, you know, financial literacy or financial management. And it was funny because I was a little younger at the time. And I thought, these kids aren't hearing a word I'm saying. And I sat there for a whole semester, basically, once a week, given like teaching them about, you know, financial literacy and financial management. And then I was like the last. I remember telling my wife at the time I said I said these kids could care less whether I'm in there or not, and the last class that I that I was in there? I just opened it up. And I said, Okay, what questions do you have for me?

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Jesse Stakes: And then I said, those kids for the next 30 min. 45 min, repeated everything I had said back to them for the last for the last semester, and I was like, Oh, my God, I was like, you really do have an impact. And it was just so eye opening to me because I was like, I was like, you're not sitting in their shoes. You don't know how much of an impact you have, and you know and I would say the same for you and I, and I think for this for what you're doing now.

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Jesse Stakes: you know you don't realize, you know, what what ripples that the rock that you threw into people's lives. How did that affect them? And I would say that you've had a tremendous effect on me and a tremendous effect on my career, even if you don't think about it, or if you don't realize it, you have, and it's something that I recognize that I'd be remiss if I didn't have the opportunity to share that with you right now.

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Scott Coble: I appreciate that, Jesse. I really do. And you had a lot to do with that, too.

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Jesse Stakes: Well, I appreciate you saying it, but but this is about you, my friend.

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Jesse Stakes: So if people have heard this, and if people are interested like you said just in having a conversation, seeing if it's right for them, seeing if it's something that you know can take them from that. You know they're doing things well, but they're but they know they can do better if they are, you know they're kind of stuck at a certain plateau, but they're like, how can I get to that next level with my business? Or how can I get to that next level with my career? What's the absolute, best way for them to get a hold of you and for them to schedule that with you.

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Scott Coble: It's probably by email at S. Coble, COBL. E.

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Scott Coble: At Focal pointcoaching.com.

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Jesse Stakes: Okay.

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Scott Coble: That's the best way to do it and get a hold of me, and what I'll do is we'll line up a time to talk. I'll share some things like my website and things like that. And we'll have a we'll have a good discussion. I talked with somebody last week, and it's not gonna be the right thing for him

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Scott Coble: to to work with me necessarily, because his need was a little bit different. But we're having another conversation, because that's what he needs, you know, and so we'll we'll try to make it work with everybody, or point you in the right direction.

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Jesse Stakes: I think that's fantastic. We'll make sure that we have a link at the at the bottom of this. Everywhere. We post it as well that way. People can just go ahead and click on it, and if you want to, if you want to schedule something with Scott, please do so, Scott, thank you so much for joining me for this. I think this has been fantastic. I'm sure that you know as as time goes on. If there's other things that you would like to talk about or share with the audience. You have an open invitation anytime you'd like to join the show.

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Scott Coble: I appreciate that it's been a pleasure.

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Jesse Stakes: Absolutely. We'll catch you down the road.

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Scott Coble: Alright! Thanks.