Building a Lasting Legacy: Ross Bernstein on the Art of Impactful Entrepreneurship and Embracing Change

Unleash the potential to leave an indelible mark on the world as we unpack the secrets to impactful entrepreneurship with the insight of Ross Bernstein. In this episode, we delve into the nitty-gritty of what it means to create a legacy that echoes the influence of Jason Kelsey's formidable presence. Feel the vibrations of change as we share experiences that will embolden you to make a splash in your community and beyond, by harnessing the ripple effects of your actions and aligning them with the needs of society. Bernstein brings a seasoned perspective on the silent heroes in sports, reminding us that sometimes the most profound impacts are the ones that go unnoticed.

Adapting to the ever-changing business landscape is a challenge relished by the intrepid entrepreneur. In this conversation, we lay bare the trials of rejection in the speaking industry and the necessity of resilience in the face of public scrutiny. We offer a candid look at how the digital revolution and global events such as the pandemic have reshaped the way we connect, drive business, and share ideas. Whether it's through virtual forums or innovative networking opportunities like this podcast, we argue that embracing change isn't just about survival—it's about thriving and setting a course for uncharted success.

Setting the groundwork for a legacy that lasts is no small feat, but it's one that can be achieved through thoughtful action and strategic foresight. In this episode, we celebrate personal milestones, while forecasting the evolution of work-life balance and communication in the coming decade. As president of the Herb Brooks Foundation, Marc shares how philanthropy intertwines with the concept of legacy, leaving you with a blueprint for making a difference that resonates through generations.

About Ross Bernstein:
The best-selling author of nearly 50 sports books, Ross Bernstein is a peak-performance business speaker and proud member of the Speaker Hall of Fame, who has keynoted conferences on all seven continents. Ross and his books have been featured on CNN, CBS Mornings, MSNBC, ESPN, and Fox News, as well as in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today.

Connect with Ross:
Website rossbernstein.com
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/ross-bernstein-speaker 

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Are you a visionary founder with a compelling success story that deserves to be shared with our audience? We're on the lookout for accomplished business leaders like you to be featured on the Founders' Forum Radio Show and Podcast. If you've surmounted challenges, reached significant milestones, or have an exciting vision for the future, we'd be honored to have you as a guest on our show. Your experiences and insights can inspire and enlighten others in the business world. If you're eager to share your journey and the invaluable lessons you've learned along the way, we invite you to apply here.

Transcript

Announcer: 0:00

Programming is sponsored by Marc J Bernstein. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of this station, its management or Beasley Media Group. Entrepreneur, author and financial consultant, Marc Bernstein helps high-performing entrepreneurial business owners create a vision for the future and follow through on their goals and intentions. Ang Onorato is a business growth strategist who blends psychology and business together to create conscious leaders and business owners who impact the world. Founders Forum is a radio show podcast sharing the real stories behind entrepreneurship as founders discover more about themselves, while providing valuable lessons and some fun and entertainment for you. Now here's Marc and Ang.

Marc Bernstein: 0:41

Good morning America. How are you? Good morning Arlo. I hope you're up by now. Buddy, that's my dog. I'm telling that to Ross, our guest today. We have a very exciting show lined up today. Good morning Ang.

Ang Onorato: 0:54

Good morning.

Marc Bernstein: 0:56

And today we have and I'll introduce him more formally in a minute but Ross Bernstein, inspirational business speaker and best-selling sports author, and we'll get into that in a minute. But before we do that, Ange, I know you have a thought for the day, let's get into that.

Ang Onorato: 1:10

Yeah, absolutely so driving into the studio today. We've been on a hiatus for a while so it was really nice to kind of drive back into Philly and it's a little bit of a gratuitous thing, but it popped into my mind as I was thinking about Jason Kelsey actually and coming to do the show and I'm thinking everyone out there know who.

Marc Bernstein: 1:31

Jason Kelsey is.

Ang Onorato: 1:31

If you don't, then you're on the wrong channel, but Travis Travis Kelsey's brother, if you don't know, which is why I'm picking Jason because it just, you know, he's kind of the every man's person, and I think the topic of the day that popped into my head was about impact and thinking of someone like Jason who, you know, hands down, made the impact in his sport and his career.

Ang Onorato: 1:47

But, um, it's also the impact he's made off the field, and it's not even just from fundraising and groups he's been in. It's just, I think, the person that he is and and you hear comments and my sister got to work with him recently she's a film producer and you know she, when he walks into the room, it's just there's an immediate impact in so many different ways. And so I want to reflect on that for myself and say you know, we talk a lot about legacy when we talk to entrepreneurs, but I see legacy as really being the thing that then creates a ripple effect, that causes or leads to legacy. So I'm curious, Marc, how you think about that. I would love to hear our guest. I think this is right up his alley as well. So what do you think about when you think about making an impact or being an impactful person or business?

Marc Bernstein: 2:30

Well, I just want to comment first on Jason Kelsey. He does a lot of work for autism, a big cause of the Philadelphia Eagles. He's done all kinds of great public works, but I think his biggest impact may have been his Super Bowl speech.

Ang Onorato: 2:43

Oh, Without a doubt.

Marc Bernstein: 2:44

Will last in the hearts and minds of Philadelphians.

Ang Onorato: 2:46

He's a proud girl dad too, so you know, I just think there's lots of areas in which he impacts people in his orbit.

Marc Bernstein: 2:52

But his speech. They keep playing that over and over again and it's going to be in the hearts and minds of Philadelphians for generations I believe.

Marc Bernstein: 2:59

So that alone because to change the hearts of the Philadelphia sports fan, which exist but have had many, many years of pain and will always be jubilant when we watch that video. So there's that. But yeah, I mean, there's no question about it. We actually sometimes did a live show this morning and then we record this show and on our earlier show we talked about, you know, death a little bit and we talked about how the impact of your life and your purpose in life and living life with purpose and all that, and I think it's all closely related. And you see that you don't have to be a celebrity.

Marc Bernstein: 3:41

You know, there are people we just had another guest who's working in healthcare and really trying to improve the healthcare of people's lives. We have the people that, um, I just lost recently. You know, one has impacted people through his business and his employees and all kinds of things. The other guy was less career oriented but he was one of the funniest people I ever met and made everybody happy whenever he was in their presence. There's all different ways to make an impact, but I know Ross has some thoughts on this. So, ross, tell us your feelings on the subject.

Ross Bernstein: 4:13

You know I could relate to Kelsey Boyce. They're kind of the meat and potato. You know, I mean of course Travis is blown up now just because he's dating out of his zip code. But you know, I was a guard in football and you know we're kind of the unsung heroes on the offensive line, right, no one really notices you unless you screw up Like you could do every play great. But if you get a holding call and it screws up the whole drive, everyone hates you. So it's nice to see those offensive linemen getting some props.

Ross Bernstein: 4:48

And yeah, I mean, you know Philly, look, philly sports. I've chronicled Philly sports forever. They were always New York's little brother, right, they could never get their due. And then they had the Flyers made their, the Broad Street Bullies back in the early 70s, won the two cups, and then of course you had the Eagles and the Phillies and the Sixers and there's just been so many different iterations of great people and Rocky. It's just been this whole town of underdogs and big personalities, but definitely always embracing the offensive linemen, the Kelseys right, the Schultzys, the DuPont, all those old school Philly people that really make Philly what it is. So, yeah, I relate to that and I love those guys. They definitely leave an impact on the common man right, the common people that maybe don't get all the glitz and the glam. So, yeah, that's cool.

Marc Bernstein: 5:42

And of course it was a sports analogy and of course you're going to talk about it in sports. So let's formally introduce Ross so you know who he is. He is, first of all, the bestselling offer, author of nearly 50 sports books. He's a peak performance business speaker. He's all over the place in terms of business and making an impact. He's a proud member of the Speaker's Hall of Fame and he has keynoted many conferences on seven continents all seven continents. His books and he himself have been featured on CNN, cbs Mornings, msnbc, espn and Fox News, as well as the Wall Street Journal, new York Times and USA Today. That's a lot.

Ross Bernstein: 6:23

And now your podcast.

Ang Onorato: 6:26

And now. Founders Forum your company.

Marc Bernstein: 6:28

And we're so thrilled to have him here. So, ross, you have a great story. I know I'm not going to have we're not going to have to do much on the show, I know that today but tell us your story, how you got into doing what you're doing and it's a really unique career. And also, at some point, we're going to talk about your life, because you and I talked about this. You've created a great life around this and it's pretty amazing. So let's start with your early childhood to today and tell us how you got there.

Ross Bernstein: 6:57

All right, Bernie. Well, I'm honored to be on first. Thank you.

Marc Bernstein: 7:00

You're welcome, Bernie, and thank you for being here. Cool to be on. So wait, I do need to add this. So not only were we both Bernsteins, we were also proud brothers of Pi Kappa Alpha that's right and we both have brothers who are brothers of Pi Kappa Alpha. That's right, so we brought the Bernsteins to Pi Kappa Alpha.

Ross Bernstein: 7:17

That's right. That's right. So my quick story. I grew up in rural southern Minnesota. When I was 10 years old I watched the Miracle on Ice hockey team. Herb Brooks the coach of the team is one of my heroes. They beat the Soviets. I wanted to play hockey. I got into it. I went to the Herb Brooks hockey camp that year. I was the worst guy there. I won the most improved award. I was the guy who sucks the most and uh. But I wound up getting into hockey and I wound up trying out to play for the university of Minnesota. I lasted about 10 minutes. I got cut and I wound up becoming the team mascot. Goldie the gopher kind of made lemonade out of lemons and uh. From that experience I wrote my first book as a senior in college called Gopher Hockey by the Hockey Gopher.

Marc Bernstein: 8:03

I have to stop you for one second because we have had Dave Raymond, the kind of king of mascots, on the show and I know you guys know each other. He's a good friend. Yeah, the original Philly fanatic.

Ross Bernstein: 8:14

Yeah, he's an OG man, he's the best.

Ross Bernstein: 8:18

But, so I had two brothers that went on to get ideally, mbas. They were on Wall Street. That's what my parents wanted me to do, but in the true entrepreneurial spirit, I said I want to work in sports, that's my passion. So I leveraged all my grad school money and, at the behest of them, they thought this was going to be a huge failure and I wound up writing this book and 50 books later I made a career out of it and now I get to travel the world as a professional speaker and help to impact people and to help them and to help them be better. And that's what this show is about, right, just sharing wisdom and helping people and, kind of by the laws of karma, just to be able to watch people do good, and it's all about their legacies. So, yeah, I'm honored to be here and that's my story.

Marc Bernstein: 9:07

One quick question for you. I imagine you're not finished writing books, Are you oh?

Ross Bernstein: 9:14

maybe you know a lot of what I talk about as a speaker is disruption, and in my world I could see that coming. You know my world. Early on I was churning out a few books a year. I was a master at getting on tv, radio, print newspapers, magazines and then all of a sudden it was like this shift. It was no longer demographics and day parts and it was likes, clicks, shares, how many followers you have. I could see this coming and borders was gone. B dalton's was gone, walden books was gone, crown books was gone, barnes noble was hanging on by a thread but selling more Carmel Macchiatos board games.

Ross Bernstein: 9:51

I think back to the days of you know, when I was just starting out writing this book. I mean I get parents a lot of times at presentations that will say you know my kid, just like you, they love sports and they want to do this. What advice do you have? And it's like what advice I mean, my God, when I was, when I was young, I had to leverage all my grad school money to physically write and publish a book that was going to. You know that everyone thought would be a disaster. Kids today can anyone can do a podcast, anyone can do a blog or a vlog. I mean there's. You know, justin Bieber did not need a record label, he just went on YouTube and there's, there's so many opportunities now, like everything has changed. So traditional books have changed there, you know they're they're for celebrities and politicians now, and fiction writers, but anything you write now is like yesterday's TV guide and you have to be over 50 to understand that reference. But it's just. Everything's changing.

Marc Bernstein: 10:53

So now it's part of an online world. I think they've changed the word author to content creator, so it still is content. It's still material. So, since you're done with books, tell me about your last book. What was the last book I?

Ross Bernstein: 11:08

wouldn't, I wouldn't say I'm done. I I'm actually uh working on one right now that's where I wanted.

Marc Bernstein: 11:14

That's where I wanted to go the, the.

Ross Bernstein: 11:18

The last book I wrote was and I'll hold it up people watching, I guess, but it was a book called wearing the sea and it's about captains.

Ross Bernstein: 11:25

Um, interestingly, one of the guys who wrote one of the forwards is Bobby Clark, who you may recognize his name in Philly, but it was a cool book and it turned into another speech that I do about leadership and so it was really interesting to learn about.

Ross Bernstein: 11:41

You know, I probably interviewed 500 captains and coaches and just want to learn how they lead and why they, why they lead and their different styles of leadership, and that's that's kind of what I do, is I kind of relate it back to business, about if you're going to be a manager or supervisor and you want to connect with that young, gen Z or millennial, or if you want to connect with that older, boomer, senior or that foreign customer or coworker or difficult coworker. So it's really that's what sports is. It's the coaches, the captains have to build relationships quickly. There's a shared vision in sports. If they, if the team, stinks, they all get fired. So they have to come together quickly. They go to training camp. They got to figure out chemistry and put the right people in the right seats in the bus, as they say, and it's a fascinating thing. So I love studying the how and why and then translating to help people do better in their careers so they can have a more profound legacy.

Marc Bernstein: 12:31

So that's so great. That's why I wanted to ask you about the content a little bit, because I know that's what you do. You take the lessons from sports. It's not just about sports that you're writing about and that you're speaking about. I know, I know we talk about this a lot. It's not a straight line to stardom. You know, and you're, and I'll call you a star in terms and I know you don't think of yourself that way but in terms of what you do in the speaking circuit and in terms of putting yourself out there, you're, you're, you're. You know you're near the top of the uh, the heap. So you know what kind of what kind of challenges have you had along the way, ross, and what kind of characteristics do you have, or character you have that helped you get through those frustrations. Obviously, you didn't always make the team early on, so you dealt with that, but as your career progressed, what did that look like?

Ross Bernstein: 13:24

Yeah well, this business of professional speaking, it's a business of rejection. You know I book about 130 gigs a year all over the world and for every gig I book I probably lose at least five. Right, and that's just what I know of where they were kind enough to say I'm sorry, we didn't pick you, we found someone better, smarter, prettier, much more interesting than you. I'm sure there's another 20,. You know that were just like, oh, this guy's horrible. I'd never even consider this guy. So unless you've got real thick skin, this isn't the business for you. But I learned about thick skin early on. You write a book. You're preparing a five-course meal for a bunch of snobby food critics.

Announcer: 14:01

They've got Amazon.

Ross Bernstein: 14:02

They're going to leave reviews. They've got avatars, they can hide behind the cloak of anonymity and they can write whatever they want. So you know you're not going to please everyone and that's just. That's just life, but there's been. You know there's been challenges all along the way. There's disruption, you know, certainly, as I explained my book disruptors but they're speaking disruptors, right? I mean, there's things like one of my biggest disruptions and I'm sure you can relate to this, Marc being in the world of financial services where you're a top producer, is just picking up the phone. You know I close deals over the phone I'm old school that way but no one wants to pick up their phone anymore.

Ross Bernstein: 14:39

Anyone under 40, it's like what are you calling for? This is for texting. How do you close a deal when they can't hear your voice and how excited you are and what you're going to do to help them? It's challenging. Robo calls have made it so no one wants to answer their phone ever again. I would say.

Ross Bernstein: 14:55

Other disruptions in my world include things like you know, just obviously. We went through the pandemic where Zoom here we are on Zoom was the big thing we had to all of a sudden pivot, as they were saying back in those days, and I remember when that happened. It was incredibly disruptive. I remember March 20th, I was in Miami, I just came to the event. I was on my way to Charleston and my client called and said we're canceling. I said what do you mean? I'm literally at the airport, I'm on my way. And she said yeah, there's 3,000 people that were supposed to come and this coronavirus thing were supposed to come, and this coronavirus thing, we, we think it's going to be really bad, so we're canceling.

Ross Bernstein: 15:31

And then every one of my clients canceled and it was like, oh my God, now what Right it was. And then I and then a client called and said we're going to do virtual. And I said, do you mean like a webinar? And they said, no, zoom, you can do Zoom, right. And I said, of course. And then I went on to Google. What the hell is Zoom.

Ross Bernstein: 15:45

And I got Zoom, and thank God for Zoom, because whereas a lot of people, you know, just went out of business, in my world that year, I had one of my best years ever.

Ross Bernstein: 15:57

I leaned in and I wound up doing it, you know, in my office here, where I was able to set up a second TV and I was able to walk around, and I remember I had a call in about October 2020 from like I had, like the CEO of Prudential, saying I just watched you for 90 minutes and I didn't check my phone or email once I knew I could still bring that same energy. I could deliver what I call the virtual keynote, not a Zoom or a Teams call where you see their tiny head in the bottom corner. I was able to just make it a little different. And then I was doing gigs in Dubai and Des Moines and Moose Jaw on the same day. So it was about change and in your world it's FinTech, it's InsurTech, right, it's how these people are changing. So I just think it's everywhere and if you don't lean in and change, you're going to have problems.

Marc Bernstein: 16:42

Well, listen, there's another parallel. I'll just say this real quick not to talk about me, but I was like I'm thinking I'm out of business because what do I do? I take people out to lunch and dinner and go to events, and it's all in person. So I happened to be working with a coach at that time and it gave me a great opportunity to rethink things and I first did a virtual I don't want to call it a Zoom call, I called it a web conversation, you know, which I thought was kind of clever, and it was called financial leadership during turbulent times. And we created I created groups of people to get together and did business over the internet. I was like whoa, this is pretty cool. And that morphed into a manufacturing group I started called the Forward Focus Forum and that morphed into this podcast.

Marc Bernstein: 17:27

And I love to say, because I'm by far the old guy in my company amongst my partners and I'm the one on social media and I'm the one with all the technology but I was telling them recently I think I got to think past the podcast, I don't think this is going to last forever. I think we're going to have, and I know it's going to be. I haven't told you this, ann, but we're going to figure out video. We're going to get our radio faces on TV because that's coming next. It's got to be that way, but I don't know what's beyond that. But you've got to keep changing. There's always going to be disruption, like you said. I love your message regarding that and this is more than a great time for a quick one-minute break for a commercial and we'll be right back on Founders Forum.

Announcer: 18:12

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Marc Bernstein: 19:11

We are back on Founders Forum and, as I always say, time flies when you're having fun and we have nine minutes left.

Ang Onorato: 19:17

Fantastically, we always get these great guests that we need, you know, multiple, multiple hours of conversation with. So and I didn't mean to jump in there, Marc, but because of the nine minutes, jump in Right before the break. You were mentioning how you not only for you personally kind of pivoted when the pandemic hit, but I think you're conveying a piece of leadership that I think is notable, to kind of point out. So you may not have a company yourself that has dozens and dozens of employees, but I think by the fact that, being someone that people look to in terms of thought, leadership, around the concept of leadership and I'm a sports person too, and when I'm working with my clients I really hone in on conscious leadership as sort of my thing, and I like to relay a lot of that to sports figures and things like that but the story that you just told, I think it's also important to note for listeners that you don't have to be a founder of a massive company. You can have a thought, you can have a movement, you can be a leader inside of business when you're not the top person, and just by the fact that you pivoted in such a way that people then could follow right. So the CEO of Prudential calls and says I'm, you know, I'm keyed into what you're doing, and it's not even so much what you're saying, but it's the representation of how you're leading. So to me that's a beautiful tie-in to the impact that we talked about at the beginning of the show, and so I'm curious.

Ang Onorato: 20:42

The question in here is I'm curious when you're in front of groups now, what are some of the key points that you're teaching and conveying to leaders of companies or entrepreneurial businesses, or even movements? You know movements or or leaders in their, in their homes even. What are some of the key messages that you're in a post COVID world? What are you? What are you kind of leading, leaving with them, them with?

Ross Bernstein: 21:05

Thanks, Ang. You know, I think it's. I think to be really successful today, to really provide value to to our clients or whatever it is in any entrepreneurial situation, I think you and to truly be a thought leader, you've got to do research, and I think that's the thing where a lot of people just they take shortcuts. And you know, I've always been a researcher, I've always written books, and I was. I always had this, you know, imposter syndrome, as they say, where I wasn't good enough. I think I'd written 20, 30 books before I even really started speaking. I wanted to be an expert and I think that the most successful speakers today are people that are out facilitating, doing their own research. They're asking questions, they're figuring out what challenges, what problems they have and they're actually conducting their own proprietary research to make them a true thought leader, not just regurgitating someone else's you know stuff. So you know, for me that's why I've had success in talking about sports is because my stories are my own, they're not just general stories, they're things where I've interviewed people and done that, and I think that's, I think that's the key. But I think you know to your point about finding success in your own terms.

Ross Bernstein: 22:13

Yeah, I mean, I've built my business very strategically. I don't have any people. You know, with the way you know the yin and the yang of a lot of this technology is you don't need it. You know, I run my business from my phone and my wife and I travel together so we go all over the world. We're probably in the road 200, 240 days a year and we made a lifestyle business so we just go gig to gig to gig and our daughter's in college at the University of Minnesota. So we, we get back and we see her and she comes with us when she when you know, she used to come with us all the time. One of my favorite things to brag about is she became Delta Airlines youngest ever diamond medallion, at the age of 13.

Ang Onorato: 22:48

Wow.

Ross Bernstein: 22:50

All seven continents by junior high and she's a public school kid, nothing crazy. We just made a choice to like enjoy the ride, and I think that's the thing and I know that's what you talk about in finding happiness and success is to do it on your own terms and to be able to kind of enjoy the ride. We get so caught up and I'm trying to live my best life now. I don't want to be like, yeah, when I retire I'm going to sell my business, I'm going to go do all this stuff, and it's like man we're. You know, we see a lot of old people on cruise ships that can barely get off the cruise ship. It's like, you know, you gotta, you gotta enjoy the ride.

Ross Bernstein: 23:21

And I think that's what the pandemic taught us too is a lot of people realize, with burnout and stress anxiety, that that you know they, they, they want to be working remote, they want to do different things, and that's caused huge disruption, from real estate to financial services is how do you accommodate this? How do you make it so people can have their cake and eat it? So there's a lot of challenges, but I think, as thought leaders, I know you're a great speaker as well in your own right. So it's how do we help people? How do we help people think differently so they can accomplish their goals? And certainly, Marc, that's what you do as a financial expert is how do you help them?

Ross Bernstein: 23:58

achieve their goals and do it on their own terms.

Marc Bernstein: 24:00

So we're all so we have to do. Yeah, we love that and it leads perfectly into and I think I know what you're gonna say, but let's talk about if this were April of 2034, ten years from now, and so we're looking at your ten year vision. What would your life look like then?

Ross Bernstein: 24:16

Well, we'd be having this conversation in the metaverse of course.

Marc Bernstein: 24:19

Of course right, Phones and emails would be dead and our generative AI assistance would be handling all the details.

Ross Bernstein: 24:28

It would be chip to chip conversation. Yeah, you know 10 years. I'll tell you what I'm going to be doing, just what I'm doing. I'm super happy. I was just at my friend Harvey McKay's 90th birthday party.

Marc Bernstein: 24:38

Oh, you said that was coming up.

Ross Bernstein: 24:39

And Marc Harvey and my dad were old fraternity brothers at the University of Minnesota, the Jewish fraternity, and one of the guys was Robert Zimmerman. Bob Dylan was an old fraternity brother that they had Just to take you back down memory lane a little bit.

Marc Bernstein: 24:53

Harvey, just to take you back down memory lane a little bit. Harvey McKay, Jewish.

Ross Bernstein: 24:56

Yeah, really yeah. Harvey's 90. He has a new book out, he's speaking, he's flying his jet to gigs. I mean, people like that just inspire the hell out of me, right? I mean, there's no rules Me too. As long as you're relevant, as long as you feel like you have purpose, as long as you feel like you're making a difference, helping people, then the world is your oyster, like I'm just a baby in this business and I feel like I'm an old guy. And as long as you can do that, then great. So I have no thoughts of retiring or doing anything, but I just feel like I love what I do and hopefully you know it sounds like you two do as well and as long as we can help people and make a difference, then that's success, absolutely so. And make a difference, then that's success, Absolutely so.

Ross Bernstein: 25:34

That leads right into we started the show and started it with impact and tell me about your legacy that you'd like to leave for your daughter and for others. You know I talk a lot about Herb Brooks. I'm the president of the Herb Brooks Foundation and I've written a couple of books about Herbie. We've raised millions of dollars to help kids play sports, something he was passionate about and when I asked Herb about his legacy he said a couple things.

Ross Bernstein: 25:56

He said number one the name on the front of the jersey is always more important than the name on the back of the jersey, and that was a line they used in the movie Miracle. He died during the making of the movie and I got to work with the producers and give them some wisdom and that was one of the things they used, which was really cool. The other thing Herb talked about was an acronym he called QTL. Quality time left and I think that's a good metric, especially in the world of financial services, is how much quality time do you have left, and I think that's the big thing. So my legacy will be my family, as it is for yours, and hopefully I'll make a difference to a lot of people and just appreciate people like you doing what you do.

Marc Bernstein: 26:33

And if you could give advice to your younger self, what would that be?

Ross Bernstein: 26:40

It would be. You know, you know what it'd just be. Keep doing what you're doing, man. I don't know. That's a loaded question, that's. I don't have any regrets. Every huge failure I've had has become a massive part of my speech. Speaking right, I don't. I don't. That's the thing. Like a lot of professional athletes fail in speaking because they're the hero of their story, I'm not. I talk about other people and for me, I talk about failures. That that's the key, and it's being an entrepreneur. That's where you learn is failing. So whenever I have a huge failure, great, it's another great story, another, another little signature story of vignette that you can share to help other people.

Marc Bernstein: 27:26

So, hey, man, more the more failures the better. Well, you, my friend, are spreading knowledge and inspiration and joy and it's been such a pleasure to have you here. So, in other words, you're. I just wanted to say you know, in Philly we would say, keep on doing what you're doing. You said in Philly in the 70s, when I was growing up, we would say, keep on trucking. So, listen, great to have you here. My friend, my brother and I know we'll be in better touch and we'll be speaking more. And thank you all for listening to Founders Forum. Hope you enjoyed your time with Ross Bernstein and John Rado and myself. We'll see you next week on Founders Forum.