Episode 5: Realignment

We’ve had some really good conversations so far. But if we’re being honest, we’ve only scratched the surface. This episode is about what we’ve learned, what we didn’t expect, and where this is all starting to go. The more we’ve talked with people, the more we’ve realized that risk isn’t just a business conversation. It’s something we all carry in different ways. So we’re widening the lens. More voices. More perspectives. More real conversations about the decisions people make and the ripple effect those decisions have. This is where it starts to go deeper.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

We're here to talk about what risk really means. Not in theory, not on paper, but in the choices real people make when the stakes are real and the outcome isn't guaranteed. Risk shows up in silence, urgency, loyalty, fear, and hope. It shapes what we build, what we protect, and what we're willing to fight for. It's not just personal, it's deeply connected. Every calculated risk leaves a mark, and the ripple it creates doesn't just touch one life, it echoes through families, businesses, and entire communities. This podcast is about those echoes, the ones that remind us that we're not alone in the decisions we make or the weight we carry.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Okay, so we're on episode five, and we decided this was a good time to just maybe realign what we're doing and go back and look at the last few episodes that we've done. When we started this, we really talked about not wanting to be in the insurance space or be limited because risk isn't really a limited thing. It's in everybody's lives in multiple capacities. But we've done a few episodes with some business owners. Um we did not for profit, and we really looked at how risk is showing up in not just their business life, but in their personal lives and how that's impacted their decision making. And then we've kind of realized in these past few episodes, are we limiting ourselves? So um we want to take some time, maybe talk through the few episodes we've done, and then discuss what our go forward plan is from here because I think it's gonna be some pretty exciting stuff.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

I think so too. And I I think you know, one of the one of the goals that we talked about um from the very beginning was not to make this about insurance. Sure. And I think we've accomplished that, you know, in a really great way. Uh I look back at the at the three episodes that we've had guests, and I'm really impressed by the conversations that came out of those particular uh recordings. I mean, uh there's great stories there um with those individuals, with uh with the Learning Lab and Wichita and the uniqueness of what's happening in education today, uh, to the stories of Jason and Raul and and and starting where they started and now where they're at. I think it's just been a really cool um thing to be a part of sharing those stories because I think that there's people out there that have seen our podcast, have known these people, but maybe didn't know that story. Yeah. And now they do. And I think that's kind of cool.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

I always like to hear the why, right? Their story, the why um for my clients, people I meet on the street, the guy I played golf with last night, right? I mean, just learning their why they got where they're at. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:54

And then we talked too just about do we open this up more? And because those are great stories, and they all started with, you know, a business of some such. But there are farmers, there are moms, there are healthcare workers, there are school uh officials that deal with risk in a really broad scale across a lot of things, you know, or and are we missing that and just limiting ourselves to speaking to, you know, an entrepreneur or business um owner.

SPEAKER_02 3:30

Yeah, it's easy for us to, you know, we're in the business of business, and it's easy for us to, you know, uh see very quickly who we could identify from the business perspective of where they've taken risk. And as business owners ourselves, we understand the risk behind being a business owner. But there are so many uh people doing so many unique things uh uh out there in the world, and they don't own a business, and that's okay, right? And and they're um they're facing great risk or or uh unique challenges in what it is that they're trying to accomplish. Uh and I think I think about the impact that what they're choosing to do has on other people too, right? Because I think that the risk, the idea of risk and and its impact and how it benefits people. Because I, you know, because from one of the things that I said from the early onset of our show is I don't want risk to be a scary word or a bad word. I want it to be a word that, you know, there is a reward to it. You know, there, you know, risk is risky, yeah, right. And it can be detrimental in a lot of different ways, but there's a whole other side to it. And I think we're keying in on the fact that we're seeing that through the conversations that we've had, and we're identifying that there are people out there uh in all walks of life, in all situations that can contribute to this conversation because I feel like this is an ongoing conversation. Our podcasts are just an ongoing conversation of what that idea of risk is and what it means to people. So I'm excited about the idea of expanding this uh sort of influence and relevance to the idea of risk outside of just business.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

Right. Well, and you brought up you brought up farmers, right? We've got so many farmers that are clients. We're we're we're here in central western Kansas. It's raining, fortunately. Right. Um, but our whole economy is based on ag, right? Look back at Salina being the the milling capital years and years ago, right? Uh all the businesses that that we insure around here have something to do in the ag space one way or the other, right? So it's such an important uh cog in our economy.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

Yeah. Yeah, you think about the you you drive to all of our 14 locations in the state of Kansas, and every location you can find a really big grain elevator, right? That just is enigmatic of of what our world is. Um, you know, uh I'm excited about getting a getting a farmer on this episode because I mean I couldn't grow anything in my backyard, let alone give me a quarter section and figure out how to grow a crop that you sell.

SPEAKER_01 6:08

Right.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

Um and and the risk involved in that is uh tremendous. Yes, tremendous.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

So just even even rain, but then look at where we're at uh as a world today, and that and tariffs and and oil prices and uh all of the factors that go into yeah, all of the factors that go into it. Yeah, it's huge.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

So yeah, I think we barely just grazed the surface. I think we knew what we wanted to do, but then it took a few conversations to be like there are so many things happening in the world, and even post-COVID, I know it's been a few years, but like just how that's changed the scale of risk um and reward and everywhere. Yeah, everywhere and everything we do and continues to.

SPEAKER_02 6:58

So well, and and and part of it is too as as sort of the person who might be conducting the conversation. I'm learning through this. And uh one of the things that I'm working on doing is making sure that I'm listening really well when I'm sitting across from that person that we might be recording the podcast, and identifying uh areas in which I can go deeper in terms of getting the story. And I think back, this this really came to me when we we sat down with Raul because the story that he has about his business is one thing. The story that he has about getting to the point of the business, yeah, is a whole different story, right? And I look back on it and go, I didn't go real deep into that story, but there's a whole nother story there. And all of that will involved uh a level of risk and what that would what that meant to him and his sibling and his family, his father and mother. Um, that journey from that really began as a as a young kid and it took 15 years to come to fruition, right? I mean, wow. That's that's kind of the cool stuff that I'm like, okay, as a part of this process, I'm learning about myself as a person who's going to be sitting across from somebody. How do I ask the right questions? Right. How do I how do I how do I get from them their their story in a more intimate way? And so I'm learning through this whole process too, which is kind of I'm built that way too.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

I love to learn more about who they are as people and how it got them where they are and at least what they're doing. And um I definitely think we as human beings tend to maybe hold those things back sometimes because we don't want somebody to look at us differently. And we've talked about this. We're asking small community business owners or members to talk about something that's kind of vulnerable and can be very close to their heart and does put them in a space where they don't want to feel like somebody looks at them differently. But the reality is we all have that, like that is definitely a connectivity point across human beings as we are, and just learning that it's okay to be in that space and that everybody has those stories. And I think to continue to hear more of that is a good is a good thing.

SPEAKER_02 9:31

And I hope too that um it validates for people as they watch this that their story is important and that their story has impact and that the the risks that they've taken have impact in a lot of people that maybe they don't even know. You know, you have interactions throughout the day as you go about your day, and most of them seem mundane, but people are watching you, um, people are seeing you, and you have impact. And uh this is a way, I think, this this show is a way for us to um reinforce to people that you know, whatever your story is, no matter how small or insignificant you think it is, it's probably much more significant than you think, right? That's true. And the and the willingness to sort of accept that and and lean into that as somebody, you know, and and and not in a not in a non-humble way, but in a in a way that says, you know what? Uh you know what I do does matter, or what I've done didn't make a difference. And I think uh the ability to to communicate that and allow people to sort of have that moment for themselves. I think it's you know, I don't know. I mean, I think a really big picture about our podcast and what it'll do, but I I mean that's that's the heart of this for me, right? It's a part of that.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

I'm always amazed when I talk with business owners how many are in business, not purely for profit. Sure. Some not even for profit at all, right? They've got other reasons that they do what they do, whether that's employing a bunch of people, whether that's uh the freedom and family, whatever it gives them, it's it's not always about the money. And that's that's refreshing in today's world to me.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

Well, not even just in business. You think about how many, we talk so much about our farmers and our ads, think about how many of them do that for the greater good of humankind, because there's no way you're going out there and do it for problem because we know that's not the case. And school teachers, you know, we could talk about that in its own episode, you know. They're not they're there because they want to help kids and uh make a difference, and it's hard work.

SPEAKER_02 11:44

Well, I think it speaks to the human condition we as humans want to help other other people, right? And so um I think it's often it often feels like in today's world that it's not very altruistic, right? That it's very self-centered and and it's me, me, me. But I think that when you get right down to it, all the things that we see on social media and television and in the media, that is a very small part of what the world is. And when you get right down to it, what we're trying to do is shine the spotlight on what is really truly the world and in in the way in which we can and using this platform to do that. And I think people want to do good. I think everybody wakes up in the morning and go, I want to do good today. How do I how do I how do I do that?

SPEAKER_00 12:28

We can turn off the news to go help in the interview.

SPEAKER_02 12:30

Yeah, exactly. Who cares what whatever it is that's going on? I mean, not that you shouldn't just not care, but focus where you need to focus or where you can do the most good.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

Yeah until we get diffused with work.

SPEAKER_02 12:43

Sure. Yeah, that work gets in the way a little bit sometimes. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

Yeah, but I mean there are so many things that are outside of our control. And a lot of the things on the news are outside of our control.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

Um but what we can control is what we're going out in the world and doing, and that's it's a risk we take every day. Yeah, but multiple people doing multiple good acts across the world is what we need.

SPEAKER_02 13:14

Yeah, it's like compound interest. Yeah, you know, it uh it compounds upon itself when people do good things. You might do one good thing for one person and it's going to affect ten people, right? Right. I mean, uh that's that's just what's cool about it.

SPEAKER_00 13:32

Yeah. We also discussed uh moving outside of ourselves a little bit, letting some other members of our agency do some of these interviews. Um, some of our smaller communities have some really great guests we want to include. And I think it makes sense to let our uh local agents um do some of that interview process with them. So we'll be expanding who we have on the show in that capacity too, which I think would be exciting.

SPEAKER_02 14:00

That would be neat. Go ahead. Sorry.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

No, I said that would be really neat. I've got a couple of ideas there.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

Yeah, that will be fun. It'll be fun to see other people in our organization involved in this. I think that's one of the things that we try to do as an organization is to, you know, allow for opportunities to expand outside of what your normal day-to-day looks like. And this is one of the ways in which we can do that. We got some really talented people in our organization uh that I think are going to really enjoy the opportunity to sit down with you know a local a local person, uh uh one of their clients or or a friend or a family member and really be able to dig in uh you know to what it is that they're doing. So I'm excited about that part. You know, one of the things that might be uh helpful uh and good for engagement is asking those who are watching this podcast or interacting with it is if you got somebody that you think might be a great guest, send send us a direct message or comment. I mean, I I think that that would be kind of cool to open it up to you know what you know people are watching who they might know.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Right.

SPEAKER_02 15:06

I mean, there's so many people out there, right? And we don't know their stories, but you know, it'd be kind of cool to see maybe get some feedback.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

Yeah, my goal with this is to have our own little order of the world where we talk about yeah, we have risk in life. Yeah, there's a lot of risks we can't control. Um, there's a lot of reward in what we can control and what we can go out and do, and you know, just continue to share stories as humans in ways that we can all attune to like being in the middle of struggle and trying to figure out what to do next. Uh you know, being on the other end of it and being successful, starting out and not knowing what you're doing, or you know just everyday life of people but there's so much connectivity across we're and we're also kind of muddied by what we see now, I think on TV and social media can be very overwhelming. There's a lot, I think there's a lot of good that uh we can share a little corner of the world of that.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

I think that's well and all these people have such great wisdom, right? And and I want to be that kind of um resource or podcast that you know you sit down with a notepad each time and somebody's taking a couple of notes going, that's really good. Maybe maybe I should you know use that, you know, maybe that idea of uh of uh attitude or approach is something that I should try and that they do that, and that we become sort of a resource for people who want to continue to to grow. One of our core values as an organization is growth mindset, right? How do we take this, uh how do we take this opportunity with this podcast to help other people outside of this organization uh grow? Right. So hopefully that's something that you know that people do as well. So I'm excited about what we can do the rest of the year. And um, you know, it's it's uh it's not easy to do these. I mean, these people that are doing them every week, they have like staffs and staffs of people, right? That are that are but it's very accessible to do it, right? It's very, it's very, you know, the the platform is exists, and you know, the technology that we use is you know, 20 years ago we'd have to have these huge cameras in here, and there'd be all this stuff, and now it's like cell phones and 35 millimeter cameras are doing what we do, but um and your one-man crew, and the one-man crew, and and we're just and and and so but but it's uh you know it takes time to put this all uh all together, and so I think we've gotten into a pretty good rhythm, and that rhythm will continue to accelerate and will allow for even more opportunities. So excited for the rest of the year.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

Yeah. Uh like us, follow us, share us if you have somebody that you think would be a good uh person to have on, um, has a good story. We definitely want you to send something to us and let us know. Um, we definitely want to grow this and just help try to share as much as we can with each other. That's good.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Yeah, that'd be great.