It takes more than heart

A coffee bean, you put it into the water and it changes the color of the water, it changes the flavor of the water, turns it into a core some magic juice to give them more energy, but never stops being a bean. It continues to evolve and be better than what it was before hit the water yet. It's still it's original at the core of being. Yeah, and that that dovetails neatly into how you are as a leader. The single most single biggest influencer on any team, any organization is the leader. How do they inspire their people to to work to do more than just their job.

Transcript

Mike Raber  0:00

This is Mike Raber with the influencers journey. Today I have the honor to be here with Dennis Mellon who is an author, John Gordon Power of Positive leadership trainer, athletic mental performance master and high school baseball coach. Dennis brings a years of experience as a 28 year old retired major airline captain and fleet Captain 20 year retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and command pilot. He has been a consultant, teacher and baseball coach while developing Civil Air Patrol leaders. As a fleet captain of a major airline. He was the head of training for 550 pilots and 40 instructors. That is lives with his wife, Heidi in the Chicago suburbs. He has four sons, and is a grandfather to a six month old girl. He has also just finished a book called takes more than heart, changing the journeys, challenges into opportunities, where today he's going to change or he's going to share with us a little bit about the book as well as part of his journey to inspire him to write the book. Dennis, would you like to share with our listeners a little bit about the book? 

Demmis Mellon 1:00

Well, first of all, Mike, thanks for having to invite me on board here and happy to have the opportunity to speak with everybody. Yeah, this is a probably a 12 year journey to get to this point. Back in 2008, I was an airline pilot Captain at a major air carrier, fifth largest air carrier United States behind American Delta, united and southwest comms Alaska Airlines. And I had been inspired since I was about 10 years old to be a professional pilot. When I was 10 years old, I was at my father's Air Force Base, looking up at the sky and seeing all these airplanes flying overhead. I'm going Hey, that's pretty cool. That's what I want to do. That's what I want to do when I grow up. Of course, my wife says I've never reached that point yet. But that's another story. Anyway, kind of the reverse role that happens with high schoolers. You know, they get to age 17 or 18. And they're looking at what do I do now? Well, this happened to me at age 56. out my mountain bike riding east of Seattle up in the foothills, on one of those rare Bluebird days in October, I had a serious heart attack. Of course, I'm not sure there's anything that's not serious about a heart attack. So that's kind of a understatement there. But from that point, I got to a point where now what do I do? I was like that 18 year old? Do I go to school? Now what college I go to what career? What am I going to do? I'm only 56 years old. And I'm a little bit too old to go back to male hand modeling. So I decided, I better start looking, I went through bouts of depression and self-doubt. And, you know, through that dark cloud of what do I do now.

So I got to the point where I had the opportunity to get into several airlines and working different jobs. But it's wasn't the equivalent job, you know that. That feeling you get when you when you have a job, boy, you never feel like you're going to work. That's where I was, I was trying to find that equivalent. And I just I went through three or four different other airlines doing ground, jobs not flying, until I finally figured out what I wanted to do when I grow up. And that was to, to coach, I started coaching baseball, I started doing mental performance with the athletes. And then I started doing motivational talks and, and going through speaking, I got to the point where I was keeping a journal. And I thought, well, maybe I should put this together and put it into a book. So back in February, March when COVID hit, I said, now's a good time to sit down and do it. So I wrote this book takes more than heart. That's my story. I'm sticking to it. 

Mike Raber  4:28  

I love that. Because not only did you go after your childhood passion of wanting to fly planes, and you did that and build a great career both that sounds like in the Air Force as well as for Alaska Airlines. And within the airline industry in the hole, however, that you had a setback, the heart attack, which can be a very large setback. However, it didn't stop you. If anything, it gave you an opportunity to kind of reinvent yourself, which is really I find really inspiring because I wish more people would find ways to lean into that and find ways to hopefully not without a heart attack necessarily, but to lean into their own inner goals, their own desires, and share that with people who are out there. And it sounds like with your coaching, that's what you're doing now. Am I correct? 

Dennis Mellon  5:23  

Yeah, it is exactly. I mean, it took a while to go through all this. I think the Japanese have a saying , it might even be a samurai saying which is "fall down seven times get up eight times." And there were quite a few fall downs during that time. I mean, the option was to just slip your shoulders forward and go in. What do you got to do and slip towards geezer Ville? You know, they defined geezer villa, sitting on a Barker lounger with the remote, cool drink, and watch an Oprah rerun or something. But no, that wasn't me. I felt like I needed to, I they still had something to contribute. So I started plugging away trying to find trying to find that passion again.

Mike Raber  6:10  

Very cool. We went through your bio, sharing your experience in leadership, mindset, and other components in that area? What other areas do you coach it? You talked about being a Bean, as an example? And how does fit into what you're doing? 

Dennis Mellon  6:28  

Now that's funny that you bring that up be a bean is the tagline I use for my company. And that's basically your experiences, going through the roasting and the grinding simular to a coffee bean in a boiling pot of water, which is which is basically life, everybody's in that boiling pot of water. And yeah, you're in yet. You can be that that coffee being the changes that water into gourmet coffee, some way to make it something that smells good and tastes good, well, the same concept of when you fall down this seven times get up eight, go look for something, where can I be of an influence? Where can I do something that that makes a little difference with somebody. And that's where I found my work and put my passion back into. 

Mike Raber  7:24  

Nice. That's so cool, too. Because coffee bean, you put it into the water and it changes the color of the water, it changes the flavor of the water, turns it into a core some magic juice to give them more energy, but never stops being a bean. It continues to evolve and be better than what it was before hit the water yet. It's still it's original at the core of being. Yeah, and that that dovetails neatly into how you are as a leader. The single most single biggest influencer on any team, any organization is the leader. How do they inspire their people to to work to do more than just their job.

Dennis Mellon 8:08  

Thats reminds me of a story that was brought up. It might even be a jack Canfield story about a guy walking through a construction area. And he comes up to a bricklayer and he asked him, Hey, what are you doing there? And the guy doesn't even look up and doesn’t even answer or acknowledge him. So he moves on to the next guy. Same guy, same type job, he's laying bricks. The man once again says, hey what are you doing? This guy says collecting a paycheck. Okay, so it goes on to the third guy who's laying bricks, he says, what are you doing, and the guy says, I'm building a cathedral, that is going to be a shelter for homeless people. To be able to put 800 people in church on Sunday. And that's what I'm doing here. So which one of those is the inspired worker? Which leader got to those? gave them the vision that Wow, look at what I'm building. I'm building a cathedral. And that's what that's what being a leader is. Its being an influencer. 

Mike Raber  9:11  

I love that. And it's I think so many people look at leadership as I want to do and watch me do Bruce is to collaboration approach. It's another great saying of john Maxwell's who's a great leader, trainer in his own right, has a phrase that he says, "If you really want to be a leader, get up and leave the room. And if no one follows you, you just go for a walk."

Dennis Mellon  9:35  

That is a good analogy, isn't it? Yeah. It's important to for a leader to provide the vision or the purpose why am I coming to work? You know, if they don't have that, then he's, whoever it is. It's working woman or man, whether they're just not answering anybody and just going through the motions are saying I'm collecting a paycheck or after that fired person is trying to, to, to that has that vision and creating something. That's when you get people to work more than just their job.

Mike Raber  10:11  

So true. And there's a great book called built to last. And in the book the author talks about, he compares companies that's been around for 100 plus years. And one of the common grounds that he found was these companies, the founder of the company, they come in, they have a vision, they have a dream, and they bring other people around them to fulfill that vision. But the vision is not only within the founder itself, but it becomes the vision of the whole division of the company. And eventually, like 100, your business naturally would do it, oh, growth, the founder might retire, they might pass away, they might go in different directions. But the vision, the mission of the company never changes. Well, it changes but it continues to hold true as new CEOs come into place, or new employees come into place, and the company continues to grow. Because of the power the mission because of the vision that the original leader, the founder brought with them into the business. right? Well, it's in how you inspire the people that work for you is probably one of the most important things that a leader can do. I think john Gordon says something along the lines of, "We don't get burnout. Because of the work that we do, we get burnt out, because we forget why we're doing what our purpose is." And if you have that purpose, then then there's no amount of it, there's no limit to the persistence and, and perseverance and grit that you will show towards completing the work or reaching the goal.

Dennis Mellon 11:50  

Yeah, so true. And it's interesting with thing going back to flying airlines, especially commercial airline, is oftentimes you think of the pilot, as someone who is up in front, locked away in this little room, flying the plane getting the person or the airlines from point A to point B, but they forget that they are really the leader of the plane, it's up to the pilot for everything to go the way it needs to go. And I can't really think of a better definition of a true leader within commercial space, even though they're not necessarily in the boardroom leading from afar. They're certainly leading the mission, they're ahead of the mission, and everybody is following us. In fact, my last flight ever, with the airline, in my mind, it was a beautiful day flying from Seattle down to San Diego and back smooth, lots of passengers and everything. And I, I can remember, looking down into the city of Eugene, Oregon was kind of facetiously, but I was looking down there looking at where, hey, I wonder what those people are doing down there. Of course, they're probably sitting on the ground going, Hey, I wonder what those guys are thinking up there. And what I was thinking was, wow, it's been, I've been at this for 35 plus years. And I may, I've got a lot of professional development that went into that. And I feel like I'm making it look easy. It's still hard work. But I have done it for so long, I'm making it look pretty easy. And that was just that sheer pride. But Little did I know how quickly things were going to change in a matter of days here, you know, when I completely lost my medical view of the heart attack. So that's what the book is about. It starts out with the with the bike ride, trying to get up the hill and, and the I used to like going out on those bike, great trails, getting up to the top and then it's like slalom skiing down in between the trees on those single bike paths. Kind of the like the feeling like I used to get when I was flying my Air Force trainer at Mach one with my hair on fire, we would loops and rolls between the clouds and stuff. And that was what was so hard in the recovery, is what do I do now? What’s the equivalent of that? Which is hard to find. The rush, the feeling, that exhilarating feeling that I have this, that this is so cool what I'm doing, you know.

Mike Raber  14:28  

Yeah, I guess in a way, it's just making a different impact. Whether you are flying at Mach one or you are flying commercial airlines and you are and or standing in front of a conference room, full of people, it's showing up and coming. Educating or changing the environment, changing the mindset of those who are in the room, sharing things that will help them change the world. It's still leadership. It's just a different approach to how learning is done.

Dennis Mellon  15:01  

Well. And the fact of the matter is, when I think back on it, it took 36 years to get to that point where I felt like it, you know, making it look easy. Well, the 30 years is what made it easy. You know, you don't, it's not like, okay, Abracadabra, today you're a pilot, and you're going to go fly for United on their triple seven going to Japan or something, it takes a while to get to that. And I think sometimes that gets lost now, you know, one step at a time, one step at a time.

Mike Raber 15:33  

So true. And you can really tell somebody who is truly seasoned in their roll. Truly  comfortable in their seat. Going back to flying for an example, two of the most interesting fights I had was both terrifying, or nerve racking. And because of the pilot turned into an interesting flight. So number one, I was flying out of Milwaukee. I think it was an international flight. But as the plane was starting to back up, was making this really weird sound. The palin was jerking. And a lot of the people were starting to get agitated, myself included, and the flight attendants picked up on that. And they must have went in and told the captain, who then came over the intercom and very calmly said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I understand that some of you are feeling uneasy about that noise that you're hearing, there's nothing wrong with the aircraft is just a tool that we use, we can either fire up the jet, and waste fuel, etc, to move the plane back, or we can taxi it back this way. And what you're hearing is this just us getting ready and preparing the plane to back up so we can take off. And then he pauses. And he goes, and just so you know, tonight is my granddaughter's birthday party, and I fully intend on being there for her party.  I would not take this aircraft up into the air, if I cannot bring it back down in time for my granddaughter's party. And you could just see kind of this sense or ease come across the plan; like oh, yeah, the pilot is humen and also wants to stay safe. 

Dennis Mellon 17:09  

Yeah, he's got skin in the game.

Mike Raber 17:11  

Very true, Second, why would we second guess that. And then, the other flip side of that was, I was flying from San Diego to Salt Lake City. And we were actually 20 minutes late. And so we're flying. And I was worried that I'd miss my connection, etc, flights going along, going along, and as it gets ready to touchdown in the Salt Lake the pilot, once again, very commonly gets on the intercom, and says, ladies and gentlemen, this is Captain so and so I just want to let you know that I have good news. And the good news is that we are actually first to land. We're going to come in early. And we're going to have a very colorful, welcoming party to help us take us to the gate. And then again, he pauses and he says no, just so you know, it's not anything wrong with the aircraft, but we have a hydraulic leak. And because of that, we need to get the plane in and there's going to be escort of fire engines following us just for procedures, theres nothing to worry about. He said it very calmly, so nobody on the plane was worried. And as you looked down, you see this long line of fire engines and rescue vehicles on the ground, like a Christmas tree. But in July, we came down then taxied to the gate and everybody got off the plane. Actually, I don't think we went to the gate. I think we taxied and then people got off a little way from the gate. That that part doesn't matter. It was so interesting how the pilot was so calm. And so Matter of fact about it, there's something that you come in and you look down, you see all these fire engines, most people freak out. But because he took such a powerful leadership role, people were very calm. And it was a completely different experience than what could have been.

Dennis Mellon 18:57  

Right. And you know, you bring up one of the fundamental, important things for every leaders is is to communicate well, as long as everybody knows what's going on and what you're trying to do. It makes a huge difference in the mental state. Because if you don't have that, then it can have a negitive reaction. Negative communication, you know, doubt distortion, division, all those things come in. If you don't, you're not communicating well. So that's one of the prime things that leader needs to do is communicate.

Mike Raber 19:31  

Yeah, so true. Now going back to your book for a second, what are some of the things your book, discusses in the leadership realm, or what was kind of?

Dennis Mellon 19:41  

Yeah, there's quite a few nuggets in there about leadership, but it's also mainly about the perseverance of how, to battle through these things to find to find your new purpose. There's a lot of people that are They're they go through adversity. And you know, sometimes they slip their shoulders forward and go, and what are you going to do and accept their fate? Or do you go look at it and ask what are the controllables? What? What can I do? And I'll try this Well, that's not where I want to be. I'll try that. That's not  I that's too much. I for a while there, I had a job where I was traveling to, to put on three or four day classes for different airlines check airman, I was going to Kenya, I was going to the Philippines, I went to some set a Cape Verde off the African coast, scheduled for a bunch of other places to go. But it was really telling on my family, you know, so I, I said, You know what, I need to get something a little bit closer. And yeah, it's fun, but it's still it's still not filling that void. And what I eventually found was, what filled that void was being able to pass on my experiences, my knowledge, although my friends will probably claim that there's not much of that knowledge that needs to be passed on. But the fact of the matter is, is if I can help somebody, that just the book is, if I can help somebody, or somebody can help somebody to take a shorter, take a shortcut, or not have to learn from the University of hard knocks, then why not help them out, you know, help them find that shortcut and or use your experience, your knowledge to, to, to get up that each time like we were talking about earlier?

Mike Raber  21:49  

Yeah. So I love that. And it's one of the things in desires and putting together this podcast show, the influences journey is it's all about the concept that we are all along our own journey, we are all influenced seriously our own right, it could be the three year old helping a one year and a half year old, learn how to walk, he could be all the way down the chain. And we can figure it out ourselves, which takes a long time. Or we can learn from those who are a little bit ahead of us. And then a little bit further ahead of them. And together, we grow together we rise. Sounds like you are doing the same thing for the people that you work with.

Dennis Mellon 22:30  

Yeah, I think that's one of the most important things as in I've gone through this evolution of we all have new year's resolutions, and typically those get broken by January 31. So I've gone through this evolution where we pick out one word for the year that were in last year's word was a mentor, you know, so whatever I could do to mentor and and by having that one word, it's not breaking a new year's resolution that one word is always in front of you. And constantly doing now this year, I my one word went to steadfast, being being steadfast, somebody could depend on somebody that you know, can persevere perseveres to help help you get to that next level to help you just this much each time. Each person that you come in contact with.

Mike Raber 23:29  

Nice, that's so important. As we start to wrap up, are there is there anything else right now that you'd like to share with the listeners?

Dennis Mellon 23:37  

I am excited to be on here. I know that you have listeners that are always looking for that, that next little nugget that will inspire him I hope, I hope some of the things that that we've talked about today inspire some other people to

Mike Raber 23:52  

Definitely I'm sure well, I know it's inspired me but if a person should want to get a hold of you or purchase your book, how would they do that?

Dennis Mellon 24:00  

Well, they can contact me personally via my email, Dennis Mellon, Deninsmellon @hotmail.com. Or at freezin Press. It's actually a Canadian publishing company.Friesen or the all the usual ones, Amazon Barnes and Noble good reads nook, Apple books, the book is available and all those but if you can contact me personally, I can get you a discount and a signed copy.

Mike Raber 24:41  

Nice sounds and you can

Dennis Mellon 24:42  

Go to my to my web books website www.takesmorethanHart.com

Mike Raber 24:48  

Perfect, and I'll have that in the show notes as well. So it's okay to write that down as Dennis was going through it. Don't worry, it will be there for you to copy off and I highly encourage you to go get it copy the book.  

Dennis Mellon 25:01  

Thanks very much, Mike. I really appreciate the opportunity, I hope. I hope you continue to have success with this podcast.

Mike Raber 25:08  

Thank you. I appreciate you being on it. And look forward to talking with you again soon.

Dennis Mellon 25:13  

Thanks.

Mike Raber 25:14  

You're welcome. And at that I'm going to bring this shorter arrest and look, we're talking with you next week. Goodbye for now.