September 29, 2025 • 49 mins
Recorded live at our Kerosene event, where they keynoted alongside Tommy Ahlquist, Glenn and Mindy Stearns share their extraordinary journey from adversity to impact.
Glenn’s path was anything but easy. Growing up in Maryland with alcoholic parents, he failed fourth grade due to dyslexia and became a father at just 14 years old. After a moment of clarity in a bar, he drove to California, where a chance encounter with a gardener sparked his interest in real estate—a moment that set him on the path to entrepreneurship.
Together, Glenn and Mindy built their first company, Stearns Lending, with a philosophy of treating every person equally and listening to employees at all levels. After selling to Blackstone in 2014, they launched Kind Lending, which has since grown to 1,000 employees and become the fastest-growing mortgage company in America. But their road wasn’t without struggle. Launching just before COVID, they endured 33 consecutive months of losses, yet refused to make excuses—choosing instead to lean into their culture of perseverance and kindness.
Glenn also faced a life-threatening battle with throat cancer, now receiving all of his nutrition through a feeding tube. Despite this, he never complains, embodying the resilience that has defined both his personal and professional life.
Beyond business, the Stearns devote themselves to mentoring disadvantaged youth through the Horatio Alger Association, planting seeds of possibility for the next generation. Their story proves that when relationships are built on honesty, kindness, and respect, extraordinary outcomes follow.
As Glenn and Mindy put it: “Our cell phone numbers are available to every employee at Kind Lending because we believe in servant leadership. When people feel heard and valued, they’ll help your company achieve extraordinary results.”
This episode is a powerful reminder that kindness is more than a value—it’s a strategy for building both successful companies and meaningful lives.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Glenn and Mindy Stearns are such good friends of
mine.
In my lifetime, I've had a fewpeople that I've met that have
been so impactful on me for whatthey've said, for sure, but then
for how they live their life andhow they act and the example
they've set.
And I'm telling you, uh, Glennand Mindy for me are dear
(00:20):
friends, but have also beenmentors of mine, and I've just
watched how they've modeledtheir life.
He is a successful award-winningbusinessman.
(00:41):
He is a former TV entertainmentreporter, and together they are
one of America's power couplesfrom nothing.
You created an extraordinaryfinancial enterprise.
SPEAKER_03 (00:49):
I think everything that you've accomplished and who
you are as a person is really ascarf.
SPEAKER_02 (00:53):
You want your tail up to get there, man.
You're just great at what youdo, and you don't take note for
an answer.
SPEAKER_03 (01:14):
Nice, nice.
Here we go.
All right.
Hi.
What did Kim say?
How am I gonna change this room?
Okay, I got it.
I was listening, Kim.
I was listening.
SPEAKER_01 (01:26):
Oh, this is gonna be fun.
Um, thank you uh very much forbeing here today.
Oh, excited.
I've prepared a bunch of stuff,but I actually probably won't
even look at it.
Um, because I know you wellenough.
Um I actually just reread yourbook in preparation for this,
Glenn.
And uh and for all of you outthere, when you read Glenn's
book, you'll get the we'll we'llskip over some of the story
because it's so rich.
(01:47):
It's just rich.
But I want to be able to get outof you today some things that
will make everyone in this rooma better person because you're
you're both of your are are areclearly two of the best people
on this planet.
SPEAKER_03 (01:57):
And so you oversell us, Tommy.
SPEAKER_01 (01:59):
Thank you.
Wait till they hear the story ofhow uh of the Oprah Winfrey
show.
SPEAKER_03 (02:03):
Oh no.
SPEAKER_01 (02:04):
No, it's gonna be good.
But Glenn, let's start with you.
Just talk a little bit about thehumble beginnings because I
think it's a good place tostart.
Um, and uh I have some quotesfrom your book I may bring out,
but but uh tell us tell us whereit all began for you.
SPEAKER_02 (02:19):
Sure, yeah, I grew up in Maryland and um you know I
had uh pretty pretty blue-collarfamily we lived in, an
apartment.
We had the bars on the windows,the whole thing um failed fourth
grade.
Uh wasn't very good at reading,I had dyslexia.
(02:39):
Um I had a child in the eighthgrade at 14.
Uh parents were alcoholics, um,everybody in the family was into
something like that.
So it was a uh but you only knowwhat you know, right?
You know, so it was aninteresting beginning.
And um and for some reason Ijust decided I need to get out
(03:02):
of there.
And so I ended up being thefirst to go to college and um
off it went.
SPEAKER_03 (03:09):
Tell how you drove across country.
I like that story.
SPEAKER_02 (03:14):
Well I I was in a bar with a buddy, with a lot of
buddies, and I it was one in themorning, and I am laughing
hysterically at um a friend thateither got a beard thrown on him
or he got slapped or something.
(03:34):
And in the middle of mylaughter, or as I say, the
middle of my deepest fog, I hadmy clearest memory or clearest
thought.
I don't want to do this anymore.
I don't want to fall into thesame pattern my dad and
everybody was in.
So the next day I told my buddy,I said, Why don't we head to
(03:56):
California?
He says, When?
I said, Let's go tomorrow.
Like, what?
And so we drove out toCalifornia and I found myself
there's someone in here today.
I was talking to the had uh metme on a bench, and um I ended up
in California and I was alonenow at this one point.
(04:18):
I was sitting on a bench overthe Pacific Ocean, the homes,
these beautiful, million-dollarhomes, these just cars and
beautiful people.
And I like, I want this life,right?
And so there's a man in his yardand he's trimming his rose
bushes, and so I walked up tohim and I said, What did it take
(04:40):
to get this house?
Like, I know I can do it.
Like, what did it take?
And the guy turns to me andsays, Senor, I'm the gardener.
He says, I think the man is inreal estate.
I said, I want to get into realestate.
SPEAKER_03 (04:56):
Career was begun, and that was it.
SPEAKER_01 (04:58):
And a dream was born.
Um, I want to uh I want to getthe business side.
So so where Glenn really thrivedwas building one of the nation's
largest companies.
Um you're you're in his nameadorns buildings all through
Southern California, and youbecame the nation's largest
lender.
Um you vertically integratedalmost everything.
(05:19):
There are there are leaders inthis room right now, whether
they're running a university oror businesses that are
struggling with scaling and andand dealing with people and
motivating people, and andthat's kind of what today's
about.
But I I know the secret becauseI've been around you.
When you're around Glanwith in aroom, whether it's with the
(05:39):
lowest employee that works foryou, that's opening the doors
and and and valeting your carsto the most important person in
your organization, I know youtreat them exactly the same.
In fact, you may treat the guysvaleting your cars better than
the others.
So I know a lot of that'sauthentic, but maybe you can
give some of your secrets to,you know, in a world where where
(06:04):
it is employees and taking careof people and inspiring them,
what were some of your secretsover the years to grow your
company?
SPEAKER_02 (06:10):
Well, you know, it's funny because when it first
started, I was a I was a brokerand I didn't know what I was
doing.
And I thought, well, how can Igrow my company?
And I thought, well, I need tobe a banker.
How do I do that?
So I would go in every day toHUD because I was trying to get
their business, and I asked thereceptionist, her name is
(06:31):
Jeannie Baker, I said, I want tobe a banker.
How do I do that?
I had no one now that I knowwhat I know, HUD just has no
idea how to become a banker, butbut she said, Look, you need to
get a credit line, and shestarted to help me.
And then I started a titlecompany and that failed.
And I went to Jeannie Bakerbecause they were selling homes
(06:53):
in HUD.
I said, How do I become a youknow, um a title, how do I get
the title work?
And she said, You need acontract.
I'm like, how do I get acontract?
What's that?
And so she helped me get myfirst contract.
And what I found was, you know,these gatekeepers, these people
that sit there that usuallypeople walk right over.
(07:17):
Um, they can be really the mostpowerful people in your
organization.
Uh Debbie Davis, uh, she's beenwith us twenty six years.
Uh she's our receptionist andall around everything.
Wonderful lady.
And um we've had a lot of peopletry to think less of her, and
(07:37):
she's probably one of the mostpowerful people in our company,
you know.
SPEAKER_03 (07:41):
If I could interject a little bit, um, I just uh you
know, Glenn built Stern'sLending to be in an incredible
organization, and Blackstone umbought it back in 2015 or 14, I
think it was, and he went on andhad was diagnosed with cancer of
the throat and has overcome alot.
He's healthy, cancer-free rightnow, so that's the good news.
So we're celebrating.
(08:03):
Um but you know what he did.
If you saw the show onDiscovery, I don't know how many
of you have, it's a great showto watch with the kids,
families, very inspiring,undercover billionaire.
It's about building a businessfrom nothing.
He was dropped off in a smalltown with nothing, had to build
a million-dollar evaluatedbusiness in 90 days, or he had
to put a million of his ownmoney in.
That was a bet.
And Discovery said, okay, let'stake on it, do it.
(08:23):
And the show really um, I thinkit reignited in him a fire to
build again because he loves theprocess.
He loves the game.
He says, I love being in thegame.
He I know you had a conversationwith T-Boon Pickens once about
him going from a billionaire tobroke, billionaire to broke,
billionaire to broke.
He's like, T-Boon, why are youdoing this?
You're gonna be broke again.
What are you doing?
He's like, I love being in thegame, son.
(08:44):
So Glenn, in that same vein,loves being in the game.
But more than anything, um, thesuccess of Stearns was such a
powerful thing that we built.
And you know, Blackstoneobviously took note of it, but
it really was the vision ofGlenn and the people that he
attracted.
Now, after UndercoverBillionaire, we came up and
founded Kind Lending.
(09:05):
Now, Kind Now is the fastestgrowing mortgage company in the
industry.
We're number five out of all westarted less than five years
ago.
We have a thousand employeesabout now, and we really believe
in servant leadership, and it'ssomething that has been the
keystone of our success.
Glenn listens, we give our phonenumber to every employee and
(09:26):
hiring good people.
And and I what I've loved aboutthis man is he's got no ego in
the game.
And he always says, I hirepeople that are smarter than me,
I hire people that know morethan me, and I just I don't have
all the answers.
And he does treat everyone fromthe valet to the receptionist to
the owners to investors, whoeverit is, with the equal amount of
(09:46):
respect and regard.
And I think that's been a key ofit.
SPEAKER_02 (09:48):
When you ask about these secrets, it was great to
have a company that was numberone and watch it go to number
two to number three to numberfour.
SPEAKER_01 (09:59):
Let's let's pause a little bit.
So Glenn sold your exit was inwhat year?
SPEAKER_03 (10:03):
2015 or 14, 2014.
SPEAKER_01 (10:05):
2014 sells this company for a lot of money.
SPEAKER_03 (10:09):
A little bit.
SPEAKER_01 (10:10):
A lot of money.
Did all right.
Then you had some fun um andwent around the world and did
some wonderful thingsphilanthropically that I want to
get a little bit into, but butthen they they drove the company
that when you're saying watchingit going from number one down,
and then you bought it back.
Um sort of.
unknown (10:30):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (10:30):
Or do you build built well Glenn may not tell
this story, but I will.
Okay.
But um, right when Glenn was umright when the Discovery show
was promoting undercoverbillionaires releasing in the
fall, new show, gonna hit thefall.
If you're watching, Blackstonedecided to file chapter 11.
So he tells the story thatStearns lending is filing
(10:55):
chapter 11, and here he is,Glenn Stearns on this show, and
they're calling.
What is what happened with theWall Street Journal?
SPEAKER_02 (11:02):
The Wall Street Journal calls me.
Are you the undercoverbillionaire?
Are you bankrupt?
I'm like, no, I'm a screwee.
SPEAKER_03 (11:09):
They basically he says screwy, but they did.
They they basically wiped outeverything they were owed to
him, and that's what they do.
Hey, there's no knock onBlackstone, they do amazing
things because they're anincredible organization.
SPEAKER_01 (11:23):
But well, we were just talking, uh Odette and I
were just talking about privateequity and healthcare.
SPEAKER_02 (11:29):
So hey, they're they're a great company.
Yeah, there's no, like I said,wrong, but uh, but then his
non-compete was null and void,and that's when kind lending was
born.
SPEAKER_01 (11:38):
Kind lending was born.
SPEAKER_02 (11:39):
Back to the secrets, because you watch the company
and why did we number one?
Why did we go from there all theway down, right?
And what happened was when Ilooked, I said, wow, you know,
there's there's financialcurrency, money.
(12:00):
I'll pay you more money when youstay.
And people say, well, I'll giveyou till five o'clock and that's
it.
And then there's many othertypes of currency.
There's happiness, right?
There's the ability to feelyou're part of something bigger
than you are, and that you arepart of the success.
And when you allow other peopleto feel that they are the
(12:20):
reason, and they are, for whyyou end up growing and you know,
and taking on these goals andhitting them and exceeding them,
they feel very proud.
And then they're, you know, Iwould come in at nine at night
having to kick people out.
Right, come on, guys, go home.
Just one more thing.
But when you turn it around towhere it's only just um about
(12:44):
money, it changes, you know, alittle bit.
And so when we restart it, werealized there's so much more
than just a financial reward.
There's really, you know,getting in there and feeling
you're a part of somethingbigger than just yourself, you
know.
SPEAKER_01 (13:02):
Wow.
So kind lending, and Mindy, youwere very involved.
Talk about the rebirth of thecompany and now a thousand
employees and the second timearound.
Um, how's it been?
SPEAKER_03 (13:12):
You know what?
Um I obviously I have abackground in television and
broadcasts.
That was my training and dentalhygiene.
That's another story.
But um so when Glenn came back,I had been involved in more of
an ancillary role before, moreof people and people operations
and and communications.
So he said, I really want you tobe part of this in a more
significant way.
So we created a title, and it'swas I was the chief happiness
(13:36):
officer.
That's how it started.
So um, and then as we evolvedinto a more mature company, I
became the chief kindnessofficer because we are kind
lending.
SPEAKER_02 (13:45):
So, Tommy, let me tell you what happened, really,
okay.
We were the we uh we decidedthis time, let's not just become
a regular company that does itthe way everybody.
Like, I want to have some fun inthis company.
I mean, we we went out and ourportal that every customer has
(14:06):
to go through win it fast andeasy.
So we called it the quickie.
Happy beginnings and happyendings, okay?
SPEAKER_01 (14:14):
Um I was waiting for this to get real, and now there
we go.
So now it's the Glenn and Mindywe all know here.
People are going to be.
So it's the quickie.
SPEAKER_02 (14:26):
It's called the quickie.
SPEAKER_01 (14:28):
I should tell you all.
I'm gonna so I called Glenn acouple weeks ago and I said,
Hey, are you ready for this?
And he kind of whispered in thephone, he's like, Yeah, I I am,
but I almost died.
And I'm an emard, I'm an oldEMAR doctor, right?
And he tells me this story of4th of July going to a party,
getting some he had cancer thatwe'll get to, and he had uh
(14:51):
radiation on his vocal cords, sohe was getting a treatment on
his vocal cords, and in about 72hours, his airway closed off and
ended up in the hospital forweeks and had a tracheotomy.
So for all of you out herethat's that may and may not have
seen a tracheotomy in your life,it's a big freaking deal.
So I'm like, oh man, I'm sosorry you can't make it.
And he's like, No, I'll bethere.
And I'm like, dude, you stillhave a hole in your neck.
(15:14):
And he's like, Yeah, but I'll bethere.
So he's doing great, but umThat's why I'm talking a little
more than normal.
SPEAKER_03 (15:21):
I'm alive.
It's maybe his voice.
He's alive.
He's like a cockroach, nothing'sgonna kill him for telling me.
SPEAKER_01 (15:28):
Where were we?
Sorry.
Where were we?
I wanted to say cat.
SPEAKER_02 (15:33):
Oh, so we said, let's start this company the way
we want to do it, right?
Let's have some fun.
So we started with the quickie,right?
And then um Mindy goes outthere, we only had about 150
people.
Hey everybody, I'm your chiefho.
SPEAKER_03 (15:48):
I'm I'm like, CHO.
SPEAKER_02 (15:51):
But we were having fun, and people started
realizing, you know, when youstand for something really in
your organization, and we don'tstand for, but we had a lot of
in yuan yos, a lot of fun, butit was really about let's really
enjoy ourselves.
You guys are gonna be workinghere eight, ten hours a day, so
why not have some laughs?
And so people started to really,you know, enjoy themselves.
(16:15):
We went to our customers and wesaid, you know, we're gonna
start a um like a like a rankingincentive program.
And if you give us a certainamount of your business, you're
gonna be a good dog.
If you give us more, you're abig dog.
And if you give us the top,you're the alpha dog, right?
(16:36):
And if you're new, you're apuppy.
But we don't want like the two,three, five percent, because
that's really the trash in thebusiness.
So if you do that, because wecan rank now with everybody, and
you're a wiener dog.
So we have like the shirts,right?
Like, don't be a wiener, youknow, and people just they
laugh, they have fun, but it'sreally caused the company to
(17:00):
take on this life of its ownwhere people want to work there,
people want to bring theirbusiness.
And we've shot up, you know, inthe first four months, we hit a
billion dollars, which was veryquick.
It took us forever last time,and now, you know, it's doing
that like all the time.
SPEAKER_03 (17:20):
But I don't want to say it didn't come without
hardships, too, because we talka lot about grit in this group
about building success.
I mean, we he went obviouslyfrom one of the top mortgage
companies in the country when itwas Stearns, sold it, came back
in, and then we opened in 2019,right before COVID.
So the minute we had officespace, we opened this big
beautiful, we went back to thesame building that we had had
(17:41):
before, same floor, same office.
It was kind of nostalgic.
But then California shut downall non-essential workers.
So it was just Glenn and I andhis receptionists in this huge
office, and we had no employeesat the office.
And it was a really it was areally challenging time.
And then for the next 33 months,11 quarters, we had loss.
(18:02):
We wrote a check out of ourpersonal account for 33 months
to keep the business and thedoors open.
And I give a lot of credit tothis guy because I'm like, okay,
how much how how are reallythree feet from the gold, right?
SPEAKER_02 (18:15):
You ever agreed that?
But no, it with my lastgo-round, we lost money one
quarter.
And now I'm like, that's it.
This is the last month.
Okay, one more month.
Say that over.
SPEAKER_03 (18:28):
It's this guy's faith in in he's been in the
market, you know, for 35 years.
He understands the market shiftsand we have to adapt.
And there are things, and one ofthe principles is look, we only
react to what we can.
We can't control everything.
Why get upset about things thatwe can't control?
And so all we can control is ourexperience of our employees.
That's my role as the chiefkindness officer is to help
(18:52):
encourage the culture.
I am all about the culture.
I talk to every new hire, I callstay in contact with all of our
employees.
We send out notices, wecelebrate, we highlight
employees every day, we sendflowers, we call them, we talk
to them, we text them, wecelebrate our employees.
We listen and we have a callevery month, once a month, we
get on and talk to our wholecompany, and here's our cell
(19:14):
phone.
You have questions.
SPEAKER_02 (19:15):
It's definitely a bottom-down approach.
SPEAKER_03 (19:18):
No, bottom-up.
It's really like we have satwith employees and we say, What
you've been elsewhere, you'vebeen at other companies, and I'm
sure many of you have employeesthat have worked for other
competitors.
What did they do that you loved?
What did they do right?
What have you seen intechnology, advancements, and
automation that they did that weshould do?
And that's how we lead.
And we answer, there's no closeddoor, there's no, we know all
(19:41):
the answers.
It's we learned from ouremployees how to be the best.
SPEAKER_02 (19:44):
You know what I noticed, uh Tommy, is um, you
know, again, we have more ofthat servant leadership style,
right?
Like we work for them.
Uh, when that new regime kind ofcame when I sold Stern's, um,
they had more of a top-down andwe know it all type approach,
which it works in some companiesand that's fine.
(20:07):
But um what it did when peoplewere trying to send messages and
say, hey, this isn't working,they were more looking at it
like that's a reflection of theexecutive team.
Don't say that.
So they would be uh forced intoreally being quiet, I guess.
(20:29):
And so you lost the voice fromthe street, you know.
And when that happens, you don'tyou're not able to make very
good decisions because you'renot able to hear what's going
on.
And so, you know, we've justmade sure all the uh management
understands we have to keep thatopen so we can react faster.
SPEAKER_01 (20:52):
It's interesting as I'm listening to you, is uh the
human needs of an individual areare kind of the same.
They want to feel valued, theywant to feel important, they
want to feel like their employervalues their work and their
effort and their time andenergy.
We spend so much time at work,right?
And I think in small businesses,it's a little easier to connect
in that way where you're able toone-on-one it.
(21:13):
What I've loved about listeningto you and talking to you and
getting advice from you, you'vebeen able to figure that out at
scale, where you still can feelthat way, even with big
companies.
But it's it's intentional,right?
You have to have your then yourlayers of leadership have to buy
into that.
We have some great companieshere in Idaho that I think the
most successful companies inIdaho have done that same thing,
but it's a great lesson for allof us as we scale to ask those
(21:34):
questions.
How did you do it?
How do you still make them feellike they're important and they
really connect?
SPEAKER_03 (21:39):
Well, when Kim was talking earlier about the
different generations too, andwhat people are looking for in a
work experience, like you reallylike optimization of your of
your life experience isimportant, just the quality of
the life you live.
And if you I mean, havingemployees that love where they
work is one of the best thingsyou can have for job retention
and employee retention.
People want to feel heard, theywant to feel like their ideas
(22:02):
matter, that they value, thatthey have access to management.
I mean, like I said, we give outour phone numbers, everybody
knows how to get to us, andthere is no closed door.
And that's I think that's beenone of the cornerstones is just
creating an environment thatsays, we hear you, we do, and we
put a newsletter out every weekthat says, We heard you, and
here's all the things that we'veimplemented since your ideas
(22:24):
came about.
Here's what we're doing now,here's what we are activating.
So they understand we did hear,and that's been a really
important prospect.
SPEAKER_02 (22:32):
We have a lot of people that have worked there
for I mean, with us at the oldcompany and then the new one.
My assistant 29 years.
29 years, many, 20 years, many,15, many 10, you know.
So they know, you know, we've uhwe really do care, you know.
And that's the uh I think that'sthe key.
(22:55):
You know, and again, it'sdifferent other people.
Again, I watched Blackstone makea lot of money.
They ended up they're very, verygood at financially engineering,
you know, what they need theiroutcome.
I mean, they're the best.
And um and I again I I look atthem and think, wow, you you
know, you got exactly what youcame for.
(23:17):
That wasn't what I that uh we'reabout heart.
We're not doing it just uh justto make money, you know.
You gotta feel good.
And again, everybody's differentin every company they come in
with different intentions.
Let's get ready to get thisthing public and go.
We don't want to do that, youknow.
I just wanna come to work andfeel good, you know.
SPEAKER_01 (23:40):
I'm gonna shift a little bit because I have so
much.
I knew I knew.
But um can we talk about yourrelationship?
What I've learned from you,Glenn, from the moment I met
you, relationships areeverything.
But when I watch therelationship between you and
Mindy, it's it's special.
I mean, there's something there,the synergy, the love, the
(24:00):
everything about that.
And how important is arerelationships in general, and
then this relationship to thesuccess and the happiness you
have in your life.
SPEAKER_03 (24:10):
Well, I mean, I I can speak for from my
perspective.
SPEAKER_01 (24:13):
I think it's funny that you went first.
I like that.
SPEAKER_02 (24:14):
I was gonna say, you know how it works.
Yeah.
Let her go first.
SPEAKER_03 (24:18):
Go ahead, Annie.
Yes, Tyr.
Um, you know, I had a veryindependent life before I met
him.
And I mean, for anybody that'ssingle out there, I really was
at a place in my life when I metGlenn that I I had made this
statement.
I am so happy with my life.
I love where I am, I love whatI'm doing, I love my friends, my
(24:40):
job, my dog, my life.
I was in a good space, and I wasnot interested in meeting
anybody.
So the irony was that I metGlenn that night a few hours
later, and uh that just turnedmy world upside down in a way I
didn't expect.
So for me, it was really beingin a place that I was really
winning personally without anyre without anybody else.
(25:03):
It was it was a really goodfeeling.
So we just came together andthings just blew up from there.
SPEAKER_02 (25:09):
And just to add to that, I was in that same space.
It's weird, you know.
I was like, I'm not looking.
We met on a blackjack table.
Okay, and I didn't even get hername.
We stayed all night, it was abig group.
And I thought when I left, well,uh, she was really different,
but I didn't even get her name.
And then a couple days later Isaw her on the news.
(25:33):
I'm like, that's the same girl Iwas sitting next to.
Stalker, yeah.
And uh so I I emailed the radioat the TV station.
Hey, were you the girl sittingnext to?
No answer.
Like, hmm.
So I called the fewer hotlinepromise.
And um I said, Hey, I'm having abig Jimmy Buffett party if you'd
(25:56):
like to come, and she called meback, you know.
So it was it wasn't this weird,you know, like we didn't meet on
Tinder or anything, you know.
SPEAKER_01 (26:04):
Did you have Jimmy Buffett at the Yeah, yeah.
Most people say we're having aJimmy Buffett concert, it's like
we're having a Jimmy Buffettconcert, but with Glenn, it's a
Jimmy Buffett concert.
Well, I was just to be clear.
SPEAKER_02 (26:18):
But it was it ended up being anyway, that's that's
kind of how we met.
But what I realized after, youknow, I had been married before,
and um my little filter was Ihad said um at their first date,
(26:39):
we went out after that JimmyBuffett.
I said, hey, uh, you know, Ihave three boys, and I gotta
tell you, I said their mother, Isaid, she and the kids come
first.
I just want to put it out there.
And she was like, Wow, I lovethat.
You know, and now a lot of womenwould turn and walk away, but I
(27:00):
was just not I didn't haveenough patience for someone that
wasn't secure, you know.
And uh she was very secure inherself, and um it turned out
very well.
Our my ex-wife came to ourwedding.
SPEAKER_03 (27:15):
Well, I gotta say, uh, you know, divorced with two
baby mamas and four kids wasn'ton the list of the perfect man
when I was looking.
SPEAKER_01 (27:23):
But you saw that that wallet?
SPEAKER_03 (27:25):
No.
Oh yeah.
I had my own wallet, Tommy.
I had a really fat one myself.
Thank you very much.
But um what I will say is that Ithis was a mark of character.
What's that?
I've drained it since then.
You're welcome.
So um You know, Tommy, she hadher credit card stolen and I did
(27:51):
not report it.
SPEAKER_02 (27:53):
You know why?
The crook was spending less thanshe spent.
SPEAKER_03 (27:56):
So you love that one.
SPEAKER_02 (28:01):
I love that one.
SPEAKER_03 (28:04):
What I was going to say was that I loved his the
that first dinner, I will say,was such a mark of character to
me that he was so complimentaryabout his ex-wife that he spoke
about her with such regard andrespect that had such a mark for
me of character that he didn'tapologize.
(28:25):
He says, Look, she'll comefirst.
She's the mother of my children,and I, you know, I have this
other woman, we're friendsstill.
I mean, we had a child, we werereally young, they never
married.
But I thought, wow, you know,coming from Hollywood and a few
vacuous pretty boys that failedto say they were divorced or so,
you know, a lot of lies.
I was it was so refreshing tomeet someone who was so brutally
(28:48):
and blunt and honest, and thatwas such a mark of character for
me.
And it really set the stage forhow we operated from then on
out.
I mean, honesty is everything.
And then what he said is bybeing up front with the truth,
then you learn if someone wantsto stick with you because you
give them the choice.
Do I want to stay knowing whatI'm in for, or am I just, you
know, there's no facade, whichwas was beautiful, and that was
(29:11):
part of it.
That was the beginning.
I invited him home forThanksgiving three weeks later,
and my parents were like, he'sthe one.
That was 23 years ago.
SPEAKER_02 (29:19):
And it obviously takes, you know, takes both
sides because she welcomed my exand my children.
SPEAKER_01 (29:27):
And I mean, when we went around the world on the
boat uh after we sold, I'dgotten cancer, and I was like I
I think it's funny you stillcall it a boat, but I remember
the first time you were talkingabout the boat, and you showed
me the picture, I'm like, let'scall it what it is.
That's not a boat.
But it's still funny that thismany years later it's a boat.
(29:48):
But it's a boat.
If a helicopter lands on it,it's not a boat.
Just to be clear, okay.
SPEAKER_02 (29:57):
You're on the boat with the whole family.
On the boat.
And um, but we brought myex-wife, we convinced her, she
was a teacher in Orange County,to quit and then to come for a
year.
SPEAKER_03 (30:09):
And uh she homeschooled our girls.
So his ex-wife and I and himwere traveling for a year on a
boat, and uh we had a reallyincredible year.
It was it was amazing.
Like she was a teacher and she'sthe godmother to our girls, and
they had three boys, and we gaveher two little girls, and it's
just been a beautiful thing.
(30:30):
She just got married recentlyand we're all friends.
SPEAKER_01 (30:33):
So I I think um I think this is gonna come up a
lot, and when you read his book,it it I think uh hopefully what
you leave for today, it'skindness, it's genuine, it's
you, it's all of you, and itjust it it permeates and makes
everyone around you better.
I want to I want to shift tophilanthropy a little bit.
We don't have time today,everybody, for all of the good
(30:56):
that these two do, and it's it'severywhere.
But and I haven't even wehaven't prepped of any of this,
so some of this is just comingoff the cuff, but but but talk
about some of the kids youselect to take down, the
homeless kids, and that storyblew me away the first time I
heard it, and some of those someof the results from that.
Uh if you just share thatbriefly.
SPEAKER_02 (31:14):
So uh we're we're in a group uh called Horatio Alger,
and um it was a an amazingorganization that um they select
10 or 12 people to get in everyyear.
Um it's done in the SupremeCourt, it's the only
non-judicial act in the SupremeCourt, so it's a really big
(31:37):
deal.
SPEAKER_03 (31:38):
But it's usually it's all um people have gone
through severe adversity andhave come out and have um more
of a rags to riches kind ofHoratio Alger was an author that
wrote about um regs to rich'sstory.
So the organization was foundedon successful entrepreneurs who
came from nothing, madesomething of their lives, and
(31:58):
then made a point of givingback.
And that was the whole that'sthe whole crux of the Horatio
Alger Association.
And like you said, there's like13 people inducted every year.
It's kind of like the USequivalent of being knighted, if
you will.
We don't really have obviouslyhave that, but it's it's a very
special organization.
But the the main focus of it isscholarships for kids who have
(32:20):
been through terrible, terribleadversity.
And these kids are like thefuture.
They the the American dream isalive and well in these kids
because they see that hard work,integrity, and education is the
key to having success, thatbreaking the cycles of these
terrible childhoods that havebeen they've been living.
(32:41):
They're not victims, they don'thave a victim mentality.
It's so inspiring.
And we just we invest in thesekids and believe in them as the
future of America because theywill be the ones running our
companies and creating newinnovations for our world.
SPEAKER_02 (32:56):
We'll do these leadership gatherings and we'll
bring them down to like toNecker.
We're going there Thursday, andwe will we'll have great
speakers with me.
We have some amazing speakersthat are there.
SPEAKER_01 (33:10):
So they bring these kids, the horrible situations,
down to Richard Br Branson'sIsland, and you bring in
speakers that are from all theworld and mentor of the people.
Professional speakers and thenand then plug them in with
mentorship, and then the storiesof where these kids go are
that's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_02 (33:26):
Their stories make the professional speakers look
like nothing.
I mean, you're you know, you'recrying and you're so happy for
them all at the same time.
I mean, they're uh they'reamazing, young, resilient, you
know, men and women.
So it's uh it's wonderful toinvest in their future.
SPEAKER_01 (33:45):
That's great.
Okay, uh, you got one morequestion, then we'll open it up,
have someone, some questionsfrom the audience.
But um I flash back to when theBroncos won the Super Bowl and
you were partying in JohnElway's room and you sent me a
video, and it was crazy, it wasmayhem.
I mean, you're living it up,things are great, and then your
(34:06):
cancer died.
I want to talk about, we talkeda little bit about this
yesterday, um, facing death andthat whole realization of you do
all these great things in life,but you have this much time.
And and one, what it was likefacing it for you, because that
I mean, your diagnosis uh wasvery serious.
I mean, it was not clear youwere gonna get through this, and
(34:28):
then afterwards, talk about howthat's changed your perception
on on the way you live now.
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (34:35):
But first I'll talk about the partying with John
Elway in his room.
Because I think it's relative toa lot of what we go through,
okay?
I was sitting with John, and itwas after maybe eight or nine
games in the season.
SPEAKER_03 (34:52):
Let me just say the reason John and Glenn are
friends is Glenn knows nothingabout football.
And I think that's why Johnreally appreciates Glenn because
they don't talk about football.
He doesn't watch football.
Glenn will call Glenn on aMonday night, like, what are you
doing?
He's like, dude, I'm in themiddle of the year.
SPEAKER_02 (35:09):
I'm at the game.
Sorry, man.
So um but yeah, no, we weresitting and we were having
conversations, and um he said,Man, next year we are I think we
can make the Super Bowl.
I said, next year, aren't youlike nine and oh this year?
(35:32):
Yeah, but that Peyton Manning,he wants he is so selfish.
He wants to hit all theserecords for himself, and he's
just not being a team leader.
And um I said, Do you think hecan take you to the Super Bowl?
Well, yeah, he could if you'drefocus.
(35:53):
And so he says, that's why we'regonna get rid of him in next
year.
I said, John, you think thatPeyton Manning is your employee?
Peyton Manning looks at you likeyou're his ultimate.
You went out after winning twoSuper Bowls and got out.
This guy knows.
(36:14):
I said, you gotta think aboutyour employees.
I said, when you first meet asuperstar, you walk down the
hall and you give him that lookin your eye, hey, how you doing?
And the stare stays long.
You love that guy.
I said, now you don't have thatmuch confidence in him anymore,
do you?
No.
(36:34):
I go, I bet you walk by him,hey.
You don't even give him thelook.
He knows.
I said, John, what would it takejust to go and say, I was having
a conversation with my buddy?
I believe you could take us tothe Super Bowl.
I believe you could win it atPeyton.
Why don't you say that to theguy?
(36:55):
Plant the seed.
He is he you're his idol John.
You're not his boss.
Next day he texts me.
I um I I forget the what numberwas he, 18?
Yeah.
Anyway, I I talked to 18.
He doesn't say his name, Italked to 18.
(37:17):
I planted the seed.
So the video of us jumping onthe bed after the game, I'm
going, I want my Super Bowlring.
I want my ring.
I helped plant that seed.
But um Did he give you a ring?
Hell no.
SPEAKER_03 (37:36):
But you gotta try them all on at his house.
Glenn has had like all of themon his hand.
SPEAKER_01 (37:40):
Well, what was the question?
Well, we started on cancer andwe ended up on Super Bowl rings.
SPEAKER_02 (37:46):
So cancer.
Um for me, I know a lot ofpeople have gone through cancer
and it suffered tremendously andhave passed.
Um so I, you know, I feelhorrible for those people and
those families.
But for me, um, it was a gift.
It opened my eyes to like todaycould be the best day of my
(38:10):
life.
Like, you never know.
So live it.
And I have felt so gratefulevery day.
Feeling like, wow, like I couldbe gone, and what about my kids?
And they're not gonna be withthe family.
So I've I you know it's it'sbeen a wonderful gift in a weird
way.
And again, that's hard to saywhen a lot of people lose
(38:33):
people.
But um yeah, it really justopened my eyes, and I'll just
tell you one quick story.
Um it was Mitt Romney's um itwas the RN's, it was the re the
Republican convention for Mitt2012.
And um I was there with somefriends and two other guys.
(38:56):
One was named Foster Freeze, whoyou knew, and the other was Mike
Ingram.
They were in the stairwell andthey met an 18-year-old kid, and
that kid pitched them on how hecould change the youth of
America, and Foster was thefirst to invest in that kid.
(39:16):
Google it right now, and the kidwas Charlie Kirk.
Okay, so I was able to watchthis young man as Foster.
We did a lot together, as youdid.
I know he helped you in yourcampaign.
And to look at youth, they haveno fear and they they are not
(39:39):
worried about losing it allbecause they don't have it,
right?
But when we get older, we puckerup.
I don't want to risk it all,because if I do, what'll happen,
right?
But the the best part of ourlives was that scraping and
scratching and clawing our wayback up to the top or up to the
(40:04):
top, you know?
And so things like that show,Undercover Billionaire,
everybody's gonna go, you'regonna go$100 with no contacts,
no, and you're gonna try tostart a business in 90, you are
gonna fail.
Why would you do it?
And I I was like, you know, saidthat on camera, but they cut it.
(40:26):
Richard Branson and John Elway.
They interviewed both of them,and I thought, these are my
buddies, why wouldn't they thinkthis is cool?
They go, Glenn, you'reabsolutely crazy.
You're gonna fail.
And I thought, like, I'm gonnatry my hardest.
That's what life's about.
Well, halfway through in thatshow, I realized for 100%, not
(40:52):
90 to 100%, I was gonna fail.
SPEAKER_03 (40:55):
I knew it.
So if you watch the show at thebarbecue fest, you'll see him
staring off.
That's when he was about toquit.
SPEAKER_02 (41:02):
So I said, I am failing, so I'm gonna quit.
Like I am going to walk rightnow.
Because if I do, they cannotmake the show.
They'll sue me, and I'm whatit's worth my reputation.
I don't care.
So I'm leaving.
I literally like started towalk.
(41:24):
And then I realized something, Iwas like, I've never quit in my
life.
But I'm thinking to myself, butthis is bigger.
It's not that I'll fail in frontof the world.
I'm gonna have in perpetuity avideo that my children get to
watch.
Look at dad, the loser, right?
So I Well, they already feelthat way, it's okay.
(41:45):
So I could not make that.
I need to quit.
And as I start to leave, I saidto myself, I've never quit.
And if anything, my kids aregonna see that I'm gonna try and
I'm gonna go down swinging ashard as I can.
And then somehow it worked.
You know what I mean?
So to me, cancer, what it taughtme was keep stretching, keep
(42:11):
living, keep growing.
And like that's one of the it'snot the dumb show.
I don't care about the show.
I care about the fact that inlife you've got on both sides.
This devil quit, quit.
It's easier.
That's even better over there.
That job's easier.
Did you know look over there?
(42:32):
And it's hard sometimes to justkeep going through the crab,
man.
How many times have you wantedto give up?
How many times have you justeverybody told you it's better
over there?
And when you stick to it, youcan do amazing things.
And so, you know, I was reallyproud of not quitting, not
(42:54):
giving up.
And that I think it came fromthe cancer, you know, I will.
SPEAKER_03 (43:00):
I will interject a little bit on this.
Another thing, if if you did seethe show, if you do see the
show, at the end, he talks aboutexcuses.
Um, and nobody in that show madeany excuses.
They helped him, they stepped upin ways to a stranger that just
had a dream and an idea, andthey all jumped in and they
helped.
And Glenn had a moment in in therestaurant at the end when he's
(43:24):
like, Each of you, nobody gavean excuse.
And neither did I, because lifeis about not having excuses.
You don't get anywhere, and hepulls out a feeding tube.
Now, you may not know this, butbecause of the cancer, he cannot
eat at all.
He had cancer of the epiglottis,they took out his epiglottis, so
(43:44):
it's your primary defenseagainst choking.
So if he swallows water or evenhis saliva or anything, he can
aspirate.
So Glenn eats 100% of his mealsand all of his nutrition goes
through a feeding tube, hiswater, everything.
You never hear him complain.
He'll go to dinner, he'll sitdown, he'll go out, he'll be
with friends.
He never complains, he neverever eats.
(44:06):
And nobody knows that.
But he's here he is going,kicking, open up another
business, he's gonna go at itagain, still living large and
taking big risks, and and he'snever been happier.
So there's life.
SPEAKER_02 (44:26):
But I cook.
I'm a cook now.
Why not?
You know, I'm not gonna sit inthe corner.
SPEAKER_03 (44:33):
He's now a chef.
He watches Bobby Flay and otherthings and learns how to make
food.
So wonderful.
SPEAKER_01 (44:39):
Uh we have time for maybe one question or yeah.
This is President Jones, Arm.
SPEAKER_00 (44:49):
Gordon Jones, president of one of our colleges
here.
You have other presidents.
A lot of us in this room workwith youth.
I I gleaned some of what youmight say, but could you expand
on how do you talk to when youdo our youth?
What are you encouraging them tothink about, that group that
really hasn't yet been shaped?
And I'm curious, um, eitherexpand on what you've already
(45:11):
said or um share with us.
SPEAKER_02 (45:14):
Yeah, well, I again that's that is our focus.
I love um helping and and tryingto plant the seeds.
Um when I was young, I was againthink about this 14, you know,
I've got alcoholic parents, I'vegot a a child being born, and
(45:38):
this one man that came to me andhe said, There's something about
you, Glenn.
He goes, I don't know what itis, but I think one day you're
gonna be a leader, you're gonnado great things in life.
And um I was embarrassed.
I remember saying, Oh, don't,you know, don't say that.
And then when I got to college,um we we started a fraternity,
(46:02):
and um there was a gentlemanthat said, Hey, let's go around
and talk about somebody weadmire.
It can be someone from the pastthat's dead, it could be
somebody now.
He goes, I'll start.
He goes, I admire Glenn, and letme tell you why.
And I go, Oh, stop, stop.
But those two times that's it.
(46:22):
Because I came from a kind ofhard, you know, upbringing.
I didn't have a lot of people, Ididn't have mentors, I didn't
have a lot of people, but I didhave two times where people
planted that seed to say,there's something about you.
And again, I was embarrassed, Ididn't want to think, but I
thought, I don't want to letthose people down.
I want to try to make somethingof myself.
(46:45):
And so I believe that we allshould be planting seeds in
these young people, saying thatwe think there's so much
greatness that can come out ofthem.
And when I talk to people ofadversity, young children, I'm
like, you have such a greatstory to start from.
You know, I mean, your story wasinspired so much for where you
(47:08):
are, where you're going.
So I love to make sure thatyoung people understand that
when you take chances,especially when you're young,
that you can do anything.
And, you know, and I likesometimes I don't, I'm not
trying to brag at them, but Isay, you know, I can relate a
lot to your story, and I kind ofgo over some of the stuff, and
(47:31):
and again, I'm I graduated witha 2.1, okay?
I didn't have like the bestgrades in college.
And I tell them, I go, and theyI got a 2.1, but they gave me an
honorary doctorate tooafterwards.
So some more stay in school.
You can do it.
SPEAKER_01 (47:50):
That's great.
SPEAKER_02 (47:51):
In other words, you know, if I can do it, you can do
it, basically right.
SPEAKER_03 (47:54):
I think too, uh, Gordon, is what we really value
in our organization is thementorship approach that the
Horatio Alge Association focuseson.
Is these kids not only getmoney, but they get access to
the most successful brains andsuccessful um entrepreneurs in
the world.
And we have never shied awayfrom mentorship.
There sometimes you just see akid, you see struggling, and
(48:16):
maybe just that little moment,you see some, you know, hey, I
believe in you, I see somethingin you.
And it's just that little seedthat will sometimes send them on
a path you never expect, butit's just giving them that
little moment of hope forthemselves that they may not see
in themselves.
SPEAKER_01 (48:31):
So that's great.
Well, um, man, I'm humbled tohave you guys here.
Uh, thank you for being here.
Thank you for being my friend,and thank you for inspiring so
many people.
Um, Glenn, I love you guys somuch.
SPEAKER_03 (48:45):
And Tommy for governor, are we gonna do that
again?
Come on.
No California needs a governor.
Come on down.
Come on down.
SPEAKER_01 (48:55):
Thank you.
Let's let's uh give certainscreen like a warm.
Thank you.
Glenn and Mindy Stearns are such good friends of
mine.
In my lifetime, I've had a fewpeople that I've met that have
been so impactful on me for whatthey've said, for sure, but then
for how they live their life andhow they act and the example
they've set.
And I'm telling you, uh, Glennand Mindy for me are dear
(00:20):
friends, but have also beenmentors of mine, and I've just
watched how they've modeledtheir life.
He is a successful award-winningbusinessman.
(00:41):
He is a former TV entertainmentreporter, and together they are
one of America's power couplesfrom nothing.
You created an extraordinaryfinancial enterprise.
SPEAKER_03 (00:49):
I think everything that you've accomplished and who
you are as a person is really ascarf.
SPEAKER_02 (00:53):
You want your tail up to get there, man.
You're just great at what youdo, and you don't take note for
an answer.
SPEAKER_03 (01:14):
Nice, nice.
Here we go.
All right.
Hi.
What did Kim say?
How am I gonna change this room?
Okay, I got it.
I was listening, Kim.
I was listening.
SPEAKER_01 (01:26):
Oh, this is gonna be fun.
Um, thank you uh very much forbeing here today.
Oh, excited.
I've prepared a bunch of stuff,but I actually probably won't
even look at it.
Um, because I know you wellenough.
Um I actually just reread yourbook in preparation for this,
Glenn.
And uh and for all of you outthere, when you read Glenn's
book, you'll get the we'll we'llskip over some of the story
because it's so rich.
(01:47):
It's just rich.
But I want to be able to get outof you today some things that
will make everyone in this rooma better person because you're
you're both of your are are areclearly two of the best people
on this planet.
SPEAKER_03 (01:57):
And so you oversell us, Tommy.
SPEAKER_01 (01:59):
Thank you.
Wait till they hear the story ofhow uh of the Oprah Winfrey
show.
SPEAKER_03 (02:03):
Oh no.
SPEAKER_01 (02:04):
No, it's gonna be good.
But Glenn, let's start with you.
Just talk a little bit about thehumble beginnings because I
think it's a good place tostart.
Um, and uh I have some quotesfrom your book I may bring out,
but but uh tell us tell us whereit all began for you.
SPEAKER_02 (02:19):
Sure, yeah, I grew up in Maryland and um you know I
had uh pretty pretty blue-collarfamily we lived in, an
apartment.
We had the bars on the windows,the whole thing um failed fourth
grade.
Uh wasn't very good at reading,I had dyslexia.
(02:39):
Um I had a child in the eighthgrade at 14.
Uh parents were alcoholics, um,everybody in the family was into
something like that.
So it was a uh but you only knowwhat you know, right?
You know, so it was aninteresting beginning.
And um and for some reason Ijust decided I need to get out
(03:02):
of there.
And so I ended up being thefirst to go to college and um
off it went.
SPEAKER_03 (03:09):
Tell how you drove across country.
I like that story.
SPEAKER_02 (03:14):
Well I I was in a bar with a buddy, with a lot of
buddies, and I it was one in themorning, and I am laughing
hysterically at um a friend thateither got a beard thrown on him
or he got slapped or something.
(03:34):
And in the middle of mylaughter, or as I say, the
middle of my deepest fog, I hadmy clearest memory or clearest
thought.
I don't want to do this anymore.
I don't want to fall into thesame pattern my dad and
everybody was in.
So the next day I told my buddy,I said, Why don't we head to
(03:56):
California?
He says, When?
I said, Let's go tomorrow.
Like, what?
And so we drove out toCalifornia and I found myself
there's someone in here today.
I was talking to the had uh metme on a bench, and um I ended up
in California and I was alonenow at this one point.
(04:18):
I was sitting on a bench overthe Pacific Ocean, the homes,
these beautiful, million-dollarhomes, these just cars and
beautiful people.
And I like, I want this life,right?
And so there's a man in his yardand he's trimming his rose
bushes, and so I walked up tohim and I said, What did it take
(04:40):
to get this house?
Like, I know I can do it.
Like, what did it take?
And the guy turns to me andsays, Senor, I'm the gardener.
He says, I think the man is inreal estate.
I said, I want to get into realestate.
SPEAKER_03 (04:56):
Career was begun, and that was it.
SPEAKER_01 (04:58):
And a dream was born.
Um, I want to uh I want to getthe business side.
So so where Glenn really thrivedwas building one of the nation's
largest companies.
Um you're you're in his nameadorns buildings all through
Southern California, and youbecame the nation's largest
lender.
Um you vertically integratedalmost everything.
(05:19):
There are there are leaders inthis room right now, whether
they're running a university oror businesses that are
struggling with scaling and andand dealing with people and
motivating people, and andthat's kind of what today's
about.
But I I know the secret becauseI've been around you.
When you're around Glanwith in aroom, whether it's with the
(05:39):
lowest employee that works foryou, that's opening the doors
and and and valeting your carsto the most important person in
your organization, I know youtreat them exactly the same.
In fact, you may treat the guysvaleting your cars better than
the others.
So I know a lot of that'sauthentic, but maybe you can
give some of your secrets to,you know, in a world where where
(06:04):
it is employees and taking careof people and inspiring them,
what were some of your secretsover the years to grow your
company?
SPEAKER_02 (06:10):
Well, you know, it's funny because when it first
started, I was a I was a brokerand I didn't know what I was
doing.
And I thought, well, how can Igrow my company?
And I thought, well, I need tobe a banker.
How do I do that?
So I would go in every day toHUD because I was trying to get
their business, and I asked thereceptionist, her name is
(06:31):
Jeannie Baker, I said, I want tobe a banker.
How do I do that?
I had no one now that I knowwhat I know, HUD just has no
idea how to become a banker, butbut she said, Look, you need to
get a credit line, and shestarted to help me.
And then I started a titlecompany and that failed.
And I went to Jeannie Bakerbecause they were selling homes
(06:53):
in HUD.
I said, How do I become a youknow, um a title, how do I get
the title work?
And she said, You need acontract.
I'm like, how do I get acontract?
What's that?
And so she helped me get myfirst contract.
And what I found was, you know,these gatekeepers, these people
that sit there that usuallypeople walk right over.
(07:17):
Um, they can be really the mostpowerful people in your
organization.
Uh Debbie Davis, uh, she's beenwith us twenty six years.
Uh she's our receptionist andall around everything.
Wonderful lady.
And um we've had a lot of peopletry to think less of her, and
(07:37):
she's probably one of the mostpowerful people in our company,
you know.
SPEAKER_03 (07:41):
If I could interject a little bit, um, I just uh you
know, Glenn built Stern'sLending to be in an incredible
organization, and Blackstone umbought it back in 2015 or 14, I
think it was, and he went on andhad was diagnosed with cancer of
the throat and has overcome alot.
He's healthy, cancer-free rightnow, so that's the good news.
So we're celebrating.
(08:03):
Um but you know what he did.
If you saw the show onDiscovery, I don't know how many
of you have, it's a great showto watch with the kids,
families, very inspiring,undercover billionaire.
It's about building a businessfrom nothing.
He was dropped off in a smalltown with nothing, had to build
a million-dollar evaluatedbusiness in 90 days, or he had
to put a million of his ownmoney in.
That was a bet.
And Discovery said, okay, let'stake on it, do it.
(08:23):
And the show really um, I thinkit reignited in him a fire to
build again because he loves theprocess.
He loves the game.
He says, I love being in thegame.
He I know you had a conversationwith T-Boon Pickens once about
him going from a billionaire tobroke, billionaire to broke,
billionaire to broke.
He's like, T-Boon, why are youdoing this?
You're gonna be broke again.
What are you doing?
He's like, I love being in thegame, son.
(08:44):
So Glenn, in that same vein,loves being in the game.
But more than anything, um, thesuccess of Stearns was such a
powerful thing that we built.
And you know, Blackstoneobviously took note of it, but
it really was the vision ofGlenn and the people that he
attracted.
Now, after UndercoverBillionaire, we came up and
founded Kind Lending.
(09:05):
Now, Kind Now is the fastestgrowing mortgage company in the
industry.
We're number five out of all westarted less than five years
ago.
We have a thousand employeesabout now, and we really believe
in servant leadership, and it'ssomething that has been the
keystone of our success.
Glenn listens, we give our phonenumber to every employee and
(09:26):
hiring good people.
And and I what I've loved aboutthis man is he's got no ego in
the game.
And he always says, I hirepeople that are smarter than me,
I hire people that know morethan me, and I just I don't have
all the answers.
And he does treat everyone fromthe valet to the receptionist to
the owners to investors, whoeverit is, with the equal amount of
(09:46):
respect and regard.
And I think that's been a key ofit.
SPEAKER_02 (09:48):
When you ask about these secrets, it was great to
have a company that was numberone and watch it go to number
two to number three to numberfour.
SPEAKER_01 (09:59):
Let's let's pause a little bit.
So Glenn sold your exit was inwhat year?
SPEAKER_03 (10:03):
2015 or 14, 2014.
SPEAKER_01 (10:05):
2014 sells this company for a lot of money.
SPEAKER_03 (10:09):
A little bit.
SPEAKER_01 (10:10):
A lot of money.
Did all right.
Then you had some fun um andwent around the world and did
some wonderful thingsphilanthropically that I want to
get a little bit into, but butthen they they drove the company
that when you're saying watchingit going from number one down,
and then you bought it back.
Um sort of.
unknown (10:30):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (10:30):
Or do you build built well Glenn may not tell
this story, but I will.
Okay.
But um, right when Glenn was umright when the Discovery show
was promoting undercoverbillionaires releasing in the
fall, new show, gonna hit thefall.
If you're watching, Blackstonedecided to file chapter 11.
So he tells the story thatStearns lending is filing
(10:55):
chapter 11, and here he is,Glenn Stearns on this show, and
they're calling.
What is what happened with theWall Street Journal?
SPEAKER_02 (11:02):
The Wall Street Journal calls me.
Are you the undercoverbillionaire?
Are you bankrupt?
I'm like, no, I'm a screwee.
SPEAKER_03 (11:09):
They basically he says screwy, but they did.
They they basically wiped outeverything they were owed to
him, and that's what they do.
Hey, there's no knock onBlackstone, they do amazing
things because they're anincredible organization.
SPEAKER_01 (11:23):
But well, we were just talking, uh Odette and I
were just talking about privateequity and healthcare.
SPEAKER_02 (11:29):
So hey, they're they're a great company.
Yeah, there's no, like I said,wrong, but uh, but then his
non-compete was null and void,and that's when kind lending was
born.
SPEAKER_01 (11:38):
Kind lending was born.
SPEAKER_02 (11:39):
Back to the secrets, because you watch the company
and why did we number one?
Why did we go from there all theway down, right?
And what happened was when Ilooked, I said, wow, you know,
there's there's financialcurrency, money.
(12:00):
I'll pay you more money when youstay.
And people say, well, I'll giveyou till five o'clock and that's
it.
And then there's many othertypes of currency.
There's happiness, right?
There's the ability to feelyou're part of something bigger
than you are, and that you arepart of the success.
And when you allow other peopleto feel that they are the
(12:20):
reason, and they are, for whyyou end up growing and you know,
and taking on these goals andhitting them and exceeding them,
they feel very proud.
And then they're, you know, Iwould come in at nine at night
having to kick people out.
Right, come on, guys, go home.
Just one more thing.
But when you turn it around towhere it's only just um about
(12:44):
money, it changes, you know, alittle bit.
And so when we restart it, werealized there's so much more
than just a financial reward.
There's really, you know,getting in there and feeling
you're a part of somethingbigger than just yourself, you
know.
SPEAKER_01 (13:02):
Wow.
So kind lending, and Mindy, youwere very involved.
Talk about the rebirth of thecompany and now a thousand
employees and the second timearound.
Um, how's it been?
SPEAKER_03 (13:12):
You know what?
Um I obviously I have abackground in television and
broadcasts.
That was my training and dentalhygiene.
That's another story.
But um so when Glenn came back,I had been involved in more of
an ancillary role before, moreof people and people operations
and and communications.
So he said, I really want you tobe part of this in a more
significant way.
So we created a title, and it'swas I was the chief happiness
(13:36):
officer.
That's how it started.
So um, and then as we evolvedinto a more mature company, I
became the chief kindnessofficer because we are kind
lending.
SPEAKER_02 (13:45):
So, Tommy, let me tell you what happened, really,
okay.
We were the we uh we decidedthis time, let's not just become
a regular company that does itthe way everybody.
Like, I want to have some fun inthis company.
I mean, we we went out and ourportal that every customer has
(14:06):
to go through win it fast andeasy.
So we called it the quickie.
Happy beginnings and happyendings, okay?
SPEAKER_01 (14:14):
Um I was waiting for this to get real, and now there
we go.
So now it's the Glenn and Mindywe all know here.
People are going to be.
So it's the quickie.
SPEAKER_02 (14:26):
It's called the quickie.
SPEAKER_01 (14:28):
I should tell you all.
I'm gonna so I called Glenn acouple weeks ago and I said,
Hey, are you ready for this?
And he kind of whispered in thephone, he's like, Yeah, I I am,
but I almost died.
And I'm an emard, I'm an oldEMAR doctor, right?
And he tells me this story of4th of July going to a party,
getting some he had cancer thatwe'll get to, and he had uh
(14:51):
radiation on his vocal cords, sohe was getting a treatment on
his vocal cords, and in about 72hours, his airway closed off and
ended up in the hospital forweeks and had a tracheotomy.
So for all of you out herethat's that may and may not have
seen a tracheotomy in your life,it's a big freaking deal.
So I'm like, oh man, I'm sosorry you can't make it.
And he's like, No, I'll bethere.
And I'm like, dude, you stillhave a hole in your neck.
(15:14):
And he's like, Yeah, but I'll bethere.
So he's doing great, but umThat's why I'm talking a little
more than normal.
SPEAKER_03 (15:21):
I'm alive.
It's maybe his voice.
He's alive.
He's like a cockroach, nothing'sgonna kill him for telling me.
SPEAKER_01 (15:28):
Where were we?
Sorry.
Where were we?
I wanted to say cat.
SPEAKER_02 (15:33):
Oh, so we said, let's start this company the way
we want to do it, right?
Let's have some fun.
So we started with the quickie,right?
And then um Mindy goes outthere, we only had about 150
people.
Hey everybody, I'm your chiefho.
SPEAKER_03 (15:48):
I'm I'm like, CHO.
SPEAKER_02 (15:51):
But we were having fun, and people started
realizing, you know, when youstand for something really in
your organization, and we don'tstand for, but we had a lot of
in yuan yos, a lot of fun, butit was really about let's really
enjoy ourselves.
You guys are gonna be workinghere eight, ten hours a day, so
why not have some laughs?
And so people started to really,you know, enjoy themselves.
(16:15):
We went to our customers and wesaid, you know, we're gonna
start a um like a like a rankingincentive program.
And if you give us a certainamount of your business, you're
gonna be a good dog.
If you give us more, you're abig dog.
And if you give us the top,you're the alpha dog, right?
(16:36):
And if you're new, you're apuppy.
But we don't want like the two,three, five percent, because
that's really the trash in thebusiness.
So if you do that, because wecan rank now with everybody, and
you're a wiener dog.
So we have like the shirts,right?
Like, don't be a wiener, youknow, and people just they
laugh, they have fun, but it'sreally caused the company to
(17:00):
take on this life of its ownwhere people want to work there,
people want to bring theirbusiness.
And we've shot up, you know, inthe first four months, we hit a
billion dollars, which was veryquick.
It took us forever last time,and now, you know, it's doing
that like all the time.
SPEAKER_03 (17:20):
But I don't want to say it didn't come without
hardships, too, because we talka lot about grit in this group
about building success.
I mean, we he went obviouslyfrom one of the top mortgage
companies in the country when itwas Stearns, sold it, came back
in, and then we opened in 2019,right before COVID.
So the minute we had officespace, we opened this big
beautiful, we went back to thesame building that we had had
(17:41):
before, same floor, same office.
It was kind of nostalgic.
But then California shut downall non-essential workers.
So it was just Glenn and I andhis receptionists in this huge
office, and we had no employeesat the office.
And it was a really it was areally challenging time.
And then for the next 33 months,11 quarters, we had loss.
(18:02):
We wrote a check out of ourpersonal account for 33 months
to keep the business and thedoors open.
And I give a lot of credit tothis guy because I'm like, okay,
how much how how are reallythree feet from the gold, right?
SPEAKER_02 (18:15):
You ever agreed that?
But no, it with my lastgo-round, we lost money one
quarter.
And now I'm like, that's it.
This is the last month.
Okay, one more month.
Say that over.
SPEAKER_03 (18:28):
It's this guy's faith in in he's been in the
market, you know, for 35 years.
He understands the market shiftsand we have to adapt.
And there are things, and one ofthe principles is look, we only
react to what we can.
We can't control everything.
Why get upset about things thatwe can't control?
And so all we can control is ourexperience of our employees.
That's my role as the chiefkindness officer is to help
(18:52):
encourage the culture.
I am all about the culture.
I talk to every new hire, I callstay in contact with all of our
employees.
We send out notices, wecelebrate, we highlight
employees every day, we sendflowers, we call them, we talk
to them, we text them, wecelebrate our employees.
We listen and we have a callevery month, once a month, we
get on and talk to our wholecompany, and here's our cell
(19:14):
phone.
You have questions.
SPEAKER_02 (19:15):
It's definitely a bottom-down approach.
SPEAKER_03 (19:18):
No, bottom-up.
It's really like we have satwith employees and we say, What
you've been elsewhere, you'vebeen at other companies, and I'm
sure many of you have employeesthat have worked for other
competitors.
What did they do that you loved?
What did they do right?
What have you seen intechnology, advancements, and
automation that they did that weshould do?
And that's how we lead.
And we answer, there's no closeddoor, there's no, we know all
(19:41):
the answers.
It's we learned from ouremployees how to be the best.
SPEAKER_02 (19:44):
You know what I noticed, uh Tommy, is um, you
know, again, we have more ofthat servant leadership style,
right?
Like we work for them.
Uh, when that new regime kind ofcame when I sold Stern's, um,
they had more of a top-down andwe know it all type approach,
which it works in some companiesand that's fine.
(20:07):
But um what it did when peoplewere trying to send messages and
say, hey, this isn't working,they were more looking at it
like that's a reflection of theexecutive team.
Don't say that.
So they would be uh forced intoreally being quiet, I guess.
(20:29):
And so you lost the voice fromthe street, you know.
And when that happens, you don'tyou're not able to make very
good decisions because you'renot able to hear what's going
on.
And so, you know, we've justmade sure all the uh management
understands we have to keep thatopen so we can react faster.
SPEAKER_01 (20:52):
It's interesting as I'm listening to you, is uh the
human needs of an individual areare kind of the same.
They want to feel valued, theywant to feel important, they
want to feel like their employervalues their work and their
effort and their time andenergy.
We spend so much time at work,right?
And I think in small businesses,it's a little easier to connect
in that way where you're able toone-on-one it.
(21:13):
What I've loved about listeningto you and talking to you and
getting advice from you, you'vebeen able to figure that out at
scale, where you still can feelthat way, even with big
companies.
But it's it's intentional,right?
You have to have your then yourlayers of leadership have to buy
into that.
We have some great companieshere in Idaho that I think the
most successful companies inIdaho have done that same thing,
but it's a great lesson for allof us as we scale to ask those
(21:34):
questions.
How did you do it?
How do you still make them feellike they're important and they
really connect?
SPEAKER_03 (21:39):
Well, when Kim was talking earlier about the
different generations too, andwhat people are looking for in a
work experience, like you reallylike optimization of your of
your life experience isimportant, just the quality of
the life you live.
And if you I mean, havingemployees that love where they
work is one of the best thingsyou can have for job retention
and employee retention.
People want to feel heard, theywant to feel like their ideas
(22:02):
matter, that they value, thatthey have access to management.
I mean, like I said, we give outour phone numbers, everybody
knows how to get to us, andthere is no closed door.
And that's I think that's beenone of the cornerstones is just
creating an environment thatsays, we hear you, we do, and we
put a newsletter out every weekthat says, We heard you, and
here's all the things that we'veimplemented since your ideas
(22:24):
came about.
Here's what we're doing now,here's what we are activating.
So they understand we did hear,and that's been a really
important prospect.
SPEAKER_02 (22:32):
We have a lot of people that have worked there
for I mean, with us at the oldcompany and then the new one.
My assistant 29 years.
29 years, many, 20 years, many,15, many 10, you know.
So they know, you know, we've uhwe really do care, you know.
And that's the uh I think that'sthe key.
(22:55):
You know, and again, it'sdifferent other people.
Again, I watched Blackstone makea lot of money.
They ended up they're very, verygood at financially engineering,
you know, what they need theiroutcome.
I mean, they're the best.
And um and I again I I look atthem and think, wow, you you
know, you got exactly what youcame for.
(23:17):
That wasn't what I that uh we'reabout heart.
We're not doing it just uh justto make money, you know.
You gotta feel good.
And again, everybody's differentin every company they come in
with different intentions.
Let's get ready to get thisthing public and go.
We don't want to do that, youknow.
I just wanna come to work andfeel good, you know.
SPEAKER_01 (23:40):
I'm gonna shift a little bit because I have so
much.
I knew I knew.
But um can we talk about yourrelationship?
What I've learned from you,Glenn, from the moment I met
you, relationships areeverything.
But when I watch therelationship between you and
Mindy, it's it's special.
I mean, there's something there,the synergy, the love, the
(24:00):
everything about that.
And how important is arerelationships in general, and
then this relationship to thesuccess and the happiness you
have in your life.
SPEAKER_03 (24:10):
Well, I mean, I I can speak for from my
perspective.
SPEAKER_01 (24:13):
I think it's funny that you went first.
I like that.
SPEAKER_02 (24:14):
I was gonna say, you know how it works.
Yeah.
Let her go first.
SPEAKER_03 (24:18):
Go ahead, Annie.
Yes, Tyr.
Um, you know, I had a veryindependent life before I met
him.
And I mean, for anybody that'ssingle out there, I really was
at a place in my life when I metGlenn that I I had made this
statement.
I am so happy with my life.
I love where I am, I love whatI'm doing, I love my friends, my
(24:40):
job, my dog, my life.
I was in a good space, and I wasnot interested in meeting
anybody.
So the irony was that I metGlenn that night a few hours
later, and uh that just turnedmy world upside down in a way I
didn't expect.
So for me, it was really beingin a place that I was really
winning personally without anyre without anybody else.
(25:03):
It was it was a really goodfeeling.
So we just came together andthings just blew up from there.
SPEAKER_02 (25:09):
And just to add to that, I was in that same space.
It's weird, you know.
I was like, I'm not looking.
We met on a blackjack table.
Okay, and I didn't even get hername.
We stayed all night, it was abig group.
And I thought when I left, well,uh, she was really different,
but I didn't even get her name.
And then a couple days later Isaw her on the news.
(25:33):
I'm like, that's the same girl Iwas sitting next to.
Stalker, yeah.
And uh so I I emailed the radioat the TV station.
Hey, were you the girl sittingnext to?
No answer.
Like, hmm.
So I called the fewer hotlinepromise.
And um I said, Hey, I'm having abig Jimmy Buffett party if you'd
(25:56):
like to come, and she called meback, you know.
So it was it wasn't this weird,you know, like we didn't meet on
Tinder or anything, you know.
SPEAKER_01 (26:04):
Did you have Jimmy Buffett at the Yeah, yeah.
Most people say we're having aJimmy Buffett concert, it's like
we're having a Jimmy Buffettconcert, but with Glenn, it's a
Jimmy Buffett concert.
Well, I was just to be clear.
SPEAKER_02 (26:18):
But it was it ended up being anyway, that's that's
kind of how we met.
But what I realized after, youknow, I had been married before,
and um my little filter was Ihad said um at their first date,
(26:39):
we went out after that JimmyBuffett.
I said, hey, uh, you know, Ihave three boys, and I gotta
tell you, I said their mother, Isaid, she and the kids come
first.
I just want to put it out there.
And she was like, Wow, I lovethat.
You know, and now a lot of womenwould turn and walk away, but I
(27:00):
was just not I didn't haveenough patience for someone that
wasn't secure, you know.
And uh she was very secure inherself, and um it turned out
very well.
Our my ex-wife came to ourwedding.
SPEAKER_03 (27:15):
Well, I gotta say, uh, you know, divorced with two
baby mamas and four kids wasn'ton the list of the perfect man
when I was looking.
SPEAKER_01 (27:23):
But you saw that that wallet?
SPEAKER_03 (27:25):
No.
Oh yeah.
I had my own wallet, Tommy.
I had a really fat one myself.
Thank you very much.
But um what I will say is that Ithis was a mark of character.
What's that?
I've drained it since then.
You're welcome.
So um You know, Tommy, she hadher credit card stolen and I did
(27:51):
not report it.
SPEAKER_02 (27:53):
You know why?
The crook was spending less thanshe spent.
SPEAKER_03 (27:56):
So you love that one.
SPEAKER_02 (28:01):
I love that one.
SPEAKER_03 (28:04):
What I was going to say was that I loved his the
that first dinner, I will say,was such a mark of character to
me that he was so complimentaryabout his ex-wife that he spoke
about her with such regard andrespect that had such a mark for
me of character that he didn'tapologize.
(28:25):
He says, Look, she'll comefirst.
She's the mother of my children,and I, you know, I have this
other woman, we're friendsstill.
I mean, we had a child, we werereally young, they never
married.
But I thought, wow, you know,coming from Hollywood and a few
vacuous pretty boys that failedto say they were divorced or so,
you know, a lot of lies.
I was it was so refreshing tomeet someone who was so brutally
(28:48):
and blunt and honest, and thatwas such a mark of character for
me.
And it really set the stage forhow we operated from then on
out.
I mean, honesty is everything.
And then what he said is bybeing up front with the truth,
then you learn if someone wantsto stick with you because you
give them the choice.
Do I want to stay knowing whatI'm in for, or am I just, you
know, there's no facade, whichwas was beautiful, and that was
(29:11):
part of it.
That was the beginning.
I invited him home forThanksgiving three weeks later,
and my parents were like, he'sthe one.
That was 23 years ago.
SPEAKER_02 (29:19):
And it obviously takes, you know, takes both
sides because she welcomed my exand my children.
SPEAKER_01 (29:27):
And I mean, when we went around the world on the
boat uh after we sold, I'dgotten cancer, and I was like I
I think it's funny you stillcall it a boat, but I remember
the first time you were talkingabout the boat, and you showed
me the picture, I'm like, let'scall it what it is.
That's not a boat.
But it's still funny that thismany years later it's a boat.
(29:48):
But it's a boat.
If a helicopter lands on it,it's not a boat.
Just to be clear, okay.
SPEAKER_02 (29:57):
You're on the boat with the whole family.
On the boat.
And um, but we brought myex-wife, we convinced her, she
was a teacher in Orange County,to quit and then to come for a
year.
SPEAKER_03 (30:09):
And uh she homeschooled our girls.
So his ex-wife and I and himwere traveling for a year on a
boat, and uh we had a reallyincredible year.
It was it was amazing.
Like she was a teacher and she'sthe godmother to our girls, and
they had three boys, and we gaveher two little girls, and it's
just been a beautiful thing.
(30:30):
She just got married recentlyand we're all friends.
SPEAKER_01 (30:33):
So I I think um I think this is gonna come up a
lot, and when you read his book,it it I think uh hopefully what
you leave for today, it'skindness, it's genuine, it's
you, it's all of you, and itjust it it permeates and makes
everyone around you better.
I want to I want to shift tophilanthropy a little bit.
We don't have time today,everybody, for all of the good
(30:56):
that these two do, and it's it'severywhere.
But and I haven't even wehaven't prepped of any of this,
so some of this is just comingoff the cuff, but but but talk
about some of the kids youselect to take down, the
homeless kids, and that storyblew me away the first time I
heard it, and some of those someof the results from that.
Uh if you just share thatbriefly.
SPEAKER_02 (31:14):
So uh we're we're in a group uh called Horatio Alger,
and um it was a an amazingorganization that um they select
10 or 12 people to get in everyyear.
Um it's done in the SupremeCourt, it's the only
non-judicial act in the SupremeCourt, so it's a really big
(31:37):
deal.
SPEAKER_03 (31:38):
But it's usually it's all um people have gone
through severe adversity andhave come out and have um more
of a rags to riches kind ofHoratio Alger was an author that
wrote about um regs to rich'sstory.
So the organization was foundedon successful entrepreneurs who
came from nothing, madesomething of their lives, and
(31:58):
then made a point of givingback.
And that was the whole that'sthe whole crux of the Horatio
Alger Association.
And like you said, there's like13 people inducted every year.
It's kind of like the USequivalent of being knighted, if
you will.
We don't really have obviouslyhave that, but it's it's a very
special organization.
But the the main focus of it isscholarships for kids who have
(32:20):
been through terrible, terribleadversity.
And these kids are like thefuture.
They the the American dream isalive and well in these kids
because they see that hard work,integrity, and education is the
key to having success, thatbreaking the cycles of these
terrible childhoods that havebeen they've been living.
(32:41):
They're not victims, they don'thave a victim mentality.
It's so inspiring.
And we just we invest in thesekids and believe in them as the
future of America because theywill be the ones running our
companies and creating newinnovations for our world.
SPEAKER_02 (32:56):
We'll do these leadership gatherings and we'll
bring them down to like toNecker.
We're going there Thursday, andwe will we'll have great
speakers with me.
We have some amazing speakersthat are there.
SPEAKER_01 (33:10):
So they bring these kids, the horrible situations,
down to Richard Br Branson'sIsland, and you bring in
speakers that are from all theworld and mentor of the people.
Professional speakers and thenand then plug them in with
mentorship, and then the storiesof where these kids go are
that's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_02 (33:26):
Their stories make the professional speakers look
like nothing.
I mean, you're you know, you'recrying and you're so happy for
them all at the same time.
I mean, they're uh they'reamazing, young, resilient, you
know, men and women.
So it's uh it's wonderful toinvest in their future.
SPEAKER_01 (33:45):
That's great.
Okay, uh, you got one morequestion, then we'll open it up,
have someone, some questionsfrom the audience.
But um I flash back to when theBroncos won the Super Bowl and
you were partying in JohnElway's room and you sent me a
video, and it was crazy, it wasmayhem.
I mean, you're living it up,things are great, and then your
(34:06):
cancer died.
I want to talk about, we talkeda little bit about this
yesterday, um, facing death andthat whole realization of you do
all these great things in life,but you have this much time.
And and one, what it was likefacing it for you, because that
I mean, your diagnosis uh wasvery serious.
I mean, it was not clear youwere gonna get through this, and
(34:28):
then afterwards, talk about howthat's changed your perception
on on the way you live now.
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (34:35):
But first I'll talk about the partying with John
Elway in his room.
Because I think it's relative toa lot of what we go through,
okay?
I was sitting with John, and itwas after maybe eight or nine
games in the season.
SPEAKER_03 (34:52):
Let me just say the reason John and Glenn are
friends is Glenn knows nothingabout football.
And I think that's why Johnreally appreciates Glenn because
they don't talk about football.
He doesn't watch football.
Glenn will call Glenn on aMonday night, like, what are you
doing?
He's like, dude, I'm in themiddle of the year.
SPEAKER_02 (35:09):
I'm at the game.
Sorry, man.
So um but yeah, no, we weresitting and we were having
conversations, and um he said,Man, next year we are I think we
can make the Super Bowl.
I said, next year, aren't youlike nine and oh this year?
(35:32):
Yeah, but that Peyton Manning,he wants he is so selfish.
He wants to hit all theserecords for himself, and he's
just not being a team leader.
And um I said, Do you think hecan take you to the Super Bowl?
Well, yeah, he could if you'drefocus.
(35:53):
And so he says, that's why we'regonna get rid of him in next
year.
I said, John, you think thatPeyton Manning is your employee?
Peyton Manning looks at you likeyou're his ultimate.
You went out after winning twoSuper Bowls and got out.
This guy knows.
(36:14):
I said, you gotta think aboutyour employees.
I said, when you first meet asuperstar, you walk down the
hall and you give him that lookin your eye, hey, how you doing?
And the stare stays long.
You love that guy.
I said, now you don't have thatmuch confidence in him anymore,
do you?
No.
(36:34):
I go, I bet you walk by him,hey.
You don't even give him thelook.
He knows.
I said, John, what would it takejust to go and say, I was having
a conversation with my buddy?
I believe you could take us tothe Super Bowl.
I believe you could win it atPeyton.
Why don't you say that to theguy?
(36:55):
Plant the seed.
He is he you're his idol John.
You're not his boss.
Next day he texts me.
I um I I forget the what numberwas he, 18?
Yeah.
Anyway, I I talked to 18.
He doesn't say his name, Italked to 18.
(37:17):
I planted the seed.
So the video of us jumping onthe bed after the game, I'm
going, I want my Super Bowlring.
I want my ring.
I helped plant that seed.
But um Did he give you a ring?
Hell no.
SPEAKER_03 (37:36):
But you gotta try them all on at his house.
Glenn has had like all of themon his hand.
SPEAKER_01 (37:40):
Well, what was the question?
Well, we started on cancer andwe ended up on Super Bowl rings.
SPEAKER_02 (37:46):
So cancer.
Um for me, I know a lot ofpeople have gone through cancer
and it suffered tremendously andhave passed.
Um so I, you know, I feelhorrible for those people and
those families.
But for me, um, it was a gift.
It opened my eyes to like todaycould be the best day of my
(38:10):
life.
Like, you never know.
So live it.
And I have felt so gratefulevery day.
Feeling like, wow, like I couldbe gone, and what about my kids?
And they're not gonna be withthe family.
So I've I you know it's it'sbeen a wonderful gift in a weird
way.
And again, that's hard to saywhen a lot of people lose
(38:33):
people.
But um yeah, it really justopened my eyes, and I'll just
tell you one quick story.
Um it was Mitt Romney's um itwas the RN's, it was the re the
Republican convention for Mitt2012.
And um I was there with somefriends and two other guys.
(38:56):
One was named Foster Freeze, whoyou knew, and the other was Mike
Ingram.
They were in the stairwell andthey met an 18-year-old kid, and
that kid pitched them on how hecould change the youth of
America, and Foster was thefirst to invest in that kid.
(39:16):
Google it right now, and the kidwas Charlie Kirk.
Okay, so I was able to watchthis young man as Foster.
We did a lot together, as youdid.
I know he helped you in yourcampaign.
And to look at youth, they haveno fear and they they are not
(39:39):
worried about losing it allbecause they don't have it,
right?
But when we get older, we puckerup.
I don't want to risk it all,because if I do, what'll happen,
right?
But the the best part of ourlives was that scraping and
scratching and clawing our wayback up to the top or up to the
(40:04):
top, you know?
And so things like that show,Undercover Billionaire,
everybody's gonna go, you'regonna go$100 with no contacts,
no, and you're gonna try tostart a business in 90, you are
gonna fail.
Why would you do it?
And I I was like, you know, saidthat on camera, but they cut it.
(40:26):
Richard Branson and John Elway.
They interviewed both of them,and I thought, these are my
buddies, why wouldn't they thinkthis is cool?
They go, Glenn, you'reabsolutely crazy.
You're gonna fail.
And I thought, like, I'm gonnatry my hardest.
That's what life's about.
Well, halfway through in thatshow, I realized for 100%, not
(40:52):
90 to 100%, I was gonna fail.
SPEAKER_03 (40:55):
I knew it.
So if you watch the show at thebarbecue fest, you'll see him
staring off.
That's when he was about toquit.
SPEAKER_02 (41:02):
So I said, I am failing, so I'm gonna quit.
Like I am going to walk rightnow.
Because if I do, they cannotmake the show.
They'll sue me, and I'm whatit's worth my reputation.
I don't care.
So I'm leaving.
I literally like started towalk.
(41:24):
And then I realized something, Iwas like, I've never quit in my
life.
But I'm thinking to myself, butthis is bigger.
It's not that I'll fail in frontof the world.
I'm gonna have in perpetuity avideo that my children get to
watch.
Look at dad, the loser, right?
So I Well, they already feelthat way, it's okay.
(41:45):
So I could not make that.
I need to quit.
And as I start to leave, I saidto myself, I've never quit.
And if anything, my kids aregonna see that I'm gonna try and
I'm gonna go down swinging ashard as I can.
And then somehow it worked.
You know what I mean?
So to me, cancer, what it taughtme was keep stretching, keep
(42:11):
living, keep growing.
And like that's one of the it'snot the dumb show.
I don't care about the show.
I care about the fact that inlife you've got on both sides.
This devil quit, quit.
It's easier.
That's even better over there.
That job's easier.
Did you know look over there?
(42:32):
And it's hard sometimes to justkeep going through the crab,
man.
How many times have you wantedto give up?
How many times have you justeverybody told you it's better
over there?
And when you stick to it, youcan do amazing things.
And so, you know, I was reallyproud of not quitting, not
(42:54):
giving up.
And that I think it came fromthe cancer, you know, I will.
SPEAKER_03 (43:00):
I will interject a little bit on this.
Another thing, if if you did seethe show, if you do see the
show, at the end, he talks aboutexcuses.
Um, and nobody in that show madeany excuses.
They helped him, they stepped upin ways to a stranger that just
had a dream and an idea, andthey all jumped in and they
helped.
And Glenn had a moment in in therestaurant at the end when he's
(43:24):
like, Each of you, nobody gavean excuse.
And neither did I, because lifeis about not having excuses.
You don't get anywhere, and hepulls out a feeding tube.
Now, you may not know this, butbecause of the cancer, he cannot
eat at all.
He had cancer of the epiglottis,they took out his epiglottis, so
(43:44):
it's your primary defenseagainst choking.
So if he swallows water or evenhis saliva or anything, he can
aspirate.
So Glenn eats 100% of his mealsand all of his nutrition goes
through a feeding tube, hiswater, everything.
You never hear him complain.
He'll go to dinner, he'll sitdown, he'll go out, he'll be
with friends.
He never complains, he neverever eats.
(44:06):
And nobody knows that.
But he's here he is going,kicking, open up another
business, he's gonna go at itagain, still living large and
taking big risks, and and he'snever been happier.
So there's life.
SPEAKER_02 (44:26):
But I cook.
I'm a cook now.
Why not?
You know, I'm not gonna sit inthe corner.
SPEAKER_03 (44:33):
He's now a chef.
He watches Bobby Flay and otherthings and learns how to make
food.
So wonderful.
SPEAKER_01 (44:39):
Uh we have time for maybe one question or yeah.
This is President Jones, Arm.
SPEAKER_00 (44:49):
Gordon Jones, president of one of our colleges
here.
You have other presidents.
A lot of us in this room workwith youth.
I I gleaned some of what youmight say, but could you expand
on how do you talk to when youdo our youth?
What are you encouraging them tothink about, that group that
really hasn't yet been shaped?
And I'm curious, um, eitherexpand on what you've already
(45:11):
said or um share with us.
SPEAKER_02 (45:14):
Yeah, well, I again that's that is our focus.
I love um helping and and tryingto plant the seeds.
Um when I was young, I was againthink about this 14, you know,
I've got alcoholic parents, I'vegot a a child being born, and
(45:38):
this one man that came to me andhe said, There's something about
you, Glenn.
He goes, I don't know what itis, but I think one day you're
gonna be a leader, you're gonnado great things in life.
And um I was embarrassed.
I remember saying, Oh, don't,you know, don't say that.
And then when I got to college,um we we started a fraternity,
(46:02):
and um there was a gentlemanthat said, Hey, let's go around
and talk about somebody weadmire.
It can be someone from the pastthat's dead, it could be
somebody now.
He goes, I'll start.
He goes, I admire Glenn, and letme tell you why.
And I go, Oh, stop, stop.
But those two times that's it.
(46:22):
Because I came from a kind ofhard, you know, upbringing.
I didn't have a lot of people, Ididn't have mentors, I didn't
have a lot of people, but I didhave two times where people
planted that seed to say,there's something about you.
And again, I was embarrassed, Ididn't want to think, but I
thought, I don't want to letthose people down.
I want to try to make somethingof myself.
(46:45):
And so I believe that we allshould be planting seeds in
these young people, saying thatwe think there's so much
greatness that can come out ofthem.
And when I talk to people ofadversity, young children, I'm
like, you have such a greatstory to start from.
You know, I mean, your story wasinspired so much for where you
(47:08):
are, where you're going.
So I love to make sure thatyoung people understand that
when you take chances,especially when you're young,
that you can do anything.
And, you know, and I likesometimes I don't, I'm not
trying to brag at them, but Isay, you know, I can relate a
lot to your story, and I kind ofgo over some of the stuff, and
(47:31):
and again, I'm I graduated witha 2.1, okay?
I didn't have like the bestgrades in college.
And I tell them, I go, and theyI got a 2.1, but they gave me an
honorary doctorate tooafterwards.
So some more stay in school.
You can do it.
SPEAKER_01 (47:50):
That's great.
SPEAKER_02 (47:51):
In other words, you know, if I can do it, you can do
it, basically right.
SPEAKER_03 (47:54):
I think too, uh, Gordon, is what we really value
in our organization is thementorship approach that the
Horatio Alge Association focuseson.
Is these kids not only getmoney, but they get access to
the most successful brains andsuccessful um entrepreneurs in
the world.
And we have never shied awayfrom mentorship.
There sometimes you just see akid, you see struggling, and
(48:16):
maybe just that little moment,you see some, you know, hey, I
believe in you, I see somethingin you.
And it's just that little seedthat will sometimes send them on
a path you never expect, butit's just giving them that
little moment of hope forthemselves that they may not see
in themselves.
SPEAKER_01 (48:31):
So that's great.
Well, um, man, I'm humbled tohave you guys here.
Uh, thank you for being here.
Thank you for being my friend,and thank you for inspiring so
many people.
Um, Glenn, I love you guys somuch.
SPEAKER_03 (48:45):
And Tommy for governor, are we gonna do that
again?
Come on.
No California needs a governor.
Come on down.
Come on down.
SPEAKER_01 (48:55):
Thank you.
Let's let's uh give certainscreen like a warm.
Thank you.
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