December 27, 2024 • 13 mins
Celebrate 30 seasons of Carolina Panthers football with Jim Szoke. Join him as he sits down with the key figures who shaped the past 29 seasons, reminiscing on the moments that made Panther's history. This week's guest is former Panthers defensive back, Leonard Williams.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Safety.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Leonard Wheeler played eight years in the NFL, his final
two with the Panthers in the late nineties, but he
has continued to make this his home. Leonard Wheeler is
an entrepreneur and author, a corporate consultant, a public speaker,
a fitness trainer, or cover a lot of ground with
Leonard Wheeler, former Panther safety.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Thirty Seasons of Panther Football, a celebration of the players, coaches,
and other key figures who've contributed to the organizational success.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Leonard Wheeler. I mean, you talk about a guy who
has figured out life in and out of football. You've
done it all. I mentioned it in the Open a
moment ago, Leonard. But from the business world, you're still
involved with the NFL world with what you're doing. We'll
talk about that a little bit as well. You've got
a book, you've been an author. I know you're traveling
the globe speaking and not just about football, but just
(00:51):
about helping people in so many different ways. Where to
start with you, Leonard, what's taking up most of your
time these days?
Speaker 4 (00:58):
Well, first of all, I got to start off saying
thank you to Jim's Oki because you've always been my hero.
Speaker 5 (01:04):
Over the past twenty years, and.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
You do that's a big word.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Hero.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
No, I'm telling you do such a great job of
making sure that the guys get to share the story.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
So, man, I just appreciate you, and I appreciate your friendship.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well you're too kind.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I appreciate you being one of the ones in this
Thirty Seasons podcast. It's been fun to visit with recently
retired players, players that go back decades.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And I mentioned you were late nineties.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
You finished your career here and like a number of players,
you decided you like to hear so much you made
it your permanent home. As here we are twenty five
years later, and here you still are.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
Ye.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
What about Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Beyond finishing your playing career here made you want to
stay and raise a family at all?
Speaker 4 (01:42):
You know what, Charlotte was one of those cities that
you always thought about maybe one day settling in. It
was a great opportunity for me playing with the Panthers here,
creating a community, creating a family here, you know, raising
your kids here, and then all of a sudden understanding
(02:04):
that there's some business relationships that are more sustainable. And
so that's one thing that really kept me tied to
the community was that we were able to build real
community because even though it's a decent sized city, it's
small enough where you can build relationships that are sustainable
moving forward.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Oh yeah, great place.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
And like I said, we so many former players, coaches,
whoever have stayed here and it made this home a
long term and you're one of those obviously well, and
you do so many different things that you travel about
and do. But one of the interesting things too, is
that you're really helpful with players as they come in
and out of the NFL. Tell us about that, about
being the executive director for something that really helps players
(02:46):
transition in and out of the NFL.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Understanding that place of transition, Jim, has been something that
has been purposeful for me.
Speaker 5 (02:56):
You know, Chad Pennington and I.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
We're co executive directors within the Legends Community, NFL Legends
Community in the NFL office and we started that over
eleven years ago, and it really started with the premise
of the Commissioner saying, you know, you are all legends,
and even though you might not be a legend in
the NFL, you're a legend in your hometown, You're a
(03:20):
legend in the place where you play college ball, and
you are always be a legend because when you think
about less than one percent playing in the NFL. And
this is an interesting stat gym, and I don't know
if a lot of people know this, but in one
hundred and three years, only a little bit over twenty
seven thousand players have ever played this game, and only
(03:43):
fourteen thousand have.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
Played two plus years.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
So when you think about the legends and you think
about being.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
Involved, it only feeds into.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
Itself to say, man, I want to stay connected to
this community because it means so much to me.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Quick side note talking about your players and how few
have played in the history of the league. And this
is not a knock, as just a added layer about
Bill Belichick going to UNC and wanting to run a
pro style program, which fits today's model a little bit
in college football to a large degree there, but now,
not every kid is coming out of high schools going
to end up in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
The percentage, as we all know, is so little.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
So I'll be interested to see how that works up
in Chapel Hill with him creating essentially with a GM
and a professional NFL type program model, how that will
work at the college level because ninety whatever percent will
play their final football in college and never get to
the pros.
Speaker 5 (04:37):
And you know what, and that's.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
A great point, and I think Bill will be able
to really share those sentiments with some of those younger
guys him, you know, coming from where he came from
with the Patriots, having the success, but also having the
tie ins with the people that can continue to help
share his story. I think he's going there as a dad,
(05:01):
as a grandfather kind of figure to where you know,
he's probably saying to himself, what can I continue to
give back to some of these younger players so that
I can help share with them how this journey really works, right,
Because I mean, what better voice is there to have
than a Bill Belichick in your child's ear.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
He's seen it all, no doubt, decades of experience.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
I love the stories he tells about his dad being
at the Navy and of course for a period of
time at North Carolina, growing up in the college football world,
so he gets it all. I just, you know, I
just don't want to everyone, you know, coming every seventeen
year old thing and they're gonna play for the Patriots
one day, because we know it's a small number there.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
That's exactly it, because you know we're gonna come in
with some high expectations, and so will the parents who
are sending their kids to play for him.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
As you said, every kid was a hometown hero and
hopefully for many it'll continue on the broader scale too.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Fur them if that's what they want.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
And I knew you were drafted out of Troy third
round pick by the Bengals, but I didn't know all
the change that you went throgether. You were at Old Miss,
which I didn't know. But the one that stuck out
to me is you started at Lee's McCrae up in
Banner Elk, North Carolina. And then I asked you about
it before we came on the air, and you said,
you're still involved with Leees McCrae, so so tell me
(06:15):
about that relationship.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
So I'm on a vote of trustee.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
But you know, this is a funny story because I
was not highly recruited out of high school. My high
school coach came to my school when I was a
senior and he asked me what do I want to
do and I said, I want to play in the NFL.
He said, well, in order to do that. You have
to go to college, you have to play football.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
And you know, me not being highly recruited.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
The first visit that I've ever taken, and the only
visit was to Leis McCrae College, and he.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
Said, I know this college is Les McCrae.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
He rented a van, he picked up my cousin and
I Sebastian who was about three hundred pounds offensive lineman,
and he took us to Les McCrae. We had a
great met some of the friends who I'm great friends
with even to this day, my roommates, I'm amazing friends.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
With them to this day. Went up there and play
two years.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Was blessed to be in the Hall of Fame there
and here I am I mean, and that was the
That was the best decision, one of the best decisions
I've ever made in my life, Gym.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
I'm glad it did.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
And now we still have family that lives up in
the mountains and all that, so I know it's a
long recovery what's going on there after the storms and
the flooding up there. But so we used to have
Sander and I had a cabin of a rental property
up at Beach Mountain that we just sold about four
years ago, and you know the area. Well, this only
matter to people that know Bannerrock. So we're sitting in
Banner Rock at these great restaurants in like a one
(07:43):
and a half block area down there, and we would say,
what do these college students do at Lee's McCrae. There's
such a small area and you're getting about forty five
minutes from Boone and there's other places, but nothing nearby.
When you were there in the nineties, Like, what did
you do when you weren't practicing and playing book?
Speaker 4 (07:58):
It was a great that is a great question because
let me just tell you, brothers don't like cold weather, okay.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
And you're from Georgia.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
Oh I'm from Georgia. I remember.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
There were some guys up there gym from Florida, and man,
you would see them going to the bus stop, the
bus stations because they were like, no, man, I'm going home,
Like this is insane cold up here.
Speaker 5 (08:22):
Why did I come up here?
Speaker 4 (08:24):
And then you would find the ones who were more
you know, committed to playing college ball to where they
stuck it out. And then what we would do, Jim,
is that we would figure out things to do.
Speaker 5 (08:36):
Man.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
We would come up with crazy games to play. But
let me just tell you one thing I didn't do.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
Let's go skiing.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
And you're surrounded by two ski resorts together, Sugar and Beach,
both like ten minutes away from the university.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Yes, and let me just tell you I did not
go skiing.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
I would see people coming across campus with broken legs
and broken arms, and.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
I'm like, what at where am I? I mean? Sometimes
I would look out and think I was in Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
It was crazy, smart man, Smart man, not to ski
there if you don't know what you do and that's
not what you want to do. So now, when you
were Atle's, McCrae, Ole, Miss and Troy, what what do
you end up majoring in?
Speaker 1 (09:14):
What field to study?
Speaker 4 (09:16):
So I end up majoring in business. I got my
first degree in business and psychology. Then I went back
and got a degree and ethics, Communications and ethics. I'm
now working on another degree, a master's in executive leadership
from the University of Liberty.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
Right now, you're continuing education.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
As they say, it is continual growth, Jim, I do
not know how to be complacent.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
It's continual growth, man, And why not right.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
I think that we all still have things that we
can learn, and we have to make sure that we
don't become dogmatic in the way that we approached life.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Now, you, as far as energy guys go, you're at
the top of the list. If somebody asked me the name,
so because I mentioned off the top the intro I
did for you as entrepreneur, author, corporate consultant, public speaker.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Right now.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
For a fact, you've been a fitness trainer and doing
that as well. So it's mind, body and soul and
all that. When you travel, travel globally, is what is
it mostly talking to? Is like Fortune five hundred businesses?
What kind of audience do you normally have?
Speaker 5 (10:20):
Yeah, Fortune five hundred businesses. I love talking to military.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
I do a lot of work with Sonic Automotive as
Capital one has been my client for eighteen years.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
I did a lot of work with NASCAR.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
I love talking about emotional intelligence, anything dealing or dealing
with behavior performance.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
Why are we performing the way? Why are we not?
Anything dealing with cultural changes.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
I do a lot of work with Hyundai Dealership with
Victory Chevrolet. Who's my mentor there, David Gandhi and Brandon,
gandhy are some of my great friends.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
And so it's all encompassing for me because.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Anything deals anything dealing with behavior and how do we
get to the next level?
Speaker 5 (11:06):
That is my topic.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I can tell you spent some amount of time working
in NASCAR because you did a great job of thanking
all your sponsors.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
That's a very Nascar thing to do.
Speaker 5 (11:18):
I learned from the best man. I learned from mister Age.
I mean, oh yeah, he doesn't. He does it better
than anyone else.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So is a little pt barnum with all that stuff.
You got to promote and get the word out there.
You've got a website Leonard Wheeler dot com. If someone
wants to book you or wants to learn more about you,
is at the best place to land as far as
Leonardwheeler dot com.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
Yep, go Leonardheeler dot com.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
And they can also follow me on Instagram at Leonard
Wheeler seven or follow me on TikTok at Leonard Wheeler
thirty seven.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
And finally, you gave us, you know, kind of a
synopsis of what you're talking and what your approach is,
what's kind of your big finish, Like if we saw
you speak at some kind of an event. What what's
your kind of underlying motivational, big life message that you
would send out to people.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
You know, one of the things that I really talk
about a lot is learning how to reset in your life.
You know, there's gonna be some bumps in the road
that you're gonna come to and and and it's not
that you're focusing on the bumps, but what what what
I do want people to make sure that they're focusing
on is learning how to reflect and and learning how
(12:21):
to reset that mindset when it comes to running into guardrails, uh,
you know, running into little little little speed bumps.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
In the road.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
Those things are gonna happen.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
And if we don't learn how to reset, Jim, we're
gonna always think that it can't get better. We'll start
focusing on how bad it is instead of what we
can do to help reset and to start over.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Love that message.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
We we covered a lot of ground in the short
period of time. And again Letterwheeler dot com to get
more into if you want to book them for an event,
whatever the case may be.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Sponsored and all that kind of great stuff.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Continued, great success, Continue doing your great work, Leonard, and
hope to see you soon.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
Oh brother, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Thirty seasons of Panther Football
Safety.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Leonard Wheeler played eight years in the NFL, his final
two with the Panthers in the late nineties, but he
has continued to make this his home. Leonard Wheeler is
an entrepreneur and author, a corporate consultant, a public speaker,
a fitness trainer, or cover a lot of ground with
Leonard Wheeler, former Panther safety.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Thirty Seasons of Panther Football, a celebration of the players, coaches,
and other key figures who've contributed to the organizational success.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Leonard Wheeler. I mean, you talk about a guy who
has figured out life in and out of football. You've
done it all. I mentioned it in the Open a
moment ago, Leonard. But from the business world, you're still
involved with the NFL world with what you're doing. We'll
talk about that a little bit as well. You've got
a book, you've been an author. I know you're traveling
the globe speaking and not just about football, but just
(00:51):
about helping people in so many different ways. Where to
start with you, Leonard, what's taking up most of your
time these days?
Speaker 4 (00:58):
Well, first of all, I got to start off saying
thank you to Jim's Oki because you've always been my hero.
Speaker 5 (01:04):
Over the past twenty years, and.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
You do that's a big word.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Hero.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
No, I'm telling you do such a great job of
making sure that the guys get to share the story.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
So, man, I just appreciate you, and I appreciate your friendship.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
Well you're too kind.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I appreciate you being one of the ones in this
Thirty Seasons podcast. It's been fun to visit with recently
retired players, players that go back decades.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
And I mentioned you were late nineties.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
You finished your career here and like a number of players,
you decided you like to hear so much you made
it your permanent home. As here we are twenty five
years later, and here you still are.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
Ye.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
What about Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Beyond finishing your playing career here made you want to
stay and raise a family at all?
Speaker 4 (01:42):
You know what, Charlotte was one of those cities that
you always thought about maybe one day settling in. It
was a great opportunity for me playing with the Panthers here,
creating a community, creating a family here, you know, raising
your kids here, and then all of a sudden understanding
(02:04):
that there's some business relationships that are more sustainable. And
so that's one thing that really kept me tied to
the community was that we were able to build real
community because even though it's a decent sized city, it's
small enough where you can build relationships that are sustainable
moving forward.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Oh yeah, great place.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
And like I said, we so many former players, coaches,
whoever have stayed here and it made this home a
long term and you're one of those obviously well, and
you do so many different things that you travel about
and do. But one of the interesting things too, is
that you're really helpful with players as they come in
and out of the NFL. Tell us about that, about
being the executive director for something that really helps players
(02:46):
transition in and out of the NFL.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Understanding that place of transition, Jim, has been something that
has been purposeful for me.
Speaker 5 (02:56):
You know, Chad Pennington and I.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
We're co executive directors within the Legends Community, NFL Legends
Community in the NFL office and we started that over
eleven years ago, and it really started with the premise
of the Commissioner saying, you know, you are all legends,
and even though you might not be a legend in
the NFL, you're a legend in your hometown, You're a
(03:20):
legend in the place where you play college ball, and
you are always be a legend because when you think
about less than one percent playing in the NFL. And
this is an interesting stat gym, and I don't know
if a lot of people know this, but in one
hundred and three years, only a little bit over twenty
seven thousand players have ever played this game, and only
(03:43):
fourteen thousand have.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
Played two plus years.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
So when you think about the legends and you think
about being.
Speaker 5 (03:50):
Involved, it only feeds into.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
Itself to say, man, I want to stay connected to
this community because it means so much to me.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Quick side note talking about your players and how few
have played in the history of the league. And this
is not a knock, as just a added layer about
Bill Belichick going to UNC and wanting to run a
pro style program, which fits today's model a little bit
in college football to a large degree there, but now,
not every kid is coming out of high schools going
to end up in the NFL.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
The percentage, as we all know, is so little.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
So I'll be interested to see how that works up
in Chapel Hill with him creating essentially with a GM
and a professional NFL type program model, how that will
work at the college level because ninety whatever percent will
play their final football in college and never get to
the pros.
Speaker 5 (04:37):
And you know what, and that's.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
A great point, and I think Bill will be able
to really share those sentiments with some of those younger
guys him, you know, coming from where he came from
with the Patriots, having the success, but also having the
tie ins with the people that can continue to help
share his story. I think he's going there as a dad,
(05:01):
as a grandfather kind of figure to where you know,
he's probably saying to himself, what can I continue to
give back to some of these younger players so that
I can help share with them how this journey really works, right,
Because I mean, what better voice is there to have
than a Bill Belichick in your child's ear.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
He's seen it all, no doubt, decades of experience.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
I love the stories he tells about his dad being
at the Navy and of course for a period of
time at North Carolina, growing up in the college football world,
so he gets it all. I just, you know, I
just don't want to everyone, you know, coming every seventeen
year old thing and they're gonna play for the Patriots
one day, because we know it's a small number there.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
That's exactly it, because you know we're gonna come in
with some high expectations, and so will the parents who
are sending their kids to play for him.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
As you said, every kid was a hometown hero and
hopefully for many it'll continue on the broader scale too.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
Fur them if that's what they want.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
And I knew you were drafted out of Troy third
round pick by the Bengals, but I didn't know all
the change that you went throgether. You were at Old Miss,
which I didn't know. But the one that stuck out
to me is you started at Lee's McCrae up in
Banner Elk, North Carolina. And then I asked you about
it before we came on the air, and you said,
you're still involved with Leees McCrae, so so tell me
(06:15):
about that relationship.
Speaker 5 (06:17):
So I'm on a vote of trustee.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
But you know, this is a funny story because I
was not highly recruited out of high school. My high
school coach came to my school when I was a
senior and he asked me what do I want to
do and I said, I want to play in the NFL.
He said, well, in order to do that. You have
to go to college, you have to play football.
Speaker 5 (06:36):
And you know, me not being highly recruited.
Speaker 4 (06:39):
The first visit that I've ever taken, and the only
visit was to Leis McCrae College, and he.
Speaker 5 (06:44):
Said, I know this college is Les McCrae.
Speaker 4 (06:47):
He rented a van, he picked up my cousin and
I Sebastian who was about three hundred pounds offensive lineman,
and he took us to Les McCrae. We had a
great met some of the friends who I'm great friends
with even to this day, my roommates, I'm amazing friends.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
With them to this day. Went up there and play
two years.
Speaker 4 (07:10):
Was blessed to be in the Hall of Fame there
and here I am I mean, and that was the
That was the best decision, one of the best decisions
I've ever made in my life, Gym.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
I'm glad it did.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
And now we still have family that lives up in
the mountains and all that, so I know it's a
long recovery what's going on there after the storms and
the flooding up there. But so we used to have
Sander and I had a cabin of a rental property
up at Beach Mountain that we just sold about four
years ago, and you know the area. Well, this only
matter to people that know Bannerrock. So we're sitting in
Banner Rock at these great restaurants in like a one
(07:43):
and a half block area down there, and we would say,
what do these college students do at Lee's McCrae. There's
such a small area and you're getting about forty five
minutes from Boone and there's other places, but nothing nearby.
When you were there in the nineties, Like, what did
you do when you weren't practicing and playing book?
Speaker 4 (07:58):
It was a great that is a great question because
let me just tell you, brothers don't like cold weather, okay.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
And you're from Georgia.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
Oh I'm from Georgia. I remember.
Speaker 4 (08:10):
There were some guys up there gym from Florida, and man,
you would see them going to the bus stop, the
bus stations because they were like, no, man, I'm going home,
Like this is insane cold up here.
Speaker 5 (08:22):
Why did I come up here?
Speaker 4 (08:24):
And then you would find the ones who were more
you know, committed to playing college ball to where they
stuck it out. And then what we would do, Jim,
is that we would figure out things to do.
Speaker 5 (08:36):
Man.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
We would come up with crazy games to play. But
let me just tell you one thing I didn't do.
Speaker 5 (08:43):
Let's go skiing.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
And you're surrounded by two ski resorts together, Sugar and Beach,
both like ten minutes away from the university.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Yes, and let me just tell you I did not
go skiing.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
I would see people coming across campus with broken legs
and broken arms, and.
Speaker 5 (08:58):
I'm like, what at where am I? I mean? Sometimes
I would look out and think I was in Minnesota.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
It was crazy, smart man, Smart man, not to ski
there if you don't know what you do and that's
not what you want to do. So now, when you
were Atle's, McCrae, Ole, Miss and Troy, what what do
you end up majoring in?
Speaker 1 (09:14):
What field to study?
Speaker 4 (09:16):
So I end up majoring in business. I got my
first degree in business and psychology. Then I went back
and got a degree and ethics, Communications and ethics. I'm
now working on another degree, a master's in executive leadership
from the University of Liberty.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
Right now, you're continuing education.
Speaker 4 (09:36):
As they say, it is continual growth, Jim, I do
not know how to be complacent.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
It's continual growth, man, And why not right.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
I think that we all still have things that we
can learn, and we have to make sure that we
don't become dogmatic in the way that we approached life.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
Now, you, as far as energy guys go, you're at
the top of the list. If somebody asked me the name,
so because I mentioned off the top the intro I
did for you as entrepreneur, author, corporate consultant, public speaker.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Right now.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
For a fact, you've been a fitness trainer and doing
that as well. So it's mind, body and soul and
all that. When you travel, travel globally, is what is
it mostly talking to? Is like Fortune five hundred businesses?
What kind of audience do you normally have?
Speaker 5 (10:20):
Yeah, Fortune five hundred businesses. I love talking to military.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
I do a lot of work with Sonic Automotive as
Capital one has been my client for eighteen years.
Speaker 5 (10:31):
I did a lot of work with NASCAR.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
I love talking about emotional intelligence, anything dealing or dealing
with behavior performance.
Speaker 5 (10:41):
Why are we performing the way? Why are we not?
Anything dealing with cultural changes.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
I do a lot of work with Hyundai Dealership with
Victory Chevrolet. Who's my mentor there, David Gandhi and Brandon,
gandhy are some of my great friends.
Speaker 5 (10:58):
And so it's all encompassing for me because.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Anything deals anything dealing with behavior and how do we
get to the next level?
Speaker 5 (11:06):
That is my topic.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I can tell you spent some amount of time working
in NASCAR because you did a great job of thanking
all your sponsors.
Speaker 1 (11:14):
That's a very Nascar thing to do.
Speaker 5 (11:18):
I learned from the best man. I learned from mister Age.
I mean, oh yeah, he doesn't. He does it better
than anyone else.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
So is a little pt barnum with all that stuff.
You got to promote and get the word out there.
You've got a website Leonard Wheeler dot com. If someone
wants to book you or wants to learn more about you,
is at the best place to land as far as
Leonardwheeler dot com.
Speaker 5 (11:37):
Yep, go Leonardheeler dot com.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
And they can also follow me on Instagram at Leonard
Wheeler seven or follow me on TikTok at Leonard Wheeler
thirty seven.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
And finally, you gave us, you know, kind of a
synopsis of what you're talking and what your approach is,
what's kind of your big finish, Like if we saw
you speak at some kind of an event. What what's
your kind of underlying motivational, big life message that you
would send out to people.
Speaker 4 (12:00):
You know, one of the things that I really talk
about a lot is learning how to reset in your life.
You know, there's gonna be some bumps in the road
that you're gonna come to and and and it's not
that you're focusing on the bumps, but what what what
I do want people to make sure that they're focusing
on is learning how to reflect and and learning how
(12:21):
to reset that mindset when it comes to running into guardrails, uh,
you know, running into little little little speed bumps.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
In the road.
Speaker 5 (12:33):
Those things are gonna happen.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
And if we don't learn how to reset, Jim, we're
gonna always think that it can't get better. We'll start
focusing on how bad it is instead of what we
can do to help reset and to start over.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
Love that message.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
We we covered a lot of ground in the short
period of time. And again Letterwheeler dot com to get
more into if you want to book them for an event,
whatever the case may be.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
Sponsored and all that kind of great stuff.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Continued, great success, Continue doing your great work, Leonard, and
hope to see you soon.
Speaker 5 (13:06):
Oh brother, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (13:10):
Thirty seasons of Panther Football
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