June 2, 2025 • 49 mins
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Charles Antis, founder of Antis Roofing, shares the emotional journey of how a single act of generosity reshaped his life, business, and industry. From giving away his first roof to leading national philanthropic initiatives, Charles proves that fearless giving can build both legacy and impact. This inspiring conversation is packed with powerful moments on leadership, vulnerability, and turning business into a force for good.
Timestamps:
00:00 – Introduction to Charles Antis & his purpose-driven mission
01:35 – The emotional story of giving away his first roof
06:00 – How that one act shaped company culture and values
07:47 – Why storytelling matters in leadership and branding
13:56 – “Stop telling our story—tell yours”: a mindset shift
27:55 – How Ronald McDonald House helped his family & sparked a national initiative
34:44 – Vulnerability, authenticity, and leadership redefined
39:06 – Airplane story: a metaphor for stepping up when it matters
44:40 – Charles on wealth, hoarding, and giving generously
48:19 – Upcoming book: Fearless Giving and inspiring global impact
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Charles Antis is a game changerwho's redefined what it means to lead
(00:04):
with purpose.
For 35 years, his company, Antis Roofing,
has been keeping families safe and dry.
But Charles doesn't just cover roofs.
He lifts communities from supporting
all 165 Ronald McDonald housesnationwide to donating every habitat
for humanity roof in Orange Countysince 2009.
(00:26):
Charlesturns business into a force for good
and shows us how to build a legacyrooted in compassion.
Let's dive in to making maverick moves.
My name is Gina Osborneand I'm an Army veteran.
I spent six years during the end of theCold War as a counterintelligence agent.
I was appointed as an FBI agent,and during my 22 year career,
(00:51):
worked everythingfrom Asian organized crime to terrorism.
I became the assistant special agentin charge of cyber and computer forensics.
And then I came out of retirementand spent two years
as the safety and security officerat la metro.
Now I'm here to helpyou make your maverick move.
(01:11):
Welcome to the show, Charles.
Thank you. I'm excited to be here.
The reason why I wanted you hereis because when I first saw you speak,
you told a storyabout how you gave away your first roof
and that really sort of bonded me to you,because it really touched home
about humanity and all of the thingsthat we should all be doing in this world.
(01:33):
So would you mind telling that story?
I would be honored to tell that story.
Thank you for asking.
It's a story that
I think hits youbecause all of us in our lives
will or have had that moment,that thing that you're trained to do.
Maybe you're in that momentwhere you realize you're
the one who maybe could help.
(01:55):
And so I will tell that storybecause I'm just this roofing company
and I'm just trying to survive.
And I was desperate.
I remember this is 35, 36 years ago.
I was so desperate for work that, my bold
move back then was to tellall of the property managers,
give me the leak that no one can solve,
and I'll fix it for free. Wow.
(02:16):
It wasn't. And that was.
There was no benevolence in that.
I wasn't planning on donating a roof.
That was just my desperationand my swagger.
Like, I'm good at this. Really?
I was afraid,but I did anything to solve a leak.
And so I got under that guiseof being so tight, literally
putting Weatherstripping on my bedroom,that I converted to an office in my home.
(02:36):
That was my work one day.
That's how I needed every call.
But that's how desperate I was for work.
And I got a call one day,and a woman had leaks in every room.
And so I went out there the next day,driving into the neighborhood,
and I lived in LA.This was near LAX, the home.
And I notice when I was getting closer
to the neighborhood,never having been there before,
that the homes were getting smaller,more disheveled,
(02:57):
and I started kind of having that lump,like, where am I going?
I finally turned on that street
where I'm going to find the home,and I don't even see a house
until finally I drive down a little bitand past this dead grass,
there's this little square box home withthe looks like almost a flat roof, and I.
I thought, that can't be it.
But I went and knocked on the door.
And then thisthis stuff happened really fast.
(03:19):
This woman answers the door,
but instead of smiling to greet me,she's got this frown on her face.
And this look likeI don't know what to describe.
And I'm wondering what I'm going to sayto her next.
The second impression isI get this wave of mildew, which is,
just toxic, youknow, and I'm already allergic to that.
But you just don't expect that.
And it it it sends a signal.You must flee.
(03:40):
And in that moment, I was ready to turn.
Now wondering what I'm going to sayas I leave.
Instead, I feel a tug at my hand and Ilook down and in contrast to this frown
and this look on my face and the frownon this woman, there's this girl.
It's obviously her daughter,
and she's like six years old and she'sjust so happy to have this, her home.
And so she just like, just like, smilesand greets me, like I've come to see her
(04:02):
and she pulls me into the living roomand it was crowded and disheveled.
And she goes through thislike a crooked hallway
and then she turns into the first roomand she smiles real big with her hands up.
And she's pointing to this posterand it's My Little Pony poster.
It's all brand new.
Yeah,
but that's when I looked outand I saw the mattress
(04:24):
with the beddingand the mold where she slept,
and that still makes me feel the same way,
because it just hit me so hard, you know?
It was like I wasn't.
It didn't expect all thatI wanted to leave.
I did, and but I couldn't move.
(04:44):
I couldn't move.
It wasn't yet mine to give, you know.
It was just like it was like,what's going on here?
I'm in shock.I have a mortgage payment to make.
And then that girl, smiling,
that mom walks back into the roomand she has that same frown.
And, you know, recentlyit really kind of the words came to me
what she must have been thinkingwith that frown.
(05:05):
It's like that frown was like, hey,
I know you're not goingto be able to do anything,
but, you know, that's that daythat something happened to me
that I just thought,wow, you know, looked at her and
and I almost couldn't stop the wordsfrom coming out of my mouth.
You know, I'mgoing to take care of your roof.
And I remember saying that hoping
I was really good at solving leaks,you know, hoping that
(05:27):
I could just go up thereand patch the roof.
I mean, sometimes to patch a roof, it'sall expertise.
There's not much money in it.
But in this case, I went up on the roofand it was just really shot.
I mean, there was just differentsystems, things flying in the wind.
I could see the plywood. So.
So that was that first time I ever,you know, strapped down and went.
And I got the materials myself.
I didn't know how to get the materialsdonated yet.
(05:48):
I didn't know thatif I took a cause to a great partner,
that they would donate it,
which they will, especiallyif you have somewhat of a presence.
But I, I went there with some volunteersthat weekend and we gave that family.
A new roof. Wow.
And they stayed in their home.
And, you know,it was like a really joyous thing.
(06:09):
I don't know why it's hitting meso emotional today,
because I do tell this story all the time.
Maybe it's the studio.It's your intention.
It's the way you remembered it.
Maybe when I told it.
But, it was something happenedthat that mirrors what we have
at our company today,that most companies are not lucky enough,
maybe to have had having sufferedso many years not having it.
And that is there's this high five.
(06:31):
I want to hug you.
I'm proud of what we've done.
We know why we exist.
It's to keep families safe and die dry.
And yes, sometimesthat means we do it for free, you know?
And we don't put that in our advertising.
But I don't mind saying itbecause it's true.
And I'm proud of the trade.I'm not the only one.
The people in my company, every man thatworks for me, all those leak whispers,
(06:55):
watch what they do and their private timefor their friends, for their family,
for their neighbors, whoever roughly.
They do the same thing that I did.
They go out there and they make them wholebecause nothing's more
awful than having your castlebeing invaded by rain, and there's mold
and there's nothing you can do,and you don't know what to do.
And if you can go providethat basic need of shelter and
(07:15):
and you pause on that storyand internally you tell why you do it,
then you have presence it at work,you have culture.
And if you tell that story outsidesincerely, with its beauty and with its
warts all about it, then you have brandand you have presence outside.
And and I didn't do it for that reason.
(07:36):
I didn't I didn't,I reluctantly told the story.
Habitat for humanitystarted telling our story.
When they started.
We started donating their roofs.
Like you mentioned in the intro.
That's when we learned that there's valuein telling the story,
because in telling the story,it brings our team together
to do greater things,to have better lives at work.
(07:57):
And it brings this externally
in community,an entire industry to do more together
and in ways exponential that were neverthat you could have never thought possible
on this show.
I talk a lot about the hillthat you're willing to die on.
Sometimes you choose itand sometimes it chooses you.
(08:17):
So what I love about your storyis the fact here
you're you're a young man, you know,you're willing to fix any leak out there,
and yet you led with your heart that dayto give that roof away
when you probably didn't have the meansand the resources to do it.
So how did that change your trajectory
of the rest of your company's life,you know, leading you up to today?
(08:41):
I mean, it it had a huge it takes a whilefor anything to take effect. No.
Before you understand the implicationsof what you felt or what it meant,
though, it had a huge effect.
There's another component, though,to roofing this.
It being, as I mentioned before, thisthis trade is old.
Is time.
Like the the Charlton Heston.
See, I told youI'd have like an old voice.
That's the guy that played MosesCharlton Heston.
(09:03):
Ben-Hur.
A trade is old as time.
Thing is beautiful though. Yeah.
Good thing you said that from my producer,
because I don't think he knew whothat was. Go ahead, go ahead.
There's
something really beautiful
and almost sacred about roofing.
That's a powerful word.
But somebody mentioned it to me,and I think it holds up.
You know, there's
(09:23):
to saw the leak.
I learned something, you know, I,
I when I the first leak I ever did,I often tell the story.
I worked for a guy who goes, go solvethis family's leak.
I said, yeah, I did it. I was so proud.He went up there, looked at you, saw it?
I said, yeah.
And he looked at meand he said, that's going to leak again.
And I was like,what are you talking about?
He said, Charles,you put the top piece on first.
You put the bottom piece of copingon last, and now it's bucking water.
(09:44):
It's going to water is going to get inthere. Impact sealed it right.
And and I remember how that feltmy first leak knowing I failed
and that that you know, that determinesthat anyone that succeeds
has to that's part of success.
It's that hard work and being willing.
But I said I will never miss another.
I will never miss another leak again.
(10:05):
And so I, I was thatis that hard determination.
And so you when you have a big desireand you're willing to risk it all,
give me the leak that no one can solveand I'll fix it for free.
There's a little power in that.
That is beyondwhat you've learned in the books.
You could call it intuition.
You could call it wisdom.But what happens?
This is a story of what I do,and I didn't tell it till a few years ago
(10:27):
because it was too embarrassing.
But now that I've told it,a lot of other roofers have come
and told me similar stories.
We're all sort of like leak whisperswhen I started doing leak repairs.
I would go up on the roof and, you know,you can't take it all apart.
You have to guess.
And there's all these components theresplashing,
there's siding,there's there's vents and there's roofing,
and you're going to determinewhere it's coming from.
So there's guesswork involved.So how do you do it?
(10:49):
Water testing can tell yousometimes water is a great teacher.
But reallythe greatest teacher was desperation.
I was so desperate to solve a leakthat I would go up on your roof
because I was me or one employee.
I would go up on the roof in a place thatno one would see, and I would lie down.
I would literally lie down on those rooftiles,
(11:10):
maybe next to thatchimney leak or whatever,
until I could feel them hit my head,and then I would close my eyes,
and then I would imagine
I am water.
I didn't go to Charlton that time.
I would literally look in the airand I would see this drop of water
falling from the sky,and somehow that water was me.
(11:30):
And I would watch this or me hitthe chimney and I would trip, pull down.
I could feel it pulling down and I woulddrip down to the flashing under the tiles.
And I could literally feel itpulling and pulling.
And somehow in that process is mysticaland odd as it sound.
I would pop up sometimesin a couple of minutes,
(11:51):
and I would start lifting a few tiles,
and whether it was ten feet awayor 30ft away, or sometimes 80ft away,
I we we always found that leak, you know,
and I think there's something big in that,a big desire.
There's also something powerfuland letting go and and not knowing.
And there's a great leadership thingif you want to be a great leader. Yeah.
Tell everybody how to do it. Boy, I'ma great leader.
(12:12):
I tell them to do it this way.
But wow, be a great leader and not no,not no better.
Imagine what they're tellingyou might be right.
Even moreso than your experience, you know.
And so the the not knowing of waterbecame a great teacher for us.
And the fact that we startedgiving it away,
well, you start to really imaginewhat water does.
And so this is the last thing I'll saythat really became almost like sacred.
(12:36):
I started to thinklike water and water taught me this.
For where there is
failure, I will find it always.
I do not pause to preside.
I simply flow without bias.
That's water talking.
And there's something magical.
When I started to understandand let go and flow, to find the leak,
the pain, the the evil in that buildingthat was causing it to fail,
(13:01):
how could I stop and not noticethe pain in the community,
the ill, in that community,that that family doesn't
have a window for that boy to look out offor his own bedroom, you know.
And so I noticed this across the country,the roofing
professionals,the the manufacturers, the distributors
and the the, the contractors are a very generous trade.
(13:24):
Now, I know that's people in general,when people
when we behave as our highest selves,I've learned we behave like water.
But it's really easyfor me to notice in my trade.
And I just thoughtthat would be worth mentioning.
So we but the purpose really startedto show up when, when we started,
when I, when I started,I didn't I had to tell the story.
It didn't work whenI just wanted to give away people like,
(13:46):
why are you giving away a habitatfor humanity River?
Well, they asked, well, I don't get it.
And then finally, one day
I was having a hard time meeting payroll.
I was at a habitat for humanity.
I was on the boardnow. We'd been donating to habitat.
So I said yes to that.
And my team was still kind of like, hey,how are we going to do all this?
We already donated the last 12.
I'm at a habitat for humanity retreat.
(14:06):
We're supposed to be talkingabout habitat for humanity,
but I'm worriedI'm not going to meet payroll and I can't.
I'm saying, guys, I don't knowif I can make these donations.
I'm telling everybody of our missionabout habitat.
We all believe that everyone deservesa safe, dry place to live.
And then Gladys,
who was the marketing director,she said, Charles, stop telling our story.
Start telling your story.
And this was maybe a dozen years ago.
And I said, what do you mean?
(14:27):
She goes, yeah, we tell our story fine.
And you can tell it.
But really, your people are people.
The people that donate,they want to know you, what your story is.
And that's when I told Gladys,
and that's what I went back and told Caryand and those and antis roofing.
And that's when I started tellingthe community about that little girl
who pulled me in her room that dayto show me that poster.
(14:48):
And when we donated that first roof.Right. Yeah.
So your motto has since becomethe more We Give, the more we have.
Do you want to explain that?
Well, I have thought we often say thatthat's one way to say it.
Or the more that the more we give,the more we grow.
Now in the roofing industry,it's all about rain.
So if we're in a low rain year this year,if it doesn't rain this year,
(15:08):
we're not going to sellmore than last year.
So I'm not I'm not going to say thatwe grow every year, but watch us.
We just keep doing this.
But what we do is in those areaswhere we're not growing, maybe in sales.
We said this a dozen years ago.
The more we give, the more we grow.
But it's still true because, oh my God,the growth in my company is is incredible.
When you look at the impact we've hadinside the lives of the employees,
(15:32):
their families and the communityand in the, in the trade.
And so, so it's I really like that motto.
I mean, sometimes I'll still do a talkor something and title that,
but it sometimes could be misinterpretedby those
that are simply wanting to leveragephilanthropy as a model to finish.
You know,now there's something bigger in this.
(15:53):
I often say, you know, there's aI call it fearless giving,
because it's like it has to bea feel of great sacrifice.
It's like, it's it's your time.
It's your talents, it's your treasures.
It's your word.
I mean, it's it's a lot.
You're all in on something.
It's not half half in.
It's it's all in and, and
and that means that sometimesthere's tough explanations.
(16:15):
And I think that's a big critical part.
I think I missed the question, though.
Now, I think you answered it.
I think you answered it.
As far as you know,the more you give, the more you grow.
And I mean, I think it's fast.
Well, I was going to say I'm sorry.There was one part.
Yeah, the growth and the differencesince the last time we really talked is
when you knew me all these years ago,we were having growing an impact.
(16:37):
But we have so much more impact now.
But if you look at the model, then I wasI was on all these boards.
I'm still on quite a few boards,but it's different now.
I'm not on Ronald McDonald House board.
I might be wearing the socks todayand I am, if I can show that.
Yeah, I love it. But
Corey Burnham, my director of marketing,
she's on the board of Orange County,Ronald McDonald House.
(17:00):
I'm still on the board of habitat,but I'm no longer on the board
of the National Roofing ContractorsAssociation.
Susan deGrasse,who you know very well, she's on the board
representing our companyand representing the national Roofing
Contractors Association.
So if you look at that
and you start breaking that down,she's also the incoming chair of the.
So the Southern Cal chapters of AmericanRed cross.
(17:22):
She's on the board.
She's the incoming chairlike she starts her tour.
What if you call that in a month or twoand Corey's on the National Woman
Roofing board.
So we're creating way more impact.
But the company's a lot different.
And sometimes that's weird for me,you know, because it's like, all about me.
And now it's all about my team.
But really it's all about usand as a whole.
(17:43):
And so I'm starting to really lovethis new us, this new me.
And that's a cool thing
about philanthropy,you know, fearless giving what we call it,
it's like showing up for your team,all of your people,
being willing to invest in them waymore than you ever thought possible.
You want to go to what school?How about if I pay for it?
You want to go to what convention?How about I pay for it?
(18:04):
You want to study this at this place?
How about why wouldn't we pay for it?
You know you want to donate to this.
How about we match it?Why wouldn't we do that?
And then you dothe same in your community.
And then you look tohow you can do that in trade.
I mean, it is a lucky ride.
Where on ask Susan, ask Corey, ask me.
I often say,
(18:24):
I really do believe I have the easiest,luckiest CEO seat in Orange County.
I mean, I run thisbeautiful, thriving company.
I get to serve on all these boards.
I just film this, you know, stamp outhunger
commercial with Wing lamb just because,you know, it's like, I love this.
I get to do this.
And it's all because we show upfeeling like that
(18:46):
question, you know, the more we give,the more we we show up saying what?
What if we could come together
and build bridgesall the way to everybody in the community?
Sure.
It makes sense to donate the roofs
for habitat for Humanityand Ronald McDonald House in these.
But but why not? Old blood drives?
Because on Monday we held our 161st blooddrive, you know, in the last five years.
(19:06):
And so I'm learning that fearless givingyou know, philanthropy it isn't it's
supposed to bethey used to say you're supposed
to give out under one bucketyou when you're doing what you're doing.
Charles. It's called confetti.
Philanthropy or not really landing.
Oh yeah, I think we are.
I think one of the things we're doingis we're kind of rewriting
what philanthropy looks like today.
It's philanthropy as a word.
(19:26):
Sounds really stuffy,like I am a philanthropist.
You won't hear me say that,but am I a fearless giver? Yes.
And fearless. Giving.
Yeah.
It looks like some of the old waysof donating things for nonprofits
and writing big checks,
but also looks like showing upin the fires with 10,000 meals
with the California leg drop,with wing lamb.
And I call that kind of giving,happy and scrappy giving.
(19:46):
And it's fun.
And it awakens you in the moment when youdon't even know what's going to happen.
You show up, you're uncomfortable,and suddenly somebody thanks you.
That was really in a dark place.
And it hits you like this love arrow.
And it stays in you, and you stay happyand you realize you need more of that.
And that's what you have to doto reach your people.
(20:07):
When you have blood drivesand you hear the stories.
I just told the story at the AmericanRed Cross Hero Awards.
I got to welcomeeverybody at The Grove on Friday,
and I told the story of our first blooddonor because we just celebrated
five years and in 160 blood drives.
And I told the story of Harry,our first blood donor.
And Harry comes into the first blood drive.
And I know him from the roofing industry.
And and so Harry's here, and I say, Harry,why don't you give with both arms?
(20:31):
I say that to him.And so he put up both arms.
We snapped a picture of him,and then he gave me a funny look.
And that night I got an email from himand he said, Charles,
I want you to know you took me abackwhen you said that to me.
And I was like, oh great, what did I say?
He goes, this is a true story.He goes, I was
I want you to know, I was bornduring the civil war in Lebanon.
And there was during this war, there wasa kind of really emotional staging.
(20:54):
There was a tremendousloss of life on both sides
because people were dying in the hospitalfor lack of blood.
Nobody would donate blood.
It was the war zone was too dangerousuntil one of the largest men
in the village heard this,and he couldn't accept it.
He brave the war zone.He went to the hospital.
He knocked on the doors.
He literally broke them down.
(21:14):
And when he came inside,he said, take my blood from both arms
and don't stopuntil you have all that you need.
Well.
And Harry goes on to tell the storyof how that resonated through the city,
how people started showing upto give blood.
And I it was a great storyto tell at the beginning
of our blood drives,because sometimes you need a moment.
(21:36):
You have to go out there and make a move.
And even though people don't like it,a lot of people said
you can't have a blood drive,but we did it anyway.
And it's it's helped the communityso much.
We've raised something close toI tend to exaggerate, but it's over
12,500, maybe not quite 15,000 lifesaving treatments of blood. Wow.
I mean, that's a tremendous thingthat we've done and it's helped our brand.
(22:00):
It's helped the roofing industry.
It's being emulated across the land.
And so that is what we love to do.
And that's what happens in this modelas part of the.
And it's like I'm getting acupunctureright.
And acupuncture isthey treat everything with it, by the way.
Like you see, I'm doing it for my niece.
My daughter did it for for acne.
She's ten, you know, just pre acne stuffthat was she was concerned about.
(22:22):
But but acupuncturehas all these other benefits
you know, like you haveall these other benefits from acupuncture.
That's when you have love in your brand
and love in your peopleand loving your trade in community.
You have so many little winsthat you can't possibly track.
Sure.
And I can see the passion in youand how excited you are about it.
(22:44):
And that to me is very inspiring.
But you said somethingthat I want to keep on
because it sounds to melike you're a servant leader.
You're giving your peopleeverything they need to do their jobs.
So as a leader, as the theyou call yourself the chief awakening of
the chief people awaken.
Yes, the chief people awaken her.
So bringing your leadershipstyle to your people,
(23:08):
being a servant leader, giving themeverything they need to do their jobs.
What does that give you back?
Because I don't think
a lot of leaders understandthe value that comes with getting.
If you get your people everythingthey need, they're going to work harder.
They're going to show up more.
They're going to do everything they can.
I mean, you're building loyalty.
Is that not true? Yeah. Well,that's great question.
(23:30):
Because, you know, I was slow to learnsomething about being an entrepreneur
and being tight to startand doing everything myself.
It's it's it was really hard to knowI could be generous with my employees.
And I'm going to I'll make that pointlike I was
I was more generous with the community.
I was donating habitat for humanity roofs,but really scared of sometimes
of giving a salary raise.
I'm not saying I didn't pay well, butbut I every time, you know, it was like
(23:53):
that felt like,
it feels like anything you add onto the spend on employees anymore.
That burden is just it's going to be it'sgoing to tank you.
It feels like that.
I understand that being an entrepreneurstarted my business from scratch.
Now being a $30 million company today,I understand how that feels. But
it's the opposite.
And that's another there.
(24:14):
You know, you can't do itif you don't have it in you just starting.
You have one employee, but as you grow,
it's a mindset of yes, yes,maybe it's that maybe mindset.
I like to say maybe yes to everything.
You know,
that's the no is a terribly powerfulcrusher for all creativity, you know?
Well, no, that just won't work.
Let me give you a reason why.
Like I used to be that boss.
Now I try not to do that,but when you, This.
(24:36):
Something really happenswhen you invest in your people.
Because what happens to us is.
Yes, I'm invested in them.
Yes. It doesn't feel like there's enoughin my logical brain.
But I can tell you antiques roofinghas never been better off financially.
I can tell you antis riffingbrand wise has never been better off.
Were known were roofing companythat's known locally.
(24:56):
I used to imagine
what if we could be a roofing companythat was just known as a brand locally?
We are.
It's so cool and it's only because
of this fearless giving.
It's only because we're willingto look beyond ourselves
and look at the teamand look at the community.
But if it doesn't start with your team,it becomes wonky in the community.
(25:17):
And that's the big thingyou need to learn.
So if if you had to be generous with oneand not the other,
then be it with your team.
But if you want them to be happy,
find out what they love to doand do it together in the community.
And it doesn't have to be financialversus giving.
I mean, it could be time.
It it's so many other thingsthat you could be giving fearlessly
(25:40):
in order to create that energy, to be ableto make it to where you want to be.
It is often it's a lot of time.
There's a pause that needs to occur.
It needs to reach the boardroom.
Sometimes, Susan and Corey and Iand sometimes Susan.
Corey,I with the rest of our management team,
its roofing have really longand uncomfortable discussions
(26:00):
about something that we were asked toor trying to give away.
It's complicated. It takes up time
and it's annoying.
And sometimes,
sometimes you can feel the resentmentfrom other pockets of the company.
Why are we doing this?
And yet it's part of this processthat has to be worked in that purpose.
Why we exist has to show up in every part.
(26:21):
And you can hear, those in productionthat might complain of not enough time
and too many jobs.
You can hear the pridewhen they show up at the habitat build,
when the lady on Telemundo who's doingthe camera work and the reporting says,
hey, Narciso, you don't havethis is before he had his own home.
You don't have a home yet.
Why are you working on this homefor somebody else?
They can have one.
And he in Spanish says,because I think we're all together,
(26:43):
you know, and that's how we liveand that's how we believe.
And now notice the man that was helpingsomebody else get into a home.
Now he has his own home.
And I think that's theI think that's what I've discovered.
The more we get, the more we grow.
I live generously and, it's scarysometimes.
Whether it's my wife's giving,
she's very generous or it's it'smy company's giving.
(27:03):
It's, all of the blood drives we doand the donations to American Red cross.
But I can tell you that the the pains
that we have, the short term not enough,are nothing.
They pale in comparison to the avalancheof good that comes back our way.
And I'm just talking about blessingsthat you don't expect.
(27:23):
So I mean, if when something threatensyou, people show up that you didn't know
that we're there because youthey know why you're here, they get it.
You have a great story about how you gotinvolved with the Ronald McDonald House,
and how that becameso near and dear to your heart.
Yes, I would love to tell that storybecause that story really proved
(27:45):
that that model,it doesn't need to be just about,
you know, or aunties roofingdonates the roof for habitat for humanity.
That makes sense. A roofing company.
Well, this was a donation that I only didbecause they help my family.
And that was my wife, my tent.
My my twins are 100% healthytoday. Let's start that out.
They're ten years old.
They'll be 11 and June and my wife and Iwere having a very excited pregnancy.
(28:08):
No, we had twins, but it just overnightit went into preeclampsia.
We got to get to the hospitaland the babies need to be out
like in six hours.
And next thing you know, I'm watchingbabies, come out of my wife's bellies.
It and and it was it was traumatic for me
because they weren't making any noisesand they went right into incubators.
(28:31):
And it wasn't like any birth experienceI'd ever had before.
And so this happy pregnancywent right into this lectures
from all these nurses I remember.
Charles, this is what we notice, peoplethat come in
and spend time next to their kids.
They heal better than those that don't.
And what that means for you
is come in to twice a day for two hours,do skin on skin.
(28:52):
So my wife and I would come in togetherfor the first couple of weeks and,
and then I would come from workand I would meet her
and we would do skin on skinand I would, we'd switch off.
I do Charlie and
and in the mornings and Gracein the afternoons or whatever, vice versa.
And then one day I was lateand she's texted me, where are you?
And I was down in the parking lot,
and I was it wasreally important to me to get up there,
(29:12):
but sometimes I have heartburn.
And this was a time I rememberI had a lot of heartburn, and I remembered
I had this chronic heartburn,and I knew it was so bad
I wasn't going to be able to do it,but I, I said, okay, I'm going to come up.
And I remember I was walking in to MissionHospital's chalk unit.
There's a Ronald McDonald House stationthat's been there.
The lady's been talking to me.I've just been ignoring her. Every day.
She's offering me computers, you know, beds, anything.
(29:35):
I need coffee, but I just don't reallywant to owe anybody anything.
I'm feeling sorry for myself,so I ignored them.
But on that day, with the heartburn,I looked down and she wasn't there.
And I looked down and I saw a little greenNature Valley granola bar.
I took it,
I tookit with no intention of anybody knowing.
I took it and I ate it.
And, and I just have one other memory that day,
(29:57):
and that's me in the chalk.
Nick.
Charlie asleep on my chest, skin and skin.
And I didn't have any more heartburn.
It was like,
you know, you know, it started to sink in.
You know, like I said earlier,it takes a while
for sometimes growth to hit you,but in time, you know,
I kind of understood like, oh,they they keep families right there.
(30:18):
So they could be with their kidswhen they need it.
And it's so I didn't do anything about it.
But one day somebody reached out to me.
It was Susan Kennedy.Remember Susan Kennedy?
She just moved to Australia with her man.
But Susan Kennedy,
she calledor she came by and just started.
I told her that story, I didn't I didn'tnever want to tell anybody that story.
(30:42):
Only one that knew it was my wife and I,but I, I told her that.
And then she brought me to the house,and I saw what it was like
and how all
these families, not just preemie kids,but a lot of kids with cancer and other
all kinds of special conditionsat all these children's hospitals,
how this this placekept the families together
and not only feeding themand having a place
(31:02):
to call home close to their kids, rightacross the hall or across the street, but
also a place to have solace and quietand comfort with other people
going through similar things.
And so right awayI was just natural for me.
There was some kind of roof leakor something, so let me fix it.
Right? So we went up,we fix that roof leak.
And I think that was, that wasa powerful thing because it made me feel
(31:24):
this is what I need to do.
And it felt like this is not gonna helpour company, but I have a roofing company.
These families, they're being kept,you know, close to their families,
where they need or they need itwhen they need it the most.
But I can keep them safeby patching this roof. So.
So we started doing that,and that became a really important thing.
(31:44):
And I joined the board.
I started telling that story, andand there I, I started telling that story
because, the kids, you know, they, they,they got healthy and they're 100%
great today.
Charlie is starting is thisFridays is opening,
little league game in the tournamentthis year.
He's playing in the majors.
You know, Gracie's playing volleyballand doing all her stuff.
(32:05):
You know, they're they're very active.
But man, it wasit was different back then.
You know, it was beautiful.
We got involved in Ronald McDonald HouseI mean the two things that happened
I lost my train of thoughtthere, two things that happened where
in the roofing industry, the roofing industry I mentioned earlier,
I had this idea I wanted to go backand meet the people that were purposeful
in the roofing industryand see if what we could do together.
(32:26):
And I was in there.
I met a guy there
who was the most influential guyin roofing that somebody told me
I should meet because he was kind ofsaying the same thing.
What's the thingthat could bring roofers together?
And he came out and visited me at ahabitat building was, yeah, this is it.
How are we going to do this?
And so that's aboutthen I'd been having that conversation
because I was getting involved
in National Roofing Contractor Associationeventually to join the board,
(32:49):
and I said, I got it, Bill, let's donatelike I'm doing here,
all of the roofingand the roofing services for all of the
Ronald McDonald houses across the country,there's only 165 of them.
It's a doable number.
And I rememberthere was a long pause on that phone.
It kind of reminds me of that pausing
that day that house, you know, like,you know, there's a big commitment.
(33:10):
You know,he didn't want to get me excited either.
And then I just remember him saying,you know, Charles, this may work.
And then within a few years and
our local hero, Fred Hill, who startedRonald McDonald House, the, Philadelphia
football player, Eagles football playerwho now lives in Orange County.
He came out with meand we spoke to the roofing industry.
I told the granola bar story.
(33:31):
He told the story of his daughter Kim,and what it was like being in Philadelphia
with no place to be close to herwhen she was in Children's Hospital
getting treatment for cancer,and how that was the idea.
That concept washow the first house was built.
And so that that was justa beautiful experience.
And not only that,but I got to tell it locally.
Along with Katie Rucker,I ran the capital campaign
(33:54):
to raise $16 million to double RonaldMcDonald House here in Orange County.
And we just opened six months ago with 45 rooms, and now Cory's on the board.
I'm not. She is. How beautiful is that?
I still wear the socks.
I'm still involved in talking about it.
When the roofing industry shows up in DC500 of us to go
talk to all the congressmenthey remember us. You know why?
(34:15):
Because we wear the socksand we tell that story.
Yeah, that's the power of story.
You know, if you're young,
I know there's some young entrepreneursout there in business. Wow.
Find what you do.
You'll be able to give away, give it awayand then tell that story of why.
Tell it internally.
Tell it externally.
And it it creates magic.
And it's like, you know, it used to betrust is built by the US.
(34:38):
See badge on your LinkedIn pageand it just is not the same.
Now we're craving authenticity.People are.
And so it's that vulnerability
that comes out of somethingthat you're involved with that
that matters, that you know,something that really matters to you,
that you're building bridgesto in the community.
This you can't not tell that storyin a way that doesn't show the real
you and build bridges to peoplethat could not possibly be built.
(35:00):
And that's something that I wishI would have known earlier.
Dad taught me to do the right thing.
I mean, I always,you know, do the right thing, son.
I mean, but I didn't know the powerof telling people why.
And, you know, in fact, it was like,
if you donate a roof,don't tell anybody about it.
That's what I said.That's what every roofer said.
Let's let's donateRonald McDonald House to.
If I remember this guy in Texas,
(35:21):
oh my God, Charles will donate that roof,but we're not going to talk about it.
And then I got to say,
Byron,
I hope he's listening to thisbecause I never admitted to that was
if we don't talk about it,how's it going to grow?
And that's that's why we talk about it.
It grows internally.
It grows externallybecause people emulate that.
Try something similar.
(35:42):
And we yeah, we have that happenacross the roofing industry all the time.
It's happening.
It happened with Ronald McDonald Houseis happening and Boys and Girls Club.
It's happening with bringingroofing back in high schools.
And this is now worked hardwith some local partners.
Now we got it back in the AnaheimSchool District next year.
Our local kids are going to enterthe skills USA turn.
The skills USA National Buildingtournament.
Roofing was not in thatroofing was ignored in the whole build
(36:05):
trades tournament.
Now, now we're backand we're bringing it back to high school.
So there's so many initiatives.
You can get a minor soonto get a major in roofing at Clemson.
And now something like 27 collegesand universities
across the country have picked up roofing.
I mean, this is all happened in the last 8or 10 years, and the roofing industry
were really coming together,building bridges in the community.
(36:28):
And that's really exciting.That is wonderful.
So this show transcends generations.
I am learning,I've got college kids listening to it.
I've got, I had a wonderful couple.
And Manteca.
Hello. Harryand his beautiful wife who came.
You made a huge maverick move that daythat you gave away that roof for free.
So for all of these peoplewho are listening, who want to learn
(36:50):
about leadership,who want to learn about entrepreneurism,
what messagedo you have for them when it comes to
how can they be their best selvesgoing down that road?
Well, it's really all about intention.
You know, if you love what you do,then your intention is going to show up.
If you love what you do, you're going toyou're you're going to hopefully
(37:13):
realize the value in talking about it,giving that thought away.
But at some point, what I find isif people put themselves out there,
have a chanceto actually give that skill away,
I'm going to tell that story herethat I love to tell,
but it's going to answer your question.Okay.
I I'm lucky.
I've I've experienced somethingthat's very traumatic and also beautiful.
(37:34):
And, and I'm going to ask youif you've heard it and those listening,
have you ever heard this?
Stark.
Excuse me. Ladies and gentlemen,this is your captain speaking.
We're having a medical emergency.
Is there a doctor on board?
Have you ever heard that?
Okay,
so those of us that have, I've hadI've heard it twice.
(37:57):
I'm going to speak to the one time.
The first time, because it'sthe one that really struck me.
And I'm going to mention a few thingsthat that might likened to you,
because what happens on an airplane?
Let's imagine that the airplane was
a group of peoplestranded away from anywhere else.
It was just human beings in this airplane.
So I've watched very human things happen.
(38:17):
All of a sudden,I heard that doctor came up.
The first thing that we noticed, we heardthat sound, is, I want to make the point.
Nobody got up, nobody moved.
And now,if you think about when that happens,
and I've asked this and audiences,nobody stands up right away.
There's something powerful there.
If you think back to the story
I just told about me in the in the roomthat day when that little girl
pointed to the poster when I saw her bed,I did not stand up right away.
(38:40):
I was standing, but I was not willing yet.
I was wondering how I was going to wiggle.
I was wigglinguntil the mom walked back in,
and so I felt that same pause on the planethat day.
But before I noticed the pause, I saw somevery, very other human things I saw.
First of all, my impression was like,yeah, I mean, I was upset.
(39:01):
I'm not going to get there in timeto get a meal before tomorrow.
I'm speaking in the morning.I was thinking about me.
I watched the guy two rows ahead of meright away.
He pulls up his watchand he's he's shaking his fist.
He's going to miss his connection.
I mean, all of us are going throughour personal things like.
And so I think that was really notable.
The there was an agitation on the plane.
(39:21):
My kids were scared.
They were looking around.
And then there was a passengerright behind them
that was having some convulsions.
And that was scary,
which probably took about 30 or 40s.
I mean, it was a long time.
And suddenly there was this guythat was behind me.
He's behind me the whole time.He was had a loud British voice.
He was honestly annoying me.
I felt like he was talking,trying to brag a little bit.
(39:41):
This annoying passenger up to this pointfinally stands up,
you know, and I think I might hit on.
That guy's a doctor. That guywe were complaining about. It's a doctor.
You turn around.I swear, this guy literally
had a stethoscope around his neckwhen he stood up.
And then this other woman stands up and.
And I guess these two doctors stood upand they started.
They did something.
They started telling the passengerswhat we need.
(40:03):
We need blankets.
Not everybody had blankets,but everybody had towels.
We took all of our napkins,all of our towels.
We passed it down.
They needed ice.
Everybody that had ice, the whole plane,the passengers, the the pilot was on.
That was reassuring.
The saying whatever he was saying, the,the airline attendants,
we were all in concert with this guythat stood up in the moment.
(40:26):
And then pretty soon,you know, the pilot said, I'm sorry,
we're gonna have to make an emergencystop in Albuquerque.
And there was still a momentof selfishness that we all felt.
But there was also a big desirethat we wanted this man to survive,
and we could feel it. It was tangible.
And these guys were doing they were doingsome serious work on this guy back there.
And finally, you know, when we landed
in Albuquerque, the emergency personnelcame on the plane and they took them
(40:48):
off, you know, and that guy was okaywhen he got off the plane.
And when he got off the plane,the whole plane,
he burst out of the standing ovation.
We started clapping for the guythat I'm sure everyone was annoyed by.
This doctor behind me,
but nobody cared about that flight.
Nobody cared.All we wanted was that passenger get off.
And then we got back on.
And all the way to Florida, we talked.
(41:09):
And this is what I learned.
The guy behind me with the British voice.
He wasn't a doctor.
He was the animal divemedic at the aquarium in the Pacific.
I hope he's listening to this.
And he reaches out and says, hey, yeah,that was oh, yeah, that was me.
I'm sorry, I was obnoxious.
He wasn't a doctor at all.
So funny that he had a stethoscope.
The woman that stood up was a nurse.
(41:31):
The same hospitalI hope my kids, you know.
But I didn't know this
until when we were, like, landinguntil all this is coming out
and all the stories are being spreadaround.
It was just a beautiful moment,and I thought I saw a whole community
change and do what matters most.
And the peoplethat had the very most ability
to solve that problem in the momentstood up.
And that was what I'm talking about.
(41:52):
That's what you that's what you've done.
That's whatthat's there's a vulnerability.
There's a presence that people have.
It's a willingness to put it all out therein any moment, whether in your words
or in that heroic action that day,that you're willing to risk it all
for your team, for your family,for your community,
(42:13):
and even for your reputationin your trade.
That is what I love.
That occurs when, happens on an airplane,but it happens in your career as well.
And that'sthat's the people that I hang out with
that do that for a living, that partnerwith nonprofits and have real stories.
You know, like,I have a real story with every nonprofit.
I can tell you lots of blood stories.
(42:33):
Not only I mean, I could tellyou went a lot quicker.
Like Nigel, who was on his very firstparachute jump and his chute didn't open
and he was going to get bloodlater in the day.
Well, he knew he was going to die.
And he said on the way down,
Nigel said in his British accent,Charles, I made a deal with God.
I said, God, you let me live.
I promiseto give blood the rest of my life.
And then he said, Charles,that was 36 years ago.
(42:54):
I've given blood every two months since.
And he was cryingwhen he finished the story,
you know, I mean, or this other guy,that says, why do you get blood?
He goes, I was, I, I hated, resented this.
I was struck with the condition
I have too much iron,so I have to go to a blood clinic.
I had to give a pint of blood every week.
And I hated it.
Until the one day at the clinicwhen I met the little girl
(43:15):
who needed a blood transfusion every weekjust to live.
And now he says he gives blood joyfully.
I mean, when you hear that story,or when you show up to deliver a box
of food during Covid to that old womanwho's starving and she's saying,
bless you, bless you, bless you.
And you're like trying to get away,but suddenly it hits you
instead of with a dart.
It feels like an enveloped in love,you know, like, what is this I'm feeling?
(43:37):
That's what makes it all work.
That's what makes me happy.
Telling that story, as sillyas it might sound in the moment
at first, to some people it's realand people can feel it's real.
And those that don't understandit might someday,
you know, it's like those are the storiesthat need to be told in the moment.
And the world is shifting so fast.
(43:57):
It's not the story that you had last week.
It's what's happening right now.
It's like the L.A.
fireswe were talking about that coming in.
Wing Lam and the California Love Drop
jumped on board with Robert Duvalland a group
chef, Pasquale, a bunch of local chefswho said, we can make food.
And they made 10,000 mealsto deliver it up
(44:17):
to families and to emergency personnelduring the fires.
I mean, it's people that just show upbecause it's the best thing
that you could do.
And by the way,I do think that I do have a weird
I got to tell you,I'm a little bit out there.
I mean, I do, I my company is worth a lot.
Sure, I'm not silly,but I don't believe in hoarding.
I believe in reinvesting.
(44:38):
I, I don't believe I should be savinga bunch of money
for my kids, and it's weirdto talk about it, but I don't.
I believe I should teach them how to give.
I believe that if, if, if I'm holding
gold in the bank for them,it's like it's like hoarders do.
I've seen hoarders inside their housewhen I've had to fix their leaks.
I mean, there's a sickness there.
(44:58):
How is it not sickwhen there's a need in the community?
And yet you're hoarding all thisfor yourself
when you can't possibly use it?
I mean, I find that really interesting.
I, I didn't used to.
I used to want to accumulate thingsfor myself, and I remember I was.
Oh, what?
I'm sorry. I'm on a tangent right now,but I remember one story.
I was in Thailand when I was young.
I'm no longer Mormon, but I grew upmormon, so I went on a mormon mission.
(45:21):
And I remember in Thailand, I'm explainingto this little family who lived,
was serving their last meal to mebecause they, they pretty much lived meal
to meal on the floor of this tin shackthat was really clean inside.
And they were really happy.
And I remember they giggled at mewhen I told them that I might want to own
more than one home one day,and they looked at me
with complete honesty and said,why would you burden yourself with that?
(45:44):
I totally see their point today,
and I and I think that,so I, I hold my business like that.
I'm not stupid.
I, I of course we have to have moneyto survive the drought years.
We might make millions when it rains,
but we could lose millionswhen it's drought. But.
But beyond what we need to thrive,
we believe in giving back to the communityand into the trades.
(46:05):
And that's why we donateso much time, talent and treasure.
So let me ask you this question, Charles,because I have watched you from up close.
I have watched you from afar and how youdo business and how you treat people.
Do you ever reflect on the impactthat you have made by doing all of this?
I it's, you know, it's
(46:26):
there's a certain humility, that I thinkthe leaders that I love the most have.
And I'm not saying that I'mthis lovable leader,
but I don't look at it and hold itvery well.
I often forget it's it's and I sometimes Igosh, you how do you do that?
And I'll drive down the road
and I see this big dump truckand it's got antis roofing on the side
and that the whole story of, you know,donating roofs, transforming lives and
(46:48):
oh yeah, we do that.
Oh yeah. Sometimes.
Honestly, sometimes I detachand it feels like I'm the son of Charles
Antis who started the business.
I'm the, you know, and I. No, no,that's me because I.
But I'm filling a different role.It's like a different life now.
Now I'm talking about it.
I'm not.
I'm not up on the roofimagining I'm a drop of water.
Now I barely can climb the ladder, but, But yes, I do sometimes.
(47:11):
And I do it in moments like this.
I do it and, you know, like we're planninga podcast or I'm sorry, not a podcast.
We're planning a panel for OrangeCounty Growth thinkers.
We're going to submit for a panel.
We may not accept it,
but I'm imagining myself with Coreyand then Eric Goodman in the community.
Good one, a local community leader,and then Jason Stanley,
(47:31):
a roofing manufacturer who is roofingindustry and showing how a company
and a community and an industrycan come together for the greater of all.
You know, it's it's like something likethis is just really
always growing exponentiallyand more powerful.
This is what
I just feel like the luckiest personin the world that I get to have this.
And I feel like the luckiest personin the world that I get to share it.
(47:54):
And it just keeps getting better.
You know,we mentioned I'm I'm writing a book.
I don't like to talk about it a lot,but it's exactly what we're talking about.
It's how companyindustry, community come together.
And it's called fearless giving how?
Generosity and heart are
keys to a prosperous and beloved business.
And it really describesthis with thoughts that you could do.
(48:18):
I'm not saying when it's going to be out,
because I don't liketo put that pressure on myself.
But Amplify Publishingand my team are very exciting.
We've been working on it for some time,and I would say it'll come out in early 26
and they'll be very excitedand that that will be really ramping up
this because I don't chase growth,for God's sake.
I've learned this when I did my company,which has become wonky, I chase impact
(48:39):
and if I chase impact, like, wow, feedingall these families, it's like the
maybe the good doesn't all go to me,
but it goes to all thisif I chase impact, it always comes back.
And this book is the ultimate impact.
So I'm not only sharing with my community,I'm not only sharing
with my trade,I'm sharing with the whole world.
Look what we can do.And we're a roofing company.
What could you do without your law firm,or what could you do
(49:01):
at your landscaping company?
And I think that is super exciting to me,you know, because the ultimate thing
for me as the chief people awaken, it'sit's it's I,
I'm fulfilled awakening in passionand others for social good.
If I can awaken something in youthat makes you happy
because you're giving something of yoursaway that you didn't know was valuable,
(49:25):
then that is the ultimate goodthat I can do.
And with that, I'd like to say, Charles,thank you so much for being on the show.
You are a complete inspiration.
I had so much funmaking Maverick Moves with Gina
Osborne is producedand edited by Zille Media.
Connect with us on social media at Gina L
Osborne, dot coms making maverick moves.
(49:48):
Don't miss an episode.
Subscribe to making Maverick Moveswherever you get your podcasts.
Charles Antis is a game changerwho's redefined what it means to lead
(00:04):
with purpose.
For 35 years, his company, Antis Roofing,
has been keeping families safe and dry.
But Charles doesn't just cover roofs.
He lifts communities from supporting
all 165 Ronald McDonald housesnationwide to donating every habitat
for humanity roof in Orange Countysince 2009.
(00:26):
Charlesturns business into a force for good
and shows us how to build a legacyrooted in compassion.
Let's dive in to making maverick moves.
My name is Gina Osborneand I'm an Army veteran.
I spent six years during the end of theCold War as a counterintelligence agent.
I was appointed as an FBI agent,and during my 22 year career,
(00:51):
worked everythingfrom Asian organized crime to terrorism.
I became the assistant special agentin charge of cyber and computer forensics.
And then I came out of retirementand spent two years
as the safety and security officerat la metro.
Now I'm here to helpyou make your maverick move.
(01:11):
Welcome to the show, Charles.
Thank you. I'm excited to be here.
The reason why I wanted you hereis because when I first saw you speak,
you told a storyabout how you gave away your first roof
and that really sort of bonded me to you,because it really touched home
about humanity and all of the thingsthat we should all be doing in this world.
(01:33):
So would you mind telling that story?
I would be honored to tell that story.
Thank you for asking.
It's a story that
I think hits youbecause all of us in our lives
will or have had that moment,that thing that you're trained to do.
Maybe you're in that momentwhere you realize you're
the one who maybe could help.
(01:55):
And so I will tell that storybecause I'm just this roofing company
and I'm just trying to survive.
And I was desperate.
I remember this is 35, 36 years ago.
I was so desperate for work that, my bold
move back then was to tellall of the property managers,
give me the leak that no one can solve,
and I'll fix it for free. Wow.
(02:16):
It wasn't. And that was.
There was no benevolence in that.
I wasn't planning on donating a roof.
That was just my desperationand my swagger.
Like, I'm good at this. Really?
I was afraid,but I did anything to solve a leak.
And so I got under that guiseof being so tight, literally
putting Weatherstripping on my bedroom,that I converted to an office in my home.
(02:36):
That was my work one day.
That's how I needed every call.
But that's how desperate I was for work.
And I got a call one day,and a woman had leaks in every room.
And so I went out there the next day,driving into the neighborhood,
and I lived in LA.This was near LAX, the home.
And I notice when I was getting closer
to the neighborhood,never having been there before,
that the homes were getting smaller,more disheveled,
(02:57):
and I started kind of having that lump,like, where am I going?
I finally turned on that street
where I'm going to find the home,and I don't even see a house
until finally I drive down a little bitand past this dead grass,
there's this little square box home withthe looks like almost a flat roof, and I.
I thought, that can't be it.
But I went and knocked on the door.
And then thisthis stuff happened really fast.
(03:19):
This woman answers the door,
but instead of smiling to greet me,she's got this frown on her face.
And this look likeI don't know what to describe.
And I'm wondering what I'm going to sayto her next.
The second impression isI get this wave of mildew, which is,
just toxic, youknow, and I'm already allergic to that.
But you just don't expect that.
And it it it sends a signal.You must flee.
(03:40):
And in that moment, I was ready to turn.
Now wondering what I'm going to sayas I leave.
Instead, I feel a tug at my hand and Ilook down and in contrast to this frown
and this look on my face and the frownon this woman, there's this girl.
It's obviously her daughter,
and she's like six years old and she'sjust so happy to have this, her home.
And so she just like, just like, smilesand greets me, like I've come to see her
(04:02):
and she pulls me into the living roomand it was crowded and disheveled.
And she goes through thislike a crooked hallway
and then she turns into the first roomand she smiles real big with her hands up.
And she's pointing to this posterand it's My Little Pony poster.
It's all brand new.
Yeah,
but that's when I looked outand I saw the mattress
(04:24):
with the beddingand the mold where she slept,
and that still makes me feel the same way,
because it just hit me so hard, you know?
It was like I wasn't.
It didn't expect all thatI wanted to leave.
I did, and but I couldn't move.
(04:44):
I couldn't move.
It wasn't yet mine to give, you know.
It was just like it was like,what's going on here?
I'm in shock.I have a mortgage payment to make.
And then that girl, smiling,
that mom walks back into the roomand she has that same frown.
And, you know, recentlyit really kind of the words came to me
what she must have been thinkingwith that frown.
(05:05):
It's like that frown was like, hey,
I know you're not goingto be able to do anything,
but, you know, that's that daythat something happened to me
that I just thought,wow, you know, looked at her and
and I almost couldn't stop the wordsfrom coming out of my mouth.
You know, I'mgoing to take care of your roof.
And I remember saying that hoping
I was really good at solving leaks,you know, hoping that
(05:27):
I could just go up thereand patch the roof.
I mean, sometimes to patch a roof, it'sall expertise.
There's not much money in it.
But in this case, I went up on the roofand it was just really shot.
I mean, there was just differentsystems, things flying in the wind.
I could see the plywood. So.
So that was that first time I ever,you know, strapped down and went.
And I got the materials myself.
I didn't know how to get the materialsdonated yet.
(05:48):
I didn't know thatif I took a cause to a great partner,
that they would donate it,
which they will, especiallyif you have somewhat of a presence.
But I, I went there with some volunteersthat weekend and we gave that family.
A new roof. Wow.
And they stayed in their home.
And, you know,it was like a really joyous thing.
(06:09):
I don't know why it's hitting meso emotional today,
because I do tell this story all the time.
Maybe it's the studio.It's your intention.
It's the way you remembered it.
Maybe when I told it.
But, it was something happenedthat that mirrors what we have
at our company today,that most companies are not lucky enough,
maybe to have had having sufferedso many years not having it.
And that is there's this high five.
(06:31):
I want to hug you.
I'm proud of what we've done.
We know why we exist.
It's to keep families safe and die dry.
And yes, sometimesthat means we do it for free, you know?
And we don't put that in our advertising.
But I don't mind saying itbecause it's true.
And I'm proud of the trade.I'm not the only one.
The people in my company, every man thatworks for me, all those leak whispers,
(06:55):
watch what they do and their private timefor their friends, for their family,
for their neighbors, whoever roughly.
They do the same thing that I did.
They go out there and they make them wholebecause nothing's more
awful than having your castlebeing invaded by rain, and there's mold
and there's nothing you can do,and you don't know what to do.
And if you can go providethat basic need of shelter and
(07:15):
and you pause on that storyand internally you tell why you do it,
then you have presence it at work,you have culture.
And if you tell that story outsidesincerely, with its beauty and with its
warts all about it, then you have brandand you have presence outside.
And and I didn't do it for that reason.
(07:36):
I didn't I didn't,I reluctantly told the story.
Habitat for humanitystarted telling our story.
When they started.
We started donating their roofs.
Like you mentioned in the intro.
That's when we learned that there's valuein telling the story,
because in telling the story,it brings our team together
to do greater things,to have better lives at work.
(07:57):
And it brings this externally
in community,an entire industry to do more together
and in ways exponential that were neverthat you could have never thought possible
on this show.
I talk a lot about the hillthat you're willing to die on.
Sometimes you choose itand sometimes it chooses you.
(08:17):
So what I love about your storyis the fact here
you're you're a young man, you know,you're willing to fix any leak out there,
and yet you led with your heart that dayto give that roof away
when you probably didn't have the meansand the resources to do it.
So how did that change your trajectory
of the rest of your company's life,you know, leading you up to today?
(08:41):
I mean, it it had a huge it takes a whilefor anything to take effect. No.
Before you understand the implicationsof what you felt or what it meant,
though, it had a huge effect.
There's another component, though,to roofing this.
It being, as I mentioned before, thisthis trade is old.
Is time.
Like the the Charlton Heston.
See, I told youI'd have like an old voice.
That's the guy that played MosesCharlton Heston.
(09:03):
Ben-Hur.
A trade is old as time.
Thing is beautiful though. Yeah.
Good thing you said that from my producer,
because I don't think he knew whothat was. Go ahead, go ahead.
There's
something really beautiful
and almost sacred about roofing.
That's a powerful word.
But somebody mentioned it to me,and I think it holds up.
You know, there's
(09:23):
to saw the leak.
I learned something, you know, I,
I when I the first leak I ever did,I often tell the story.
I worked for a guy who goes, go solvethis family's leak.
I said, yeah, I did it. I was so proud.He went up there, looked at you, saw it?
I said, yeah.
And he looked at meand he said, that's going to leak again.
And I was like,what are you talking about?
He said, Charles,you put the top piece on first.
You put the bottom piece of copingon last, and now it's bucking water.
(09:44):
It's going to water is going to get inthere. Impact sealed it right.
And and I remember how that feltmy first leak knowing I failed
and that that you know, that determinesthat anyone that succeeds
has to that's part of success.
It's that hard work and being willing.
But I said I will never miss another.
I will never miss another leak again.
(10:05):
And so I, I was thatis that hard determination.
And so you when you have a big desireand you're willing to risk it all,
give me the leak that no one can solveand I'll fix it for free.
There's a little power in that.
That is beyondwhat you've learned in the books.
You could call it intuition.
You could call it wisdom.But what happens?
This is a story of what I do,and I didn't tell it till a few years ago
(10:27):
because it was too embarrassing.
But now that I've told it,a lot of other roofers have come
and told me similar stories.
We're all sort of like leak whisperswhen I started doing leak repairs.
I would go up on the roof and, you know,you can't take it all apart.
You have to guess.
And there's all these components theresplashing,
there's siding,there's there's vents and there's roofing,
and you're going to determinewhere it's coming from.
So there's guesswork involved.So how do you do it?
(10:49):
Water testing can tell yousometimes water is a great teacher.
But reallythe greatest teacher was desperation.
I was so desperate to solve a leakthat I would go up on your roof
because I was me or one employee.
I would go up on the roof in a place thatno one would see, and I would lie down.
I would literally lie down on those rooftiles,
(11:10):
maybe next to thatchimney leak or whatever,
until I could feel them hit my head,and then I would close my eyes,
and then I would imagine
I am water.
I didn't go to Charlton that time.
I would literally look in the airand I would see this drop of water
falling from the sky,and somehow that water was me.
(11:30):
And I would watch this or me hitthe chimney and I would trip, pull down.
I could feel it pulling down and I woulddrip down to the flashing under the tiles.
And I could literally feel itpulling and pulling.
And somehow in that process is mysticaland odd as it sound.
I would pop up sometimesin a couple of minutes,
(11:51):
and I would start lifting a few tiles,
and whether it was ten feet awayor 30ft away, or sometimes 80ft away,
I we we always found that leak, you know,
and I think there's something big in that,a big desire.
There's also something powerfuland letting go and and not knowing.
And there's a great leadership thingif you want to be a great leader. Yeah.
Tell everybody how to do it. Boy, I'ma great leader.
(12:12):
I tell them to do it this way.
But wow, be a great leader and not no,not no better.
Imagine what they're tellingyou might be right.
Even moreso than your experience, you know.
And so the the not knowing of waterbecame a great teacher for us.
And the fact that we startedgiving it away,
well, you start to really imaginewhat water does.
And so this is the last thing I'll saythat really became almost like sacred.
(12:36):
I started to thinklike water and water taught me this.
For where there is
failure, I will find it always.
I do not pause to preside.
I simply flow without bias.
That's water talking.
And there's something magical.
When I started to understandand let go and flow, to find the leak,
the pain, the the evil in that buildingthat was causing it to fail,
(13:01):
how could I stop and not noticethe pain in the community,
the ill, in that community,that that family doesn't
have a window for that boy to look out offor his own bedroom, you know.
And so I noticed this across the country,the roofing
professionals,the the manufacturers, the distributors
and the the, the contractors are a very generous trade.
(13:24):
Now, I know that's people in general,when people
when we behave as our highest selves,I've learned we behave like water.
But it's really easyfor me to notice in my trade.
And I just thoughtthat would be worth mentioning.
So we but the purpose really startedto show up when, when we started,
when I, when I started,I didn't I had to tell the story.
It didn't work whenI just wanted to give away people like,
(13:46):
why are you giving away a habitatfor humanity River?
Well, they asked, well, I don't get it.
And then finally, one day
I was having a hard time meeting payroll.
I was at a habitat for humanity.
I was on the boardnow. We'd been donating to habitat.
So I said yes to that.
And my team was still kind of like, hey,how are we going to do all this?
We already donated the last 12.
I'm at a habitat for humanity retreat.
(14:06):
We're supposed to be talkingabout habitat for humanity,
but I'm worriedI'm not going to meet payroll and I can't.
I'm saying, guys, I don't knowif I can make these donations.
I'm telling everybody of our missionabout habitat.
We all believe that everyone deservesa safe, dry place to live.
And then Gladys,
who was the marketing director,she said, Charles, stop telling our story.
Start telling your story.
And this was maybe a dozen years ago.
And I said, what do you mean?
(14:27):
She goes, yeah, we tell our story fine.
And you can tell it.
But really, your people are people.
The people that donate,they want to know you, what your story is.
And that's when I told Gladys,
and that's what I went back and told Caryand and those and antis roofing.
And that's when I started tellingthe community about that little girl
who pulled me in her room that dayto show me that poster.
(14:48):
And when we donated that first roof.Right. Yeah.
So your motto has since becomethe more We Give, the more we have.
Do you want to explain that?
Well, I have thought we often say thatthat's one way to say it.
Or the more that the more we give,the more we grow.
Now in the roofing industry,it's all about rain.
So if we're in a low rain year this year,if it doesn't rain this year,
(15:08):
we're not going to sellmore than last year.
So I'm not I'm not going to say thatwe grow every year, but watch us.
We just keep doing this.
But what we do is in those areaswhere we're not growing, maybe in sales.
We said this a dozen years ago.
The more we give, the more we grow.
But it's still true because, oh my God,the growth in my company is is incredible.
When you look at the impact we've hadinside the lives of the employees,
(15:32):
their families and the communityand in the, in the trade.
And so, so it's I really like that motto.
I mean, sometimes I'll still do a talkor something and title that,
but it sometimes could be misinterpretedby those
that are simply wanting to leveragephilanthropy as a model to finish.
You know,now there's something bigger in this.
(15:53):
I often say, you know, there's aI call it fearless giving,
because it's like it has to bea feel of great sacrifice.
It's like, it's it's your time.
It's your talents, it's your treasures.
It's your word.
I mean, it's it's a lot.
You're all in on something.
It's not half half in.
It's it's all in and, and
and that means that sometimesthere's tough explanations.
(16:15):
And I think that's a big critical part.
I think I missed the question, though.
Now, I think you answered it.
I think you answered it.
As far as you know,the more you give, the more you grow.
And I mean, I think it's fast.
Well, I was going to say I'm sorry.There was one part.
Yeah, the growth and the differencesince the last time we really talked is
when you knew me all these years ago,we were having growing an impact.
(16:37):
But we have so much more impact now.
But if you look at the model, then I wasI was on all these boards.
I'm still on quite a few boards,but it's different now.
I'm not on Ronald McDonald House board.
I might be wearing the socks todayand I am, if I can show that.
Yeah, I love it. But
Corey Burnham, my director of marketing,
she's on the board of Orange County,Ronald McDonald House.
(17:00):
I'm still on the board of habitat,but I'm no longer on the board
of the National Roofing ContractorsAssociation.
Susan deGrasse,who you know very well, she's on the board
representing our companyand representing the national Roofing
Contractors Association.
So if you look at that
and you start breaking that down,she's also the incoming chair of the.
So the Southern Cal chapters of AmericanRed cross.
(17:22):
She's on the board.
She's the incoming chairlike she starts her tour.
What if you call that in a month or twoand Corey's on the National Woman
Roofing board.
So we're creating way more impact.
But the company's a lot different.
And sometimes that's weird for me,you know, because it's like, all about me.
And now it's all about my team.
But really it's all about usand as a whole.
(17:43):
And so I'm starting to really lovethis new us, this new me.
And that's a cool thing
about philanthropy,you know, fearless giving what we call it,
it's like showing up for your team,all of your people,
being willing to invest in them waymore than you ever thought possible.
You want to go to what school?How about if I pay for it?
You want to go to what convention?How about I pay for it?
(18:04):
You want to study this at this place?
How about why wouldn't we pay for it?
You know you want to donate to this.
How about we match it?Why wouldn't we do that?
And then you dothe same in your community.
And then you look tohow you can do that in trade.
I mean, it is a lucky ride.
Where on ask Susan, ask Corey, ask me.
I often say,
(18:24):
I really do believe I have the easiest,luckiest CEO seat in Orange County.
I mean, I run thisbeautiful, thriving company.
I get to serve on all these boards.
I just film this, you know, stamp outhunger
commercial with Wing lamb just because,you know, it's like, I love this.
I get to do this.
And it's all because we show upfeeling like that
(18:46):
question, you know, the more we give,the more we we show up saying what?
What if we could come together
and build bridgesall the way to everybody in the community?
Sure.
It makes sense to donate the roofs
for habitat for Humanityand Ronald McDonald House in these.
But but why not? Old blood drives?
Because on Monday we held our 161st blooddrive, you know, in the last five years.
(19:06):
And so I'm learning that fearless givingyou know, philanthropy it isn't it's
supposed to bethey used to say you're supposed
to give out under one bucketyou when you're doing what you're doing.
Charles. It's called confetti.
Philanthropy or not really landing.
Oh yeah, I think we are.
I think one of the things we're doingis we're kind of rewriting
what philanthropy looks like today.
It's philanthropy as a word.
(19:26):
Sounds really stuffy,like I am a philanthropist.
You won't hear me say that,but am I a fearless giver? Yes.
And fearless. Giving.
Yeah.
It looks like some of the old waysof donating things for nonprofits
and writing big checks,
but also looks like showing upin the fires with 10,000 meals
with the California leg drop,with wing lamb.
And I call that kind of giving,happy and scrappy giving.
(19:46):
And it's fun.
And it awakens you in the moment when youdon't even know what's going to happen.
You show up, you're uncomfortable,and suddenly somebody thanks you.
That was really in a dark place.
And it hits you like this love arrow.
And it stays in you, and you stay happyand you realize you need more of that.
And that's what you have to doto reach your people.
(20:07):
When you have blood drivesand you hear the stories.
I just told the story at the AmericanRed Cross Hero Awards.
I got to welcomeeverybody at The Grove on Friday,
and I told the story of our first blooddonor because we just celebrated
five years and in 160 blood drives.
And I told the story of Harry,our first blood donor.
And Harry comes into the first blood drive.
And I know him from the roofing industry.
And and so Harry's here, and I say, Harry,why don't you give with both arms?
(20:31):
I say that to him.And so he put up both arms.
We snapped a picture of him,and then he gave me a funny look.
And that night I got an email from himand he said, Charles,
I want you to know you took me abackwhen you said that to me.
And I was like, oh great, what did I say?
He goes, this is a true story.He goes, I was
I want you to know, I was bornduring the civil war in Lebanon.
And there was during this war, there wasa kind of really emotional staging.
(20:54):
There was a tremendousloss of life on both sides
because people were dying in the hospitalfor lack of blood.
Nobody would donate blood.
It was the war zone was too dangerousuntil one of the largest men
in the village heard this,and he couldn't accept it.
He brave the war zone.He went to the hospital.
He knocked on the doors.
He literally broke them down.
(21:14):
And when he came inside,he said, take my blood from both arms
and don't stopuntil you have all that you need.
Well.
And Harry goes on to tell the storyof how that resonated through the city,
how people started showing upto give blood.
And I it was a great storyto tell at the beginning
of our blood drives,because sometimes you need a moment.
(21:36):
You have to go out there and make a move.
And even though people don't like it,a lot of people said
you can't have a blood drive,but we did it anyway.
And it's it's helped the communityso much.
We've raised something close toI tend to exaggerate, but it's over
12,500, maybe not quite 15,000 lifesaving treatments of blood. Wow.
I mean, that's a tremendous thingthat we've done and it's helped our brand.
(22:00):
It's helped the roofing industry.
It's being emulated across the land.
And so that is what we love to do.
And that's what happens in this modelas part of the.
And it's like I'm getting acupunctureright.
And acupuncture isthey treat everything with it, by the way.
Like you see, I'm doing it for my niece.
My daughter did it for for acne.
She's ten, you know, just pre acne stuffthat was she was concerned about.
(22:22):
But but acupuncturehas all these other benefits
you know, like you haveall these other benefits from acupuncture.
That's when you have love in your brand
and love in your peopleand loving your trade in community.
You have so many little winsthat you can't possibly track.
Sure.
And I can see the passion in youand how excited you are about it.
(22:44):
And that to me is very inspiring.
But you said somethingthat I want to keep on
because it sounds to melike you're a servant leader.
You're giving your peopleeverything they need to do their jobs.
So as a leader, as the theyou call yourself the chief awakening of
the chief people awaken.
Yes, the chief people awaken her.
So bringing your leadershipstyle to your people,
(23:08):
being a servant leader, giving themeverything they need to do their jobs.
What does that give you back?
Because I don't think
a lot of leaders understandthe value that comes with getting.
If you get your people everythingthey need, they're going to work harder.
They're going to show up more.
They're going to do everything they can.
I mean, you're building loyalty.
Is that not true? Yeah. Well,that's great question.
(23:30):
Because, you know, I was slow to learnsomething about being an entrepreneur
and being tight to startand doing everything myself.
It's it's it was really hard to knowI could be generous with my employees.
And I'm going to I'll make that pointlike I was
I was more generous with the community.
I was donating habitat for humanity roofs,but really scared of sometimes
of giving a salary raise.
I'm not saying I didn't pay well, butbut I every time, you know, it was like
(23:53):
that felt like,
it feels like anything you add onto the spend on employees anymore.
That burden is just it's going to be it'sgoing to tank you.
It feels like that.
I understand that being an entrepreneurstarted my business from scratch.
Now being a $30 million company today,I understand how that feels. But
it's the opposite.
And that's another there.
(24:14):
You know, you can't do itif you don't have it in you just starting.
You have one employee, but as you grow,
it's a mindset of yes, yes,maybe it's that maybe mindset.
I like to say maybe yes to everything.
You know,
that's the no is a terribly powerfulcrusher for all creativity, you know?
Well, no, that just won't work.
Let me give you a reason why.
Like I used to be that boss.
Now I try not to do that,but when you, This.
(24:36):
Something really happenswhen you invest in your people.
Because what happens to us is.
Yes, I'm invested in them.
Yes. It doesn't feel like there's enoughin my logical brain.
But I can tell you antiques roofinghas never been better off financially.
I can tell you antis riffingbrand wise has never been better off.
Were known were roofing companythat's known locally.
(24:56):
I used to imagine
what if we could be a roofing companythat was just known as a brand locally?
We are.
It's so cool and it's only because
of this fearless giving.
It's only because we're willingto look beyond ourselves
and look at the teamand look at the community.
But if it doesn't start with your team,it becomes wonky in the community.
(25:17):
And that's the big thingyou need to learn.
So if if you had to be generous with oneand not the other,
then be it with your team.
But if you want them to be happy,
find out what they love to doand do it together in the community.
And it doesn't have to be financialversus giving.
I mean, it could be time.
It it's so many other thingsthat you could be giving fearlessly
(25:40):
in order to create that energy, to be ableto make it to where you want to be.
It is often it's a lot of time.
There's a pause that needs to occur.
It needs to reach the boardroom.
Sometimes, Susan and Corey and Iand sometimes Susan.
Corey,I with the rest of our management team,
its roofing have really longand uncomfortable discussions
(26:00):
about something that we were asked toor trying to give away.
It's complicated. It takes up time
and it's annoying.
And sometimes,
sometimes you can feel the resentmentfrom other pockets of the company.
Why are we doing this?
And yet it's part of this processthat has to be worked in that purpose.
Why we exist has to show up in every part.
(26:21):
And you can hear, those in productionthat might complain of not enough time
and too many jobs.
You can hear the pridewhen they show up at the habitat build,
when the lady on Telemundo who's doingthe camera work and the reporting says,
hey, Narciso, you don't havethis is before he had his own home.
You don't have a home yet.
Why are you working on this homefor somebody else?
They can have one.
And he in Spanish says,because I think we're all together,
(26:43):
you know, and that's how we liveand that's how we believe.
And now notice the man that was helpingsomebody else get into a home.
Now he has his own home.
And I think that's theI think that's what I've discovered.
The more we get, the more we grow.
I live generously and, it's scarysometimes.
Whether it's my wife's giving,
she's very generous or it's it'smy company's giving.
(27:03):
It's, all of the blood drives we doand the donations to American Red cross.
But I can tell you that the the pains
that we have, the short term not enough,are nothing.
They pale in comparison to the avalancheof good that comes back our way.
And I'm just talking about blessingsthat you don't expect.
(27:23):
So I mean, if when something threatensyou, people show up that you didn't know
that we're there because youthey know why you're here, they get it.
You have a great story about how you gotinvolved with the Ronald McDonald House,
and how that becameso near and dear to your heart.
Yes, I would love to tell that storybecause that story really proved
(27:45):
that that model,it doesn't need to be just about,
you know, or aunties roofingdonates the roof for habitat for humanity.
That makes sense. A roofing company.
Well, this was a donation that I only didbecause they help my family.
And that was my wife, my tent.
My my twins are 100% healthytoday. Let's start that out.
They're ten years old.
They'll be 11 and June and my wife and Iwere having a very excited pregnancy.
(28:08):
No, we had twins, but it just overnightit went into preeclampsia.
We got to get to the hospitaland the babies need to be out
like in six hours.
And next thing you know, I'm watchingbabies, come out of my wife's bellies.
It and and it was it was traumatic for me
because they weren't making any noisesand they went right into incubators.
(28:31):
And it wasn't like any birth experienceI'd ever had before.
And so this happy pregnancywent right into this lectures
from all these nurses I remember.
Charles, this is what we notice, peoplethat come in
and spend time next to their kids.
They heal better than those that don't.
And what that means for you
is come in to twice a day for two hours,do skin on skin.
(28:52):
So my wife and I would come in togetherfor the first couple of weeks and,
and then I would come from workand I would meet her
and we would do skin on skinand I would, we'd switch off.
I do Charlie and
and in the mornings and Gracein the afternoons or whatever, vice versa.
And then one day I was lateand she's texted me, where are you?
And I was down in the parking lot,
and I was it wasreally important to me to get up there,
(29:12):
but sometimes I have heartburn.
And this was a time I rememberI had a lot of heartburn, and I remembered
I had this chronic heartburn,and I knew it was so bad
I wasn't going to be able to do it,but I, I said, okay, I'm going to come up.
And I remember I was walking in to MissionHospital's chalk unit.
There's a Ronald McDonald House stationthat's been there.
The lady's been talking to me.I've just been ignoring her. Every day.
She's offering me computers, you know, beds, anything.
(29:35):
I need coffee, but I just don't reallywant to owe anybody anything.
I'm feeling sorry for myself,so I ignored them.
But on that day, with the heartburn,I looked down and she wasn't there.
And I looked down and I saw a little greenNature Valley granola bar.
I took it,
I tookit with no intention of anybody knowing.
I took it and I ate it.
And, and I just have one other memory that day,
(29:57):
and that's me in the chalk.
Nick.
Charlie asleep on my chest, skin and skin.
And I didn't have any more heartburn.
It was like,
you know, you know, it started to sink in.
You know, like I said earlier,it takes a while
for sometimes growth to hit you,but in time, you know,
I kind of understood like, oh,they they keep families right there.
(30:18):
So they could be with their kidswhen they need it.
And it's so I didn't do anything about it.
But one day somebody reached out to me.
It was Susan Kennedy.Remember Susan Kennedy?
She just moved to Australia with her man.
But Susan Kennedy,
she calledor she came by and just started.
I told her that story, I didn't I didn'tnever want to tell anybody that story.
(30:42):
Only one that knew it was my wife and I,but I, I told her that.
And then she brought me to the house,and I saw what it was like
and how all
these families, not just preemie kids,but a lot of kids with cancer and other
all kinds of special conditionsat all these children's hospitals,
how this this placekept the families together
and not only feeding themand having a place
(31:02):
to call home close to their kids, rightacross the hall or across the street, but
also a place to have solace and quietand comfort with other people
going through similar things.
And so right awayI was just natural for me.
There was some kind of roof leakor something, so let me fix it.
Right? So we went up,we fix that roof leak.
And I think that was, that wasa powerful thing because it made me feel
(31:24):
this is what I need to do.
And it felt like this is not gonna helpour company, but I have a roofing company.
These families, they're being kept,you know, close to their families,
where they need or they need itwhen they need it the most.
But I can keep them safeby patching this roof. So.
So we started doing that,and that became a really important thing.
(31:44):
And I joined the board.
I started telling that story, andand there I, I started telling that story
because, the kids, you know, they, they,they got healthy and they're 100%
great today.
Charlie is starting is thisFridays is opening,
little league game in the tournamentthis year.
He's playing in the majors.
You know, Gracie's playing volleyballand doing all her stuff.
(32:05):
You know, they're they're very active.
But man, it wasit was different back then.
You know, it was beautiful.
We got involved in Ronald McDonald HouseI mean the two things that happened
I lost my train of thoughtthere, two things that happened where
in the roofing industry, the roofing industry I mentioned earlier,
I had this idea I wanted to go backand meet the people that were purposeful
in the roofing industryand see if what we could do together.
(32:26):
And I was in there.
I met a guy there
who was the most influential guyin roofing that somebody told me
I should meet because he was kind ofsaying the same thing.
What's the thingthat could bring roofers together?
And he came out and visited me at ahabitat building was, yeah, this is it.
How are we going to do this?
And so that's aboutthen I'd been having that conversation
because I was getting involved
in National Roofing Contractor Associationeventually to join the board,
(32:49):
and I said, I got it, Bill, let's donatelike I'm doing here,
all of the roofingand the roofing services for all of the
Ronald McDonald houses across the country,there's only 165 of them.
It's a doable number.
And I rememberthere was a long pause on that phone.
It kind of reminds me of that pausing
that day that house, you know, like,you know, there's a big commitment.
(33:10):
You know,he didn't want to get me excited either.
And then I just remember him saying,you know, Charles, this may work.
And then within a few years and
our local hero, Fred Hill, who startedRonald McDonald House, the, Philadelphia
football player, Eagles football playerwho now lives in Orange County.
He came out with meand we spoke to the roofing industry.
I told the granola bar story.
(33:31):
He told the story of his daughter Kim,and what it was like being in Philadelphia
with no place to be close to herwhen she was in Children's Hospital
getting treatment for cancer,and how that was the idea.
That concept washow the first house was built.
And so that that was justa beautiful experience.
And not only that,but I got to tell it locally.
Along with Katie Rucker,I ran the capital campaign
(33:54):
to raise $16 million to double RonaldMcDonald House here in Orange County.
And we just opened six months ago with 45 rooms, and now Cory's on the board.
I'm not. She is. How beautiful is that?
I still wear the socks.
I'm still involved in talking about it.
When the roofing industry shows up in DC500 of us to go
talk to all the congressmenthey remember us. You know why?
(34:15):
Because we wear the socksand we tell that story.
Yeah, that's the power of story.
You know, if you're young,
I know there's some young entrepreneursout there in business. Wow.
Find what you do.
You'll be able to give away, give it awayand then tell that story of why.
Tell it internally.
Tell it externally.
And it it creates magic.
And it's like, you know, it used to betrust is built by the US.
(34:38):
See badge on your LinkedIn pageand it just is not the same.
Now we're craving authenticity.People are.
And so it's that vulnerability
that comes out of somethingthat you're involved with that
that matters, that you know,something that really matters to you,
that you're building bridgesto in the community.
This you can't not tell that storyin a way that doesn't show the real
you and build bridges to peoplethat could not possibly be built.
(35:00):
And that's something that I wishI would have known earlier.
Dad taught me to do the right thing.
I mean, I always,you know, do the right thing, son.
I mean, but I didn't know the powerof telling people why.
And, you know, in fact, it was like,
if you donate a roof,don't tell anybody about it.
That's what I said.That's what every roofer said.
Let's let's donateRonald McDonald House to.
If I remember this guy in Texas,
(35:21):
oh my God, Charles will donate that roof,but we're not going to talk about it.
And then I got to say,
Byron,
I hope he's listening to thisbecause I never admitted to that was
if we don't talk about it,how's it going to grow?
And that's that's why we talk about it.
It grows internally.
It grows externallybecause people emulate that.
Try something similar.
(35:42):
And we yeah, we have that happenacross the roofing industry all the time.
It's happening.
It happened with Ronald McDonald Houseis happening and Boys and Girls Club.
It's happening with bringingroofing back in high schools.
And this is now worked hardwith some local partners.
Now we got it back in the AnaheimSchool District next year.
Our local kids are going to enterthe skills USA turn.
The skills USA National Buildingtournament.
Roofing was not in thatroofing was ignored in the whole build
(36:05):
trades tournament.
Now, now we're backand we're bringing it back to high school.
So there's so many initiatives.
You can get a minor soonto get a major in roofing at Clemson.
And now something like 27 collegesand universities
across the country have picked up roofing.
I mean, this is all happened in the last 8or 10 years, and the roofing industry
were really coming together,building bridges in the community.
(36:28):
And that's really exciting.That is wonderful.
So this show transcends generations.
I am learning,I've got college kids listening to it.
I've got, I had a wonderful couple.
And Manteca.
Hello. Harryand his beautiful wife who came.
You made a huge maverick move that daythat you gave away that roof for free.
So for all of these peoplewho are listening, who want to learn
(36:50):
about leadership,who want to learn about entrepreneurism,
what messagedo you have for them when it comes to
how can they be their best selvesgoing down that road?
Well, it's really all about intention.
You know, if you love what you do,then your intention is going to show up.
If you love what you do, you're going toyou're you're going to hopefully
(37:13):
realize the value in talking about it,giving that thought away.
But at some point, what I find isif people put themselves out there,
have a chanceto actually give that skill away,
I'm going to tell that story herethat I love to tell,
but it's going to answer your question.Okay.
I I'm lucky.
I've I've experienced somethingthat's very traumatic and also beautiful.
(37:34):
And, and I'm going to ask youif you've heard it and those listening,
have you ever heard this?
Stark.
Excuse me. Ladies and gentlemen,this is your captain speaking.
We're having a medical emergency.
Is there a doctor on board?
Have you ever heard that?
Okay,
so those of us that have, I've hadI've heard it twice.
(37:57):
I'm going to speak to the one time.
The first time, because it'sthe one that really struck me.
And I'm going to mention a few thingsthat that might likened to you,
because what happens on an airplane?
Let's imagine that the airplane was
a group of peoplestranded away from anywhere else.
It was just human beings in this airplane.
So I've watched very human things happen.
(38:17):
All of a sudden,I heard that doctor came up.
The first thing that we noticed, we heardthat sound, is, I want to make the point.
Nobody got up, nobody moved.
And now,if you think about when that happens,
and I've asked this and audiences,nobody stands up right away.
There's something powerful there.
If you think back to the story
I just told about me in the in the roomthat day when that little girl
pointed to the poster when I saw her bed,I did not stand up right away.
(38:40):
I was standing, but I was not willing yet.
I was wondering how I was going to wiggle.
I was wigglinguntil the mom walked back in,
and so I felt that same pause on the planethat day.
But before I noticed the pause, I saw somevery, very other human things I saw.
First of all, my impression was like,yeah, I mean, I was upset.
(39:01):
I'm not going to get there in timeto get a meal before tomorrow.
I'm speaking in the morning.I was thinking about me.
I watched the guy two rows ahead of meright away.
He pulls up his watchand he's he's shaking his fist.
He's going to miss his connection.
I mean, all of us are going throughour personal things like.
And so I think that was really notable.
The there was an agitation on the plane.
(39:21):
My kids were scared.
They were looking around.
And then there was a passengerright behind them
that was having some convulsions.
And that was scary,
which probably took about 30 or 40s.
I mean, it was a long time.
And suddenly there was this guythat was behind me.
He's behind me the whole time.He was had a loud British voice.
He was honestly annoying me.
I felt like he was talking,trying to brag a little bit.
(39:41):
This annoying passenger up to this pointfinally stands up,
you know, and I think I might hit on.
That guy's a doctor. That guywe were complaining about. It's a doctor.
You turn around.I swear, this guy literally
had a stethoscope around his neckwhen he stood up.
And then this other woman stands up and.
And I guess these two doctors stood upand they started.
They did something.
They started telling the passengerswhat we need.
(40:03):
We need blankets.
Not everybody had blankets,but everybody had towels.
We took all of our napkins,all of our towels.
We passed it down.
They needed ice.
Everybody that had ice, the whole plane,the passengers, the the pilot was on.
That was reassuring.
The saying whatever he was saying, the,the airline attendants,
we were all in concert with this guythat stood up in the moment.
(40:26):
And then pretty soon,you know, the pilot said, I'm sorry,
we're gonna have to make an emergencystop in Albuquerque.
And there was still a momentof selfishness that we all felt.
But there was also a big desirethat we wanted this man to survive,
and we could feel it. It was tangible.
And these guys were doing they were doingsome serious work on this guy back there.
And finally, you know, when we landed
in Albuquerque, the emergency personnelcame on the plane and they took them
(40:48):
off, you know, and that guy was okaywhen he got off the plane.
And when he got off the plane,the whole plane,
he burst out of the standing ovation.
We started clapping for the guythat I'm sure everyone was annoyed by.
This doctor behind me,
but nobody cared about that flight.
Nobody cared.All we wanted was that passenger get off.
And then we got back on.
And all the way to Florida, we talked.
(41:09):
And this is what I learned.
The guy behind me with the British voice.
He wasn't a doctor.
He was the animal divemedic at the aquarium in the Pacific.
I hope he's listening to this.
And he reaches out and says, hey, yeah,that was oh, yeah, that was me.
I'm sorry, I was obnoxious.
He wasn't a doctor at all.
So funny that he had a stethoscope.
The woman that stood up was a nurse.
(41:31):
The same hospitalI hope my kids, you know.
But I didn't know this
until when we were, like, landinguntil all this is coming out
and all the stories are being spreadaround.
It was just a beautiful moment,and I thought I saw a whole community
change and do what matters most.
And the peoplethat had the very most ability
to solve that problem in the momentstood up.
And that was what I'm talking about.
(41:52):
That's what you that's what you've done.
That's whatthat's there's a vulnerability.
There's a presence that people have.
It's a willingness to put it all out therein any moment, whether in your words
or in that heroic action that day,that you're willing to risk it all
for your team, for your family,for your community,
(42:13):
and even for your reputationin your trade.
That is what I love.
That occurs when, happens on an airplane,but it happens in your career as well.
And that'sthat's the people that I hang out with
that do that for a living, that partnerwith nonprofits and have real stories.
You know, like,I have a real story with every nonprofit.
I can tell you lots of blood stories.
(42:33):
Not only I mean, I could tellyou went a lot quicker.
Like Nigel, who was on his very firstparachute jump and his chute didn't open
and he was going to get bloodlater in the day.
Well, he knew he was going to die.
And he said on the way down,
Nigel said in his British accent,Charles, I made a deal with God.
I said, God, you let me live.
I promiseto give blood the rest of my life.
And then he said, Charles,that was 36 years ago.
(42:54):
I've given blood every two months since.
And he was cryingwhen he finished the story,
you know, I mean, or this other guy,that says, why do you get blood?
He goes, I was, I, I hated, resented this.
I was struck with the condition
I have too much iron,so I have to go to a blood clinic.
I had to give a pint of blood every week.
And I hated it.
Until the one day at the clinicwhen I met the little girl
(43:15):
who needed a blood transfusion every weekjust to live.
And now he says he gives blood joyfully.
I mean, when you hear that story,or when you show up to deliver a box
of food during Covid to that old womanwho's starving and she's saying,
bless you, bless you, bless you.
And you're like trying to get away,but suddenly it hits you
instead of with a dart.
It feels like an enveloped in love,you know, like, what is this I'm feeling?
(43:37):
That's what makes it all work.
That's what makes me happy.
Telling that story, as sillyas it might sound in the moment
at first, to some people it's realand people can feel it's real.
And those that don't understandit might someday,
you know, it's like those are the storiesthat need to be told in the moment.
And the world is shifting so fast.
(43:57):
It's not the story that you had last week.
It's what's happening right now.
It's like the L.A.
fireswe were talking about that coming in.
Wing Lam and the California Love Drop
jumped on board with Robert Duvalland a group
chef, Pasquale, a bunch of local chefswho said, we can make food.
And they made 10,000 mealsto deliver it up
(44:17):
to families and to emergency personnelduring the fires.
I mean, it's people that just show upbecause it's the best thing
that you could do.
And by the way,I do think that I do have a weird
I got to tell you,I'm a little bit out there.
I mean, I do, I my company is worth a lot.
Sure, I'm not silly,but I don't believe in hoarding.
I believe in reinvesting.
(44:38):
I, I don't believe I should be savinga bunch of money
for my kids, and it's weirdto talk about it, but I don't.
I believe I should teach them how to give.
I believe that if, if, if I'm holding
gold in the bank for them,it's like it's like hoarders do.
I've seen hoarders inside their housewhen I've had to fix their leaks.
I mean, there's a sickness there.
(44:58):
How is it not sickwhen there's a need in the community?
And yet you're hoarding all thisfor yourself
when you can't possibly use it?
I mean, I find that really interesting.
I, I didn't used to.
I used to want to accumulate thingsfor myself, and I remember I was.
Oh, what?
I'm sorry. I'm on a tangent right now,but I remember one story.
I was in Thailand when I was young.
I'm no longer Mormon, but I grew upmormon, so I went on a mormon mission.
(45:21):
And I remember in Thailand, I'm explainingto this little family who lived,
was serving their last meal to mebecause they, they pretty much lived meal
to meal on the floor of this tin shackthat was really clean inside.
And they were really happy.
And I remember they giggled at mewhen I told them that I might want to own
more than one home one day,and they looked at me
with complete honesty and said,why would you burden yourself with that?
(45:44):
I totally see their point today,
and I and I think that,so I, I hold my business like that.
I'm not stupid.
I, I of course we have to have moneyto survive the drought years.
We might make millions when it rains,
but we could lose millionswhen it's drought. But.
But beyond what we need to thrive,
we believe in giving back to the communityand into the trades.
(46:05):
And that's why we donateso much time, talent and treasure.
So let me ask you this question, Charles,because I have watched you from up close.
I have watched you from afar and how youdo business and how you treat people.
Do you ever reflect on the impactthat you have made by doing all of this?
I it's, you know, it's
(46:26):
there's a certain humility, that I thinkthe leaders that I love the most have.
And I'm not saying that I'mthis lovable leader,
but I don't look at it and hold itvery well.
I often forget it's it's and I sometimes Igosh, you how do you do that?
And I'll drive down the road
and I see this big dump truckand it's got antis roofing on the side
and that the whole story of, you know,donating roofs, transforming lives and
(46:48):
oh yeah, we do that.
Oh yeah. Sometimes.
Honestly, sometimes I detachand it feels like I'm the son of Charles
Antis who started the business.
I'm the, you know, and I. No, no,that's me because I.
But I'm filling a different role.It's like a different life now.
Now I'm talking about it.
I'm not.
I'm not up on the roofimagining I'm a drop of water.
Now I barely can climb the ladder, but, But yes, I do sometimes.
(47:11):
And I do it in moments like this.
I do it and, you know, like we're planninga podcast or I'm sorry, not a podcast.
We're planning a panel for OrangeCounty Growth thinkers.
We're going to submit for a panel.
We may not accept it,
but I'm imagining myself with Coreyand then Eric Goodman in the community.
Good one, a local community leader,and then Jason Stanley,
(47:31):
a roofing manufacturer who is roofingindustry and showing how a company
and a community and an industrycan come together for the greater of all.
You know, it's it's like something likethis is just really
always growing exponentiallyand more powerful.
This is what
I just feel like the luckiest personin the world that I get to have this.
And I feel like the luckiest personin the world that I get to share it.
(47:54):
And it just keeps getting better.
You know,we mentioned I'm I'm writing a book.
I don't like to talk about it a lot,but it's exactly what we're talking about.
It's how companyindustry, community come together.
And it's called fearless giving how?
Generosity and heart are
keys to a prosperous and beloved business.
And it really describesthis with thoughts that you could do.
(48:18):
I'm not saying when it's going to be out,
because I don't liketo put that pressure on myself.
But Amplify Publishingand my team are very exciting.
We've been working on it for some time,and I would say it'll come out in early 26
and they'll be very excitedand that that will be really ramping up
this because I don't chase growth,for God's sake.
I've learned this when I did my company,which has become wonky, I chase impact
(48:39):
and if I chase impact, like, wow, feedingall these families, it's like the
maybe the good doesn't all go to me,
but it goes to all thisif I chase impact, it always comes back.
And this book is the ultimate impact.
So I'm not only sharing with my community,I'm not only sharing
with my trade,I'm sharing with the whole world.
Look what we can do.And we're a roofing company.
What could you do without your law firm,or what could you do
(49:01):
at your landscaping company?
And I think that is super exciting to me,you know, because the ultimate thing
for me as the chief people awaken, it'sit's it's I,
I'm fulfilled awakening in passionand others for social good.
If I can awaken something in youthat makes you happy
because you're giving something of yoursaway that you didn't know was valuable,
(49:25):
then that is the ultimate goodthat I can do.
And with that, I'd like to say, Charles,thank you so much for being on the show.
You are a complete inspiration.
I had so much funmaking Maverick Moves with Gina
Osborne is producedand edited by Zille Media.
Connect with us on social media at Gina L
Osborne, dot coms making maverick moves.
(49:48):
Don't miss an episode.
Subscribe to making Maverick Moveswherever you get your podcasts.
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