Aaron welcomes the listeners to another exciting episode of the Growing Our Future podcast. He emphasizes the importance of guests who share their insights and experiences, highlighting the significance of planting the right seeds in agriculture for a prosperous future.
James Huang, President of eXp Commercial, a publicly traded company. James shares his journey, from his childhood in New York City to his role as a commercial real estate leader. He emphasizes the importance of leadership, volunteer work, and building meaningful relationships in his career.
James emphasizes that opportunities are boundless for the younger generation. He encourages students and educators to stay updated with evolving technologies and social media platforms. James highlights the importance of creativity, bravery, and adapting to change in identifying new opportunities. He emphasizes that doors may close, but new, exciting opportunities are always emerging in various fields.
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Aaron welcomes the listeners to another exciting episode of the Growing Our Future podcast. He emphasizes the importance of guests who share their insights and experiences, highlighting the significance of planting the right seeds in agriculture for a prosperous future.
James Huang, President of eXp Commercial, a publicly traded company. James shares his journey, from his childhood in New York City to his role as a commercial real estate leader. He emphasizes the importance of leadership, volunteer work, and building meaningful relationships in his career.
James emphasizes that opportunities are boundless for the younger generation. He encourages students and educators to stay updated with evolving technologies and social media platforms. James highlights the importance of creativity, bravery, and adapting to change in identifying new opportunities. He emphasizes that doors may close, but new, exciting opportunities are always emerging in various fields.
Story Notes:
Learn More at:
Welcome to the Growing Our Future podcast. In this show, the Texas FFA Foundation will take on a journey of exploration into agricultural science, education, leadership development and insights from subject matter experts and sponsors who provide the fuel to make dreams come true. Here is your host, Erin Alejandro.
Speaker 2:Well, good morning, good afternoon or good evening, or whenever you may be tuning in to the Growing Our Future podcast, I tell you what. We're just glad you're here, matter of fact, we're glad we're here. It's always fun. It is always fun to bring guests on that are willing to share their insights, their experiences, their profession and just pour into us seeds of greatness. The one thing that we say all the time is that if agriculture's taught us anything, it's taught us that if you want to know what the future is, grow it. Well, to grow it, you've got to plant the right seeds. That's why I guess like today are so important. Today we are honored to have Jim. Jim, I'm going to let you because it's like Alejandro, I'm going to let you introduce yourself to our audience. First and last name, and then you and I are going to get started talking about what you do at EXP and how you and I kind of got connected in this virtual world and discussions about agriculture, food and the future Go ahead.
Speaker 3:Erin, thank you so much. Thank you for all you do for FFA and all the communities, everything it is important. Just to introduce myself, jim Wong, exp, commercial president. We are a publicly traded company. I'm really excited to run the commercial part of the company, growing the brokers but putting the services and really helping change our community.
Speaker 3:With Erin and I, we were on a podcast through a mutual friend, shagat Sharad and Mission Matters. What we were talking about was when you talked about land. I always say commercial real estate starts with the land. People don't think it's not just the big urban cities, but where is land? Land is the path to progress. Land is where we eat the food. Land is where it all starts by using land. What really sparked me, erin, because when I heard that I'm like boy, I got to talk to you because we know how land, land is changing we keep talking about, but also our food going through with COVID prior to COVID, covid with the supply chain Now, with the hyper-interest, the inflation going on, with that price of food going up. It all starts with land. I knew the discussion with you talking about land and your connection because FFA I think you educated him on this is 80% controlled by FFA members, because that's how much land your members are associated and connected with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we got a great footprint nationwide. It's a great organization. It's both in the classroom and out in the hands-on. That's what I love about what we do. When we talk to people about it, I always say it's kind of like going to college, because we go to lecture in the morning, we go to lab in the afternoon, we might learn something about plant science, animal science, environmental science, and then we leave that classroom and our kids go out and actually practice that through competitive events, through supervised projects. Anyway, let's dive into that here in a second. I start every podcast off with the same question and you get the same question as everybody else Jim, what are you grateful for today?
Speaker 3:You know what? Very good question. I am always grateful. I learned you got to be grateful, and gratefulness I always say is I'm here in America and, with my family and friends, I've learned to be very simple about life, because that's what we have. We have a roof over our head, we can eat food and with a lot of good friends and family. That is what I'm grateful for, and I'm grateful for every day waking up, every day to give it my all. And to Aaron, with you catching up, I think we spent so much time yesterday, even today, just talking because I'm grateful for that. Friendships, relationships, I mean these don't cost a lot, but they are the most blessed things that we can have in life is our family and friends.
Speaker 2:I couldn't agree with you more. I tell you family, my friends, my faith, my freedoms, my liberties, that I get to, I get to enjoy all of those things under. It doesn't take you long. I mean, that's the thing I tell the kids all the time. Turn the news down a little bit, turn the social media down just a little bit, because if you're not careful it can kind of wear on you and you might just miss just how fortunate we really are, how much we really have, how much choice and liberty that we really have.
Speaker 2:And I think the other thing I think too, jim, is that when you, when you're grateful, you're more energetic, you're more hopeful. People that are grateful tend to be looking forward, because when you're hopeful, you're looking forward, you're not looking backwards. And what do they say? You're vibe attracts your tribe. So you know, next thing, you know you find yourself hanging around people that are enthusiastic, they have a passion about life and whatever their profession or discipline may be. And anyway, I think that's just kind of neat. Every time I see Jim, by the way, y'all this, this, what you're seeing on the screen, this is what he always looks like. He's always smiling, he's always bubbly, he's always looking and asking how can I help, how can I serve, what can we do? And anyway, I look forward to this discussion.
Speaker 3:And thank you for that. You know, and the thing is, we go through life. Life is not simple. There's always ups and downs. If you always especially now have a family, have a community to get you real support, not sometimes the fake support. We always talk about social media and I know that's a thing. You know, not the likes, but the real people in your life, the ones that could be happy for your good news but sad and supportive and there for you for the bad news, that means more than anything and it is. Life is simple If we allow it to be. Life could be full of happiness where we don't compare and we just think joy, gratefulness, happiness. It really does happen.
Speaker 3:And, aaron, I don't learn the hard way to. I had it all lost at all, but it was material. I didn't lose anything. I didn't lose my friends, I didn't lose my family. All I lost was some material items. But when I reset my mind right and that's the biggest thing, it's in your mind of happiness, gratefulness, groundedness, you know, and just feeling that you are good enough, you have enough, oh boy, and you just put in a good day's work, and I would say farmers put in the best days, work Well, I heard a lot of good stories from friends that you know came from the ranches or farms and came to school and I got to hear some great stories. But I think if we just take those simple items, we could be so much freer and happier. Like you said, aaron, just so many good things. If you free your mind and just don't buy into some of the things out there, your life could be a lot happier.
Speaker 2:Well, you're a great guest because you know how to transition us on our topics here. That was beautiful, because that was perfect. Matter of fact, I don't know if you're a fan of Ted Lasso. I love Ted Lasso but I can tell you that if they're ever looking for a replacement, they need to call James Jim here, because I think Jim would make a great replacement for Ted Lasso. He's just got that that that simple-ness of energy and perspective.
Speaker 2:Ok, Jim, you talked about EXP publicly traded company. It is. It is a big company, OK. And then those of us who are aware of the footprint and the fact that you're on the commercial side and that you're the leader on the commercial side. By the way, I believe a fountain can only rise as high as its head. So I believe that leadership roles are important because they set the tone of the culture of an organization, the direction, the goals, all that. And I just want you to know how much we appreciate you taking time to join us to share some of that. I'm willing to bet that you did not just fall into that seat. I'm willing to bet that there was a story there that got you to that chair, If you would, because we've got an audience that's that may have never heard of EXP. They may have never heard your name, Jim. Take us back. Tell us a little bit about your life journey and how you ended up as the head of the EXP commercial.
Speaker 3:You know, and that's very interesting because we all think we don't make an impact, no matter what we do. I could remember back in preschool. I remember I was that honorary kid causing trouble and there was a picture of me when the kids were all taking a photo that I was having a group of kids around me and I was causing trouble. So I was yes, I was one of those kids, but I saw that I was leading, I was inspiring, I was being funny to all the other kids around me. And then I just took that and grew through the process of always saying I'll do it, I'm volunteering, let me help. And from that you learn skill sets. You learn relationship people right, they say the EQ friendships, right, how to speak to people, how to encourage people. And you keep doing that when you're young and elementary. And then you start running for, let's say, elected positions, where you're running whether for student council or you're trying to be the captain of the football team or some other position, right. But these are all leadership skills. And it's so funny what we don't think until we get this formal title in this big company. We're leading. No, we're always leading, we're always showing what we can do and we're building. Because when you say when did it start, it started. And I remember very young and each part kept on building. And then to volunteering right, because we always say we do our day job.
Speaker 3:But volunteering, giving back, serving the community, finding your, why, your passion was so important. And I love giving back to kids. I was in scouting, helping out with scouting. I love early education, teaching kids literacy. I also love, you know, when it came to real estate, anything, real estate, home ownership I always say the American dream. We need to own a home or run our own business. We all want to prosper. It is important. And so volunteering, giving more skill sets.
Speaker 3:And, aaron, this is the fun thing where everyone says overnight success or overnight leader, we've been building through our lives, and I think military especially, you know they've been building character, athletes, character, commitments over long periods of time and then one day you get recognized. So, aaron, you see the journey has started for me now that I look back in retrospect, very early on until I got noticed. But we all are leaders building and our character shines and shows how do we lead, how do we give, are we doing it just for us? Are we doing it for others.
Speaker 3:And if we don't worry about just what do I get me and we get about who else can get it Eventually, as long as you're grounded and happy, oh boy, it does come back and you'll find out by not even getting what you think you should have got. You're getting so much more and other things and joy and happiness and friendships. So to me that's kind of how the journey always starts early. We just don't recognize it until one day we're noticed with some type of formal title or news announcement or acknowledgement. But we're all leaders.
Speaker 2:Wow, wow, yeah, what is it? The great Zig Ziglar always said if you help enough other people, get what they want, you'll get what you want, and it's amazing that, over a career of service like that to others and being an encourager, and even somebody that can make somebody laugh on occasion, isn't it amazing, though, that people are drawn to that? And so tell us a little bit more. Where did you grow up and go to school, and kind of you talked about some business startups and give us a little bit of that background.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I was born in New York City, canada and Queens. My dad, after a while he moved. He worked for a large construction development firm, bechtel, and then he removed us to the Bay Area. So that's kind of where I grew up until high school or college where I went to UCLA, go Bruins, and so when we go there. Then I went to Wall Street in New York City being a finance guy learning about finance and building it, and then I said I got lucky, right, we never know what we wanna do a lot of times when we grow up.
Speaker 3:But then coming into finance, learning about it, coming back to Southern California where my roots were at, from school, I started into my commercial real estate field where I worked under a large syndicator in the country, probably the largest one, learned under the CEO, so I had good visibility and again I said whatever the CEO wanted me to do I did and I learned right, even though you may think sometimes picking up the laundry or the dry cleaning, I did that, but I was so close, finding time and asking for time, I kept on learning. Two I first then saw that when we were analyzing and looking for real estate property, there was this large national commercial real estate company that I joined and then, by just cold calling and building relationships, I found opportunities to really grow my business and step out, learning by doing brokerage to a point where I was a principal. Then I started my first firm where we were doing about 2 billion in sales. We had 180 commercial brokers. We were boutique, regional, but we kept on growing.
Speaker 3:But I'll tell you this, aaron, this is what helped me. It freed me to give back, because once you go through the startup phase to the company, that's just producing cash, right. You freed yourself. When you free yourself, what else do you do with your time? So that's when I started volunteering, giving back, helping out, working for politicians, learning and getting to know people, because I didn't have to work anymore. But this is the big set 2009, kind of like now. I had it all. I lost it all.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 3:Great learning experience, because losing it all and not going to the pit of despair or the circle of despair made me who I am.
Speaker 2:Was this during the housing bubble and the correction.
Speaker 3:Yes, many people had a very hard time right when it was the debt crisis. There was just too much free money going out around that I learned the hard way a lot of times. And learning the hard way but not going into despair, not giving up, not blaming, is. I did look in the mirror and say who am I, what do I wanna be? And then I went even more about gratitude, gratefulness. I mean, I was always a happy guy, but then I realized to set my compass, you know, build my grounding, to always just be this way.
Speaker 3:Titles don't affect me. If I make it, don't make it, it doesn't affect me. I like good people and if there's people I don't wanna be around, I just kind of distance myself, I don't say anything. I don't like to gossip, I don't like to bad mouth. It's not necessary. If anything, you give them that time. Why would you even wanna talk about them? You talk about the good stuff and you'll see that will attract and just let the bad be the bad. But playing the long game, it does help.
Speaker 3:And then Aaron had just kept on building, you know, and by being positive, by taking the high road it's not instant gratification opportunities People started reaching out calling me. You wanna be on this board? Do you wanna have this position? Do you wanna volunteer for this? And through these relationships, opportunity just kept on coming about and that's what it kept growing. But there's more to it. Right, like what you and I are doing and many others is giving back. How can we make a little small footprint in our local communities? So anytime I can give back, help out, try to make a difference. Whether it's small, big or small, it doesn't matter. By just changing somebody's life. To make a difference is all that matters, and I think just having that gratitude and being very happy, freeing your mind, it really does help and anyone could be free at any time. You just have to choose to be free.
Speaker 2:Okay, we can stop there Now.
Speaker 2:You said it all. That's great. You said some things that reminded me of one of our donors. We have a donor. He's the largest individual donor in the history of the FFA. He's given over $27 million to kids in 4-H in the FFA. He has no college education. He was an alcoholic. He lost everything. They made a movie about him, by the way. That stars Val Kilmer and Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite.
Speaker 2:Anyway, his name is Dick Walrath and Dick said he goes, aaron, he goes. I found out that I can't out give God and he told me that this is the mentoring that he gives me that nobody else sees, by the way, he told me. He said, alejandro, he goes every day of your life, he goes. I want you to do two nice things for somebody, and if anybody finds out about either one of those, that one didn't count and he said that every time that his business was in trouble, he tried to give more. And he said it's amazing how he was always fortunate on the other side of that, that when he quit focusing on his own self and his own woes and started saying, well, how can I serve, how can I help somebody else?
Speaker 2:And you know I could probably write a book at some of the stories that he's told me over the years, but it's those little takeaways. You know that I'm talking to a man named Dick Walrath. I'm talking to a guy here from East to West Coast, wal-mart, wall Street, and guess what? The elements are the same those secrets of success, students, teachers, if we're listening, they're the same. It's plant those seeds of greatness. And guess what? I like what Jim just said.
Speaker 2:I don't know about that I had a lady one time tell me. She said, man, I just wish the storms of life would leave me alone. And I told her. I said I can take you to a place that never rains. I can take you to a place where you'll never see a storm. She said, really. I said, yeah, it's called a desert and nothing grows. But she showed me somebody that's had a little pain, a little setback, and that was willing to be coachable out of that situation, somebody with the right attitude. And I'll show you somebody like this man right here that's going to grow, they're going to do great things and then, because of that, they're going to pour that into others, they're going to pour it into their business, they're going to pour it into their volunteer work, into their community, into their homes. So I think you probably said more, jim, than you realize, not just about success in business, but success in life.
Speaker 3:You know, and that's so important, success in your life, the job is the job. You've got to pay the bills. We know it's life, but life, you said, without the challenges, tribulations. You don't know about yourself. You find yourself through the journey and you find yourself of what you can do more. And God never gives you a task that you cannot achieve or accomplish. And I believe if you do pray on it and really ask for guidance, you're never going to give a task or a challenge you can't overcome. And that's what is to me. It's so important and I am grateful. Of course, during the time it sucks, but afterwards I'm so grateful for going through the experience, for really not giving up and reaching out, and I also say, being vulnerable to true friends, sharing your pain, sharing your story, because that's all. Sometimes you need to get that extra. You know momentum to move you to the next day. Right. And people said how do you survive? And I said, day by day, day by day, and one day it's over and you learned a lot from it.
Speaker 2:So well, that's good that. Dick Walratt, that's another thing that you know. Obviously he's been, you know, in AA now for over, I want to say, 50 years now, but he talks about that. He said it's day to day. You know, it's a present. It's a present, that's why it's called a present, because it's day to day. Anyway, alright, let's jump in here a little bit and talk about kind of some parallels between the work that you do and the work that we do.
Speaker 2:I think one of the things that I picked up on early, early on in some of our dialogues is that you and I both, as we began to talk, we were focused on the future. And when you focus on the future, you know that there is it's not going to be happenstance. In the words of Tom Ziegler everybody's leaving a legacy. You're either going to leave it by design or by default. So if we're going to leave it by design, then we have to be aware. You know I had a guest on one time.
Speaker 2:He said Aaron, you got kids got to be good listeners. He goes. Good listening means also you're paying attention with your eyes too. So you got to be able to not only listen but be able to look, look around, look forward, spot trends, and one of the trends that we know is that land is going to be precious. One of the trends that we know is natural resource is going to be precious. One of the trends that we know is food food security, you know food sustainability.
Speaker 2:All of these things are important and I think what I've appreciated early on about your engagement is, I would say, that you don't come from a typical agricultural farming background. But the reason I wanted this man on as a guest of this show is to show our listeners, Just because they're not in our world, they're paying attention to, they're paying attention to what's going on in the world when it comes to food, food sustainability, food security. But I think, when we can bring those two worlds together, I think there's a lot of opportunity here, Jim, for our kids to maybe find careers that they might not have known existed, For folks in your business to learn about. You know that you got these young people over here that are a great source of human capital, that are coming up looking for jobs. I mean, I see a lot of collaborative opportunity here, just by having a dialogue and understanding that we're both interested in, focused on the future.
Speaker 3:Aaron, you know the world is changing right. We can't deny how technology has changed our life the land, controlling the land, helping the food, because, as we all see, you know, like an A doubled in price or tripled or you know all these numbers. Sometimes we were talking earlier that you know certain foods weren't available anymore because of supply chain. But this could be something new with the agricultural building and developing, with real estate and commercial. Real estate is how do we bring food and production locally, how do we involve it into what we develop with renewable, with food sustainability? How else can we build smart cities or things around where we need and also where we do it from the farms? Right, there is this bigger collaboration.
Speaker 3:I think that, like technology, it's been opened up and this younger generation is, I'll tell you, they're different, but they're faster and smarter. They get their news, how they digest. It is to understand how they think, how they work. You know, and we were talking about how do they play, how do they connect, is very different than how we connected and how we would like to do it, but it's faster and it's just different. Right, and if we can teach and put both sides, like you said, the FFA, the farm world into, let's say, the real estate, or outside, not thinking about it. We aren't thinking about it because we see the price of our food. We see the price of what's going on.
Speaker 3:We hear this about supply chain. You know this affects us famine, food, it matters and, with this, how we can put this together. I do believe, like this new technology where I was talking about AI, chat, gvt, but using food within the local communities as a consultant expert, putting this together is going to be the future, because you were talking about Singapore, right, growing all this food in a major metropolitan area on a skyscraper. I do see this bridge coming together in a very impactful way that the kids that are growing up now could use their knowledge and their technology savvy, teaching people how to develop and grow and build, you know, new, smart kind of cities with food, renewable, everything we need right as we're coming into a new way of living, working right and everything else we do. But I do see these two worlds are definitely coming together now.
Speaker 2:So for our audience that's listening, they'll be predominantly students and educators. Obviously, we have a lot of sponsors that are engaged in what we do as well. From your seat, do you see opportunities for kids out there? Are they going to be graduating into a world of opportunity or are they graduating into a world of doom?
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, my thing is there's always opportunity if you find it, if you're looking for it, if you're pivoting right and making changes, because some of the old studies, old ways, are not always relevant right as things are changing. So and I do know with social media because I try to stay up with everything If you're learning and digesting this content, but being creative right or even being brave to create something new that's not been done yet, is these opportunities. And that's the crazy thing that's going on so quickly. Opportunities. Change is happening so quick. Now the younger generation are faster. It's just a different way they communicate, they work, they digest material, they collaborate.
Speaker 3:Cooperate is through a technology social mean, but by plugging them in, there is new opportunity. As one door closes, another one opens. Right, and it doesn't have to be a zero sum game. It could be massive opportunity, like we've seen with technology. Now these are billion and trillion dollar companies that were even unheard of 20 years ago. So right now there is a bountiful of opportunities.
Speaker 3:Looking for how we use land, what we do with the land, how do we connect everyone together, how do we build like there could be architects, finance people you know in, people that are studying about how we can make something different.
Speaker 3:But the opportunity is boundless.
Speaker 3:It's just if you're looking at what is or what was, may not be where you look, but what you can do with it, to adopt, to change it, to add it to the younger and new generation, of what you can build with it, how you can change with it.
Speaker 3:I mean, that's a thing every generation really needs to know and they always blame the generation, either before or after. So that's just right through the end of time, it's always the same blaming our parents. All the kids are this way, but there's no right or wrong right, but it's always evolution of change and adapting and knowing that, how can we make things faster, better, more efficient? But that's why I see the young generation, the kids now. They're in really exciting times. As long as you don't give up, you keep open-minded, you keep learning, you keep digesting, you keep connecting, paying your dues right. I do believe that, and what you do it boy, there's going to be opportunities that we're going to see in the next couple of decades and generations that it's going to blow our mind with what new is going to be coming out.
Speaker 2:Wow, you said something and so I do a lot of presentations, I give a lot of speeches and one of the slides in my slide deck is a slide deck and it says people don't change. And I ask the audience do you agree or disagree? And I will tell you nine times out of 10, everybody says well, of course people change. I said nope, it's a trick question. I said people don't change and they never have. I said you can go all the way back to the biblical times and read the Bible.
Speaker 2:There were pessimists and optimists in 1920. There were pessimists and optimists and here we are in 2023 and there's people that think America's going to hell in a hand basket. And there, some kids sitting there going. I think the greatest days are ahead. People don't change. Individuals can change, but people don't change.
Speaker 2:And then the next slide I put up is a slide of kids on their phone and it says that technology is making our kids anti-social. And you look around the audience it's like a bunch of bobbleheads. Everybody's going, that's right. And I said you really think this is new technology? You really think this is new? And then I show them a picture of an old train station and old train where all the people are huddled into their newspapers, and I bet somebody thought America was going downhill when everybody had their nose in the newspaper. That was a tool then. A phone is a tool today. Could that newspaper be used for bad? Yeah, misinformation, yeah. Could it sell phone and technology and social media? Yeah, guess what? It's exactly what you said and that is the way we look at it, it's the way we process it, it's the way that we're discerning about it, and I want to ask you something about this. I'll just give you an example. Do you happen to know how many high schools are in the state of Texas?
Speaker 3:Oh, texas is big right, so what 9,000?
Speaker 2:So in the state of Texas, there's a little over 3,000 high schools. Okay, now think about this. How many of those high schools are going to have a graduating class this year? Everyone of them, I hope. Okay, right, think about that. Every one of those kids are going to be out. They're going to be looking for a job, scholarship or an opportunity. So the question is what's your competitive edge? What separates you from the competition?
Speaker 3:I would just say this it's really embracing and connecting with technology, because what we're doing is reaching out to them. A lot of firms and organization. You need to go find them. What I know is, where are they living? In social media and other places, to show them the opportunities to connect through tech. But also building infrastructure.
Speaker 3:And I was saying, using tech, connecting to expert, being an influencer, plugging in, will create these opportunity, jobs. And that's the thing is just putting people together, putting the puzzle pieces together of anything you do. You start a new business, raising capital, finding the opportunity, getting operational expertise, right these are all simple things that people know. But how do you connect? And technology could put it all together much quicker, much faster, much more efficient, so that young student could come out saying I have an idea where I want to plug in and now through tech, you can plug in anywhere, everywhere, because before you had to go into that office, go to New York City, go to LA, go to San Francisco, go to Dallas, houston, but now you literally can use tech, build up all these connections through social media, through LinkedIn, through all of these, and get ready to be moving, getting mentors, getting people to help you set anything and everything before you even get started. But you got to take and be proactive to pay your dues.
Speaker 3:But, eric, what I'm doing is always studying, always being a student of learning. I never stop. I think if you don't learn and grow, you're dying, you're going backwards. So I'm always learning from people, understanding what people are doing, to bring it together and go ah, I think this is what we can do, so building a platform to connect people and then one day somebody has an idea or somebody already is doing it, and then making sure, because of our efficient method, we can help anyone else because of the efficiency, so people can get started much quicker than when they use the can. And that is really what's going on. And I'm forcing people into certain locations, certain ways of thinking is to understand the new and younger generation, how they think and adapt, and that's what I'm doing right now and building the platform at EXP, being virtual, being in the metaverse, and this is proving, especially in this market change, working out very well.
Speaker 2:So you're right there, as an example of exactly what I was hoping would come out of this conversation. We can find a competitive edge and sometimes the simplest things and one of the things, jim, that I've done when I've gone across the United States, I do a lot of fairs and expos and I talk about social media, and there's a lot of gray hairs in those rooms and I just tell them I said listen, you may be retired, but your voice doesn't have to be. I said, if you're not on there somewhere, then you're noticeably absent. And to a young person, it gives you the chance to build your brand. It gives you a chance to make professional connections. It can be a great tool. It could also be your downfall, but if you'll use it as a tool and use it to be positive and to learn to do exactly what Jim just said, and that is, build networks to assimilate information, that could be your competitive edge when you graduate to be able to have a discussion with somebody that somebody else can't have because they weren't paying attention.
Speaker 2:That's right Is that fair, very fair.
Speaker 3:And start now. Right, but be intentional, put a plan together, because I think you don't want to haphazardly hope that it will happen. Right, hope is not a way to plan. But if you have a plan and you start building because I learned this when I saw other people building social media, I started building it and, thank God, I did it 15, 20 years ago. When I saw others do it, I said you know what the heck, I might as well start building it my database, my relationship and now, 15 years later, it's working. Because now I tapped into what I built 15 years ago and it doesn't cost by spending a little bit of time. And if you plan ahead, it's even better. But right now, with a younger generation, they're on it. They should start building, planning.
Speaker 3:But, like you said, aaron, it's a tool. It's for good and bad and, as we all know, when you put it out there, it's out there. So be careful what you put out there, be very methodical, be very respectful and put what you want out there, because a lot of times you can't take it back. So you know, just a, you're like a tool right, a word, words of the wise right. Just know that what you're out there, it's out there in the metaverse, in the world, in the internet.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. All right, let's kind of start kind of bringing this in for a landing. Let me ask you a question and, by the way, I agree with everything. Successful people know lots of people. If people know you, they will listen to you. If people trust you, they will do business with you. And that's what Zig said, and I think he's absolutely right. And I think when you create a Rolodex or a database or a ring of friends or associates, you can capitalize on opportunities quicker, you can solve problems quicker. So the quicker, as a young person, that you can begin to create that, the better off.
Speaker 2:Jim, I know you weren't able to come to our convention. We broke a record last year a little over 15,680 students and teachers for a week. We actually think we may break 17,000 this summer in Dallas. But we had a young man one time that told me. He said Mr Alejandro, when I used to come to the FFA convention, I'd go through the exhibit hall and my goal was to connect to collect pens. He said I would go around to all the vendors to collect pens. He goes. But then I found that foundation ambassador program and I quit collecting pens and I started collecting contacts. And when that young man got ready to apply for college. He had CEOs of major Texas corporations that wrote his letters of reference because of the relationships that he had developed as a sophomore and junior in high school. So it's exactly what you just said In your experience. Right now, we've got all these kids, all these teachers listening. What would be three leadership tips? If you could give them three leadership tips right now to be successful in life and in business, what would they be?
Speaker 3:You know very important. I would always say you need to be teachable, you need to be open-minded. I mean, maybe there's two, but I would say open-mindedness, because you never know what you don't know. Always be open to be curious and explore. Curiosity is very, very important. The other thing of leadership I always say get a mentor. You need mentors.
Speaker 3:I've had mentors, I still have mentors or advisors, and they serve me well for many ways and I serve them a lot of times. I had a gift to them. What can I do for you? How could I help you First before I earned their respect to then they turned it. What can I do for you now?
Speaker 3:Right by the beginning, I always wanted them, but I believe finding somebody you respect to help guide you, showing your worth to them so they can help you with the right path. So that, I would say, is important. And the last is always learning. You gotta be teachable.
Speaker 3:When people talk to you, you gotta be open-minded, don't shut them down. You always have to have a mentor and you gotta be always learning, always learning, always exploring, always reading, and don't always read with what's in your silo. Read everything with technology, with all these different websites and all these things you can use like U2MEU, this other one, prime Time or whatever. I'm just like digesting material left to right, just non-stop, because we don't retain everything we read from the book. But I make it consistent that I just keep doing it over and over and learning and talking to my mentors still to this day, right and just open and not shutting things down. But I think if people can take those simple things, I believe you could draw you eventually to the right path and then you'll see where you should go and you will grow into your purpose one day.
Speaker 2:Perfect segue right there. That was beautiful. Well, ladies and gentlemen, we're gonna wrap this episode of Growing Our Future. Jim, we can't say thank you enough for joining us today. You're an accomplished businessman. You have plenty to do both personally and professionally, but you took some time out of your schedule to pour into the future of this great country and maybe the people that'll actually feed this world. So I want you to know thank you for that.
Speaker 2:We have a couple of sayings around the ambassador room the kids that work for us each summer and one of them is when your values are clear, your choices are easy. When your values are clear, your choices are easy. And then, number two the essence of leadership is to plant trees under whose shade you may never sit, and your willingness to come on and share with us today hopefully planted some seeds of greatness in some kids that may become my grandkids' mentors, their doctors, their teachers. So that's why I appreciate what you did, both professionally and personally, because we never know how we affect the future by the words that we share. So, jim, thank you again For everybody that tuned in, thanks for joining us for the Growing Our Future podcast. Jim's not getting out of here without one last question. We always have one fun question, jim what's the best concert you've ever been to?
Speaker 3:Oh, I don't go to so many but I remember back in the 80s I went to a Depeche Mode concert so I liked the 80s music. So that was kind of the things I liked but I love aha. You know, from take on me you know it's kind of gotten trendy and stuff. But I remember the Depeche Mode concert I went, 80s stuff.
Speaker 2:Love it, love it. If you matter of fact, if you got into my playlist right now, probably 60% of my playlist is 80s I love it. There's a reason why it's called classic, by the way.
Speaker 3:So that's it. We never would have thought of the horrible fashion. Great music and now we're listening to classic music now.
Speaker 2:I love it. Love it All right. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us. Until we meet again. Remember, if you wanna know what the future is, grow it. Grow it means that we gotta plant those seeds in our lives and our businesses and our organizations and our family. We have to nurture them, we have to maintain them, we have to sometimes we gotta prune them, sometimes we gotta pull the weeds out, but if we'll do all those things, there will be a bountiful harvest of happiness, of resources, of success, and when you do that, then you're gonna be able to share with others, and that's where the greatest rewards come. So until we meet again, thank you for joining us for the Growing Our Future podcast, and until we meet again, go out there and do something great for somebody else. Thank you for being with us today ["Growing Our Future"].
Speaker 1:We hope you've enjoyed this episode of the Growing Our Future podcast. This show is sponsored by the Texas FFA Foundation, whose mission is to strengthen agricultural science education so students can develop their potential for personal growth, career success and leadership in a global marketplace. Learn more at mytexasffaorg.