John Beede has scaled the highest mountain on each of seven continents. His mountain climbing stories are full of adventure, excitement and inspiration, yet John’s purpose in life reaches for something higher than the peak of Mt. Everest — the noble work of making a difference in others’ lives. Whether speaking to a group of young people, authoring a book, or engaged in conversation, John’s experiences have generated lessons that apply to all of our lives. John has also found tremendous worth and value in the work that great teachers do, and he shares with us who his favorite teacher was, and why. Show Notes include links to more information about John Beede - mountaineer, public speaker, and author extraordinaire. (Note: a bonus minute follows the outro at the end of the episode.)
SHOW NOTES
John’s background via audio clips and an intro (0:55)
The connection between mountain climbing and public speaking (3:55)
The origin of interest in mountain climbing – scouting (4:55)
The beginning of John’s writing (6:10)
Goal setting, choose your summit, go! (6:40)
Feedback from readers (7:00)
My purpose in life (7:15)
Why is kindness mentioned first in the title? (8:20)
There’s always more strength (8:40)
Lessons from the mountain (10:20)
Greatest obstacle as a writer (11:25)
An accomplishment when working with young people (12:20)
A significant surprise on the journey (13:45)
Turning back (15:00)
Identifying one’s battle crew (16:05)
Failure and current circumstances are not the end (16:35)
Stepping up (17:15)
Warrior Challenge – the book – call to action (20:00)
The mountains (21:45)
Papua, New Guinea, Indonesia, and warring factions (22:00)
Malaria (24:20)
Kindness in the classroom (27:10)
Courage in the classroom (27:55)
Grit in the classroom (28:30)
John’s favorite teacher (29:15)
A final word – a call to action reemphasized (32:00)
Contact information (33:00 and Show Notes)
After the closing music – place of learning (34:10)
John’s contact information and book information:
Twitter at @johnbeede
Instagram at @johnbeede
Online at johnbeede.com
John’s Amazon page
The Warrior Challenge
David Reynolds:
What matters most in learning? The challenge, the thrill, the benefits, interacting with other people or something else entirely. What is the connection between leading and learning? Does change drive learning or does learning drive change? What's more important, teaching or learning? Is everyone a leader, a learner, a teacher? Want answers? Listen in as we address these intriguing issues through commentary and with guests who share their thinking and tell us their stories. Lead, Learn, Change.
John Beede:
My life is improved because you're here. That message that he gave me and every student was profoundly impactful in getting through that year. And in a large way of forming of my personality. The book teaches goal-setting, principles. How to choose your summit, figure out a plan to make that summit a reality and then gives the encouragement to go after it and get it. If you fail at it, it's not your ending point. It's not the end. It's the same with like, if you didn't get the hand belt to you that you wanted, that's not the end of the story. You get to choose what the next starting line is. You get to choose which mountains you climb. You get to choose who your teammates are on that next climb.
John Beede:
We get back down and there's a tribal war that had broken out. On one side of us is the world's largest gold mine and people are defending it with machine guns. And then on the other side of us in this canyon, there's only two directions we can go. The other side is bows and arrows flying back and forth. Courage is not a complicated thing. It's saying, "I don't know what comes next, but I'm still taking that step forward." It's not climbing mountains that's my purpose, it's improving the world, improving myself, improving people around me, however I can. And I started seeing that being done through book writing and speaking. What is the student going through right now? And how can I help them through that based on my wisdom and my knowledge? I think that's the key to kindness.
David Reynolds:
Today's guest on Lead, Learn, Change is John Beede. John, thanks so much for speaking with me today and welcome to the show.
John Beede:
I'm so excited to be here with you. Thank you for the invite. I'm glad we can make it happen.
David Reynolds:
So John Beede for our listeners is a speaker to over a million audience members, humanitarian, adventurer, and mountaineer. He has scaled the tallest mountains on seven continents. Been struck by lightning, been in the water with great white sharks, and visited more than 70 countries and even been attacked by a large iguana. Our listeners can find out more by visiting the website and social media details listed in the show notes. But I will mention that John has also authored a number of books and most recently The Warrior Challenge: 8 Quests for Boys to Grow Up with Kindness, Courage and Grit.
David Reynolds:
And John, when we spoke before, and I think it might have even been last year, you said that of all of your experiences and accomplishments, writing the book, The Warrior Challenge was perhaps the most gratifying. So we're going to definitely touch on that a lot today, in fact, because your main focus, even above mountain climbing is actually speaking to teens and influencing them. I want to start there. Was your desire to positively influence young people, a blend of the experiences as a climber and writer, or did your intention to make a difference with the next generation actually come first?
John Beede:
That's a great question, David. You know what? They grew together. I went on wilder and wilder adventures and that's partially selfish. But that also gave me more and more story fodder to give presentations that would be engaging to them. It's pretty hard to keep a teenager's attention. It's just getting harder and harder. It's hard to keep any audience member's attention these days. And so it worked out well that I had this thirst for adventure. That the wilder adventures I went on, the more I got booked to speak, and the more I got booked to speak, the more I could afford to go on bigger adventures.
David Reynolds:
It's not really a chick and egg kind of thing, but I suspect that maybe you were climbing mountains before you were speaking, because those requests probably followed your successes and accomplishments there. So what led you to become a mountain climber or mountaineer?
John Beede:
It was in the boy Scouts and it was a really simple thing of, hey, can you repel down this 50 foot cliff? And it started that simply. Like, let me just challenge my buddies. Let's see if we're gutsy enough to repel off this cliff. And then it became, well, let's see if we can go climb a taller, like two or three pitch climb is what we call it where there's multiple rope lanes. Then it became, let's go climb the Grand Teton. Then it was, let's go climb Mount Rainer. Then it was, let's go to south American climb, the tallest mountain there. And we messed up. We didn't make it to the top. So let's reorient. Now let's go to Alaska and figure out how to climb Denali, the tallest there. All right. We did that.
John Beede:
And keep traveling until the next thing I'd climbed the tallest, done every continent, including Everest and Antarctica's Mount Vinson. It's taken me all over the world. So you're right. It's not like a black or white. It's one or the other. They all grew together. And my mountaineering adventures started very humbly. I wasn't raised in a climbing family. I wasn't like a person who looks or was built like a climber. I've got short fat legs and chubby cheeks and nothing about me... You look at me and you say, "That guy doesn't even look like he's a mountaineer. He doesn't even look tough." But it's just by taking these challengers one at a time that I was able to progress into something that I suppose is pretty significant.
David Reynolds:
What about writing then? When did that enter the picture first into your mind?
John Beede:
After I graduated from university, I wrote a book. It was called Climb On!: Success Strategies for Teens. And it was based on the rock climbing stories that I had throughout my life. But it was like a fictional story. They're all kind of linked together stories, but the book teaches goal setting principles. How choose your summit, figure out a plan to make that summit a reality and then gives the encouragement to go after it and get it. And that's a very simple formula for success. I wrote that because it's everything that I wish that I had had when I was a teenager and these lessons that I kind of had to stumble upon. And once I saw the influence that it made, I mean, back then it was like letter writing.
John Beede:
I get letters galore from students who had read the book. Almost every day, I'd received some email pre-social media from a student who had read the book. I saw how big of an impact this was making and it kind of clicked. This is my purpose. It's like you mentioned, it's not climbing mountains it's my purpose, it's improving the world, improving myself, improving people around me, however I can. And I started seeing that being done through book writing and speaking.
David Reynolds:
Your book, Warrior Challenge, which is only one of the three that I've read, it really emphasized is what you just said, that these are lessons that are applicable to everybody's life, whether it's a disappointment... You use the word challenge a lot. A turning point or a decision. And you address these moments with a focus, not just on encouraging grit, which I think is the more stereotypical formula for addressing an obstacle or meeting something head on. It's like be courageous, keep at it, be persistent, use grit, but you really emphasize kindness. And it's the first word in the subtitle there of the three, kindness, courage and grit. Do you view each of those aspects of our lives as equally important or is one perhaps kindness, because you've mentioned it first as the most vital to success.
John Beede:
I think that kindness came first, because it rolls off the tongue best. They all work together is the answer to your question. You can't be courageous without goodness. And that's what kindness is. And you can't have grit unless you have courage. They all work in sync. And so I think that there's not one that's more important than the other. I think that they fall apart without one of them as a part of the formula though.
David Reynolds:
That's a great way to look at it. It is sort of like the lead, learn, change components. You really cannot pull one of those facets of life out without the others suffering. And I did actually wonder about the sound of the three words and read them all to myself and all the different orders. And it was good to hear you say, "Well, it actually just sounded being the first word of the three."
John Beede:
I wish I had some magic answer for you, some reasoning for it, but it just sounds cool.
David Reynolds:
Quick speed round then. One question each from mountain climbing, riding and leading youth.
John Beede:
Let's do it.
David Reynolds:
What's the most beneficial lesson or lessons that you've learned from mountain climbing.
John Beede:
There's always more strength. And I learned that because that's when I've been faced with the thought, I cannot take another step. And even though my brain has told me that my body has found a way to find more strength.
David Reynolds:
Diverting from my own speed round format here? Do you find yourself reverting to that same mentality in other situations? I mean, have you found yourself in a speaking situation where you felt like this is not going well, but I've made a commitment to be here and share this story or this message. And I'm going to go ahead and make the next step or pivot or whatever. I mean, do you find that next step thing showing up often?
John Beede:
Absolutely. I mean, that's what the point of mountains are. It's to teach us the spiritual growth principles that we need to have, the emotional growth, the mental growth. It's not about conquering a mountain. It's about growing as a human being. And so if you don't take the lessons from the mountains back to your real life that it has to teach you, then you've missed the whole point of mountaineering. And so I've definitely found not just the physical strength, but there's more emotional strength to get through a pandemic.
John Beede:
There's more fortitude when you've gone through a breakup or a divorce. There's more willpower when you don't know how to study for the test, that's coming up. There's more energy when you've been on a flight per your example, all night, you arrive at 5:00 AM because of flight delays. You're on a time zone difference. So it's really 2:00 AM for you and you have to speak in 45 minutes. You got to pull the energy together. Like there's always more strength, not just physical, but in all realms of life.
David Reynolds:
What about your greatest obstacle as a writer?
John Beede:
Greatest obstacle as a writer is facing fear. Fear of criticism, fear of boring your audience, fear of nobody reading the book, fear of sitting down on a blank page and facing the thought of I'm not enough, or I don't have the story or there's nothing in here in my brain that can fill up this page that's worth writing. Fear's a frequent feeling that I think most, if not all writers face.
David Reynolds:
You mentioned receiving emails from readers of your books. And I wanted to ask about your most meaningful triumph when working with young people.
John Beede:
Most is an interesting term because if I were to share one-
David Reynolds:
Or a meaningful triumph then.
John Beede:
Sure. I just spoke for the Junior Angus Association. It was their national conference. And it was a group of between I think 13 and 23 year old young students from all around the country. And I got a letter afterwards from one of the leaders of the organization, a student leader and it said, "I could never see myself climbing a mountain, but for some reason, everything you said I could relate to." And that feeling that maybe I've climbed all these mountains in the world so that I can bring these lessons back to others who wouldn't necessarily have the chance to climb.
John Beede:
And I can give them all these, ideas of kindness and courage and grit, resilience, goal setting to get through their own obstacles without them needing to go climb a mountain. That's a fulfilling thought. And the idea that I could have that much impact with just a 45 minute speech a week and a half ago now, that's pretty cool.
David Reynolds:
Yeah. What about surprises? Have you had any surprises along the way? And pick any journey you want, whether that's working with young people, writing, mountain climbing, what's a surprise you've had?
John Beede:
I think the biggest surprise I had was how it didn't mean what I thought it would mean when I initially started on all of these journeys. I thought that climbing these mountains would make me into some kind of hero or legend. That was my selfish, egotistical approach when I first began climbing when I was in my early twenties or late teens. Now a man in my late thirties, I see that it was about growth and it was about getting past that ego. I mean getting past that desire to be the hero of the story. And instead it was about helping others become the hero of their stories. It's like, I thought I was going to be the Luke Skywalker. Well, it turns out I was the Obi-Wan Kenobi, or the Yoda. That was a surprise.
John Beede:
In writing books, it was a surprise that I thought I'll write these incredible books that'll change the world in that suddenly books aren't read anymore. Kids don't read books as nearly as much as they used to. And it's like, well, I mastered this craft and suddenly there's these gems of wisdom that are here in these pages that is starting to become a forgotten medium. And it's the challenge of getting these ideas out now is more difficult. So get the book put it in the hands of a young person, get them to read it, because it's truly life changing stuff.
David Reynolds:
We're linked to that, of course in the show notes as well. So people can do that.
John Beede:
Mountaineering surprise, how many times I failed. How many mountains that I thought I would make it up or that I thought were a give me or a given. And because of weather, my own lack of training, circumstances, teammates, the number of times I turned around was a surprise.
David Reynolds:
But it didn't become a dead end. It was just another end to a challenge that eventually, there was a starting point after that for another challenge it seems like. I mean, because you did something else, none of those have stopped you, which makes me wonder about your work ethic and your inspiration for that. In The Warrior Challenge, you talk about your battle crew and I'm assuming those are the people who really keep you going and inspired. You mentioned your teammates just now. So who do you point to as your battle crew? Who serves as the inspiration for the way to you approach your work?
John Beede:
I've got a close group of buddies who I check in on them, they check in on me. And these friends are who I've kind of chosen as my own battle crew. I'd have to of course put in family members. I wouldn't be where I am without my parents and brother and sisters. I'm fortunate to be able to say that. And if you're somebody who doesn't have those great influences of parents, brother, sisters, you get to choose who those are. And to touch on that last idea of a mountain, if you fail at it, it's not your ending point. It's not the end. It's the same with like, if you didn't get the hand dealt to you that you wanted, that's not the end of the story. You get to choose what next starting line is. You get to choose which mountains you climb. You get to choose who your teammates are on that next climb.
David Reynolds:
You emphasize that as a major theme in The Warrior Challenge, because you talk about choosing to step up. You very clearly explain what that looks like for a student. What does stepping up look like for a parent, a teacher or another leader?
John Beede:
It's decisively choosing what a moment will mean to you in the now. If you're listening to this podcast and you said, "I'm going to pluck out something that will be life altering from this episode." You would find it. If you were determined, if you had faith that in this very podcast episode, there's going to be a life changing bit of knowledge, wisdom that either John or David's going to say, and I'm going to embrace that as... Like, if you made that decision to completely own that concept, you would find it. And that's what stepping up means.
John Beede:
It means to choose your direction with clarity, with determination, with the idea that there is nothing that's going to stop you and having full faith, that when you take that next step, there will be the support underneath your foot. It's moving forward. Decisively means to cut off from all other possibilities. That's the Latin breakdown of the, I think it's deyson derect I think is the breakdown of that word. And that's what you've got to do when you step up. Is you choose, this is the direction going, unequivocally without question. And it's defining what that direction is. So for adults, if that's in your workplace, that's, I'm going to reach this income level, this coming year, or I'm going to get the promotion.
John Beede:
And if the promotion isn't happening with this company, I'm going to the next company that will give it to me, or I'm going to start this business, or I'm going to be fully present with my kids because I haven't been fully present with them. It means I'm going to show up for my spouse in a way that they've never experienced before. I'm going to show up for myself. I'm going to take the time to meditate. Any choice like that, and I can keep going, but you getting the idea. Making that decision is what it means to step up. It's to choose a new you, a new direction and start moving in that direction with faith.
David Reynolds:
There are just lots of stories in The Warrior Challenge that people could lift that gem from that you referenced. If you wanted to pick out a lesson and then make a decision on that. In Warrior Challenge, you really do a masterful job of using stories and characters and illustrations and questions so that readers can apply the book to their particular situation. I mean, you come at things from a perspective of a skateboarder, a Maasai warrior, an off rotor, an NFL player. And in the middle of all that is this constant theme of relationships, the concept of consent, respect, and having a real strong focus on what you do. And that comes out also in the fear video on the home page of your website.
David Reynolds:
You talked about fear in the writing piece earlier, but you described three ways to overcome fear. And I believe you say something along the lines of, it's more than just reading motivational quotes, which is a great line. And that leads me to believe that you want the readers of your book to not only read it and learn something, but you want them to do something. What's the call to action that you've embedded in the book.
John Beede:
And I've never had that asked before. The call to action in the book is that our potential is limitless. And we are creatures of more than we thought. Just like I mentioned, that there's always more strength. I have this image in my head right now of Michael Angelo carving the statue David, and he said that all he had to do was remove the parts of the stone that weren't the statue David. And I think that, that's what the book is asking for each young person to do. It's to get rid of the stuff that is not the most incredible best version of yourself, the version that is most influential and can best serve the world and be an integral part of society to get rid of all the negative messages that have been given and to be that ultimate statue of yourself.
David Reynolds:
You made reference to I believe Vinson earlier, but most listeners are going to recognize the names, Everest Kilimanjaro and Denali. But the other continents, highest peaks really might be completely unfamiliar to many of us. And those four, if I'm not mistaken are Aconcagua, Carstensz, Vinson, and Elbrus. Choose one to talk about and focus on anything you'd like, and then feel free to correct any mispronunciation I just made.
John Beede:
You're right. Those are unknown in the common vernacular. And the wildest of the all is Carstensz pyramid. It's in the middle of the jungle in Indonesia. The Island of Papua is where it is. So there's the country of Papua New Guinea and then straight down the middle of the island. It's the border that Indonesia has said, "Well, this side of it's ours." And this is one of the few places in the world where Western civilization has not crept in. And so you have people walking around the jungle and in loincloths, with bows and arrows. And you're trying to trek through the jungle with them. Some are there to help, and some are there to literally attack. And you make your way 10 days through the jungle until you get to the base of this rock cliff. There's a glacier at the top of it.
John Beede:
And back in the day, when explorers were first going through there, one of the explorers said, "Yeah, there's a glacier are up there." And he was laughed at and scorned for the rest of his life, thinking that he had completely either misnavigated or made something up or he was lying, but it turns out he was right in the end. So there's this glacier in the middle of the tropics that you climb up to do this Tyrolean traverse, which is putting a rope between two points, two pinnacles. And then you go with your back down to the ground. So you've got your arms and your legs wrapped around the rope. And you shimmy yourself a few hundred feet across this rope and get back down.
John Beede:
We get back down and there's a tribal war that had broken out on one side of us is the world's largest gold mine. And people are defending it with machine guns. And then on the other side of us Indus Canyon, there's only two directions we can go. The other side is bows and arrows flying back and forth and a war. And it was a wild, like what on earth is going on? What did we get ourselves into? What is this place? It was probably one of the biggest adventures I've ever been on. And one that nobody asks about or knows about because it's like, you don't know to ask about it.
David Reynolds:
That makes me ask you this next question then. If you can do it a Lead, Learn, Change, exclusive story that you've never told before. Is there more to that particular story that would be new to anybody who's heard you speak or read your work because you said people don't ask about that too much.
John Beede:
I think the one that maybe I don't talk about a lot is because we were there for so long, I ran out of malaria medication and I contracted malaria. And there are different strains of malaria. I had no idea. And I got the strain that stays in your liver. It hides. And then when your immune system detects a weakness, it comes out and attacks. And so most malarias are a one and done deal. You get really sick. You go to the hospital, you get your malaria medication and you're good to go. Well, this one is one that you fight the symptoms and then it hides in your liver. And then it comes back out later. And so I was for the next two years, I was battling this condition. And in the Western world, we don't know much about malaria because it's largely not an issue for us, but for most of the world's population, this is still a massive illness and a killer and a danger.
John Beede:
And it is a horrible, horrible disease. The effects of it are you're quaking, shivering, cold. And then you have these hot sweats that cause you to convulse so much that you pass at out. Your body's so exhausted from arriving in these cold and hot sweats that you fully exhausted and you pass out. And it's like, you lose an entire 24 hour period from one wave of the illness. People don't know about just how horrible malaria is in the Western world, because we largely don't deal with it. But there you go. There's one that I haven't talked about or shared.
David Reynolds:
It's really riveting because it is such an unusual experience. And you talk about an illness and I want to ask a question about that in just a second. And I also want to tell the listeners that there's unavoidable noise. That's all around me here with construction going on. It's not John, it's me. Going back to the illness right now, the world's dealing with this pandemic and that has impacted presentations, travel, teaching and learning exchanges. And the virtual classrooms created a lot of opportunities for teaching and learning in ways that people didn't necessarily think about or embrace as much before, but it's also generated some video and tech fatigue. So when we think about kindness, courage, and grit, which applies to all learners, not just boys, how can educators, whether they're serving in a face to face situation right now, or in some mode of distance learning, how is kindness, courage and grit best brought into classrooms?
John Beede:
Great question. I think that kindness is best brought into a classroom when a teacher shows up into a classroom and constantly reminds himself of what it was like to be in those chairs. To be in the seats as a student, instead of thinking, I've got this lesson to do, I've got this report, I've got these grades that I've got to crunch or I've got this family issue going on at home, or I've got to deal with my principal, or my colleagues are driving me nuts. Instead of putting yourself in the thought of what is the student going through right now and how can I help them through that based on my wisdom and my knowledge. I think that's the key to kindness.
John Beede:
For courage, you can bring courage into the classroom or students can have it by saying, "Yes, I'm scared, I don't understand what's going to be happening next with health, with the pandemic. I don't know what the government regulations are going to be." When we don't know things we are fearful. And so to say, "Yes, I acknowledge I have this fear, but I'm going to give it my best anyway." That's all that it takes for courage. Courage is not a complicated thing it's saying, "I don't know what comes next, but I'm still taking that step forward." And then for grit to come up with new options, to not let yourself fall into a rut, to have ingenuity and new approaches for the things that start to feel stale, or you're having technology fatigue. To mix it up, I think is the key to grit right now. By bringing your creativity. How can I switch this up not only for my students, but for my own sake? That's the key to grit and resilience right now.
David Reynolds:
That's a great segue into the question I ask virtually every guest. And that's to think about their favorite teacher or teachers. Tell us about your favorite teacher or teachers and what made them so memorable.
John Beede:
I was an acne ridden chubby middle school student, and I got pretty resoundingly ridiculed as a result. And there was a science teacher. His name was John Eddrico, and he would greet me at the door every single day without fail. He would be standing at his door to greet his students as they walked in. And he would look each one of us in the eye. You would not enter his classroom unless you looked him in the eye, shook his hand. And he said a little word of encouragement to you. And then you got to go into his classroom. And he would frequently take my hand, shake it, look me in the eye, and he would just say, "John, I'm glad you're here today. Now go and sit down."
John Beede:
And that acknowledgement, that recognition of you're a human being you're here. I'm glad that you're in my presence and that sense of applause, that something beyond, hey, what's up? And something beyond, students how you doing today? That individual you matter, and my life has improved because you're here. That message that he gave me and every student was profoundly impactful in getting through that year. And in a large way of forming of my personality.
David Reynolds:
Is he still a practicing educator? Do you know?
John Beede:
I don't believe that he is. And it's been a few years since I've found out what's going on with him, but I would love to find out John, if you're out there, Mr. Endrico, I'm glad that I had you in my life. Thank you.
David Reynolds:
I've actually had an email from an educator who was mentioned in a podcast by a guest follow up with me after they heard the episode. And they were so happy, I guess, is the best word to use, to have heard the comments from their former students. It really makes a difference to stop and in whatever situation you can do it, whether that's actually finding someone and reaching out to them, or just sharing a good memory and an acknowledgement in the way we've done just now. Is there anything at all that you'd like to add about your experiences, lesson for leadership and effort you're involved in what you are embarking on next? Anything at all?
John Beede:
I think I'd like to take a line out of Mr. Endrico’s book. And re-answer the question you asked me about what is the call to action that I would like reader to take from the Warrior Challenge. And that's a message of, I see you, I'm glad you are here in the world and here is everything that I have learned that has impacted my life. And I want all of this to as much as possible impact your life without you having to climb these mountains or experience some of the heartaches and tragedies that I have. And this is incredibly entertaining stuff that I think would make a huge difference. So that's the call to action is I'm glad you're here. Now go sit down. And we got work to do. We got a purpose and that's what we're going to dive into with the contents of the Warrior Challenge.
David Reynolds:
Well, in the show notes, I'll add links to your website, your books on Amazon, and any other links that you provide off air so that listeners can look more closely at your work and consider how your successes, and your message, and your writing might benefit their efforts or positively impact those that they serve, whether students or others. And while that will be included in the show notes, I'll go ahead and mention that @Johnbeede and that's B-E-E-D-E is where you can be found on social media and listeners can also visit Johnbeede.com. Thank you very much, John, for shining a light on your work and your world, and for providing us with some very thought provoking material on how to make a real difference in our realm of influence.
John Beede:
Thank you for the conversation. Thank you for your time and for the thoughtful questions. I really appreciate it. Thanks so much.
David Reynolds:
Sure. Keep on climbing John, and have a great day.
John Beede:
You too.
David Reynolds:
Thanks for listening today. Find the Lead. Learn. and Change. podcast on your search engine, iTunes or other listening app. Leave a rating, write a review, subscribe and share with others. In the meantime, go lead, go learn, go make a change. Go. Do you have any suggestions for me about the prep of the interview itself, technical audio, anything. Any aspect of this process? I want to do a better job with every iteration. So I'm all ears.
John Beede:
Oh, that's a beautiful question to ask and that speaks volumes of your character. I would say, keep asking that question because that's where the place of learning comes from. That's where the place of growth and improvement happens, is when you are acknowledging that you haven't got it all figured out. And if you think you have it all figured out, you shut off all growth and learning. So you're on the perfect track. I don't have any suggestions beyond that, enjoyed the conversation very much and appreciate the thoughtful insights and for taking the time to make some questions that are unique and refreshing to chat about. I love that. So thank you very much.
David Reynolds:
All right. Well, I may end up using that as part of our post closure bonus material, who knows if it sounds as good as it does when I play it back. Have a great day. Thanks.
John Beede:
Yeah. Thanks very much. Appreciate it. You too.
David Reynolds:
All right. Bye.
John Beede:
Bye.