June 14, 2024 • 46 mins
Have you ever been thrown a curveball in life and wondered how to knock it out of the park? Join me, Rauel Labrèche, as I engage in a heartwarming and enlightening conversation with Mike Coy, a man whose life epitomizes turning trials into triumphs. From swinging bats to shaping futures, Mike's journey from an aspiring baseball player to a financial planner with a zealous commitment to mentorship unfolds. You'll be let in on our personal banter during a rousing round of 'my favorite things,' bringing a touch of humor and relatability that invites you to see the person behind the achievements.
The winds of change often carry a mix of adversity and revelation, and I get candid about my personal battles during the COVID-19 pandemic and a grueling cancer diagnosis. This part of our dialogue is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, as I share what it means to embrace gratitude and purpose in trying times. We traverse the emotional landscapes of nostalgia, health scares, and the rebirth of one's zest for life, providing a sanctuary of solace and inspiration for anyone facing their own struggles.
As the final inning of our discussion arrives, we hone in on the profound effects of mentorship and leadership, drawing wisdom from none other than Abraham Lincoln. Through stories of coaching on the baseball field and mentoring in the prison ministry, we reflect on the pivotal role of choice and informed decision-making. Whether you're battling your own inner demons, inspiring others to reach their potential, or simply seeking a dose of encouragement, this episode is your playbook for navigating life's pitches with a winning mindset.
Thanks for listening. Please check out our website at www.forsauk.com to hear great conversations on topics that need to be talked about. In these times of intense polarization we all need to find time to expand our Frame of Reference.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Frame of Reference informed, intelligent
conversations about the issuesand challenges facing everyone
in today's world.
In-depth interviews to help youexpand and inform your frame of
reference.
Now here's your host, raoulLabrèche.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Well, welcome everybody to another podcast
edition episode, however youwant to think of it, of the
wonderful show, the worldwideknown, renowned show, frame of
Reference Profiles in Leadership.
So that's right.
I know I'm kind of overdoing it, I'm going over the top.
Some people might say beyondthe pale, but the reality is I'm
excited about today and thoseof you that listen regularly
(00:41):
know that when I get excited, Idon't keep it in my feet, it
goes throughout my whole bodyand I'm excited today because
the person I'm talking withtoday is someone that excites me
.
His life journey is one that Ifind admirable, inspirational.
I think that he has an awfullot to offer all of us today,
and I'm hoping that myconversation helps to illuminate
(01:03):
some of that for you all andthat we all come away from this
going boy.
That was a good talk, so,including my guest, whose name
is Mike Coy.
Mike, I'm not going tointroduce you because I want you
to introduce yourself, becauseI'll probably miss something
important and I'd like you tothink about it in terms of I try
to think of my introduction asbeing not only my elevator
speech, but I want to make itsomething that my wife wouldn't
(01:25):
go liar.
Who is Mike?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Coy.
Well, I'm a former baseballplayer.
I had a shot years ago, acontract offer from the Mets,
but at $4.25 a month and $6 aday meal money when I had a
pregnant wife at home justwasn't quite going to cut it.
So I went into the insurance,the financial planning business,
(01:53):
mainly so I could work my ownhours, I could coach, I could
mentor and not have a ceiling onmy income.
And uh, so for the last 46years I have been doing the
insurance.
I've been with AFLAC ever sinceNovember of 1977.
(02:14):
And I just enjoy helping people.
I'm an author, I am a keynotespeaker and an old beat-up high
school coach that just loveswhatever it might be, just loves
helping people.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Well, you could have stopped at the professional
baseball player right there andsaid, well, that's a pretty big
accomplishment, Because when Ithink of the number of people
that are excellent baseballplayers and they get to high
school and they just shine andthen they try to go to college
and they shine, but then thatnext step is a tough step for
people to make, it seems.
So congratulations on that.
I'm sorry it didn't work out.
(02:51):
It sounds like you have apassion for it, regardless of
whether or not you got to do itas your vocation.
So you're still coaching, Itake it.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Yeah, when I came I moved from Austin to Colorado
Springs and I do work with acouple of select teams as a
roving hitting instructor andthat's what I did for the Padres
for two years in the late 80sand ran the San Diego School of
Baseball.
That was quite an experiencebecause you would get some of
(03:23):
the pro players would show upand they'd say, look, I need you
to work on my swing and I'msitting there going.
I make one hundred twenty fivedollars a week and here you make
, you know, a million dollarsand you're asking me to help you
with your swing.
So something's wrong with thispicture, you know, but you talk
about get the inflated ego.
(03:44):
That happens quickly.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
But I'm sure you were able to help them too.
So it's one of those thingslike I don't understand what's
wrong with the universe.
So, and that, to me, has alwaysbeen a phenomenal thing too.
I'm not a sports guy, so,please, I'm a theater guy, so
you know, you know where mybrain set is most of the time,
but I have admired the fact thatwith baseball.
My dad was a huge baseball fan.
(04:07):
He used to say he loved itbecause of all the sports.
It was essentially one guyagainst one guy.
That you know.
You were constantly in kind ofalmost a gladiatorial kind of
battle, because a pitcher isthrowing their best things at a
batter and a batter is takinghis best swings at what's coming
through the plate, and I'malways amazed by the speed at
which those balls come in, thatyou can hit anything.
(04:28):
So that's got to be just aphenomenal development of eye
and muscle memory and all ofthose things.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
So well, yeah, it is.
But I tell you it's sofrustrating because I've hit 90
plus mile per hour fastballs.
But if you put a golf ball on atee that's not moving, there's
a good chance I'm going to missit or I'm going to slice it.
I'm going to do something.
Kelly Gruber, the Toronto Blue,the Toronto baseball star, the
all-star with the Blue Jays, heand I would play golf together.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
He said you know, it's amazing how I can hit a
hundred mile per hour fastballbut I can't hit this thing just
sitting right here in front ofme and boy, it's really true.
Well, you know, sometimes Godhas to humble us in amazing ways
, right?
So, and that's, he'll dowhatever he needs to.
That I think sometimes.
Well, mike, I tried to warn youa little bit before we went on
(05:18):
starting recording things, but Ido like to do a nice little
ditty called my favorite things.
If I had the money, I would getJulie Andrews to come sing it
for us personally, but I don't,so she won't.
But the whole idea of it is, Ithrow something out to you and
this is an opportunity for youand I to get to know each other
and for people listening to getto know that Mike Coy actually
likes the same thing I like, andmaybe I never heard of that
(05:42):
before.
But here we go.
It's very Rorschachian.
Whatever thought come outwithout you.
First thing, try not to thinkabout it too much, but hopefully
it goes somewhere.
Fun too.
So let's start off withsomething fairly easy, usually
for people.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Okay, what's your favorite food?
Oh, it's gotta be anythingfried.
My mother said that if mygrandmother would fly iced it
would fry iced tea I'd eat.
It said that if my grandmotherwould fry iced tea I'd eat it.
So yeah, and I've had to reallywatch that because after my
cancer, you know, I really tryto watch my weight.
I try to watch kind of cut outas much of the fried foods.
(06:15):
But no, I mean my last meal inprison would be chicken fried
steak and some mashed potatoesand some green beans.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
What not fried mashed potatoes too?
Potatoes and some green beans,what Not fried mashed potatoes
too?
Oh yeah, Sure.
Here in Wisconsin, at CountyFairs and the like, we have
fried Twinkies, which isinteresting.
And then there's a thing calleda cow pie too, which is
basically a fried pastry withsome powdered sugar on it thrown
for good measure, but itliterally looks like a cow pie
the way they pour them into thebatter or into the frying, it's
(06:44):
true.
So how about a favorite kind ofmusic or favorite artist, music
artist Besides your band?
I know you've got one, so youcan't.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
My band when I came up it was all the rock and roll,
elvis, beatles, this kind ofthing.
Then, in January of 1981, Iheard a song called Amarillo by
(07:13):
Morning by what we call in TexasKing George George.
Strait took a 1973 ballad fromJimmy Stafford and Strait's lead
guitar player was the studiomusician for Stafford at that
time and brought this song toStraits from that San Antonio,
san Marcos area in Texas.
(07:35):
So he's a Texan.
Well, stafford was fromAmarillo and he was struggling
trying to come up with somesongs from Amarillo.
And he was struggling trying tocome up with some songs and he
heard that there was going to besome really bad storms coming
through Amarillo in the morningand it just kind of hit him that
(07:56):
he sat down and he thoughtabout this rodeo buddy of his
that was struggling, had brokehis leg in Santa Fe, had lost a
girlfriend, a wife and agirlfriend along the way, and he
wrote this beautiful balladthat really didn't do anything
on the charts.
And then Straight a lot ofpeople think that was George
Straight's number first, numberone it wasn't, it went to number
(08:17):
four, but it put him on thecharts and ever since then I
have really gotten into thecountry music and especially
what we call the red dirt Texasmusic the Willie Nelson, I mean
all the outlaws, chrisChristopherson and Johnny Cash
(08:39):
and so many of these guys thatkind of paved the way for some
of these up and coming andyounger Texas songwriters.
Being from Beaumont, texas, thehome of George Jones, mark
Chestnut, tracy Bird and ClayWalker.
These are all really greatcountry musicians that I've
(09:01):
known their whole lives and so Ireally like the country side of
things and still love theoldies.
I just don't think there'sanything that compares with the
60s and the 70s music.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Sure, yeah, it's interesting.
I have a friend who's a hugecountry fan and he used to joke
all the time say you know, Ilike all kinds of music, I like
country and I like Western.
So we'd have a big chuckle overthat one.
But no, I agree.
I mean, I grew up in the 60sand 70s, so there's a, there's a
lot of stuff.
I've got a playlist on myspotify that I listen to, called
(09:37):
uh, 70s road trip, and everytime I listen to things on there
I'm like boy, we good musicgrowing up, so and you know.
I don't want to degrade themusic kids are listening to
today, because probably everyonethinks that.
I'm sure my mom and dad thoughtthat you know Bing Crosby and
you know the folks playing withGlenn Miller and Artie Shaw.
(09:59):
That was the best music everyou know.
So it follows along with us.
But I'm still going to fightfor sixties and seventies.
I'm with you.
So how about?
Do you have a favorite quote?
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Yeah, I do.
Uh, especially when it comes tobusiness.
Mark Twain said it's not thepeople that don't know what
they're doing that hurts you,it's the ones that think they
know, know and they don't.
That hurt you.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Interesting.
How have you applied that?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Well, I mean, I run into HR directors with my
business.
I run into business owners thatthink that they are the benefit
specialists, that they knowmore than I do about certain
benefits and health insuranceand packages and things, and
they don't.
They're the ones that write thecheck and so sometimes you just
(10:55):
got to say that's not going towork, that's not how it works,
and you shake hands and you partfriends.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Well, isn't that interesting too.
At the root of that, it seemsto me, it's usually about
arrogance and pride of some sort, because you can't.
I mean, I'm regularly admitting, and maybe you know that's just
the nature of my business, butI seem like I don't go through a
day without going.
You know, I'm not really sure Ithink I'll find someone that
really does know the answer tothat, rather than you know,
(11:26):
making it up or pretending to bean expert and then giving
someone wrong information.
To me that's terrifying.
I hate that, and we have a lotof experts these days.
Right, look at social media.
I don't know what these guysthink, but my friend Carl here
thinks that it's like what?
Give me a break.
So do you have a favoritedessert?
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Oh, it's got to be any kind of peach cobbler,
cherry cobbler, anything likethat, and I do everything that I
can to avoid it.
But if I go to Rudy's barbecue,a Texas chain that they just
opened one, uh, here in ColoradoSprings, but if I go to Rudy's
I'm always going to get thatpeach cobbler, I don't care what
it is and I'm going to eat thewhole thing.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Just bring a tray out , Just just leave it.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
I'll tell my wife you better hurry up and get a bike,
because it's gone.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Well, at least you're giving her fair warning.
I mean, you know that's oh yeah, so she can't blame you for,
you know, not letting her knowthere's no lack of communication
at least.
How about do you have afavorite thing you like to do,
to just sort of chill out?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Actually it's to work out Right For me.
As I wrote in my book I choselive about me battling my battle
with cancer and how I'm winningthe war.
I try every day to hit thatelliptical, to hit the treadmill
to.
I lift on Monday, Wednesday,Friday.
I row and swim.
(12:57):
On Tuesdays, Thursdays, I playtwo different leagues and men
senior baseball.
I just like to be outdoors, Ilike to be active, and it just
kind of takes me away from beingtold no, or getting thrown out
of a business.
No, I don't want to talk to you.
(13:18):
You just get to a pointsometimes where that hour or
hour and a half for me is thebest therapy that I can give
myself.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Well, you know, that was interesting, wasn't it too?
With COVID.
Right as COVID was hitting, mywife and daughter and I got a
couple of rescue dogs and so,while everyone else was stuck
inside, I had to go walkingevery night with those dogs and
I couldn't walk them togetherbecause that'd make a preacher
swear.
With those two, I swear.
(13:50):
But walking them separately wasactually better, because then I
got double the walk right, andI found that that I think you
know in retrospect, had I nothad that time to just get out in
the open and, you know, walkalong we live in a beautiful
part of Wisconsin I don't thinkI would have survived as well
(14:11):
and I would not have done aswell.
And you know, shame on me.
I'm still walking, but yourlifestyle sounds a whole lot
more healthy than mine is rightnow Getting on the weights,
getting on the elliptical, thatstuff that I was doing earlier
in life, and I let it fall bythe wayside, and so kudos to you
for that.
Those are good words.
I know you talk too about thatin your lifestyle tips.
(14:31):
You talk about that too withpreventing cancer, that just
having the, you know, takingcare of yourself, doing things
that are good for your health ingeneral.
How about last good thing, lastfavorite thing and I'll frame
this in a way that I hope makessense, but it has to do with
your favorite thing that, youknow, we're not even necessarily
(14:52):
thinking of as our favoritething per se, even necessarily
thinking of as our favoritething per se, but it's those
things that come up in our liveswhere, when you hear a song or
when you hear you know sometimesit's people saying a bird that
sings or, you know, see acertain kind of plant that it
brings them back to a time, areal fond memory, a real fond
time in their life.
And it's just, you know, nomatter what's going on, it can
(15:14):
be one of those groundingmoments for you where you do you
just have a sense of boy, thankyou for that, thanks for
bringing that, thank you for mebeing sensitive enough to see it
and hear it.
And, boy, that memory is justas wonderful today as it was
when it first happened.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Yeah, I mean after you go through cancer.
My kids will tell you that mylife is clearly defined of AC
and BC.
Ok, before cancer and aftercancer and after cancer, I I
think that I go back to really amuch fun time in my life, which
(16:04):
for me, was college.
I mean being able to go toschool to have just some of the
most beautiful women known tomankind around you, to be able
to go and play baseball and dothe things that I was doing and
just trying to again findingmyself back then in such a much
(16:30):
simpler time that I think Iappreciate more now than I ever
did back then.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
That's really interesting, this transition.
I think, and one of the thingsI read of your background
material, is that you said thereare people that come through
experiences like that for thebetter and there are those that
do not.
Do you think there wassomething about your journey or
something previous to you havingthe cancer that made you
(16:59):
predisposed to choosing the waythat you went, which was to see
every day forward as a gift andkind of that attitude of I'm
going to appreciate things morebecause I almost lost it all,
whereas other people are justlike this is terrible that this
happened to me and yeah, this isawful and gosh, I don't know
what I did to deserve this oryou know, whatever the kinds of
(17:19):
things you read about.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Yeah, yeah, that's a great point, I think.
I think that you have to.
You have to have a purpose.
Growing up, my dad was a coachfootball, baseball coach.
He was my mentor.
It was about.
It was about discipline.
It was about trying to bebetter today than I was
(17:43):
yesterday.
And then, as you move furtherinto life, I really believe it's
like when I was going throughmy cancer.
I had people ask me did youever think about giving up?
Did you ever think aboutquitting?
And I said never.
And the reason?
There was two reasons.
Number one I had a six monthold grandson that did not know
(18:05):
who I was and I had not walkedmy daughter down the aisle yet.
And so I know.
Now I have three grandsons thatprobably wish they didn't know
me, and I did walk my daughterdown the aisle.
She's blessed me with thisbeautiful five-year-old
granddaughter.
And I think a lot of times and Italk about this all the time in
(18:26):
my talks and in really both mybooks about life is about
choices.
And you think about that greatscene in Shawshank Redemption
when Tim Robbins was talkingabout how Shawshank Prison was
hell on earth and he'd only beenthere six or eight weeks and he
(18:47):
was talking to Morgan Freeman,a character read that had been
there for 40 years.
He goes how could you standthis for 40 years?
And Morgan Freeman said life isabout choices.
You either get busy living oryou get busy dying.
And when I talk to people, Iask them, I say I hope and I
pray that you choose the samechoice that I made, that you
(19:10):
follow the same path that Ifollowed.
And that is that I chose live.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
And that's why I titled my book that it's
interesting you mentioned MarkTwain earlier because it speaks
right to what you're talkingabout.
I think that Mark Twain has abook Gosh I don't know if I can
remember the name of it.
The framework of the story isthis mysterious man shows up in
a town, a really wonderful town.
(19:38):
All the people love each other.
It's a very peaceful, wonderfulplace to live, the kind of
place everybody wishes theylived in.
But he comes in with basicallya treasure map and supposedly he
has left different parts ofthat treasure map in different
places throughout the town.
And this all gets discoveredthrough the course of the story
and the.
You know the course.
(19:58):
People are looking for thetreasure and the pieces because
people only have a piece ofthings and they don't want to
share their piece with somebodyelse because they might get an
advantage on them.
It just tears the, the wholecommunity, apart.
So what they thought waswonderful, it just becomes this,
you know, war zone essentially.
And at the end the guy comesback and he quotes Twain writes
that.
He says you know, they'rewondering why did you let this
(20:21):
happen to us?
And he says well, you know, theweakest of all weak things is a
virtue not tested by fire and Ithought, boy, there is just a
testimony to the reality thatsome of us ask and these
horrible things happen.
We say why, why?
Why me?
And the trick, it seems, is tobe able to say, well, is it why,
(20:45):
or is it?
How am I going to get throughthis?
What decisions am I going tomake as I go through this and
beyond this, because that'sreally the definition of our
character.
Is those decisions right?
So you've talked about this,cause that's really the
definition of our character.
Is those decisions Right?
So so you, you, you've talkedabout this.
So you, you ended up havingcancer, life threatening cancer,
and you, you talk a little bitin some of the materials I read
(21:07):
about your, your experience withthat, that you were going for
regular chemotherapy.
It sounds like.
So what?
How was that?
What was that like when youfound out you had cancer, and
then the ensuing treatment, whatwere the things that you did to
keep your mind on track?
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Well, I mean, I've never been sick a day in my life
.
Now I've had four kneesurgeries and I blew Achilles.
But that's all sports related.
But I had made a life-changingdecision related, but I had made
a life-changing decision.
Aflac gave me an opportunity tojust pack up and move.
I'd gone through a very, veryserious divorce and AFLAC gave
(21:45):
me an opportunity to move toGeorgia and be the director of
training and recruiting for thestate of Georgia a tremendous
opportunity.
And I moved to Georgia, justpacked up and moved to Georgia,
didn't know anybody except thedirector of sales, and we just
(22:05):
jumped into this thing andpoured ourselves into the job
for about six or eight monthsbut I was having this continuous
sore throat and, like most menand what I write about in the
book I chose live is that stressis the silent killer and men
don't get checked.
Our death rate is 58% higherthan women because, well, we
(22:28):
know women are smarter but theygo for, usually annual physicals
and they get checked.
We don't.
I think about the great TobyKeith.
I mean, I've been singing Don'tLet the Old man In for about
the last year and a half on allmy sets, because I think that my
theme song is that people askme how do you do the things that
(22:50):
you do?
And I just tell them I don'tlet the old man in.
And I think that that allrelates to me going to the
finally going to the doctor andshe checks me and she says oh,
it's just a sinus drain, don'tworry about it, I give you some
(23:11):
antibiotics and you'll be finein a few weeks.
So about five or six weekslater, I still have this
continuous sore throat and I goback and she checks and she says
look, I'll up the antibioticsfor you.
Well, all the antibiotics didwas destroy my immune system.
Now you have to understand.
While I had a tumor the size ofyour fist at the base of my
(23:35):
tongue, that was growing and ifI would have waited another
something like 45 to 60 days, itwould have closed my windpipe
and I would have been gone.
On July 4th weekend 2013, I wentinto the bathroom and a lymph
(23:58):
node had popped out the size ofa golf ball on the side of my
neck and I said, well, that'snot good.
So I took a picture of it.
I sent it to my ear, nose andthroat doctor in Austin, who's
one of my best friends.
I coached his son and he saidyou got to quit screwing around
with the primary and go see aspecialist immediately.
So I forced my way in, got anappointment, saw the specialist.
(24:24):
They uh I I'm sitting there andthey did five needle biopsies
on my neck.
Now if you've never had aneedle biopsy, you need to try
that sometime It'll.
It'll get your attention.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
On a Saturday night when you're looking for
something to do.
Right, yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Yeah, just have a needle biopsy in your neck.
And anyway he said look, it'snothing, I'm not worried about
you, you're in tremendous shape.
Just we'll check back with youin a couple of weeks.
Okay, well, I left Atlanta andI'd gone back.
I'd actually got a condo inChattanooga, tennessee.
I had taken over a district inDalton, georgia, but I decided
(25:06):
to go across the border becauseTennessee didn't have a state
income tax.
So I moved to this condo andI'd just gotten back home it's a
two and a half hour drive andthe nurse calls and said the
doctor wants to see you tomorrowat 2 pm, all right.
So I drive back to Atlanta thenext day, two and a half hours,
(25:26):
and he walks in and he says thethree words no one wants to hear
you have cancer and we're goingto start chemo immediately and
radiation immediately and we'vegot to stop this because it's
growing exponentially.
And you know, and obviously youshould have come seen me six
months ago and it wouldn't havebeen that big of a deal Well, I
(25:51):
was told it was a sinusinfection and so anyway, this
was on a Tuesday, on Sundayseven days, seven nights in the
hospital, chemo.
I was off for two weeks back inthe hospital.
Seven days, seven nights theyput in the port.
I had 12 outpatient and I had35 radiation treatments.
(26:15):
And for anybody that has gonethrough any kind of chemo or
radiation or cancer treatments,you know that you have some
pretty good days and then youhave some days that aren't quite
so good.
And I remember one beautifulsummer afternoon I was out on my
balcony in Tennessee, inChattanooga, and the breeze was
(26:39):
blowing.
I was looking at theChattanooga River and I felt
this clump on my arm and Ilooked down and I had this big
clump of hair laying on my armand hair flying everywhere.
And I took my fingers and Istarted going through my head
and every hair on my head flewout.
(27:01):
And it's about that time thatthe reality sets in, that you
got a choice here, brother.
You either get busy living oryou get busy dying.
And that, at that particularpoint, is when I said I'm going
to force myself.
I never took the elevator.
(27:21):
I was on the seventh floor ofthis condo complex.
I took the stairs and I'm goingto tell you something there
were times that I could make itup about three flights and I had
to sit down, but I never tookthe elevator, I would walk to
Whole Foods, I would walk tothis little diner and these
sweet ladies at this diner, Iwould just barely be able to eat
(27:44):
.
And the doctor said wheneveryou think you're finished, one
more bite, take one more bite.
And I would just barely be ableto eat.
And the doctor said wheneveryou think you're finished, one
more bite, take one more bite.
And I would finish, I'd get awaffle and I'd eat some of that
waffle and I'd put it to theside and those ladies would say
oh no, no, one more bite, onemore bite.
And you know again.
You realize that again you havea choice.
(28:04):
And you know again.
You realize that again you havea choice.
And the choice is, you know, Ithink about the great American
philosopher Rocky Balboa, whereRocky says it's not how many
times you get hit, it's not howmany times you get knocked down,
it's how many times you getback up.
(28:25):
And I think, if you can havethat kind of mindset, and I will
tell you, when I first met myoncologist he said by the way,
this is going to be a breeze foryou because you're an athlete,
you're used to discipline,you're used to setbacks and
especially baseball.
I mean baseball is a game offailure.
You know, you're three for ten,you're in the Hall of Fame.
(28:47):
If you're a quarterback, you gothree for 10, you're benched.
If you're playing basketball,you go three for 10, you're on
the bench.
And he said you're going to flythrough this and my wife is a
scheduler for chemo andradiation and everything for
Texas Oncology, radiation andeverything for Texas Oncology.
(29:12):
And that's how we met.
But she told me, she said youhave no idea how serious that
cancer really was because youjust basically blew it off and
just went through your life.
And that's something that Ireally try to talk about and
portray to other people.
That again, it's not having anytime and I relate it to
(29:35):
baseball, like I wrote in thebook, that life's going to throw
you a curveball.
Now you can sit there and takeit, strike out, go back and sit
down, or you can throw yourhands, hit the ball the opposite
direction and get on base.
And my whole whole time I wasgrowing up especially playing
baseball, my dad could care lessabout batting average, it was
(29:58):
about on base percentage,because if you're not on base
you don't have a chance to score.
And I always related my life tothose singles and doubles and
those base hits and how manytimes I could get on base.
And that's how I try to live mylife.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
You know, ed, I keep thinking as you're talking.
I completely agree that.
You know, our lives are aboutchoices, and you know, choosing
to live.
You know, I think there aresome people that are born and
they choose to die, just about.
I mean, you look at, from earlyon they're making choices that
are just deathly choices.
In theater we talk aboutThanatos and Eros.
(30:39):
The Greeks, even in their plays, had the deities of the god of
death and the god of life, andthere were characters that were
motivated by Thanatos.
But anyways, all that aside, itstrikes me that there are people
, though, that don't get thatthey are making a choice and
when you confront them about,well, you're making this choice,
(30:59):
they absolve themselves ofresponsibility for the choice.
That is a negative one, becauseit's always somebody else's
issue, it's something thathappened to them, it's somebody
that isn't giving them thebreaks, and you know, sometimes
it's you know God hates me thatto that level, and sometimes
it's just.
You know I've been thrown somany bad throws over my life.
(31:20):
You don't know how hard it is.
You know there's so many waysto convince yourself that you
have no choice, that you're avictim.
I find it, as I'm getting older, it's harder and harder for me
to respond to that mindset withcompassion, because I get so
(31:42):
frustrated that I get that lifeis hard.
I get it.
My life is hard too, but I'mchoosing to make it better.
I'm choosing to look at itbetter.
If nothing else, how do you dothat?
How do you get yourself thatyou just go okay.
Well, you're an idiot.
Goodbye.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Well, I think it's what you tolerate.
I remember my mother was one ofthe greatest teachers that you
could ever be around.
My mother and father startedthe first private school in
Beaumont, texas, in 1952,because my mother did not like
the direction of pre-K, firstgrade, second grade in public
(32:23):
schools, and she was a brilliant, brilliant teacher.
But I got news for you she wasthe most negative individual you
could.
I mean you could say, wow, whata beautiful day today.
And she'd go, oh, it's probablygoing to rain, you know.
I mean I mean she was amazingand I found out later on in life
that I wasn't going to toleratethat.
(32:44):
And I promise you, I mean I goto.
I might go to a chamber ofcommerce, a meet and greet, I
might go to an event, anetworking event, and if
somebody starts, you know,bitching and complaining and
whining, I think people thinkI've got a bladder problem
because I just go.
I got to go to the bathroom,you know, I just turn around and
walk away.
I just I'm not to put myself inthat position because, like you
(33:10):
said, I mean I'm 70 years old,I'm not.
I just don't have the samesympathy for that line of
thinking and I'm not going toallow myself to go down that
path.
And so you know, when I I tellthis story with my bio, that I
(33:31):
was the voice of the Westlake,austin Westlake Chaparrals, the
home of Drew Brees, nick Foles,two Super Bowl champion
quarterbacks, sam Ellinger,who's now with the Indianapolis
Colts.
My son was the 2000 CentralTexas Athlete of the Year
football baseball at AustinWestlake and I was the voice of
(33:54):
the Chaparrals For 12 years.
I did the Tom Warner cablefootball and then I did radio on
baseball and my dad had come tolive with us in Austin and I
had moved him into an assistedliving facility and it was the
Shapp Classic.
And my son was a sophomore andgot moved up to varsity and this
(34:18):
was going to be his firstvarsity baseball game.
So I went to the assistedliving complex to get my dad and
the nurses said he won't getdressed and I went in and I said
, daddy, what are you doing?
I said you know, it's baseball,christopher's first varsity
game.
And he worshipped my kids.
My daughter was very big andstill is in theater and
(34:39):
entertaining and and singing andany time there was a play or
something he he would come fromBeaumont to Austin and see her
perform.
There was a play or something.
He would come from Beaumont toAustin and see her perform.
Same thing with my son.
And he said I just don't feellike it, I'll make the next one.
And I said, daddy, I got to go,you know, I got to go set up
for the broadcast.
And I said I'll tell you whatI'll do as soon as the game's
(35:01):
over, I'll bring Christopherback and we'll just visit a
little bit about his game, herback and we'll just visit a
little bit about his game.
And as I was walking out, mydad said son, make a difference.
Okay, well, in my mind Ithought it was because of me
coaching kids and trying to helpkids do better.
A couple hours later, mydaughter drove up to the game.
(35:24):
Her mother pointed to the pressbox.
She came upstairs and she saidthe nursing home called and
Gramps is gone.
And so the last words he eversaid to me was son, make a
difference.
As I've gotten older, I thinkthere's a much deeper meaning to
that and that's the reason whyI'm doing what I do today,
(35:46):
because my whole focus is to tryto help somebody and you know
as well as I do with yourpodcast and everything.
If we can just reach one person, we've done our job as a
musician.
If you can have one person thatpaid money to come see you play
and they walk out of there andsay you know what, that's pretty
(36:07):
good.
Well, you've done your job.
And so I try to focus on thepositive.
I try to focus on making adifference and, more importantly
, pay it forward.
When I wrote my book A RandomAct of Kindness that came from a
short story from Chicken Soupfor the Soul, that came from a
short story from Chicken Soupfor the Soul, and I took that
(36:28):
short story, a true story thatcalled a simple gesture from
John Slater, and I just tookthat book and I embellished it
and made it my own.
And you tell the story of how asimple gesture, a random act of
kindness, not just helped changea life, it helped save a life.
(36:54):
And I think again that when Ithink we as a society, if we
could come up with a couple ofattaboys for somebody, if we
could pat somebody on the back,if we could say that's not bad,
here's how I can help you makeit better, I just think that you
(37:14):
know, my dad was a coach, buthe was also a layman, a disciple
of Christ's minister, and oneof his favorite sayings was
we've got to learn to love oneanother.
And if we can't do that, howabout at least we like one
another?
And if that's asking too much,let's just respect one another.
And if we can do that, I thinkall of us would be in a better
(37:36):
place, especially ourselves.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Boy.
Wouldn't that be a good lessonfor our culture to learn right
now.
You know, as we becomeincreasingly more hostile
towards folks that don't believeor vote whatever the way we
vote that we would just learn tobe.
You know what?
What's Lincoln's quote about?
You know, I don't like thatperson very much.
I must get to know him better,so why not?
Speaker 3 (38:02):
But think about Lincoln.
Think about Lincoln surroundinghimself in his cabinet with his
enemies.
Yeah, I mean, he wanted thatdifferent point of view.
He wanted to get all sides.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
To me that was more—he and Teddy Roosevelt same
way had that vision thatleaders today wouldn't even
think about having yeah, we'vegotten so accustomed to having,
yes, men around us that, justyou know, feed our egos and make
us, oh, that's the mostbrilliant thing.
Of course that's going to work,but you know, again, it's a
virtue not tested by fire.
(38:35):
So, yeah, I love the movieLincoln because it explains some
of that.
The book that that's based onis about that that his whole
methodology and surroundinghimself with those people that
were contrary to his thoughts,but it made him think more and
helped him to crystallize hisown beliefs better.
Mike, we're running out of time,but I have to ask you one
(38:56):
question because we've kind ofbeen beating around.
But I know mentorship is a bigpart of your life, a big part of
your professional career.
Obviously it's part of yourbook in a very deep way.
What's your approach tomentorship?
Do you have a sort of a guideplan or a playbook for
mentorship that you think isjust a sound way of going about
(39:18):
it?
Because, as wonderful, assomebody comes to you and wants
to be mentored by you, that's ahuge step forward, right?
Because they're allowingthemselves to be vulnerable
enough to you to say I want youto mentor me, but then you know
what you do with that, how yousteward that as a mentor.
There's got to be some nuancesor things that you found general
principles that you try to makesure you keep at the forefront.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
Well, I think it's just very, very interesting,
because my kids, they're grown,they got their families, they're
just doing great.
And they will ask me a questionand I will say, okay, do you
want me just to listen?
You know we need to talk to you.
(40:04):
Okay, do you want me just tolisten or do you want my opinion
?
I mean, do you want me just tolisten or do you want my opinion
?
I mean, do you want me to solvethe problem?
It's the same thing with like,with this men's senior baseball.
There might be one of myteammates that's struggling at
the plate.
Well, I've made my living foryears on teaching hitting.
I'm 70 years old, I'm playingin a 45-year-old and over league
(40:28):
, but yet every year I'm eitherfirst or second in batting
average and on base percentage.
And so I will ask a player doyou mind if I throw something
out to you?
And if they say, well, sure, Isaid now, look, I want to be
sure, because I think you'redipping your hands.
(40:51):
I think that you're droppingyour hands and by the time you
get up to the zone, you don'thave a chance to catch up with
the fastball.
And that's just me observing.
Now, if you want to, I'm goingto be at DBAT Saturday at 12
noon.
If you want to come, I'll beglad to get in the cage with you
and work with you, no charge oranything, just if that's what
(41:15):
you would like to do.
And I got news for you.
You'd be surprised the numberof times they don't show up, and
you know what.
That's okay, because all I cando is lead you to the water.
You know, dr Phil says youeither get it or you don't.
Now I think it's my job to helpyou get it All right.
But my approach on any kind ofmentorship is to say I have some
(41:42):
ideas and or do you want tohear them?
And if you don't, you're nothurting my feeling.
I just don't want to just allof a sudden step in and start
correcting your stance orcorrecting your hands or telling
you that that's not the paththat you should go on, unless
that's the path you want to goon.
(42:03):
I'm part of the church.
One of my funnest things that Ido is the prison ministry and I
go into these prisons inTrinidad and Pueblo and Canyon
City and I bring my guitar andI'll do a mini concert and just
kind of get everybody in a goodmood.
You know, one of the funniestthings though Johnny Cash Folsom
(42:24):
City Blues.
That that's the favorite songin the prison.
Johnny Cash, folsom City Blues,that that's the favorite song
in the prison.
It really is.
But anyway, you know, but Iwill.
I will have these prisonerscome up to me and I just listen
to them.
And then the last thing I say doyou want my advice, or you just
want me to listen?
And you'd be surprised how manysay I need some advice.
(42:48):
And my advice is pretty simple.
You made it here because youmade some choices that weren't
very good.
Now you have a chance tocorrect that, make some choices
that will help you with yourfamily, to reconcile with your
wife, to help you down the road,and that is up to you to make
(43:09):
that choice.
All I can do is throw out a fewcomments and a few ideas, but
it's up to you, to you know.
I mean I tell men all the timego get a colonoscopy, for God's
sake.
You're 55, 60 years old.
You should have gotten it 10years ago.
Just go check, you know, andeither they are or either they
(43:29):
will or they won't.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
Well, now, that's fairly simple and yet profoundly
difficult, isn't it?
So if it were as simple as itshould be, we'd all be getting
along a lot better and think ofwhat we could accomplish.
That's the thing that gets me.
If I get hopeless aboutanything, it's when I think
about what's the old GeorgeBernard Shaw quote.
(43:55):
You know, some people see theworld the way it is and ask why
I dream of dreams that could beand ask why not?
So it's Bobby Kennedy, kind ofstole that, but it's really
George Bernard Shaw.
So us theater people willstraighten that one out for
folks.
So, but, mike, I can't thankyou enough.
(44:15):
It's been wonderful talkingwith you.
I'm sorry we didn't get goingfaster.
Technology just wasn't ourfriend, I guess.
But we made the choice tocontinue to try and I'm thankful
for it.
So appreciate your time.
Mike Coy has been my guest.
Mike is an author, he is aspeaker, he is an Aflac dealer,
member of that fraternity ofinsurance.
(44:37):
Are you a broker?
What would be the proper way torefer to that?
Speaker 3 (44:43):
I'm an associate, but with the financial planning I
am a broker.
I can write with many companiesand do different things, Okay.
Speaker 2 (44:51):
I've been seeing the duck back there so I couldn't
help but throw the Aflac voicein there.
Sorry, the power of the duckbaby.
Well, I know people can get acopy of your book from, probably
, amazon, kindle, wherever.
Are there any other resourcesyou'd like to direct people
towards?
Speaker 3 (45:08):
Yeah, probably Amazon , Kindle, wherever.
Are there any other resourcesyou'd like to direct people
towards?
Yeah, if they would go to Ichose livecom.
I chose livecom.
They'll find out more about methan what they want.
But also they can go to MikeCoy speakscom slash gift.
Mike CoySpeakscom slash gift.
I've got Mike's 10 tips toprevent cancer.
(45:30):
And then I also have chaptereight in I Chose Live, which I
think is one of the mostpowerful chapters that I wrote
in the book.
So feel free to go toIChoseLivecom.
You can reach me through that,livecom.
(45:51):
You can reach me through thatand you can also check out my
two books.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
I chose live and a random act of kindness, and I
have to wholeheartedly endorsechapter eight.
It's just a couple of pageslong but it is just densely
packed with a lot of just goodthinking, so I thoroughly
encourage people to do that,mike.
Thank you again so much.
My guest is Mike Coy.
You've been listening to Frameof Reference Profiles and
Leadership.
My name's Raoul LaBruche andI'm so glad you tuned in today.
(46:16):
I hope you'll tune in againnext week.
Who knows what kind ofinspirational things we'll be
talking about then, but I hopeit's as good as my talk today
with Mike.
Take care care all.
Welcome to Frame of Reference informed, intelligent
conversations about the issuesand challenges facing everyone
in today's world.
In-depth interviews to help youexpand and inform your frame of
reference.
Now here's your host, raoulLabrèche.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Well, welcome everybody to another podcast
edition episode, however youwant to think of it, of the
wonderful show, the worldwideknown, renowned show, frame of
Reference Profiles in Leadership.
So that's right.
I know I'm kind of overdoing it, I'm going over the top.
Some people might say beyondthe pale, but the reality is I'm
excited about today and thoseof you that listen regularly
(00:41):
know that when I get excited, Idon't keep it in my feet, it
goes throughout my whole bodyand I'm excited today because
the person I'm talking withtoday is someone that excites me
.
His life journey is one that Ifind admirable, inspirational.
I think that he has an awfullot to offer all of us today,
and I'm hoping that myconversation helps to illuminate
(01:03):
some of that for you all andthat we all come away from this
going boy.
That was a good talk, so,including my guest, whose name
is Mike Coy.
Mike, I'm not going tointroduce you because I want you
to introduce yourself, becauseI'll probably miss something
important and I'd like you tothink about it in terms of I try
to think of my introduction asbeing not only my elevator
speech, but I want to make itsomething that my wife wouldn't
(01:25):
go liar.
Who is Mike?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Coy.
Well, I'm a former baseballplayer.
I had a shot years ago, acontract offer from the Mets,
but at $4.25 a month and $6 aday meal money when I had a
pregnant wife at home justwasn't quite going to cut it.
So I went into the insurance,the financial planning business,
(01:53):
mainly so I could work my ownhours, I could coach, I could
mentor and not have a ceiling onmy income.
And uh, so for the last 46years I have been doing the
insurance.
I've been with AFLAC ever sinceNovember of 1977.
(02:14):
And I just enjoy helping people.
I'm an author, I am a keynotespeaker and an old beat-up high
school coach that just loveswhatever it might be, just loves
helping people.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Well, you could have stopped at the professional
baseball player right there andsaid, well, that's a pretty big
accomplishment, Because when Ithink of the number of people
that are excellent baseballplayers and they get to high
school and they just shine andthen they try to go to college
and they shine, but then thatnext step is a tough step for
people to make, it seems.
So congratulations on that.
I'm sorry it didn't work out.
(02:51):
It sounds like you have apassion for it, regardless of
whether or not you got to do itas your vocation.
So you're still coaching, Itake it.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Yeah, when I came I moved from Austin to Colorado
Springs and I do work with acouple of select teams as a
roving hitting instructor andthat's what I did for the Padres
for two years in the late 80sand ran the San Diego School of
Baseball.
That was quite an experiencebecause you would get some of
(03:23):
the pro players would show upand they'd say, look, I need you
to work on my swing and I'msitting there going.
I make one hundred twenty fivedollars a week and here you make
, you know, a million dollarsand you're asking me to help you
with your swing.
So something's wrong with thispicture, you know, but you talk
about get the inflated ego.
(03:44):
That happens quickly.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
But I'm sure you were able to help them too.
So it's one of those thingslike I don't understand what's
wrong with the universe.
So, and that, to me, has alwaysbeen a phenomenal thing too.
I'm not a sports guy, so,please, I'm a theater guy, so
you know, you know where mybrain set is most of the time,
but I have admired the fact thatwith baseball.
My dad was a huge baseball fan.
(04:07):
He used to say he loved itbecause of all the sports.
It was essentially one guyagainst one guy.
That you know.
You were constantly in kind ofalmost a gladiatorial kind of
battle, because a pitcher isthrowing their best things at a
batter and a batter is takinghis best swings at what's coming
through the plate, and I'malways amazed by the speed at
which those balls come in, thatyou can hit anything.
(04:28):
So that's got to be just aphenomenal development of eye
and muscle memory and all ofthose things.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
So well, yeah, it is.
But I tell you it's sofrustrating because I've hit 90
plus mile per hour fastballs.
But if you put a golf ball on atee that's not moving, there's
a good chance I'm going to missit or I'm going to slice it.
I'm going to do something.
Kelly Gruber, the Toronto Blue,the Toronto baseball star, the
all-star with the Blue Jays, heand I would play golf together.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
He said you know, it's amazing how I can hit a
hundred mile per hour fastballbut I can't hit this thing just
sitting right here in front ofme and boy, it's really true.
Well, you know, sometimes Godhas to humble us in amazing ways
, right?
So, and that's, he'll dowhatever he needs to.
That I think sometimes.
Well, mike, I tried to warn youa little bit before we went on
(05:18):
starting recording things, but Ido like to do a nice little
ditty called my favorite things.
If I had the money, I would getJulie Andrews to come sing it
for us personally, but I don't,so she won't.
But the whole idea of it is, Ithrow something out to you and
this is an opportunity for youand I to get to know each other
and for people listening to getto know that Mike Coy actually
likes the same thing I like, andmaybe I never heard of that
(05:42):
before.
But here we go.
It's very Rorschachian.
Whatever thought come outwithout you.
First thing, try not to thinkabout it too much, but hopefully
it goes somewhere.
Fun too.
So let's start off withsomething fairly easy, usually
for people.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Okay, what's your favorite food?
Oh, it's gotta be anythingfried.
My mother said that if mygrandmother would fly iced it
would fry iced tea I'd eat.
It said that if my grandmotherwould fry iced tea I'd eat it.
So yeah, and I've had to reallywatch that because after my
cancer, you know, I really tryto watch my weight.
I try to watch kind of cut outas much of the fried foods.
(06:15):
But no, I mean my last meal inprison would be chicken fried
steak and some mashed potatoesand some green beans.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
What not fried mashed potatoes too?
Potatoes and some green beans,what Not fried mashed potatoes
too?
Oh yeah, Sure.
Here in Wisconsin, at CountyFairs and the like, we have
fried Twinkies, which isinteresting.
And then there's a thing calleda cow pie too, which is
basically a fried pastry withsome powdered sugar on it thrown
for good measure, but itliterally looks like a cow pie
the way they pour them into thebatter or into the frying, it's
(06:44):
true.
So how about a favorite kind ofmusic or favorite artist, music
artist Besides your band?
I know you've got one, so youcan't.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
My band when I came up it was all the rock and roll,
elvis, beatles, this kind ofthing.
Then, in January of 1981, Iheard a song called Amarillo by
(07:13):
Morning by what we call in TexasKing George George.
Strait took a 1973 ballad fromJimmy Stafford and Strait's lead
guitar player was the studiomusician for Stafford at that
time and brought this song toStraits from that San Antonio,
san Marcos area in Texas.
(07:35):
So he's a Texan.
Well, stafford was fromAmarillo and he was struggling
trying to come up with somesongs from Amarillo.
And he was struggling trying tocome up with some songs and he
heard that there was going to besome really bad storms coming
through Amarillo in the morningand it just kind of hit him that
(07:56):
he sat down and he thoughtabout this rodeo buddy of his
that was struggling, had brokehis leg in Santa Fe, had lost a
girlfriend, a wife and agirlfriend along the way, and he
wrote this beautiful balladthat really didn't do anything
on the charts.
And then Straight a lot ofpeople think that was George
Straight's number first, numberone it wasn't, it went to number
(08:17):
four, but it put him on thecharts and ever since then I
have really gotten into thecountry music and especially
what we call the red dirt Texasmusic the Willie Nelson, I mean
all the outlaws, chrisChristopherson and Johnny Cash
(08:39):
and so many of these guys thatkind of paved the way for some
of these up and coming andyounger Texas songwriters.
Being from Beaumont, texas, thehome of George Jones, mark
Chestnut, tracy Bird and ClayWalker.
These are all really greatcountry musicians that I've
(09:01):
known their whole lives and so Ireally like the country side of
things and still love theoldies.
I just don't think there'sanything that compares with the
60s and the 70s music.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Sure, yeah, it's interesting.
I have a friend who's a hugecountry fan and he used to joke
all the time say you know, Ilike all kinds of music, I like
country and I like Western.
So we'd have a big chuckle overthat one.
But no, I agree.
I mean, I grew up in the 60sand 70s, so there's a, there's a
lot of stuff.
I've got a playlist on myspotify that I listen to, called
(09:37):
uh, 70s road trip, and everytime I listen to things on there
I'm like boy, we good musicgrowing up, so and you know.
I don't want to degrade themusic kids are listening to
today, because probably everyonethinks that.
I'm sure my mom and dad thoughtthat you know Bing Crosby and
you know the folks playing withGlenn Miller and Artie Shaw.
(09:59):
That was the best music everyou know.
So it follows along with us.
But I'm still going to fightfor sixties and seventies.
I'm with you.
So how about?
Do you have a favorite quote?
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Yeah, I do.
Uh, especially when it comes tobusiness.
Mark Twain said it's not thepeople that don't know what
they're doing that hurts you,it's the ones that think they
know, know and they don't.
That hurt you.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Interesting.
How have you applied that?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Well, I mean, I run into HR directors with my
business.
I run into business owners thatthink that they are the benefit
specialists, that they knowmore than I do about certain
benefits and health insuranceand packages and things, and
they don't.
They're the ones that write thecheck and so sometimes you just
(10:55):
got to say that's not going towork, that's not how it works,
and you shake hands and you partfriends.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
Well, isn't that interesting too.
At the root of that, it seemsto me, it's usually about
arrogance and pride of some sort, because you can't.
I mean, I'm regularly admitting, and maybe you know that's just
the nature of my business, butI seem like I don't go through a
day without going.
You know, I'm not really sure Ithink I'll find someone that
really does know the answer tothat, rather than you know,
(11:26):
making it up or pretending to bean expert and then giving
someone wrong information.
To me that's terrifying.
I hate that, and we have a lotof experts these days.
Right, look at social media.
I don't know what these guysthink, but my friend Carl here
thinks that it's like what?
Give me a break.
So do you have a favoritedessert?
Speaker 3 (11:48):
Oh, it's got to be any kind of peach cobbler,
cherry cobbler, anything likethat, and I do everything that I
can to avoid it.
But if I go to Rudy's barbecue,a Texas chain that they just
opened one, uh, here in ColoradoSprings, but if I go to Rudy's
I'm always going to get thatpeach cobbler, I don't care what
it is and I'm going to eat thewhole thing.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
Just bring a tray out , Just just leave it.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
I'll tell my wife you better hurry up and get a bike,
because it's gone.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
Well, at least you're giving her fair warning.
I mean, you know that's oh yeah, so she can't blame you for,
you know, not letting her knowthere's no lack of communication
at least.
How about do you have afavorite thing you like to do,
to just sort of chill out?
Speaker 3 (12:36):
Actually it's to work out Right For me.
As I wrote in my book I choselive about me battling my battle
with cancer and how I'm winningthe war.
I try every day to hit thatelliptical, to hit the treadmill
to.
I lift on Monday, Wednesday,Friday.
I row and swim.
(12:57):
On Tuesdays, Thursdays, I playtwo different leagues and men
senior baseball.
I just like to be outdoors, Ilike to be active, and it just
kind of takes me away from beingtold no, or getting thrown out
of a business.
No, I don't want to talk to you.
(13:18):
You just get to a pointsometimes where that hour or
hour and a half for me is thebest therapy that I can give
myself.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Well, you know, that was interesting, wasn't it too?
With COVID.
Right as COVID was hitting, mywife and daughter and I got a
couple of rescue dogs and so,while everyone else was stuck
inside, I had to go walkingevery night with those dogs and
I couldn't walk them togetherbecause that'd make a preacher
swear.
With those two, I swear.
(13:50):
But walking them separately wasactually better, because then I
got double the walk right, andI found that that I think you
know in retrospect, had I nothad that time to just get out in
the open and, you know, walkalong we live in a beautiful
part of Wisconsin I don't thinkI would have survived as well
(14:11):
and I would not have done aswell.
And you know, shame on me.
I'm still walking, but yourlifestyle sounds a whole lot
more healthy than mine is rightnow Getting on the weights,
getting on the elliptical, thatstuff that I was doing earlier
in life, and I let it fall bythe wayside, and so kudos to you
for that.
Those are good words.
I know you talk too about thatin your lifestyle tips.
(14:31):
You talk about that too withpreventing cancer, that just
having the, you know, takingcare of yourself, doing things
that are good for your health ingeneral.
How about last good thing, lastfavorite thing and I'll frame
this in a way that I hope makessense, but it has to do with
your favorite thing that, youknow, we're not even necessarily
(14:52):
thinking of as our favoritething per se, even necessarily
thinking of as our favoritething per se, but it's those
things that come up in our liveswhere, when you hear a song or
when you hear you know sometimesit's people saying a bird that
sings or, you know, see acertain kind of plant that it
brings them back to a time, areal fond memory, a real fond
time in their life.
And it's just, you know, nomatter what's going on, it can
(15:14):
be one of those groundingmoments for you where you do you
just have a sense of boy, thankyou for that, thanks for
bringing that, thank you for mebeing sensitive enough to see it
and hear it.
And, boy, that memory is justas wonderful today as it was
when it first happened.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Yeah, I mean after you go through cancer.
My kids will tell you that mylife is clearly defined of AC
and BC.
Ok, before cancer and aftercancer and after cancer, I I
think that I go back to really amuch fun time in my life, which
(16:04):
for me, was college.
I mean being able to go toschool to have just some of the
most beautiful women known tomankind around you, to be able
to go and play baseball and dothe things that I was doing and
just trying to again findingmyself back then in such a much
(16:30):
simpler time that I think Iappreciate more now than I ever
did back then.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
That's really interesting, this transition.
I think, and one of the thingsI read of your background
material, is that you said thereare people that come through
experiences like that for thebetter and there are those that
do not.
Do you think there wassomething about your journey or
something previous to you havingthe cancer that made you
(16:59):
predisposed to choosing the waythat you went, which was to see
every day forward as a gift andkind of that attitude of I'm
going to appreciate things morebecause I almost lost it all,
whereas other people are justlike this is terrible that this
happened to me and yeah, this isawful and gosh, I don't know
what I did to deserve this oryou know, whatever the kinds of
(17:19):
things you read about.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Yeah, yeah, that's a great point, I think.
I think that you have to.
You have to have a purpose.
Growing up, my dad was a coachfootball, baseball coach.
He was my mentor.
It was about.
It was about discipline.
It was about trying to bebetter today than I was
(17:43):
yesterday.
And then, as you move furtherinto life, I really believe it's
like when I was going throughmy cancer.
I had people ask me did youever think about giving up?
Did you ever think aboutquitting?
And I said never.
And the reason?
There was two reasons.
Number one I had a six monthold grandson that did not know
(18:05):
who I was and I had not walkedmy daughter down the aisle yet.
And so I know.
Now I have three grandsons thatprobably wish they didn't know
me, and I did walk my daughterdown the aisle.
She's blessed me with thisbeautiful five-year-old
granddaughter.
And I think a lot of times and Italk about this all the time in
(18:26):
my talks and in really both mybooks about life is about
choices.
And you think about that greatscene in Shawshank Redemption
when Tim Robbins was talkingabout how Shawshank Prison was
hell on earth and he'd only beenthere six or eight weeks and he
(18:47):
was talking to Morgan Freeman,a character read that had been
there for 40 years.
He goes how could you standthis for 40 years?
And Morgan Freeman said life isabout choices.
You either get busy living oryou get busy dying.
And when I talk to people, Iask them, I say I hope and I
pray that you choose the samechoice that I made, that you
(19:10):
follow the same path that Ifollowed.
And that is that I chose live.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
And that's why I titled my book that it's
interesting you mentioned MarkTwain earlier because it speaks
right to what you're talkingabout.
I think that Mark Twain has abook Gosh I don't know if I can
remember the name of it.
The framework of the story isthis mysterious man shows up in
a town, a really wonderful town.
(19:38):
All the people love each other.
It's a very peaceful, wonderfulplace to live, the kind of
place everybody wishes theylived in.
But he comes in with basicallya treasure map and supposedly he
has left different parts ofthat treasure map in different
places throughout the town.
And this all gets discoveredthrough the course of the story
and the.
You know the course.
(19:58):
People are looking for thetreasure and the pieces because
people only have a piece ofthings and they don't want to
share their piece with somebodyelse because they might get an
advantage on them.
It just tears the, the wholecommunity, apart.
So what they thought waswonderful, it just becomes this,
you know, war zone essentially.
And at the end the guy comesback and he quotes Twain writes
that.
He says you know, they'rewondering why did you let this
(20:21):
happen to us?
And he says well, you know, theweakest of all weak things is a
virtue not tested by fire and Ithought, boy, there is just a
testimony to the reality thatsome of us ask and these
horrible things happen.
We say why, why?
Why me?
And the trick, it seems, is tobe able to say, well, is it why,
(20:45):
or is it?
How am I going to get throughthis?
What decisions am I going tomake as I go through this and
beyond this, because that'sreally the definition of our
character.
Is those decisions right?
So you've talked about this,cause that's really the
definition of our character.
Is those decisions Right?
So so you, you, you've talkedabout this.
So you, you ended up havingcancer, life threatening cancer,
and you, you talk a little bitin some of the materials I read
(21:07):
about your, your experience withthat, that you were going for
regular chemotherapy.
It sounds like.
So what?
How was that?
What was that like when youfound out you had cancer, and
then the ensuing treatment, whatwere the things that you did to
keep your mind on track?
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Well, I mean, I've never been sick a day in my life
.
Now I've had four kneesurgeries and I blew Achilles.
But that's all sports related.
But I had made a life-changingdecision related, but I had made
a life-changing decision.
Aflac gave me an opportunity tojust pack up and move.
I'd gone through a very, veryserious divorce and AFLAC gave
(21:45):
me an opportunity to move toGeorgia and be the director of
training and recruiting for thestate of Georgia a tremendous
opportunity.
And I moved to Georgia, justpacked up and moved to Georgia,
didn't know anybody except thedirector of sales, and we just
(22:05):
jumped into this thing andpoured ourselves into the job
for about six or eight monthsbut I was having this continuous
sore throat and, like most menand what I write about in the
book I chose live is that stressis the silent killer and men
don't get checked.
Our death rate is 58% higherthan women because, well, we
(22:28):
know women are smarter but theygo for, usually annual physicals
and they get checked.
We don't.
I think about the great TobyKeith.
I mean, I've been singing Don'tLet the Old man In for about
the last year and a half on allmy sets, because I think that my
theme song is that people askme how do you do the things that
(22:50):
you do?
And I just tell them I don'tlet the old man in.
And I think that that allrelates to me going to the
finally going to the doctor andshe checks me and she says oh,
it's just a sinus drain, don'tworry about it, I give you some
(23:11):
antibiotics and you'll be finein a few weeks.
So about five or six weekslater, I still have this
continuous sore throat and I goback and she checks and she says
look, I'll up the antibioticsfor you.
Well, all the antibiotics didwas destroy my immune system.
Now you have to understand.
While I had a tumor the size ofyour fist at the base of my
(23:35):
tongue, that was growing and ifI would have waited another
something like 45 to 60 days, itwould have closed my windpipe
and I would have been gone.
On July 4th weekend 2013, I wentinto the bathroom and a lymph
(23:58):
node had popped out the size ofa golf ball on the side of my
neck and I said, well, that'snot good.
So I took a picture of it.
I sent it to my ear, nose andthroat doctor in Austin, who's
one of my best friends.
I coached his son and he saidyou got to quit screwing around
with the primary and go see aspecialist immediately.
So I forced my way in, got anappointment, saw the specialist.
(24:24):
They uh I I'm sitting there andthey did five needle biopsies
on my neck.
Now if you've never had aneedle biopsy, you need to try
that sometime It'll.
It'll get your attention.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
On a Saturday night when you're looking for
something to do.
Right, yeah, that's right.
Speaker 3 (24:41):
Yeah, just have a needle biopsy in your neck.
And anyway he said look, it'snothing, I'm not worried about
you, you're in tremendous shape.
Just we'll check back with youin a couple of weeks.
Okay, well, I left Atlanta andI'd gone back.
I'd actually got a condo inChattanooga, tennessee.
I had taken over a district inDalton, georgia, but I decided
(25:06):
to go across the border becauseTennessee didn't have a state
income tax.
So I moved to this condo andI'd just gotten back home it's a
two and a half hour drive andthe nurse calls and said the
doctor wants to see you tomorrowat 2 pm, all right.
So I drive back to Atlanta thenext day, two and a half hours,
(25:26):
and he walks in and he says thethree words no one wants to hear
you have cancer and we're goingto start chemo immediately and
radiation immediately and we'vegot to stop this because it's
growing exponentially.
And you know, and obviously youshould have come seen me six
months ago and it wouldn't havebeen that big of a deal Well, I
(25:51):
was told it was a sinusinfection and so anyway, this
was on a Tuesday, on Sundayseven days, seven nights in the
hospital, chemo.
I was off for two weeks back inthe hospital.
Seven days, seven nights theyput in the port.
I had 12 outpatient and I had35 radiation treatments.
(26:15):
And for anybody that has gonethrough any kind of chemo or
radiation or cancer treatments,you know that you have some
pretty good days and then youhave some days that aren't quite
so good.
And I remember one beautifulsummer afternoon I was out on my
balcony in Tennessee, inChattanooga, and the breeze was
(26:39):
blowing.
I was looking at theChattanooga River and I felt
this clump on my arm and Ilooked down and I had this big
clump of hair laying on my armand hair flying everywhere.
And I took my fingers and Istarted going through my head
and every hair on my head flewout.
(27:01):
And it's about that time thatthe reality sets in, that you
got a choice here, brother.
You either get busy living oryou get busy dying.
And that, at that particularpoint, is when I said I'm going
to force myself.
I never took the elevator.
(27:21):
I was on the seventh floor ofthis condo complex.
I took the stairs and I'm goingto tell you something there
were times that I could make itup about three flights and I had
to sit down, but I never tookthe elevator, I would walk to
Whole Foods, I would walk tothis little diner and these
sweet ladies at this diner, Iwould just barely be able to eat
(27:44):
.
And the doctor said wheneveryou think you're finished, one
more bite, take one more bite.
And I would just barely be ableto eat.
And the doctor said wheneveryou think you're finished, one
more bite, take one more bite.
And I would finish, I'd get awaffle and I'd eat some of that
waffle and I'd put it to theside and those ladies would say
oh no, no, one more bite, onemore bite.
And you know again.
You realize that again you havea choice.
(28:04):
And you know again.
You realize that again you havea choice.
And the choice is, you know, Ithink about the great American
philosopher Rocky Balboa, whereRocky says it's not how many
times you get hit, it's not howmany times you get knocked down,
it's how many times you getback up.
(28:25):
And I think, if you can havethat kind of mindset, and I will
tell you, when I first met myoncologist he said by the way,
this is going to be a breeze foryou because you're an athlete,
you're used to discipline,you're used to setbacks and
especially baseball.
I mean baseball is a game offailure.
You know, you're three for ten,you're in the Hall of Fame.
(28:47):
If you're a quarterback, you gothree for 10, you're benched.
If you're playing basketball,you go three for 10, you're on
the bench.
And he said you're going to flythrough this and my wife is a
scheduler for chemo andradiation and everything for
Texas Oncology, radiation andeverything for Texas Oncology.
(29:12):
And that's how we met.
But she told me, she said youhave no idea how serious that
cancer really was because youjust basically blew it off and
just went through your life.
And that's something that Ireally try to talk about and
portray to other people.
That again, it's not having anytime and I relate it to
(29:35):
baseball, like I wrote in thebook, that life's going to throw
you a curveball.
Now you can sit there and takeit, strike out, go back and sit
down, or you can throw yourhands, hit the ball the opposite
direction and get on base.
And my whole whole time I wasgrowing up especially playing
baseball, my dad could care lessabout batting average, it was
(29:58):
about on base percentage,because if you're not on base
you don't have a chance to score.
And I always related my life tothose singles and doubles and
those base hits and how manytimes I could get on base.
And that's how I try to live mylife.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
You know, ed, I keep thinking as you're talking.
I completely agree that.
You know, our lives are aboutchoices, and you know, choosing
to live.
You know, I think there aresome people that are born and
they choose to die, just about.
I mean, you look at, from earlyon they're making choices that
are just deathly choices.
In theater we talk aboutThanatos and Eros.
(30:39):
The Greeks, even in their plays, had the deities of the god of
death and the god of life, andthere were characters that were
motivated by Thanatos.
But anyways, all that aside, itstrikes me that there are people
, though, that don't get thatthey are making a choice and
when you confront them about,well, you're making this choice,
(30:59):
they absolve themselves ofresponsibility for the choice.
That is a negative one, becauseit's always somebody else's
issue, it's something thathappened to them, it's somebody
that isn't giving them thebreaks, and you know, sometimes
it's you know God hates me thatto that level, and sometimes
it's just.
You know I've been thrown somany bad throws over my life.
(31:20):
You don't know how hard it is.
You know there's so many waysto convince yourself that you
have no choice, that you're avictim.
I find it, as I'm getting older, it's harder and harder for me
to respond to that mindset withcompassion, because I get so
(31:42):
frustrated that I get that lifeis hard.
I get it.
My life is hard too, but I'mchoosing to make it better.
I'm choosing to look at itbetter.
If nothing else, how do you dothat?
How do you get yourself thatyou just go okay.
Well, you're an idiot.
Goodbye.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
Well, I think it's what you tolerate.
I remember my mother was one ofthe greatest teachers that you
could ever be around.
My mother and father startedthe first private school in
Beaumont, texas, in 1952,because my mother did not like
the direction of pre-K, firstgrade, second grade in public
(32:23):
schools, and she was a brilliant, brilliant teacher.
But I got news for you she wasthe most negative individual you
could.
I mean you could say, wow, whata beautiful day today.
And she'd go, oh, it's probablygoing to rain, you know.
I mean I mean she was amazingand I found out later on in life
that I wasn't going to toleratethat.
(32:44):
And I promise you, I mean I goto.
I might go to a chamber ofcommerce, a meet and greet, I
might go to an event, anetworking event, and if
somebody starts, you know,bitching and complaining and
whining, I think people thinkI've got a bladder problem
because I just go.
I got to go to the bathroom,you know, I just turn around and
walk away.
I just I'm not to put myself inthat position because, like you
(33:10):
said, I mean I'm 70 years old,I'm not.
I just don't have the samesympathy for that line of
thinking and I'm not going toallow myself to go down that
path.
And so you know, when I I tellthis story with my bio, that I
(33:31):
was the voice of the Westlake,austin Westlake Chaparrals, the
home of Drew Brees, nick Foles,two Super Bowl champion
quarterbacks, sam Ellinger,who's now with the Indianapolis
Colts.
My son was the 2000 CentralTexas Athlete of the Year
football baseball at AustinWestlake and I was the voice of
(33:54):
the Chaparrals For 12 years.
I did the Tom Warner cablefootball and then I did radio on
baseball and my dad had come tolive with us in Austin and I
had moved him into an assistedliving facility and it was the
Shapp Classic.
And my son was a sophomore andgot moved up to varsity and this
(34:18):
was going to be his firstvarsity baseball game.
So I went to the assistedliving complex to get my dad and
the nurses said he won't getdressed and I went in and I said
, daddy, what are you doing?
I said you know, it's baseball,christopher's first varsity
game.
And he worshipped my kids.
My daughter was very big andstill is in theater and
(34:39):
entertaining and and singing andany time there was a play or
something he he would come fromBeaumont to Austin and see her
perform.
There was a play or something.
He would come from Beaumont toAustin and see her perform.
Same thing with my son.
And he said I just don't feellike it, I'll make the next one.
And I said, daddy, I got to go,you know, I got to go set up
for the broadcast.
And I said I'll tell you whatI'll do as soon as the game's
(35:01):
over, I'll bring Christopherback and we'll just visit a
little bit about his game, herback and we'll just visit a
little bit about his game.
And as I was walking out, mydad said son, make a difference.
Okay, well, in my mind Ithought it was because of me
coaching kids and trying to helpkids do better.
A couple hours later, mydaughter drove up to the game.
(35:24):
Her mother pointed to the pressbox.
She came upstairs and she saidthe nursing home called and
Gramps is gone.
And so the last words he eversaid to me was son, make a
difference.
As I've gotten older, I thinkthere's a much deeper meaning to
that and that's the reason whyI'm doing what I do today,
(35:46):
because my whole focus is to tryto help somebody and you know
as well as I do with yourpodcast and everything.
If we can just reach one person, we've done our job as a
musician.
If you can have one person thatpaid money to come see you play
and they walk out of there andsay you know what, that's pretty
(36:07):
good.
Well, you've done your job.
And so I try to focus on thepositive.
I try to focus on making adifference and, more importantly
, pay it forward.
When I wrote my book A RandomAct of Kindness that came from a
short story from Chicken Soupfor the Soul, that came from a
short story from Chicken Soupfor the Soul, and I took that
(36:28):
short story, a true story thatcalled a simple gesture from
John Slater, and I just tookthat book and I embellished it
and made it my own.
And you tell the story of how asimple gesture, a random act of
kindness, not just helped changea life, it helped save a life.
(36:54):
And I think again that when Ithink we as a society, if we
could come up with a couple ofattaboys for somebody, if we
could pat somebody on the back,if we could say that's not bad,
here's how I can help you makeit better, I just think that you
(37:14):
know, my dad was a coach, buthe was also a layman, a disciple
of Christ's minister, and oneof his favorite sayings was
we've got to learn to love oneanother.
And if we can't do that, howabout at least we like one
another?
And if that's asking too much,let's just respect one another.
And if we can do that, I thinkall of us would be in a better
(37:36):
place, especially ourselves.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
Boy.
Wouldn't that be a good lessonfor our culture to learn right
now.
You know, as we becomeincreasingly more hostile
towards folks that don't believeor vote whatever the way we
vote that we would just learn tobe.
You know what?
What's Lincoln's quote about?
You know, I don't like thatperson very much.
I must get to know him better,so why not?
Speaker 3 (38:02):
But think about Lincoln.
Think about Lincoln surroundinghimself in his cabinet with his
enemies.
Yeah, I mean, he wanted thatdifferent point of view.
He wanted to get all sides.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
To me that was more—he and Teddy Roosevelt same
way had that vision thatleaders today wouldn't even
think about having yeah, we'vegotten so accustomed to having,
yes, men around us that, justyou know, feed our egos and make
us, oh, that's the mostbrilliant thing.
Of course that's going to work,but you know, again, it's a
virtue not tested by fire.
(38:35):
So, yeah, I love the movieLincoln because it explains some
of that.
The book that that's based onis about that that his whole
methodology and surroundinghimself with those people that
were contrary to his thoughts,but it made him think more and
helped him to crystallize hisown beliefs better.
Mike, we're running out of time,but I have to ask you one
(38:56):
question because we've kind ofbeen beating around.
But I know mentorship is a bigpart of your life, a big part of
your professional career.
Obviously it's part of yourbook in a very deep way.
What's your approach tomentorship?
Do you have a sort of a guideplan or a playbook for
mentorship that you think isjust a sound way of going about
(39:18):
it?
Because, as wonderful, assomebody comes to you and wants
to be mentored by you, that's ahuge step forward, right?
Because they're allowingthemselves to be vulnerable
enough to you to say I want youto mentor me, but then you know
what you do with that, how yousteward that as a mentor.
There's got to be some nuancesor things that you found general
principles that you try to makesure you keep at the forefront.
Speaker 3 (39:42):
Well, I think it's just very, very interesting,
because my kids, they're grown,they got their families, they're
just doing great.
And they will ask me a questionand I will say, okay, do you
want me just to listen?
You know we need to talk to you.
(40:04):
Okay, do you want me just tolisten or do you want my opinion
?
I mean, do you want me just tolisten or do you want my opinion
?
I mean, do you want me to solvethe problem?
It's the same thing with like,with this men's senior baseball.
There might be one of myteammates that's struggling at
the plate.
Well, I've made my living foryears on teaching hitting.
I'm 70 years old, I'm playingin a 45-year-old and over league
(40:28):
, but yet every year I'm eitherfirst or second in batting
average and on base percentage.
And so I will ask a player doyou mind if I throw something
out to you?
And if they say, well, sure, Isaid now, look, I want to be
sure, because I think you'redipping your hands.
(40:51):
I think that you're droppingyour hands and by the time you
get up to the zone, you don'thave a chance to catch up with
the fastball.
And that's just me observing.
Now, if you want to, I'm goingto be at DBAT Saturday at 12
noon.
If you want to come, I'll beglad to get in the cage with you
and work with you, no charge oranything, just if that's what
(41:15):
you would like to do.
And I got news for you.
You'd be surprised the numberof times they don't show up, and
you know what.
That's okay, because all I cando is lead you to the water.
You know, dr Phil says youeither get it or you don't.
Now I think it's my job to helpyou get it All right.
But my approach on any kind ofmentorship is to say I have some
(41:42):
ideas and or do you want tohear them?
And if you don't, you're nothurting my feeling.
I just don't want to just allof a sudden step in and start
correcting your stance orcorrecting your hands or telling
you that that's not the paththat you should go on, unless
that's the path you want to goon.
(42:03):
I'm part of the church.
One of my funnest things that Ido is the prison ministry and I
go into these prisons inTrinidad and Pueblo and Canyon
City and I bring my guitar andI'll do a mini concert and just
kind of get everybody in a goodmood.
You know, one of the funniestthings though Johnny Cash Folsom
(42:24):
City Blues.
That that's the favorite songin the prison.
Johnny Cash, folsom City Blues,that that's the favorite song
in the prison.
It really is.
But anyway, you know, but Iwill.
I will have these prisonerscome up to me and I just listen
to them.
And then the last thing I say doyou want my advice, or you just
want me to listen?
And you'd be surprised how manysay I need some advice.
(42:48):
And my advice is pretty simple.
You made it here because youmade some choices that weren't
very good.
Now you have a chance tocorrect that, make some choices
that will help you with yourfamily, to reconcile with your
wife, to help you down the road,and that is up to you to make
(43:09):
that choice.
All I can do is throw out a fewcomments and a few ideas, but
it's up to you, to you know.
I mean I tell men all the timego get a colonoscopy, for God's
sake.
You're 55, 60 years old.
You should have gotten it 10years ago.
Just go check, you know, andeither they are or either they
(43:29):
will or they won't.
Speaker 2 (43:33):
Well, now, that's fairly simple and yet profoundly
difficult, isn't it?
So if it were as simple as itshould be, we'd all be getting
along a lot better and think ofwhat we could accomplish.
That's the thing that gets me.
If I get hopeless aboutanything, it's when I think
about what's the old GeorgeBernard Shaw quote.
(43:55):
You know, some people see theworld the way it is and ask why
I dream of dreams that could beand ask why not?
So it's Bobby Kennedy, kind ofstole that, but it's really
George Bernard Shaw.
So us theater people willstraighten that one out for
folks.
So, but, mike, I can't thankyou enough.
(44:15):
It's been wonderful talkingwith you.
I'm sorry we didn't get goingfaster.
Technology just wasn't ourfriend, I guess.
But we made the choice tocontinue to try and I'm thankful
for it.
So appreciate your time.
Mike Coy has been my guest.
Mike is an author, he is aspeaker, he is an Aflac dealer,
member of that fraternity ofinsurance.
(44:37):
Are you a broker?
What would be the proper way torefer to that?
Speaker 3 (44:43):
I'm an associate, but with the financial planning I
am a broker.
I can write with many companiesand do different things, Okay.
Speaker 2 (44:51):
I've been seeing the duck back there so I couldn't
help but throw the Aflac voicein there.
Sorry, the power of the duckbaby.
Well, I know people can get acopy of your book from, probably
, amazon, kindle, wherever.
Are there any other resourcesyou'd like to direct people
towards?
Speaker 3 (45:08):
Yeah, probably Amazon , Kindle, wherever.
Are there any other resourcesyou'd like to direct people
towards?
Yeah, if they would go to Ichose livecom.
I chose livecom.
They'll find out more about methan what they want.
But also they can go to MikeCoy speakscom slash gift.
Mike CoySpeakscom slash gift.
I've got Mike's 10 tips toprevent cancer.
(45:30):
And then I also have chaptereight in I Chose Live, which I
think is one of the mostpowerful chapters that I wrote
in the book.
So feel free to go toIChoseLivecom.
You can reach me through that,livecom.
(45:51):
You can reach me through thatand you can also check out my
two books.
Speaker 2 (45:53):
I chose live and a random act of kindness, and I
have to wholeheartedly endorsechapter eight.
It's just a couple of pageslong but it is just densely
packed with a lot of just goodthinking, so I thoroughly
encourage people to do that,mike.
Thank you again so much.
My guest is Mike Coy.
You've been listening to Frameof Reference Profiles and
Leadership.
My name's Raoul LaBruche andI'm so glad you tuned in today.
(46:16):
I hope you'll tune in againnext week.
Who knows what kind ofinspirational things we'll be
talking about then, but I hopeit's as good as my talk today
with Mike.
Take care care all.
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