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Growing Our Future
Growing Our Future
Ignite the Future ... With Heart
In this episode, James McLamb joins host Aaron Alejandro to discuss the impact of encouragement—both as a simple word and as a transformative action. James shares his journey from agriculture education to youth leadership development, emphasizing the power of mentorship, servant leadership, and personal growth.
From his early experiences in the FFA to founding Generation Youth, James highlights the role of mentorship, life skills, and leadership development in shaping young minds. Whether in the classroom, in mission work, or coaching the next generation of leaders, he believes in empowering others to unlock their full potential.
Story Notes:
• Exploring the importance of gratitude in leadership
• James McLamb shares his background in agriculture and education
• Discussing the role of Generation Youth in youth empowerment
• Importance of hands-on skills and community service for competitive edge
• Emphasizing leadership roles for personal and professional growth
• The urgent need for mentorship within today’s youth
Learn more at MyTexasFFA.org
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's your host, Aaron Alejandro.
Speaker 2:Well, good morning, good afternoon or good evening or whenever you may be tuning in to the Growing Our Future podcast. We're just honored that you're with us today and we appreciate you joining us. And, as always, we're really excited about today's guest. I just love bringing on subject matter experts, people that share their insights, experiences and they're just encouraging and willing to pour into others, and today is no different. Today we have James McLamb, generation Youth founder and executive team leader. James, thanks for joining us today, thank you, aaron.
Speaker 3:It's good to be with you, my friend. We've been friends a long time and I'm grateful for this opportunity to be able to share something with you today.
Speaker 2:Well, I appreciate you coming on. It's always fun, like you said, when you know people. But I love podcasts because it's an opportunity for me to shut up and listen to you and to say you know here, jane, you know, share all the good stuff, all the good conversations, all the things that we talk about, about what our passions are, and a lot of our passions lie around developing young people, and we're going to unpack some of that today.
Speaker 3:Well, I'm grateful to be here on you and I've told you this story before is you were influencing me before I even knew you, because as a young teacher in the early 90s, I was buying videos about how to teach parliamentary procedure and there were some young guy from Texas that was the host of those videos going through those things, videos going through those things. So I got to see a young Aaron Alejandro teach parliamentary procedure as I relayed that to my students in the early 90s.
Speaker 2:Well, you're awful kind and I can tell you. I can tell you one thing that hadn't changed. I know I've got a lot less hair, got a lot more pounds, but I can tell you that I don't mind arguing still, and that's the one thing. Parliamentary procedure gives you an edge when it comes to talking and discussing things. So thank you for sharing that with your kids. By the way, james, we start off this program every guest, every guest I've ever had on here we start off with the same question and that is James, what are you grateful for today?
Speaker 3:What I'm most grateful for today is that in just three days my family and I will be leaving for a much extended vacation in the mountains of North Carolina to be in a cabin. I've been monitoring the weather there. It's going to be very cool. We've got lots of relaxing enjoyment and I just am eager to get and and relax and spend time with most of the family. The oldest is is a teacher, an agriculture teacher herself, and her first year, so she'll be not with us the entire time. She'll catch the latter half of the the trip. But that's what I'm grateful for today is is I'm counting down the, not the days. We're down to counting down hours now.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. I couldn't agree with you more. By the way, you know, as you and I have discussed many times, if you turn on the news or you get to scrolling through social media, sometimes it's real easy to get a little negative and forget all that we have to be grateful for. And I think those moments of pause where you look around and say, wow, I got a family, wow, I got a family Not everybody can say I got a family, wow, I've got a good job that provides me a little liberty in a great country, that provides all these incredible natural resources and the capacity to get away and enjoy those moments together.
Speaker 2:You know, like I said, sometimes you just got to look around and realize how, how fortunate we are and how blessed we are. And I don't know about you, but I like to be around people that are grateful. I have found that people that are grateful have a lot more energy. They're more optimistic, they're always looking for something good, and I kind of like hanging out with people like that.
Speaker 3:I do too. I do as well, and I'll be grateful for every minute that we get to spend there. Probably the only thing I will be ungrateful for is having to pack up on the last day and come home, so there you go.
Speaker 2:There you go. All right, james McLam, here's what we're going to do. You've already said that we know each other, but not everybody knows you, and so I do, and I know your background a little bit. But for the listeners and viewers that may not be tuned into your podcast, they may not have read your book, they may not be aware of your pedigree, why don't you take a moment? Because I know you did not just fall into that seat that you're in. Something tells me there was a journey, there was some experiences, and there's something that brought you to this place in life and why you've chosen to do what you do right now empowering, encouraging and equipping young people. So take us through your life and take us through how you got to where you're at today.
Speaker 3:Well, like so many people and you can attest to this as well I'd wandered into an agriculture classroom in the ninth grade at South Johnston High School in North Carolina, not knowing what it was about really. Just went there because I grew up on a farm, specifically a nursery, and I knew I had to be a part of that in some way or another. So I, you know, wandered into there to find out what was going on. Well, that was just what I needed. It took a very shy person, someone who felt like they had a lot to offer but didn't know how to package it and how to give it to the world, and it gave me a vision for what could be in my life and who I could become. And so, like yourself, I had many opportunities for leadership in the FFA in North Carolina and to serve in capacity on the national level as well, and that led me then to go into agriculture education in college and to teach for almost a decade in North Carolina as an ag teacher, which really inspired me. It motivated me, I know. Every day I went home feeling so grateful for the opportunity to share in the lives of young people, but also I was grateful for what I was learning from them every day. I really felt like I learned more at the end of the day than the students who were in my class when my oldest daughter was born.
Speaker 3:I decided to go back to the family businesses the nursery operations and some other businesses and and take over those responsibilities so that my wife could then stay at home those responsibilities so that my wife could then stay at home and we could provide a family and a lifestyle that would enable us to be able to raise a family at home and provide for them and take advantage of some opportunities there at my hometown. But I never lost the passion for working with youth. I never lost that desire to impact future generations and really just pour into them and help empower them so that they could see their potential. And so it was channeled then into ministry work and missions work. Through our church and through some other opportunities. My wife and I did mission work with youth, creating ministry teams that led mission trips with youth in mind, serving at youth camps, speaking at youth camps, doing those types of things. But all that did was just kind of fuel the fire. You know, it didn't quench it, it just kind of fueled it to make me see that things could be bigger.
Speaker 2:That's good.
Speaker 3:And at that same time, I had a sales staff working under me at the nursery that I wanted to equip better. And so I went back to where I thought was the best sales training and also along with my values, and that was the Ziegler Corporation. I said, well, these folks know how to teach sales and their values, along with what I believe. Let me go back to them and get that material. So I started really going back and relearning all those things that I'd learned in high school and college and during teaching from Mr Ziegler, but now from a different perspective, from a sales perspective. During that process of reconnecting with them and finding out all the information, I discovered that they were starting a new program of legacy trainers where they were going to equip people who had a desire to impact others with Mr Ziegler's timeless principles Principles, you know, on the steps to success and building better relationships and goal setting. And I signed up. I was part of the first class. I wanted to be there, wow. And that week things started to fall into place. I began to see all these speaking and things that I'd done through ministry and the things that I've been teaching and all this business stuff that I had learned. This was kind of pulling it all together and I began to see a picture. I need to redirect my life to focusing on working with youth and equipping them and empowering them to be the best you can be. And this was in 2013 when this happened. And so, on that last day for those who are familiar with these types of training programs you have kind of a graduation ceremony where you get to stand up and get your certificate and your picture taken with the presenters and for us it was with the Ziegler family and share with them what you were going to do, and I stood there and said I want to take these concepts and I want to repackage them for youth. And, of course, there were a lot of folks that were clapping yeah, yeah, we need that. But I could tell that most of them were, yes, they were excited about it, but they weren't willing to step into it, and so I spent the next two years trying to figure out how to do this.
Speaker 3:And to begin with, aaron, it was really all kind of me focused. I was like I'll get up, I'll form my own team, we'll go around the world, we'll go around the nation, we'll do speaking, we'll do workshops, we'll do great, I'll build a team and we'll just be great, we'll do our own thing. And so I was doing some of that and I enjoyed it. I mean, I remember speaking at a youth conference and the youth afterwards come up and says oh, you're trending locally on Twitter. Now Everybody's tweeting you. And I was like that's cool.
Speaker 3:I didn't even know what that was at the time. I mean, this was around 13. I was like I'm trending on Twitter. I don't know what that means. But yeah, that was when those things were kind of cool to happen, but it really wasn't satisfying as much. And it wasn't until I realized that I would much rather train and equip young people to be the leaders and difference makers in their community and then be the mentor and the guidance for them and watch them grow. I'd rather do that. That's so much more fulfilling than really being the person out in front and on stage.
Speaker 3:I mean there's nothing wrong with that and I love the opportunities. I have to do that. I really do, and I would, and I relish them to this day. But coming off the stage, even with all the you know people being excited about what you said and you know, getting the, the emotional impact that you see in there, that's great. But what's much more satisfactory is getting a text from someone that says James, today I served at a camp and I saw this happen. Or, because of what you guys taught me, I'm now a teacher or I'm going into ministry. That, to me, is much more satisfying. That's that is. Is is much more satisfying.
Speaker 3:So that's how generation youth really started. I was equipping young people and then we moved on into equipping adults because we felt adults wanted to come to our training. I just wanted to deal with youth and college students at the time, but when COVID hit, it gave us a time to refocus and provide some new products and provide some new services. And now we equip people who want to be life coaches, that that want to help coach youth to be their best selves, that want to pour into youth, help youth identify where they are in life right now, help them make a plan for where you know, find out where they want to go and make a plan to get there, and so that's what we're doing now with our coaching program. So that's really a very quick synopsis of where we've been and where we hope to go.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, one of the things that we do here on this show is I really enjoy having guests that share their journey. And the reason why is because if you will listen to somebody's journey, you're going to pick up these little nuggets of gold, these little opportunities of wisdom. And I also believe that if you listen to somebody's journey and testimony, you also find their core values. And listening to you share your story and your journey, it's very evident of why you're doing what you're doing. You started as a young servant leader. You wanted to serve, you wanted to share, you wanted to help, you wanted to encourage. And you said you know what? I think I'm going to do that in the classroom. And you jumped into that classroom role. And what did you do? Trying to share, trying to empower, trying to encourage. And then, because you have the core value of if you want to be better, you've got to make yourself better, you started looking for tools. What can I do to improve myself? You know who can I hang around with, who can I be associated with? And you found that incredible brand of the big Z and you know you pulled into that and you leaned into that. And then you know success begets success and you know it was what Zig I love Zig said. He said you go as far as you can see and when you get there, you'll always be able to see further.
Speaker 2:And listen to what you just shared. You've shared with us serving others. You've shared with us setting goals. You've shared with us having a vision. By the way, I believe the Bible is very clear about that. It says where there is no vision, the people will perish. Good leaders always have a very profound vision and most leaders will have that vision, based on their core values, of what they want to do. And I think when you look at what you're doing today, that's very clear. So the reason I share that is for listeners who are listening to the show, especially young people. When you hear people share, listen to what they're really sharing Because, again, they're sharing their core values, they're sharing what they really believe in, they're sharing their passion and their vision and all of those things have brought you to this incredible generation youth program that you've developed.
Speaker 3:Well, I appreciate that. That means a lot coming from you and to be able to see you put for a reason for him to be prepared.
Speaker 2:But if he had never struck out, took the risk and put on the blue jacket, if he had never struck out and took the risk of getting up and saying the creed, or standing up and running for office or saying that I'm going to pursue something of faith, which isn't always the most popular thing to do. If you think about all the again, when I listen to somebody's testimony, there's so much gold there. Now I'm going to add risk to your background. I'm going to add vulnerability to your background and I want young people to understand that the people that they engage with, they didn't just happen into their jobs. They didn't just happen. There was something behind the scenes that drove all those things. And what I like that you have done is you've been very intentional about that. You've not always had all the answers, but you've been intentional about the direction that you're headed. Yeah, cleo Franklin, who's on my board? He's a friend of mine.
Speaker 3:He said, I would rather be directionally correct than precisely wrong.
Speaker 2:That's a great statement, Isn't that a great line I would rather be directionally correct than precisely wrong and your path to where you're at today and what you're doing. I think if the listeners are listening, there's a lot of opportunity that comes out of that. So thank you.
Speaker 3:Well, I've been very blessed to have those kind of opportunities and been blessed with the gift of being able to see opportunities in the midst of the things that I'm doing to see there's something I can do more. There's something that I can do more, which my wife accuses me of. It says you're never satisfied with the success that you're having with this organization. Now you're always thinking, you know, there's got to be more, there's got to be a bigger impact. And there's some truth to that. And it's not that I am dissatisfied or not grateful, it's just that there's an urgency I have. You know there's so many issues and obstacles and problems that youth are faced today. If we can just equip enough people, we can. We can change. We can really do that. We can. We can make a difference. We can make a difference.
Speaker 3:When we first started Generation Youth, it was called Generation Ziegler, because we were basing most of the content on Mr Ziegler and honestly, we thought it was really creative branding because then we could call it Gen Z, which was the same as the generation we were dealing with. So, as that generation is getting older, we've seen that we need to open up a little bit for that getting older. We've seen that we need to open up a little bit for that. But when we first started Generation Ziggler the person who was helping me start it is a good friend of ours, matt Rush used to say hey, we don't want much. When we would tell folks what we were doing, he said we don't want much, we just want to change the world. And that's really what I've kind of held to I don't want much, I just want to change the world.
Speaker 2:I'm writing that down, let me tell you something.
Speaker 2:Every interview, every time we do these, I'm always listening to the guests, because I don't ever come into these thinking I know what we're going to title it. I'm always listening because somewhere along the way they're going to give me something. I'll say that's the name of this podcast, that that's good couple things that you just said, by the way, and again I'm just unpacking what you've said. I hope everybody was listening. Every everybody that's on the call, everybody that's listening in today, everybody, whether you're watching the video or you're tuned into one of the platforms, everybody listening has a birthday everybody's got a birthday, everybody's got a birthday, and on that day that we came into this world, the doctor might have slapped us on the hind end and at that moment we took an inhale.
Speaker 2:I'm here and then one day, when our purpose is served, we're all going to exhale. Life is just a breath. Life starts with an inhale, it's going to end with an exhale, and if you look at life as just a breath and you want to serve others, it will create a sense of urgency, because you know, there's a James McLean, there's an Aaron Alejandro, there's somebody out there that needs to be encouraged, that needs to hear they've got the tools, they've got opportunity. There's somebody that has to have that sense of urgency to let me know that I need to act now. And I tell you my experience is this Unless you create a sense of urgency, most people don't move.
Speaker 3:That is very true.
Speaker 2:I think you're wise to talk about an inborn sense of urgency. The other thing that I like to tell people is every leader I know and you know them too, every leader that I know there's one important word in their life, and that word is next. It doesn't matter if it's a success, it doesn't matter if it's a failure. They just look at the mirror and say next. And maybe your wife needs to hear that that's really what you're talking about. Okay, I got this text today from this person, but guess what? I want to see what text I'm going to get tomorrow. Who's next, who's the next one? And if you don't look at it that way and you don't look at it with that, sense of urgency, you may miss it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the great thing is, our last coaching class that we did was the first one we did virtually. So I love stuff that's live. I really love in-person stuff. But I saw a need for a virtual one, so we did a virtual one back at the beginning of the month of May and we had three internationals that were on this call One person from Canada, one person who is in Guatemala and then one is in Nigeria.
Speaker 3:So for me next is what are we going to see in those three countries? How is that going to impact them, especially in Nigeria? Nigeria has the largest percentage of youth population in the world. 60% is under the age of 19. 60% of their population and by the end of this century they will be the second biggest country in the world behind India. Somebody's going to say what happened to China? Well, you need to look that up and figure it out. China is actually going to be down around number four by that time. They're dropping in population, but Nigeria is exploding. In Central America, guatemala has the highest youth population.
Speaker 3:I didn't know that until the person sent me a text the next week and said, hey, I just found this out. You know this is the opportunity we have, and they're going to be using this content and curriculum to work with missionary kids in Guatemala. So the children of missionaries that are coming there to spread the gospel in that country. She's going to be teaching them and coaching them in this content. So there's another ripple effect there, because not only is it going to impact that country, because she's going to be doing it with natives as well, but think about that when they go back home.
Speaker 3:Because she said they're from America, they're from South Korea, they're from all over the world that are pouring into there, not just the United States that are sending missionaries, or other countries as well, and so that international group is now going to hear this content go out. So that's exciting. That kind of gets it up. So that's the next for me. Where's this going to go? What's my text next year going to be about? Hey, they're teaching this stuff in places that I had no idea it could reach.
Speaker 2:Just make sure you get that little filter thing turned on, where it'll translate the language barrier. Get these texts and you'll know where it's from. I want to circle back real quick. I don't do this with every guest for obvious reasons, but with you I can do this. Let's circle back and let's talk a little bit about the fact that you did come from agricultural science and you came from FFA. What are some of the things that you learned in ag science and FFA maybe on the highest level that you kind of still employ today? That they're skill sets you learn, then, that you can still employ as adults that you believe help you get along in life.
Speaker 3:Well, the core things that we teach in Generation Youth is based on the problems that we have determined. Youth have the major categories that youth have based on our interviews, and that's dealing with self-image, building, effective relationships and goal setting. And goal setting and if I reflect back to my high school experience, I was blessed enough to have those kind, have someone in the form of an ag teacher and then through FFA leadership on different levels, pointing to me constantly on how to build and maintain a positive self-image, how to effectively build relationships with people and be the kind of person that people want to be around. And then how do you set goals? What's the importance of dreaming and setting goals?
Speaker 3:Aaron, those were things that a young James took for granted, because if I was learning them in the introduction or what was it called the fundamentals of agriculture class in ninth grade at South Johnson, then, to be sure, everybody in that school was learning, but they were not. The person in my junior English class sitting next to me did not know the power of dreams. They had not heard the things that I had heard. So, yes, I was learning these skills, these tangible skills, through horticulture classes and ag mechanics classes, those skills that were very employable things that I could have used immediately if I had felt called to go into those industries.
Speaker 3:It was more those personal development that they were learning those leadership skills. They were teaching me personal development that they were learning those leadership skills. They were teaching me the things that built my character as much as anything that I know of. I was fortunate enough to have four agriculture teachers and in my book in the back of it I dedicate part of it to them, and I know I would not have had the opportunities in life and have felt the call of service if I had not seen it modeled by them, and then not only modeled by them but instilled in them by me. I mean, they kept me on a path that they saw in me something that I knew was there, but they saw opportunities for me that I didn't know existed.
Speaker 2:Gotcha.
Speaker 3:You know, when you come along, I think every kid comes to that point now where they're dealing with their self-image and they're saying I think I can do something. And then they have to make that decision Do I go after it or do I just consider myself a failure and I'm not going to be able to do it? But everybody has that moment. With that I think I can do better. But a lot of them just don't have any support. They don't have any of this. You know those soft skills to help them move forward on that these teachers instilled in me so that when I was at that point I knew I could do better. They gave me the skills to do it and then showed me the place that I could do it and they opened a door to a world that you know agriculture. Education is the best kept secret. A lot of times in schools People just don't know what they're getting into when they walk into that class.
Speaker 2:Couldn't agree with you more. We could have a whole podcast on that one topic, but I do agree with you. I think there are some things that we learned through agricultural science and through FFA that are very unique compared to other classes in school. I simply put it like this you know, some people argue we need to get back to the basics reading, writing and arithmetic. Okay, the three R's, I get it. I always tell people yeah, let's get back to the three R's. Let's get back to respect responsibility and arithmetic. Okay, the three R's, I get it. I always tell people yeah, let's get back to the three R's. Let's get back to respect responsibility and resiliency. Let's get back to the basics. Let's learn to respect ourselves, our fellow man, be responsible for ourselves, our homes, our community, and learn to get up when you've been knocked down. Not everybody's going to get a trophy, I'm sorry. It's just the challenges that we face in the natural world require resiliency.
Speaker 2:But I think the thing that really separates ag science kids and FFA kids from everybody else is sports can teach teamwork, band can teach ensemble Speech and debate can teach communication skills. But there's something that you learn when some life depends on you that if, in the world of agriculture. You don't do your job, something dies. That creates an inborn trait that people will carry with them for the rest of their lives. They will carry that with them into everything that they do. So I do agree with you that ag, science education and FFA not only gives us some of the positive soft skills, but I would also argue that it gives you some internal core values that no other program can give you.
Speaker 3:I think, too, you know the part of what kind of instilled things into me. Do you remember the aims and purposes of the FFA that we had back in the? It used to be in the manual before they went in, with the mission statement and those types of things. We had the it was either 10 or 12 aims and purposes. There was a poster that was on the front of the classroom. That's that where my seat was. Every time I sat down and I looked up, it was right in front of me and those things talked about things like leadership and citizenship and character and scholarship and so everything.
Speaker 3:When I sit in that class, not only was I learning about, you know, cows, sows and plows, but I was learning about this and service was on there and thrift and patriotism and cooperation. I remember those things that were there and just seeing that constantly in front of me just was reinforcing things that I had grown up with, learning from my parents. But now I was seeing it in a package, in a different way that I was saying you know, this can be a part of my life as well. I wish that I had. There was a post. I wish I had that poster.
Speaker 2:Well, you're on to something you know. You and I both know this author. He's pretty pretty good author. He's written a couple of books and his dad wrote a bunch of books. But this guy named Tom Ziegler I've heard of him before Ziegler I think one of the things I like that Tom talks about are the 10 virtues, and those virtues are timeless, and I think that's what you're really getting at is the things that you were encouraged to pursue, the concepts that you were encouraged to empower and put in place in your life, are really they were virtues and, as a result, you now share those virtues in the role that you play with Generation Youth, and I think that's a cool thing.
Speaker 3:If I remember right, the back of my first manual that I had had had words on it that were related to those purposes leadership and citizenship and scholarship were on the back of that manual and I just remember it very, very distinctly about those types of things and it was kind of like, you know, it's kind of like what the teacher's really purpose of being there was. You know was to do that more than just teaching us farm business management skills but to teach us, you know, these character skills, these cooperation skills.
Speaker 2:So let's kind of stay with where we're at here for a second. So you're up in North Carolina, I'm here in Lone Star State. I don't know. Do you happen to know how many high schools are in North Carolina? I do not.
Speaker 3:I look it up while we're talking. No, you don't have to do that. I do not. I'll look it up while we're talking.
Speaker 2:No, you don't have to do that. I'm just sitting here thinking out loud. Texas has more than 3,000 high schools. Now think about that for a second 3,000 high schools. Every one of those high schools are going to have a graduating class. So 3,000 plus high schools are all going to be graduating people this year. The kids are going to get out. They're going to be looking for a job, a scholarship or an opportunity A job, a scholarship or an opportunity?
Speaker 2:My question to young people is always this what's your competitive edge? What separates you from your peers? What separates you from your colleagues? You have to have something. It could be something as simple as a simple, strong handshake and a yes or no sir. Yes, ma'am, no ma'am. It could be the way that you present yourself. It could be a handwritten thank you. Note. Little things like that could be the competitive edge over a similarly qualified applicant. Scholarship applicant, job applicant, opportunity applicant. Point being you got to have a competitive edge. James, in your mind, what would be three things a young person could do that would give them a competitive edge to succeed in life?
Speaker 3:one of the things I encourage my own children to have and I've got two that are out of high school now 23 and 20, was number one to learn a hands-on skill while they were in high school, not necessarily something that they were going to use as a career or a job opportunity, but the fact that they learn that hands-on skill teaches them so many other things besides that skill. It teaches them patience, which is going to be very important on thison skill teaches them so many other things besides that skill. It teaches them patience, which is going to be very important on this. It teaches them to value the quality of work.
Speaker 3:For instance, my son really got into welding in his agriculture class and got a little certificate for doing, you know, welding in his class as he was getting through.
Speaker 3:That's not something he was interested in, but still to this day I have noticed, when he does work, those qualities that he was graded on in that welding skill it translated. So, you know, learning that hands-on it teaches you far more than just that skill, but in the background it does give you something to fall back on, or not even fall back on but to build upon. If you find an interest in that, I think you know you guys had a speaker out at Texas FFA a few years ago who is very much an advocate of teaching skills training again and that's Mike Rowe, and I'm a big follower of his as well and I love the fact that he feels like that there's not enough of that and he's looking at job opportunities and the work ethic that goes into that. We're not training those folks enough, but it's so much more than that, so that would be one thing no, I'm gonna listen.
Speaker 2:I hope everybody listened to what j just said. This is the goal that comes out of this podcast. Hands-on means that you're learning quality of work, service your service. Did you meet a deadline? Did you learn critical thinking? Did you learn to problem solve? All of that comes as a result of that hands-on. James, that was excellent. Keep going. You're doing good Well, he said three.
Speaker 3:right, let me think Well. The second one is and there's such a push for us anyway is to be involved in some kind of service activity. While you are doing it, Learn to serve others. Now in North Carolina and I looked it up there's about almost there's 980 high schools, both public and private, in North Carolina. But in North Carolina most school systems, public or private, require a certain number of hours of community service in order for you to do before you're eligible for graduation. You have to complete that in some way.
Speaker 3:So some people they're just checking it off the list. But some see opportunity in that. They see an opportunity not only to serve but maybe to find a passion for their life, them to be really involved with serving. Now for my daughter it was obviously through the FFA. She's an agriculture teacher. She poured her life into that. My son is an Eagle Scout, so that was part of what he had to do anyway, but that attitude that he did. Now, when they're going to look at opportunities for jobs and folks they can talk about, hey, I'm here to help. I'm here Cause they learn some valuable skills, so hands-on, making sure that they have an opportunity to serve and I would encourage to to find opportunities to serve in leadership roles. That would be the third thing.
Speaker 2:I like that.
Speaker 3:Now, when I say leadership roles, I'm not talking about trying to be that top officer, necessarily, or that top patrol leader or scout assistant, scout leader or something like my sons had the opportunity for. But there are always opportunities in schools for you to step up and lead in some way or another, for you to step up and lead in some way or another. Someone always needs help for some kind of project, for someone to stand up and say I'll be in charge of that, and maybe there's only a couple of people that you're working with at a time, but you are learning some valuable skills. So leadership, service and hands-on would be the three that I would say. If you got those three in your belt, you're a step ahead of everyone else.
Speaker 3:I know that some folks will say, hey, really dive into the coursework that you're doing and have the classes. I'm not negating that at all, I'm not diminishing that at all. But, all things being equal, those people who've got those other things are going to be the ones that I hired first we've done done a lot of these podcasts, james, but I got to tell you those are three.
Speaker 2:Those are pretty solid right there, and not only do I like them. I like them because, as you unpack each one of those, there's three more points that you could take off every one of those.
Speaker 2:So you gave us three, but I guarantee you I could put nine of them on a piece of those. You gave us three, but I guarantee you I could put nine of them on a piece of paper. That's good stuff, james. Real quick, tell us how we can learn a little more about Generation, youth and leadership development and maybe where to get a copy of. I've got this book here. Maybe somebody wants to get a copy of that. Where might they do that?
Speaker 3:The book Tomorrow's Youth. Thank you for showing that the book is our attempt to empower people who are working with youth with, first off, the knowledge of what we have discovered the major issues and problems the youth face today and then some practical solutions that they can have to help overcome that. They can find the book on Amazon. It's very easy to find there Tomorrow's Youth, and just put in my name.
Speaker 2:James, tell us again a little bit about where we can get a copy of your book Tomorrow's Youth, and also a little bit about Generation Youth and leadership development opportunities.
Speaker 3:Well, tomorrow's Youth can be found on Amazon. It's very easy to find there. We'd love for you to get a copy and tell us what you think. You'll find my email in the back of it as well. You're free to send an email and tell me what you agree with, what you disagree with, and we can have a great discussion from that URL of generationsiglercom. So they'll go to generationsiglercom. They'll find all the information for everything to do. It'll have a section there for our podcast, our blog. There'll be a link over to the coaching program or you can go to the coaching program URL, which is generation-youthcom, which. All of that will be merged together by the end of summer, but generationsiglercom will still be active for quite some time. That the URL will, and you can find out all the information that you'd like about us. How to connect.
Speaker 3:We are retuning, refining, reorganizing the youth certification program that we've done to meet new needs. It was a wonderful program, but the post-COVID world needs a different approach. So we're wanting to change it up a little bit and create a leadership certification that meets the needs of youth, maybe on different levels. We're looking at having a more of an introduction program and then a more of advanced program that's very similar to what we had to kind of get to meet the needs of youth where they are and to help teachers and those who work with youth be able to empower those young people that they work with in the best way possible.
Speaker 2:Very good. We appreciate you sharing that, and I would encourage anybody. If you get a chance, whether it's their online offerings or their in-person offerings develop yourself. I tell people all the time if you want to know what the future is, grow it. Well, how do you grow something you got? We have to be looking for opportunities to say, oh, look at this. I think I'm going to take this concept from James. I'm going to plant it, I'm going to water, I'm going to take care of that, I'm going to grow that opportunity and that's how we improve ourselves. What is it?
Speaker 2:Abraham Lincoln said that the philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next. If you want to know what the future is, grow it. And how do we do that? It's through folks like James. It's through podcasts like his, this one others. Learn all that you can learn. Assimilate all that you can assimilate, because you never know when that one thing that you learned is going to change the life of somebody else down the road. You never know, but you got to learn it, so take advantage of the opportunities. James, thanks for being with us today. Time flies when you're having fun, and we covered a lot of ground. You're a good guest. You covered a lot. Thank you.
Speaker 3:You shared a lot of great insight, skills development, good stuff stuff well, I appreciate the opportunity and this may be one of the shortest conversations that you've ever had. We cover a lot of stuff when we get together and it normally goes on and I get off the phone. I'm like man, that was great. Why did it end?
Speaker 2:so everybody on the podcast gets one last fun question. So you get the question what is the best?
Speaker 3:concert you've ever been to. Best concert I've ever been to is the very first big time concert that I ever went to as a high school student. I grew up very rural area so there were a lot of opportunities. But we traveled from my area to Raleigh, north Carolina, and I saw Alabama in concert at Reynolds Coliseum at North Carolina State University and the opening act was the Charlie Daniels band. And I mean I've been to some that have you know, were bigger and had you know other stuff but that one I can always.
Speaker 3:I can remember the song sequence, I can remember every bit about it because I was just so enthralled and we got what we thought were bad seats because you know it was in a coliseum and so the stage, you know, cut off the back half. We were right at the edge where you were looking vertically to them. But it actually ended up being really good because we could actually see a little bit behind the stage and we could see them behind hand and they were waving at us. I was like it's so awesome, I just got to wave. Randy Owen waved, charlie Daniels just waved at me. I'm a 16-year-old coming out of Benson, north Carolina, driving up to this concert. There might have been bigger ones. There probably have been. I know I've been to stuff that's been and had a lot more people in stadiums, but that to me is the best concert I've ever been to and the one I remember the most.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. I was actually at that not that same concert but I did see Alabama with Charlie Daniels back in the day at Shepherd Air Force Base, their July 4th celebration, and I'm like you, I'll never forget it. Charlie Daniels came out, he rocked the house and then Alabama came out and everybody knows every Alabama song and we're all singing along and this podcast will probably come out in 2024. So the material that we share here today is evergreen material, so folks can pick it up and it's going to be just as applicable when they capture it as then, as it is the day that we recorded it. So, james, thanks again for being on the show, and all of our listeners thanks for joining us for the Growing Our Future podcast.
Speaker 2:Remember, if you want to know what the future is, grow it, Grow it. You got to plant the seeds, you got to take care of them, you got to nurture them, then you got to harvest it and then, when you do, you got to feed others. Remember that the essence of leadership is to plant trees under whose shade you may never sit. Go out and grow an incredible future. Until we meet again, everybody, be safe and do something incredible for somebody else. Thank you for joining us.
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.
