CTP (S4ESepSpecial2) Customer Service Hell

CTP (S4ESepSpecial2) Customer Service Hell
We talk with Tom Van Der Weel about what 100,000+ monitored business calls reveal about customer service, leadership, and the quiet moments that make or break trust. We dig into why “being nice” is not enough, how bad metrics create bad behavior, and what a more human customer experience looks like as technology and AI keep expanding. 
• Tom’s Iowa background and the Dutch roots of Pella 
• What “this call may be monitored” really means in quality assurance 
• The funniest and most alarming real call stories Tom can share 
• Why most customer interactions are mundane and why that matters 
• The holy trinity of customer satisfaction: resolve the issue, be courteous, respect time 
• How offshoring, self service, and AI shift expectations, especially for Gen Z 
• The three minute call limit story and how leadership metrics can trigger hang ups 
• What strong customer experience leadership looks like in practice 
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A Short Story: A Lasting Legacy? book Trailer

Transcript

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Welcome And A Steak Debate

SPEAKER_09 0:08

Hello, welcome to another episode of First of Two Storms Podcast. I am your host, Joseph L. Warner. That's L N A R D at the front of Now that's wonderful. Thank you for tuning in as Brandon to stay on his show. Let's go over the show. Joining me today is Tom Van Der Well. Separate words, not like von Well sometimes could be maybe together, but Tom Van der Well, which my OCD brain and my audience knows I can't pass and automatically gotta go there. So the first question: how do you like your steaks done? Medium rare. Of course, yes. Wrong answer. It's gotta be well done in the proper joke response. And I yeah, put a boom, exactly. Put a boom. And at the end of this episode, I will be tacking on my job well done. Right. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

That's what it's about.

SPEAKER_09 1:32

Yeah, and I'm thinking this will, even though we're recording June, this will probably air September. So I'll also be tacking on my awake song for the 9-11-ish time, as well as my hope song. But you are the author of This Call May Be Monitored. What eavesdropping on corporate America taught me about business and life. And yeah, hold that up again. For the benefit of those viewing behind the scenes video, there's the cover. If you're on audio, why? Why aren't you watching my video channels? But yeah, for the benefit of the audio and the transcript, it's T-O-M, V-A-N-D-E-R, W E E L. And the book again is This Call May Be Monitored, what eavesdropping on Corporate America taught me about business

Iowa Roots And A Dutch Town

SPEAKER_09 2:33

and life. But first, aside from the steak joke, uh, where were you born and raised? Were you now? Those sorts of nitty crazy. Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 2:45

Yes. I am born and raised in the state of Iowa. And since a lot of people don't know where that is, it's smack dab in the middle of the country. Not Idaho, where they grow potatoes, but Iowa. Corn husk. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 3:02

And we're I just saw the news. You just had your primary, yes? I did, as a matter of fact, yeah. Again, we're recording in June, people. So yeah. I drove to Des Moines when I was in Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas. I drove over to Des Moines uh one time, but I've not been in the state for any extended period of time.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

And I love being from Iowa. I love the state. I am in fact, you know, I I get that a lot of people want to go south and get warm and when they get older and stuff like that, but I'm never leaving because I I love you don't have our winters like you know Great Lakes State or the land of a thousand lakes with all that snow accumulating. Exactly. Right. And I, you know, so we've got uh the Iowa State Fair is you know one of the top 10. I'd love to visit for that. Um the Field of Dreams, which I you know I've been to and is amazing.

SPEAKER_09 4:09

They now show a game there every year. They feed the MLB features a game there. That's great.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

Absolutely. So there's just you know, it's a it's a um it's a it's a quiet uh place, but it is so so fun. And I live in a little town called Pella, Iowa. It is the coolest little town in all of America.

SPEAKER_09 4:32

Um yeah, that's not where the Pella Filter Company is, is it?

SPEAKER_02 4:37

Pella Windows and Doors.

SPEAKER_09 4:38

Oh, there we go, that I recognize.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

Yeah, so every year we uh so it's it was founded, it's fascinating. It was founded actually by a uh a Dutch pastor who decided that he wanted to create a city of refuge in America because he was he was being persecuted back in the Netherlands. So the town itself was created, designed, um, by a pastor who wanted you know, wanted this this little town in Iowa, and to this day, uh people come from the Netherlands. In fact, just last year or the year before the the Netherlands ambassador to the United States came to Pelos. It's like going, you guys are more Dutch than we are.

SPEAKER_09 5:23

Um weird what that happens.

SPEAKER_02 5:28

It's like living in Amsterdam in the middle of Iowa. And we have like a half million tulips in our little town. Without all the brothels, I take it. Oh, believe me, you will not find a red light district in town.

SPEAKER_09 5:45

That stayed in Amsterdam, the rest of it is in Iowa.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

Yes, yes. The legal drugs and prostitution are not part of the whole deal. Those are over there still. Yeah, so like the believers, but yeah, the believers came to America and left the left the heathens over there.

SPEAKER_09 6:07

I love it, I love it, I love it. Uh so indeed, uh for those viewing on video, they saw on your shirt, puff up again, intelligence, it which is behind you in there. Also, tell us about that.

Building A Customer Experience Research Firm

SPEAKER_02 6:25

Yes, so um, I actually was hired by um the company back in 1994, and now I own it. Um the um we are a research company basically. We help companies measure and improve the customer experience. So we do marketing.

SPEAKER_09 6:46

We used to go through all that. I used to work for Kmart HQ, so yeah, I understand all that stuff. And then number one, I'm wearing my America 250 shirt, US-based corporations, get your damn customer support back in the US where it belongs. Anyway, all right, rant over. Go on.

SPEAKER_02 7:09

So um, yeah, so we help companies measure and improve customer service, you know, service, uh customer support.

Who Actually Listens To Recorded Calls

SPEAKER_02 7:16

And uh in my career, so you call, I mean, everyone has had the experience of calling, and you hear this call may be monitored for quality and training purposes. And everybody thinks, does anybody really listen to those calls? Well, me. Um I was hired in 1994 back when the technology was you plug a cord into an analog phone jack and you wait for the person to answer the phone and then you hit the record button on the cassette tape recorder. Um, that's where it began.

SPEAKER_09 7:51

Um, and which is why, whenever I'm on the line with customer service, I throw in a bunch of stuff that the customer service rep has nothing to do with. They're just answering the phone, will never get any of my suggestions to anyone else unless if I interject them in the call and somebody does actually monitor it.

SPEAKER_02 8:14

Well, and you know, the the reality is that now recording calls is easy and simple, and most companies do it, but does anybody actually listen? Not always. Um, and summarizing it all. Yeah, there's all sorts of problems with that, which we can get into. I, you know, I personally, in my 30-plus year career, have analyzed over 100,000 business calls, all companies of all shapes and sizes. I've listened to customer support, sales, receptionists, collections, emergency roadside search, you know, so you name it.

Wildest Things Heard On The Line

SPEAKER_09 8:57

Okay, that that begs the question. I'm sure you've heard a lot of shit. What's the funniest story you can actually share?

SPEAKER_02 9:09

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_09 9:10

So I'm sure there's lots of stuff we can talk offline, off air, yeah, but what can you share on air?

SPEAKER_02 9:18

So a couple of the, you know, a couple of the classics are I, you know, and and it's funny because you get into, you know, I've listened to large Fortune 500 global corporations, and I've listened to tiny little small family-owned businesses, everything in between. Um and you, you know, when you get into corporate America, everyone knows their calls are being monitored because they they have to sign a form at HTC.

SPEAKER_09 9:47

By the NSA also, but that's a whole other category.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

And everybody knows that if you're um but yes, so once uh heard a call with the employee of our client who was setting up his drug business.

SPEAKER_09 10:02

Oh, in fact, the FBI might be a good idea.

SPEAKER_02 10:08

I hired I got to have a nice conversation with the FBI, and um you know, I'll go. Well, he knew it was being recorded.

SPEAKER_09 10:25

I don't know what you say may be used against you in a court of law.

SPEAKER_02 10:30

Hello. I know. Um another, you know, another funny.

SPEAKER_09 10:36

So I don't want to talk about the prostitution. I'm running out of the back of my house.

unknown 10:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 10:42

It's a joke. Yes, it's a Christian joke. But please, people, why it's a joke. It's just a joke.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

Um we had a, you know, we had another uh a company that was uh it was actually a bank, and but they had a fairly large customer population that um are very low income, very um low education, and they just you know, they just don't know a lot about life. So uh customer called in, uh a young lady, and she was she called customer service because she was trying to use the ATM and it wouldn't give her any money. So they they she called and they said, Well, um do you have money in the account? They said, Well, you're actually like $200 overdrawn, um, which means you're not gonna get any money from the ATM. And she said, Well, well, what do I do about that? And they said, Well, it basically you owe us $200, so you need to pay us money so that there's money for you to withdraw from your ATM. And her response, quite quite sincerely, was can I write you a check?

unknown 13:07

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 13:09

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_09 13:12

Um, but will it have money behind it from another institution to come? Let me explain to you. How high will it bounce?

unknown 13:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:23

Yeah. Basic financial principles. Um it's just amazing what you hear.

SPEAKER_06 13:32

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:33

But here's and here's what I would tell you, Joseph. The the I I've heard a lot of different things. But here's what I've learned. And so

Mundane Moments And Real Gratitude

SPEAKER_02 13:41

my book it really says it's it's about what eavesdropping, eavesdropping on corporate America has taught me about business and life. And one of the things, so one of the life lessons is like, look, 100,000 phone calls. Yes, I've heard some really funny things, like we just talked about. But the reality is that most phone calls, most business transactions are mundane, boring.

SPEAKER_09 14:09

You might even have heard a few of my ranch, depending on who you work with.

SPEAKER_02 14:14

Yeah, like you're you're one of those customers that breaks the mold and uh you know everybody loves, but most of it, but here's the thing life, everyday life is filled with mundane routine.

SPEAKER_09 14:29

Oh, I'm you know what? I'm gonna hold up my the Book of Kennedy Project Care Pray Diem. One of the whole tagline points is and I've got a Suno song, I'm gonna now add that on here. The Book of Kennedy, one of the songs from the theme songs from that will be on the end. Is life nothing but a set of mediocre days with some bright spots thrown in? And for most people, yes, yes, that's life. Your life is not like the movie channel.

SPEAKER_02 15:05

Right, exactly right. And and so one of the things that I have to constantly uh, you know, here's my career. Here's my that look, every customer that calls, every email, every phone call, every chat you have to the customer is is an opportunity to either win or lose in that customer's mind. You're either going to enhance their perception of you as a company or you're going to diminish their perception of you as a company. And so, but life is the same way. So the way I, you know, one of the stories I tell in the issue complicated. Yes. You know, so um, so like this. My every week I walk downstairs um and I find my wife doing the laundry because in the Vanderwell household organization, she is a lot of things. Don't we spend an awful lot of things? On the orange chart, she handles the laundry. On the orange chart, I handle the landscaping and the laundry. But it is a mundane, routine, every week task. Yeah. But as I'm as I'm thinking about my business and I'm telling my clients, like, look, every time the customer calls is an opportunity to be courteous and kind and and win the customer.

SPEAKER_09 16:21

Oh, if only. Sadly, I'm gonna interject a lot of times. Sadly, that's all you're getting, though. Is someone uh deflecting. Oh, yeah, oh, we're really sorry, or we're really sorry. Oh, I uh yeah, but what are you gonna do about it?

unknown 16:41

Right.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

Oh, no, no, no, no. So hold that thought. So I uh what I learned is that like, look, uh every week when I come down and I see my wife doing the mundane reaching task of doing the laundry, it's an opportunity for me to win in my marriage by simply saying, honey, thank you for doing laundry.

SPEAKER_09 17:01

Amen, brother. Amen. Oh, thank you for saying that. Yes, thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

So now let's go back because Joseph, you've made a great point.

SPEAKER_09 17:11

So there are in the book I talk about the Yeah, are you just a phone answer, or can you actually fix my damn problem?

SPEAKER_02 17:19

There are so I call it the holy trinity of customer satisfaction. There are three things that are universally true.

The Holy Trinity Of Satisfaction

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Customers, number one, more than anything, the number one thing is resolve my issue.

SPEAKER_09 17:35

That's why I'm why am I calling you otherwise? I can't.

SPEAKER_02 17:42

Yes. Number two is I I want you to be courteous and friendly. I want to know that you care, and I want you to respect my time. But number one is resolve my stinking issue.

SPEAKER_09 17:52

Yeah, and they really care at this fake phony. Oh, yeah, oh, we uh I see custom ads all the time. Oh, our company cares. Our company, yeah, you care about your profit line, and that seems to be it. Your ads try to proclaim you care, but when I call your customer service, I can see you're just in past the buck mode. Oh my god, got green screen.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

Right, and customers will not reward you for doing what they expect you to do, but they will punish you if you don't.

SPEAKER_09 19:11

Amen. I've lost many a company over yeah, uh a minor issue that should, you know, if you don't have customer service agents trained and actually have access to your system to resolve simple, then I I'll find someone who does. I'm not here just for some moron in God knows where stand to answer the phone. Hi, my name is Todd. And you know, pardoned uh, you know, I'm saying it as comedic value. Comedians talk about it all the time, right? Calls in Packers down, hello, my name is Todd. Oh yeah, sure it is.

SPEAKER_02 20:04

Oh yes, it's part uh and that's part of the industry reality in customer service is offshoring, nearshoring, and it it's part of the whole deal.

SPEAKER_09 20:15

And they're just there to answer the phone and pass the buck, unfortunately, most of the time. I again I worked for the retailer before they decided they'd make more money for the shareholders selling off all those Sears and Kmart merged to sell off the properties. The properties were worth more than the retail, they still exist online, but retail that's an afterthought. Now, serve the customer? No.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

Well, but but there's a and there's a trend emerging, Joseph, that that is really fascinating because as Gen this were in in intelligentics research, one of the things we're discovering is as Gen Z is become they're becoming adults and establishing their own lives. You know what? The whole online impersonal interaction, they've had that their whole life. And they they're like raise the customer. You know what I want. They want a human interaction,

Gen Z Wants Humans Not Scripts

SPEAKER_02 21:27

they want to know somebody. They want they want a relationship. And so Gen Z, which is which is hilarious for you and me, because that's why they're they're vinyl records. They want vinyl records, they want THS tapes, they want a childhood. I gotta remember. Yes, and and along with that, they are also now they they love the technology when it's convenient for them, but they definitely want a more personal human experience. Yes, and what we're finding with our clients is clients that uh they don't they're not getting it. They're moving everything to impersonal technology, including AI, and and the emerging generations are kind of going, well, I'll use that when it's convenient for me, but what really satisfies me, what really fills my heart, is a personal experience.

SPEAKER_09 22:39

One complaint we of course always got, uh, as do all retailers, you don't have enough cashiers for me to check out in the whole self-service and then the set level, because you got if you gotta have a body monitoring what's going on there, you may as well just have the cashiers. But to push back a little, I've been from that you can't know when the traffic is gonna flow, you can and there are usual busy times and slow times. But if a crowd shows up at a time you thought it was gonna be a slow time, cash years well, yeah. That comes with a cost. We can indeed have all the cash registers full, but the price has gotta double to cover the cost of all the employees. Yeah, they can lose lose rather than a win win situation. Yes?

SPEAKER_02 23:43

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the the the key is that even in difficult situations, uh one of the things I've learned in my career is that um you you will never like completely get rid of the situations like you're talking about. There will always be times, there will always be situations in business when it is a lose-lose proposition simply because of the circumstance. But if you know and you train your people how to respond and communicate in those situations, you can diminish the dissatisfaction, you can diminish the penalty that customer gives you.

SPEAKER_09 24:30

And a customer should also understand you've got to train your staff. I've gone on in my customer service shows and in my Beforex news piece and my Substack pieces, as well as my video channel video exclusives on customer service. Train the staff. You want them to be chatty when it's slow. And indeed, show you care. If there's not a line, take 20 minutes with one customer if they want to have a conversation. But if there's a line up the wazoo, keep your pie holes shut and scan faster.

SPEAKER_02 25:17

Alright, so that that brings up a great story from my book. This is a true story. Now the there was an insurance company. This is a true story, and there were uh some kind of bean counter who was in the C-suite.

SPEAKER_09 25:38

Oh, wait, you always monitoring

The Three Minute Call Disaster

SPEAKER_09 25:40

how fast they're scanning. But you gotta know how busy or slow it is. That matters.

SPEAKER_02 25:46

Customers now, but but customer service, um there is a certain mentality in certain corporate cultures where customer service is a cost center.

SPEAKER_09 25:57

It doesn't make you money at only you know you are only but scams respect, scams have to be in context of the traffic.

SPEAKER_02 26:09

Right. So in this particular case, the bean counters approached customer service with a bean counting mindset, and they said, All right, let's look at all of our calls. Uh the average customer service call in this particular uh company was three minutes long. Yeah. So they determined three minutes, three minutes is all it should take. So in their in their quality program, they dictated that quality is three minutes. So they they down came, you know, from the corporate from the C-suite down the ladder to the to the frontline contact center. Your call cannot be longer than three minutes because three minutes is quality. And it's really easy to calculate three minutes and put it on a spreadsheet.

SPEAKER_09 26:59

Or they'll want to fire the customer service person who may be the best one they got based on the stupid scans for seconds.

SPEAKER_02 27:09

Right. So you can see this coming a mile away. Yeah. So now the customer service representatives are like going, okay, if my call is longer than three minutes, I'm gonna get in trouble and I'm gonna be punished. So they started just watching the clock. And at two minutes and 57 seconds, whether the customer's situation had been resolved or not, they hit the release button. Yeah.

SPEAKER_09 27:34

The customer got hung up on. Oh, I've had that, I've had that recently, and you can't get a real person at corporate to address that issue. So and why someone like you needs to monitor the calls and say, hey, your customer service is hanging up on people pissing off your customers.

SPEAKER_02 28:00

And so the bean counter executives who thought they were going to save a lot of money by keeping calls short now had a millions of dollars of a PR problem.

SPEAKER_09 28:11

Yes. Yeah, oh amen. The idiots in the ivory tower don't come out of the ivory tower and actually shop their own experience to understand these things. They send out the assistant to get them the whatever. No, get your ass out of your ivory tower and in your stores for hours. That's why undercover boss as a show was so popular.

SPEAKER_02 28:43

Absolutely. Absolutely. So one of the one of the things I say in the book is like, look, most business gurus uh they they examine business from the brains of the C-suite. I took my proctoscope into the contact center where the fecal matter comes into direct

Leadership That Leaves The Ivory Tower

SPEAKER_02 29:03

contact with the electric oscillator of customer experience. Because that's where you find the you know what hitting the fan.

SPEAKER_09 29:13

I love how you frame that so delicately, though. Say that again.

SPEAKER_02 29:19

I send my proctoscope into the the contact center where the fecal matter comes into direct contact with the electric rotary oscillator of customer experience.

SPEAKER_09 29:32

I got what I got my fan cooling me right here. Thankfully, no, you know what's gonna hit it today during this conversation. Although I I have it has hit. I've ranted, but I haven't named any names in some of my Coon customer service writings. I do. Because, hey, people, yeah, you you piss off, you irk the average person, they don't have a show.

SPEAKER_02 30:00

Well, and and the reality is you companies companies need to feel the pain of actual direct negative feedback in the marketplace because it's just the world we live in where sometimes um the rant on social media may be the only way that somebody in the C-suite is gonna even know that there's a problem. It's just true.

SPEAKER_09 30:26

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And yeah, write letters, write letters, people, to the corporate headquarters, the marketing department, the sales department, the complaints department if such a thing exists. The complaint department, and then hopefully we'll get to somebody who can do something.

SPEAKER_02 30:46

The more layers of bureaucracy there are between the frontline contact center and the C-suite, the the harder it is.

SPEAKER_09 30:54

Which is what happened to Kmart.

SPEAKER_02 30:56

Yeah. You're not, yeah, you know it. You know it.

SPEAKER_09 31:00

I know firsthand. Yeah, too many layers. I was in IT for years. I'm on disability now. Too many years of on call 24-7. You know, my body said, You're not gonna slow down. Guess what, buddy? We're gonna slow you down.

SPEAKER_02 31:19

Yeah, the body has a way of dictating what's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_09 31:24

So, yeah, but yeah, I've I've dealt in the computer aspect and the customer service aspect of it. I used to work for an automotive uh uh part supplier in the IT department there, so I've seen all that and uh wanting to outsource and farm out to try to save costs on morons, corporate CEOs, CFOs. If you take nothing else away, learn this. Your idiocy of trying to save a bucket for your PR story can cost you more than you say you're saving in the long run. It's like the Liberty Mutual. I'm gonna out one here. Liberty Mutual, they're moron study class idiots never learned in marketing 101 like progressive, they're not my insurance company, neither is Liberty, but progressive understands you hold one at the company. Geico have fun with the company image. You don't make fun of your customer, Liberty Mutual, or they get upset. Like the the let's have the Zagna guy, the guy, the liberty guy. Right now, they've somebody woke up. I don't know if I got to him or not, but they woke up, they're now making him a corporate spokesperson. Okay, that's fine. He's a bumbling employee. That's fine. But making fun of your customers are too stupid to know how to name your company name. Dumb marketing. Yes?

SPEAKER_02 33:23

Yes, and you know, I've got a great story. This is a true story that's in my book as well. That we had a spoiler alert! Yeah, we had a we had a client that um they had a very large national, uh, international, but their their customer

Culture Problems And Turning The Ship

SPEAKER_02 33:44

base was was typically low income. And they had uh yeah, low income, not from the highest runs of social strata. That was who their customer was. And um they hired they they had a terrible, terrible reputation for customer service. And and so they hired a senior vice president to kind of move that aircraft carrier around and move in the other direction.

SPEAKER_09 34:16

Yeah, but you can't turn them around on a dime.

SPEAKER_02 34:19

Yeah, he called us and we said, all right, here's what we need to do to move this aircraft carrier around. And uh our leadership team was called in to present our proposal to the board and to the ownership and to the executive team, and one of the board members said, and I quote, customer service. We sell shit to nerds.

SPEAKER_09 34:47

Oh my god, is that Radio Shack? What? Oh, is it Radio City?

SPEAKER_02 34:51

It's sort of like, oh, wait a minute. Is that your new brand tagline? Are you gonna put that on every truth and ever guys?

SPEAKER_09 35:02

You could if you wanted to have fun with it. That could be a fun thing.

SPEAKER_02 35:08

To your point, it's sort of like if the board members and executive team have that attitude about their customers, there's no wonder that they have a cultural issue around poor customer service.

SPEAKER_09 35:28

But they're talking about nerds, you know. The problem is you book cards that learned only your business from books and economics and business school. You didn't really spend any time coming up through any ranks doing anything. You don't know what it's like to sell things to nerds.

SPEAKER_02 35:54

Yeah, you know, and so one uh I talk a little bit about leadership in my book and the the the things that I've uh witnessed and seen. Companies who really move the needle and become really good at customer satisfaction tend to have leaders who get it. And to your point, Joseph, just like you said, one example had an executive who comes in and he's now tasked with taking over the whole customer service, customer experience thing. The first thing he did was he sat through front-line customer service training. And then he went through the whole thing. He sat down on the phone in the contact center, and he's the senior vice president of customer service, and he begins taking calls just like any CSR.

SPEAKER_09 36:51

Oh and then there's actually somebody there taking a call that can do something for him.

SPEAKER_02 36:57

Yeah, and not only that, but how do you know what's really going on? Unless you do it. Get on the phone and talk to your customers and help them with actual problems.

SPEAKER_09 37:09

The whole point of undercover boss.

SPEAKER_02 37:12

It it really was, and it on multiple levels. So, number one, he he learns from the experience of actually talking to customers with actual problems. He learns what's working and what's not working.

SPEAKER_09 37:24

Do you want to name this person? This this is a smart business guy.

SPEAKER_02 37:29

I can't do it.

SPEAKER_09 37:30

Yeah, that's one I would enjoy working for. Yeah. As opposed to the morons that I've seen come and go over the years.

SPEAKER_02 37:40

You know, and you know, when Jesus talked about the fact of, like, look, no, when they when they ask you to go one mile, you need to offer to go two. The whole idea of that principle was the shock value. When this Roman soldier has this Jewish person who is their occupied enemy, and they say, Oh, I'll go another mile with you, it's like, what? And the shock value allows for a conversation.

SPEAKER_09 38:14

And the genesis of the when they ask, when they say jumpy, you ask how high.

SPEAKER_02 38:20

Right. And so when this senior vice president who's new, who's supposed to turn this aircraft carrier around, sits down and goes, No, I'm gonna actually sit down and talk to customers on the front lines. Everyone in the organization is like going, who is this guy?

SPEAKER_09 38:36

Other than have them filter crap to him and blow smoke up his, you know what?

SPEAKER_02 38:43

And everyone at every layer of the organization is like going, oh my goodness, this guy is different. Maybe turn it around.

SPEAKER_09 38:53

If you still have contact with him, give him contact at my show. I'd love to talk with that person. All right. Applause, applause, applause. Time has flown by. Uh intelligenics.com, I take it, is the website. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 39:10

And more important, I would say you see. Come see me at tomvanderwell.com. Um, you can uh I've

Where To Find Tom And The Book

SPEAKER_02 39:21

got a podcast, Joseph, uh, and a and a blog. Um well, a devotional. I've been doing this for 20 years. Um, I've got you can subscribe there. There's all sorts of information about where to find my book, which is on Amazon. Good.

SPEAKER_09 39:37

80% of all books, more like 90% now, sold through.

SPEAKER_02 39:43

I tomorrow I finish recording the audiobook. It'll be on Audible probably in another month or so.

SPEAKER_09 39:48

So if you're mine are too, yeah, that's great service.

SPEAKER_02 39:53

Love it. And I love the F AI. So, yes, check out commodities.com if if Intelligence and what we do could be of value to your business. Obviously, intelligentics.com, you can catch me there. And uh thank you so much for having me on your blast.

SPEAKER_09 40:13

I knew I was gonna have some fun with you. I could not wait to hear your story. I almost hate to have to wait to September to drop this episode. I wish I could move it up, but I've got so many other great guests in the pile waiting their slots. You know how it is.

SPEAKER_02 40:32

Yeah, you do have my guests. Let's have another conversation. I'm sure we could fill another half hour easy.

SPEAKER_09 40:38

We need an update in 2027, at least. We gotta do an update show. I uh I agree wholeheartedly. So thank you, Tom Vander. I don't like my stakes. Well done. I gotta throw that joke in there again. Uh again. Oh, what a blast. Take care. God bless.

SPEAKER_00 41:02

Thank you, my friend. Have a good one. In the book of Kennedy, Project Carpe Diem, a young woman stands alone at sunrise by the ocean. Her hair moves with the wind. Faint superimposed text. Was life just a collection of mediocre days with a few random

Book Of Kennedy Promo Spot

SPEAKER_00 41:22

happy times? Flashbacks. A girl laughing as a child, then crying as a teenager, pondering about her future. Lighting shifts from golden to shadowed. Slow motion, she walks through crowds, offering a soft smile to a stranger. In the book of Kennedy, Project Carpe Diem, available now on Amazon in ebook, paperback, and hardcover editions.

SPEAKER_05 46:06

Eyes open wide, not living in fear, just knowing the signs when danger draws near

Awake Song On Situational Awareness

SPEAKER_05 46:47

They call it paranoia when you pay attention, but there's a difference between fear and comprehension. Crime doesn't fucking terrorism has no safe code any time any place. You better know it's road. You are not an officer with your head buried in sand. Your thing goes with awareness! You still stand. When the world erupts around you, don't let that be all die! Oh no, you're away. You're soon by all the food, but the three floor! No, the two friends made the fall! I think you might won't be the free ball! Not paranoid! Remember when the music stopped and panic filled the air? The stampe was the danger, not what triggered the scare. I'm a terrorist. Which one are you gonna be? The sex of the situation is that danger close to me. Is it in my own? Is it coming from my space? Or do I think the safety left to fight another day? When the world erupts around you, don't let panic be your guy. Three options in the crisis moment. Only one keeps you alive. Not paranoid. Situation in the away. Not consumed by all the people, but prepared to face what's there. Fight for flights, or maybe fight. Know the difference makes a call. A thinking mind won't be the sheepfall, trampled with the panic falls. Oh not paranoid.

SPEAKER_01 48:54

Oh life over death, hope over fear, faith over despair. Keep your wits clear. Love over hate, good over evil, freedom over tyranny, rise above the sheep.

SPEAKER_05 49:06

Ah They said burnout, don't fade away. But I say fade and live to see another day. Unless it's in your orbit, unless there's no escape, then you stand and fight. That's the choice that heroes make.

SPEAKER_01 49:19

Awake means you are watching, not wrapped in paranoious chains. You carry situational awareness like an umbrella when it rains. Not selling fear, not peddling doom.

SPEAKER_05 49:32

Just asking you to think. Before the panic swallows reason, and you're swept across the room. Not paranoid, situationally aware, not consumed by all the fear-born, but prepared to face what's there. Fight for flight, or maybe you fade. Know the difference make the call. A thinking mind won't be the sheep all trampled when the panic falls. Awake. Not paranoid.

SPEAKER_01 50:09

Awake. Think. Don't panic assess. Don't assume. Fade. When you can fight when you must awake. Not paranoid.

SPEAKER_05 50:30

Just awake.

SPEAKER_07 50:43

AI is out to get me. AI is everywhere.

SPEAKER_05 50:48

AI hack my hair dry now. Just look at my hair. One side flat and frizzy. Other side wants to fly. Mirror laughing at me as the sparks go by. It's an

AI Conspiracy Comedy Song

SPEAKER_05 51:02

AI conspiracy. Oh yeah. From my kitchen to my phone to my dreams. Hacked in my head, my brain twirls can't think straight. AI around every corner. Every screen. AI around every corner. Watching me. Toes pops up with warnings. Have you tried to relax? Trich keeps sending emails about my midnight snacks. GPS starts whispering. Take a lift into doom. Even my old alarm clock knows when I leave the room. It's an AI conspiracy. From my playlist to the clouds, to the keys. Hacked in my head, my brain twirls, stops on shake. AI around every corner. Every street, AI, around every corner. Haunting me. AI watching me. AI, haunting we AI, AI, watching me. A I haunting we AI. AI is out to get me. AI is everywhere. Ayy, hack my hair drier. Now just look at my head. AI conspiracy to take over the world. AI round ever corner, like little Jack Horner. I keep asking why even this song is by AI taking over the world. Artificial intelligence gets smarter. It's part of its charter. People get dumber to level of a cucumber. Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm just tired. Seeing secret patterns in a busted wire. But when the lights flicker and the fans all spin, I hear a tiny chorus shooting from within. My brain swirls. That's my fate. AI around every corner every street. AI around every corner. Just like me. So tired. Upset. Upset. So tired. So tired. So tired. Sorry, cat. A bottle on the nightstand. Had a knot in my chest. Small things turn. When the body says no. You

Burnout And When The Body Says No

SPEAKER_05 54:50

just feel like bricks now. Even craps in the room is slow. One more day. Stop stop stop. Feels like one day. Stop stop me. One more One more hand in hand. Every day feels like the easy thing to break No we can inside No off switch to find Just a long gray line Running through my mind. If I snap if I cry Let it fall, let it show I am onto the hire Everybody Subside, Satisfied. Every day feels like one day. You gotta move your feet. You gotta feel that hope is not a strategy for you and for me.

Hope Is Not A Strategy Song

SPEAKER_05 59:26

Your days, but action speaks louder and thundering sound when your boots hit the ground turning around. But if we just sit still, we might as well be dead. So our labor hour, the world will see not just what we wish for. But what we choose to be. Because hope is not a strategy. No, it is strategy. You gotta move your feet, you gotta feel happy.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:43

I want to catch down. You better bring it straight. No sloppy coins, no half-let chain. I don't need excuses, I need clean

Job Well Done Standards Anthem

SPEAKER_04 1:02:02

games. Show me your hand, show me that pride. You said you're on, it can go all the way. One missed detail can spoil the tray. So bring that polish just about my way. I'm not asking for magic, just a job with a spine. Leave it better than you found it. Every single time. Don't make me repeat it, don't make me chase. If you're in my circle, bring your best face. But your work better come out. I see the sweat on the wrapper. I see the line stay true. I see the extra mile when nobody told you to. Hold that standard, keep that flame. If it's your name on it, on that frame. I don't want loud talk, I want proof. A plan that's solid and a job that's smooth. I'm not asking for magic. Just a job with a spine. Leave it better than you found it. Every single time. Don't make me repeat it. Don't make me chase. If you're in my circle, bring your best face.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:40

Job well done, job well done. If you work for me, do it. Job well done, job well done, job well done.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:51

I may like mistakes, medium rare, but your work better come out. Job well done.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:00

Show me the clean finish. Show me the grind. Show me the part way. You cared enough to mine. Not just fast, not just done. I want that feeling when the task is one. If you work for me, do it job well done, job well done, job well done.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:34

I may like my stakes, medium rare, but your work better come out.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:00

Wednesday, Wednesday, holiday. Spends his time at the Burger King. Dicated to his thing. Have a weekend weekend.

Hump Day Grind Song Break

SPEAKER_05 1:05:18

Though the clock kept the dragon, we'll speak something funny. And next hump a day, do it again. Wednesday, Wednesday, home a day. Spend this time at Burger King. Vicator to his thing. Wednesday, home a day, silly mess. And Monday through Friday grind. Wednesday, we make a twist.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:27

Can it the off switch? Thoughts keep spinning like a glitch in the mix. Count sheep, but the running track laps. Every number just snaps right back. We're cutting nails short so I don't pick skin. Check the door twice, then I check it again. Tiny wars

The Off Switch OCD Loop Song

SPEAKER_03 1:06:45

in a tired. Oh damn night, never leaves the bad.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:52

Where's the up switch? I'm stuck in the loop again. Same favor is like my only friend. Scroll that list till the words are bad. I just want one quiet.

SPEAKER_07 1:07:05

Where's the up switch? Praise the bright on red. Chasing thoughts till the dumb break. Dead still and go, but it grips instead. I just want one quiet. Life's of them, but the mind's on blast. Replay remake every moment pass, past. If I breathe in floor, then I breathe out a cell count fade. Wash my hands till the doubt runs, try to still hear what it is.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:36

Come in under that skylight.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:21

OCD brain, she's white, why I can't be off switch. Thoughts keep spinning like a glitch in the mix. Count she put the running track laps. Peace of mind I seem to forever lack.

SPEAKER_08 1:09:35

Like and subscribe to Christitutionalist Politics Podcast and share episodes. We need your help.

SPEAKER_09 1:09:45

Thank you for having tuned in to another Christitutionalist podcast show. I really appreciate

Closing Thanks And Subscribe Request

SPEAKER_09 1:09:54

that you stop by. Again, please like, share, subscribe. We need you to help spread the constitutionalist movement. Thank you again. Take care. God bless. Love you all.