June 14, 2024 • 46 mins
In this episode of the Growing Our Future podcast, host Aaron Alejandro interviews Dale Alexander, a certified financial planner and author. They discuss the importance of gratitude, passion, and purpose in life. Dale shares his journey of personal growth and how he became passionate about financial planning. They also discuss the power of giving and serving others, and how it can bring fulfillment and success. Dale's book, 'The Talk,' is highlighted as a valuable resource for young adults to make wise financial decisions and create a prosperous future.
Dale Alexander has poured inspiration into others for 30 years. As a well-known employee benefits broker and Certified Financial Planner, Dale also combines his passion for living with speaking opportunities to impact others’ lives and attitudes.
His stages have included numerous corporations, association conferences, school convocations and numerous media outlets.
Story Notes:
🎙️ The Power of Purpose and Growth
🎙️ Dale's Journey and the Importance of Studying
🎙️ The Talk: Wise Financial Decisions for Young Adults
🎙️ The Importance of Mentors and Pouring into Others
🎙️ Creating Opportunities and Determining the Outcome
🎙️ The Beach Boys and the Power of Music
🎙️ Wrapping Up and the Impact of Planting Seeds
Learn more at MyTexasFFA.org
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to the Growing Our Future podcast.
In this show, the Texas FFAFoundation will take on a
journey of exploration intoagricultural science, education,
leadership development andinsights from subject matter
experts and sponsors who providethe fuel to make dreams come
true.
Here's your host, AaronAlejandro.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening or
whenever you may be tuning in tothe Growing Our Future podcast.
Hey, listen.
Number one, thank you forstopping by.
And number two, let us say thiswe enjoy bringing the podcast
to you.
You know, we say all the timein the world of agriculture if
(00:50):
it's taught us anything, it'staught us.
If you want to know what thefuture is, grow it.
Well, how do you grow a future?
Well, you've got to put theright seeds in the ground,
you've got to take care of it,you've got to make sure you keep
the weeds out and the pest outand the negativity out.
You know, sometimes you evengot to kind of build a fence
around a little bit to protectit from unwanted guests.
(01:12):
Point is, at the end of the day, you want to grow something
that you can harvest, somethingthat nurtures you, that you can
share and grow others.
And that's what this podcast isabout Seeds of Greatness, and
we try to look out for the bestguests we can find.
We said who do we?
I tell people all the time, ifyou want to be the best, train
(01:36):
with the best.
Well, we're always on thelookout for great guests, and
today we have found another one.
I've been looking at hisbackground and I don't even know
where to start.
Professional certifiedfinancial planner, author,
speaker, motivator, encourager,all-around good guy.
Ladies and gentlemen, it's anhonor to welcome Dale Alexander
(02:01):
to the show.
Dale, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Thank you very much, Aaron.
So glad to be with you all.
That's an introduction rightthere.
I got to live up to that.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Thank you.
I have no doubt that you will.
More importantly, dale, I knowthat you're going to share some
incredible seeds of greatnessand we're going to try to share
those and get them planted andgrow an even greater tomorrow.
When we start our podcast, dale, we like to start with the same
(02:30):
question.
Okay, every guest gets the samequestion, and I think it's just
a healthy place to start from,and that is Dale, what are you
grateful for today?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
That's a great question, by the way, you
grateful for today?
That's a great question, by theway, because I heard this one
time the more we have, theharder it becomes to be grateful
for it.
So that's a great question thatyou ask and I'll say this is
after my God, after my familyand after my friends, and I
don't say that lightly.
I'll just take those top threeout and say, but after my God,
(03:05):
after my family and after myfriends, which I'm unbelievably
grateful for, I would say I'mgrateful for a passion for what
I do.
All of my life I've just I'vehad a I'm little, but I'm I've
had just had a passion foreverything that I do.
For I'll have a passion for mymarriage, for my children.
I fell in love with what Icouldn't stop thinking about
(03:28):
when I was a young adult.
I loved the study of my job andI just fell in love with it and
I don't know why God just threwthat in my heart.
And so all of my career, in mylife, I've just kind of been
known as very passionate aboutmy life and what I do in my life
for my life.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Dale, I knew this was going to be a great interview.
Everything that Dale just saidI agree with.
I'm the same way we like to sayyou know.
Again, I like to useagricultural analogies, and one
that we like to use is whenyou're green, you grow, when
you're ripe, you rot.
So we don't want to quitgrowing, and so growing requires
(04:10):
us to know that we have apurpose.
Amen, that's right.
You know, we all.
I hope everybody that'slistening to this has a birthday
.
I bet they do.
I bet everybody listening tothe podcast has a birthday.
And what happened on that dayis we entered this world and we
took an inhale, and one day whenour purpose and maybe passion
(04:33):
is complete, we're all going toexhale.
So sometimes, when we stop andjust remember all that we have
to be grateful for our family,our friends, everything.
It just makes us a little moreenergetic about the future.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
That's exactly right.
I heard someone once sayremember that someone is praying
for the things that we take forgranted.
And isn't that so true that wecan?
Just we start taking things forgranted, and certainly in this
country.
We have so much in this countryand we have to at some point
stand back and realize there arepeople all over that don't have
(05:12):
what we're blessed to have andthey're praying for these things
that we just tend to take forgranted.
And I always say be gratefulfor at least one thing every day
, and to verbally say it out, toverbally say it out loud,
because it does become easy tobe grateful for things the more
we have and forget those thingsat times.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
But anyway, Tell you what we could probably do a
whole podcast on this topicalone.
Amen, we'll run off on a rabbittrail here.
That's okay.
Listen, that's okay.
I tell people.
I said February 6, 1966, I cameinto this world and y'all
wrapped me in an incredibleblanket.
(05:53):
It was a blanket of freedom andliberty and opportunity, and
you said we're going to grow youhere.
This is where you get to growup.
And I've just never forgot that.
I thought how lucky am I to behere when I remember seeing
pictures of kids caught in thefence between East and West
(06:14):
Berlin and to see people, likeyou said, that prayed, prayed,
to complain about all the thingsthat we're blessed to have
abundance with.
So I love what you just shared.
I wrote it down.
The harder it is to be gratefulfor.
If I could say something, realquick.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
I was at a men's conference one time and they
said give us the first word thatcomes to your mind when we say
these things.
And they said race and the mensaid exciting.
And the men said competitive.
And they said run.
And they said you knowvalidation and fast.
And then they said this word,walk.
And the men said slow, boring.
(06:59):
And there was a man in the backthat had severe cystic fibrosis
and he says thankful.
Think about this.
I'm not grateful when I covetsomebody's job, when I want
their car, when I want theirthis, when I want their house,
and he's grateful for theability to walk.
(07:21):
It puts new perspective on thethings that we take for granted
and realize that not everyone isthat fortunate.
So that's a great question tostart with, love it, it's going
to be fun.
Hang on Well where that camefrom.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Just to give you a reference point, where that came
from is one of our mutualconnections is Tom Ziegler, the
son of the late great ZigZiegler, and Tom and I were
talking about gratefulness andhow it makes you feel.
You know, gratefulness makesyou feel energetic, hopeful.
There's a lot of emotion,positive emotions, that come
with gratefulness.
(07:58):
He was on the East Coasttalking to some kids at a
university and he asked themwhat is the opposite of
gratitude?
And the room got quiet andthey're all struggling and he
finally said the opposite ofgratitude is entitlement.
Give it to me.
That's not fair, that's mine.
(08:20):
And he said watch what happensto the attitude when we go from
being grateful to feelingentitled.
So when we start a podcast,when we start our days, we can
start our families and jumpstartour lives with an attitude of
gratitude.
Something tells me you look forthe good, you look for the
(08:42):
opportunities and you look forthe good.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
It's the difference in that or that.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Ooh there he goes.
All right, y'all, here we go.
So Dale and I had anopportunity to be part of a
project with James McClam calledIgniting the Next Generation,
and I got to watch Dale and thenI started following Dale.
And I got to watch Dale andthen I started following Dale
and every time he posts apicture, every time he posts
(09:08):
something, he's always smiling,the people around him are
smiling, everybody's engaged,and I said I got to get this guy
on the podcast, started digginga little deeper, found out
former FFA member, and I saidthis is getting more and more
perfect.
So today we have the man, likeI said author, certified
(09:28):
financial planner.
I meant this guy's got anincredible resume, but I don't
want to talk about it.
I want him to talk about it.
Dale, I know you did not justfall into that chair that you're
in.
Something tells me there was ajourney that's led you to where
you're at.
They'll walk us through that.
How did you end up where you'reat and why are you so
(09:51):
passionate about what you do?
Speaker 3 (09:53):
So great.
This is a fascinating story.
When I started my career, I wasdriving, started my company.
I was driving about an hour anda half each way in Atlanta to
where I was officing in south ofAtlanta, and so I was going to
be in the car for about threehours every day.
And I made a decision.
I don't know why I was blessed.
(10:15):
God just slung in my heart adesire for growth, I don't know
why.
I looked at everybody on theroad next to me on the
interstate just sitting there,stop and go, and I said I can
either have my mind just rot,like you said, or I can have it
grow.
And, aaron, I don't know why Ichose growth.
So I went around.
(10:36):
This was I was about 24 yearsold and I went around to every
library that you could go toaround Atlanta, for about 30
miles all around the perimeter,and I would go in every library
and I would go get thesecassette series.
Young adults Google what acassette is, but I would go in
libraries and get these becauseI remember pulling physically.
(10:56):
I remember pulling them off.
Guys like Jim Ziegler, jim Rohn, brian Tracy, earl Nightingale
Let me just name them, les BrownI've listened to all of them
and listen to this For fiveyears, for five years sitting
them, and I've listened to allof them and I would dictate
(11:29):
notes into a microphone and mysecretary would type everything
up and for five years thispoured into my brain.
It changed my marriage, itchanged the culture of my
company.
It changed my friends.
As John Maxwell says, the moreyou grow, the more your friends
change, because you want it.
It changed everything about mylife.
It gave me positivity, it gaveme energy, it gave me listen,
(11:53):
hope.
It gave me hope.
The second thing that and itgave me, by the way, an
excitement and a path forsuccess that was almost
guaranteed in whatever I wasgoing to do.
There's a whole nother talk onthat we can come back to.
The second thing is I studiedwhat I did.
(12:17):
If you're a young adult goinginto business, you're going to
go into something.
Study what you do, and I wasfanatical about studying.
I'll just tell you my story.
I love the study of what to dowith money.
I just had a love, a passionfor studying what to do with
money and it landed in my heartand I loved reading about it.
(12:38):
I loved listening to speakersabout it, I loved studying it
and I loved taking what my craft, my job, and trying to be the
best at it I could be.
Because here's the truth as yougo out to begin work, no one
really cares what you think.
And I said study what thecustomer does.
(13:00):
Study and build what you'regoing to build, as my pastor
says, from an outsider'sperspective, not an insider's.
And so I started.
I loved, I was passionate aboutthis and all these speakers
poured into my mind.
See, when I left high school, Irealized that most people did
not care whether I wassuccessful or not.
(13:20):
My mama did, but she just wantedme off payroll.
But most people did not careabout whether I was successful
or not.
When I left high school thatwas over.
So I just said I'm going tostudy what I do.
We'll talk more about that,because very few people do that
and want to be great at whatthey're doing.
So those are two things.
(13:41):
It was a desire for growth andit changed everything about my
life.
Most importantly, it changed mymarriage and my parenting.
And the second thing was astudy of what I was going to do
in my work.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
And that led you to become a certified financial
planner.
You became an author, a veryaccomplished author Then you.
I guess that led to speaking,or speaking led to authorship,
and FFA was part of your journeytoo.
Is that correct?
Sure was.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Sure, was Sifonia Josie.
I've never forget that name,sifonia.
Mr Sifonia Josie was my FFAteacher in Vianna.
I'm from South Georgia, smalltowns, you know 2,500 people.
You know you get a wrong numberand you'd still talk for 20
minutes to somebody right on thephone.
So I'm in South Georgia, very,very agricultural.
(14:34):
All of my friends were farmers,my dad was the school
superintendent, and so SifoniaJose is my FFA teacher and he
taught me how to apply myself towhatever it was I was going to
do, because I could be a littlebit of a cut up now in high
school.
I don't know if you'd realizeit, but I could be a little bit
of a jokester, a little bit of ajoker.
So attention span.
(14:54):
And he'd say, alexander, look,if you just apply yourself, you
can be great at what you want todo.
I'll never forget SiphoniaJosie, my FFA, feeling that
corduroy jacket too.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yep AgScience.
We're very fortunate to have anincredible group of
agricultural science teacherswho take on that role of being
that advisor.
And then, like you said, kindof serving as that mentor, kind
of craft some folks and theirdreams and their direction, and
not just in agriculture.
(15:26):
Look at you, look at me.
We had different career paths,but that's okay.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
The principles still apply.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Absolutely.
That's what I tell people.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Principles still apply with pigs or hogs or cows.
The principles still apply todo rocks or whatever it is
you're studying.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
So people ask me all the time, dale, I've done this
for 24 years as a developmentofficer and we've raised
millions of dollars, millions,and I'll never forget it.
Somebody asked me.
They said, aaron, how do you doit?
And I said it's real easy.
I said, when people ask me,what is it that separates our
kids from everybody else, we getto say something that no other
program gets to say, and that isthis In the, the world of
(16:04):
agriculture, if we don't do ourjob, something dies.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Wow let that sink in, so in the world of agriculture.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
When you can instill that in a young person at an
early age, where they know thatwhat they do, whether it is a
plant, whether it is an animal,but what they do depends on the
life of that thing, that'ssomething they'll carry every
place they go for the rest oftheir life.
It becomes a core value, whichis why I believe folks like you
(16:36):
and so many others excel in lifebecause there's a core value
there of something bigger thanyourself, and you're just
another great example of that,by the way.
So thank you.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
It's interesting having all of my friends who are
farmers in South Georgia.
I'm in Atlanta very not farmingwhere I am.
I, more than any of my friends,appreciate rain.
I always notice rain.
I always wonder how are myfriends doing them?
I always wonder was that toomuch rain to harvest peanuts?
(17:09):
Was that, you know?
Is it too dry, is it?
I look at irrigation.
You know ponds and I alwaysnoticed that because I grew up
around that and I know howserious that is and the faith
and the faith and thedetermination it takes to be in
farming.
It's fascinating the faith youhave to have.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Dale, I want to jump into a topic here that's kind of
synonymous with your brand, bythe way, and you know I tell the
kids all the time.
Anybody that follows me onsocial media knows I go by the
handle Live your Brand, becauseI believe that what you share,
comment on, like and what you doon social media becomes the
brand that people know you by.
That's right, and I kind ofknow your brand.
(17:54):
So I want to dive into yourbrand a little bit here if you
don't mind.
You wrote this book and thisbook has really spurred a lot of
conversation and, moreimportantly, it's very.
People are going to find outvery quickly why I'm bringing
this topic up, because you'revery passionate about this topic
.
(18:15):
But you wrote this book calledthe Talk and, as a matter of
fact, I gave it to my son andsaid hey, by the way, I think
I'm going to have the author,dale Alexander, on.
I said I'd love to.
You know, grab that copy so Ican.
I think he took it to schoolwith him when I said grab the
copy of the book, there it is,right there, the Talk.
(18:35):
I think he took it to schoolwith him when I said grab the
copy of the book.
There it is right.
There the talk.
Dale, tell us a little bitabout the backstory, why it's so
important and what you wouldhope viewers, listeners, would
get if they would just grab it,study it, plant those seeds of
the concepts of the book book,and what kind of harvest they
(18:58):
will generate.
Tell us a little bit about thetalk.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
All right, let me try and keep this under three
minutes.
I can do this.
I can do that, all right.
So I've been a certifiedfinancial planner.
That's not what I do we doinsurance brokerage but it's
what I've studied for 30 someodd years the study of money.
And I'm always talking to mykids about money.
And three years ago, novemberof 19, my middle child said Dad,
(19:21):
you need to tell all of ourfriends this story, this
principle.
And so I said get them all inmy conference room, at the
office, this room I'm standingright here.
Four years ago told this storyabout money.
The book is called the TalkAbout Money, a Young Adult's
Guide to the One Decision thatChanges Everything and our young
adults are about.
(19:43):
If you're watching this, thinkback to when you were 18, 22, or
if you have a young adultthat's 16 to 24-ish, and you
remember getting your first realjob, that job you fill out,
actually paperwork from a ladynamed Dottie.
You remember that first realjob and you're going to go from
making basically nothing to themost money you've ever seen in
(20:05):
your life, at least on a regularbasis.
When you get that first jobpaycheck, instead of taking all
of it, stop and only take 70%.
Make 70%, your 100.
70% of that first job paycheckis still going to be the most
money you've ever seen in yourlife.
You're at zero.
Make 70, your 100.
(20:26):
You don't have a standard ofliving established yet and
whatever number 70 you accept asyour standard, that becomes
your reality.
After two months you won't know.
70 is not a, that's just myhundred, it's just all I've ever
known.
And, by the way, the other 30,you invest 20% and you take 10%
of it and give it away to theworld.
(20:47):
I don't care who you give itaway to, I'll come back to that
point.
Give it away and here's themost important thing, I'll tell
them.
This is why people read the book.
They have one shot to make thishappen, because if you take
three of those first jobpaychecks, spending all 100% of
it, you will never back down to70.
(21:08):
It's over and you will livelife like most of America, which
is broke, stressed, angry andanxious because of the weight of
money, and you will not earnyour way out of this problem.
Most money problems are notproblems about money.
So I show a $36,000 startingsalary out of high school to
(21:28):
college.
Every kid in the auditoriumwill achieve that.
That's a normal starting salaryin America.
And if you make 70 or 100, youinvest 20% and you give 10% away
, you will have given away$437,000 and have 5.2 million on
a $36,000 salary.
(21:50):
Look here it does not care whatkind of family history you came
from, it's a principle andprinciples don't care.
It doesn't care I haven't saida thing about education.
And it doesn't care what race,what faith or what country
you're from.
Money doesn't care.
Anyone can be one of thewealthiest, most generous people
(22:12):
in the world.
It's just that the wealthy havea plan to have less going out
than is coming in.
And I've got the plan.
I'll shut up now.
No, I will talk for hours aboutthis.
No, keep going.
Money's not hard.
There's just a lot trying tomake it impossible.
And we talk about that.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
What's interesting about what you just shared is,
you know, I like to talk aboutthe FFA jacket and I say you
know, the thing I like about theFFA jacket that old blue, gold
corduroy is it hugs whoever'sinside.
The jacket's never said I can'thug you because of the color of
your skin or your religion orsexual or whatever we want to.
The jacket just says come here,let me give you a hug.
(22:53):
And here's an opportunity.
Now think about what you justshared.
You know a lot of people don'trealize that within ag, science
and FFA, our kids have to keeprecord books.
We have to keep a record of ourprojects.
So our kids are learning earlyon the importance of
documentation of strategy,importance of documentation of
(23:20):
strategy.
But when you couple what thatis with Dale's very simple
roadmap to an incredible future,you have a competitive edge
like no other.
I guarantee there's not a lotof kids that will have this kind
of wisdom, opportunity andtools at their disposal at an
early age.
Would you agree?
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Amen, absolutely, one of the greatest parts of FFA,
absolutely.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
So I love it.
By the way, there was agentleman he's the largest
individual donor in ffa history,by the way and, uh, they made a
movie about him.
Uh, val kilmer, um, uncle ricofrom napoleon dynamite, elaine
(24:05):
hendricks from the parent trap,db sweeney they're all in this
movie.
It's called deep in the heart,and mr walrath, dick Walrath.
Dick Walrath, who's a very,very dear friend, mr Walrath was
an alcoholic and he losteverything.
He lost his family, he losteverything, but he found his
(24:26):
faith and when he found hisfaith, he began to turn his life
around, his life around.
And one of the things that youshared, dale, that I want to
share with you that Mr Walrathalways says is he said, aaron,
I've never been able to outgiveGod.
He said God set me free andwhen he set me free, I feel like
(24:49):
I'm always trying to pay itback.
To date, he's given over $30million to 4-H and FFA kids in
the state of Texas.
That's just in the state ofTexas.
He said, aaron, I'm never goingto be able to give back.
But he said, every time workgot tough, every time the margin
got thinner, every time we hadto make some tough decisions, he
(25:12):
said, I always gave some awayand he said it never failed.
When I did I was always blessedfor doing so and that blessing
just wasn't financial.
Sometimes it was just a word ofthanks and gratitude and
appreciation at a time where youthink you've got it bad and
(25:33):
then you gave something tosomebody and they say thank you,
and you never know what that10% that you're talking about.
You never know what that 10%could do to change somebody's
life.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
You know, I believe that we should find our purpose
in something greater thanourselves.
I once heard a pastor, louisGiglio.
He said if God answers yourprayers today, will just your
world benefit or will the wholeworld be better?
And the greatest way toeliminate and I talk about this
(26:09):
in the talk with kids, why wouldyou give money?
Why would you give money?
The greatest way to eliminatehopelessness and despair and
anxiety and the things and angerand the people you may know
somebody's dealing with it's tocreate a life that has meaning.
It's through serving.
It's becoming second to others.
And when you have a purpose andyou serve, everything about
(26:31):
life gets new perspective.
Kids dealing with you knowbullying, depression, anxiety.
Nothing corrects this likeserving.
It's becoming second and theworld tells us to be first and
we try and love ourselves byserving ourselves.
It's the world's greatest lie.
Look, god puts something in ourhearts.
(26:51):
Our brain waves know this.
You cannot place others firstand have hopeless thoughts.
It's physically impossible.
Chemicals that get released inour dopamine, oxytocin,
serotonin, endorphins it'simpossible to feel hopeless when
you're giving hope and notbeing kind is just a complete
(27:11):
lack of hope.
And social media, music,hollywood these things have
people exactly where they wantus.
And social media and music andHollywood these things have
people exactly where they wantus and we know that's not the
answer.
And people that can't figureout what do I give, what do I do
?
I just tell them this.
My pastor said what breaks yourheart?
What breaks your heart in yourworld?
If you're a young adultwatching this and you just don't
(27:33):
know where to start serving,where to start serving what
breaks your heart?
And then take the gifts youhave and show somebody how much
somebody loves them by how muchyou serve them, because the
greatest among us served CoachDabo Sweeney, the coach of
Clemson.
He said let the light shiningin you be brighter than the
light shining on you.
(27:54):
Oh yeah, it's true.
That is great.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Great, great quote.
I took my son there, by the way, we were actually on the East
Coast at a soccer camp and IDcamp and we went to Clemson and
you talk about just drivingaround in the culture of that
campus.
It's really phenomenal.
You can feel it.
You can feel it.
You can feel it.
Man, that is good stuff rightthere.
(28:20):
When I think about all this Dale, I think about you.
Know, I can't speak for Georgia.
Let me just tell you aboutTexas.
So I like to ask the kids Isaid how many high schools are
in the state of Texas?
Never fail.
Somebody say a lot.
I'm like, yeah, there are a lot.
There's over 3000 high schoolsin the state of Texas.
Now I said, now, think aboutthat.
Okay, stop and think about that.
(28:41):
Every one of them are going tohave a graduating class.
That means there's going to beyoung people that are getting
out right now.
This year they're going to belooking for a job, a scholarship
or an opportunity.
And so my question to everybodyis this what's your competitive
edge?
What separates you fromeverybody else?
(29:02):
And I believe that the seeds ofgreatness, the things that we
plant in life in those highschool years and in those
college years become the verythings that will become the
tools that we'll use to plantand grow into our career fields.
When you think about thatcompetitive edge, dale, you've
already shared so many.
(29:23):
Let's really kind of dive intothat just a little bit more.
You've already given theseyoung people parents, even folks
that are listening someincredible insight and tools of
things that they can plant inplace in their life.
That will grow a betterrelationship.
It will grow a better financialposition.
(29:44):
By the way, one of the things Ilike that Mr Walrath said
remember he's a very incrediblephilanthropist, but he said one
time he said, aaron, he goes.
I wanted to help people thatwere downtrodden.
I wanted to help people thatwere downtrodden.
I wanted to help people thatwere less fortunate than me.
And he said I figured the bestway that I could do that is not
(30:05):
become one of them.
The bounty of God blessingsomebody, or the hard work, the
harvest that comes with plantingthe right seeds, nurturing it,
caring for it and growing it.
There's a responsibility thereand, by the way, you said
(30:26):
something early on in thispodcast that I have shared with
my colleagues across the country.
I said I want you to besuccessful.
I'm going to share every tool,technique, everything I can do
to help you be successful.
But remember this with successwill come entitlement and people
(30:46):
want to get their hands on it.
So that's why your wisdom Idon't know if people caught that
or not but there's adiscernment that comes with how
you disperse that 10%.
Because if you disperse that 10%the wrong way.
Something tells me you mightnot harvest the same harvest the
next time.
So I think there's aresponsibility and I'm kind of
(31:12):
picking up that.
That was really kind of anunderlying theme of what you're
sharing is the 10% is just atool, it's a guide, but you're
going to have to exercise somediscernment of how you plant
that seed in somebody's life.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
I mean, you don't want to plant that seed in bad
soil, right?
Absolutely, you've wasted it.
You've wasted it.
And so I always tell people the10% giving column will do more
to and for you than the 20%investing column will.
You'll start caring more aboutthe 10% column than you.
Anyone challenge me on this.
(31:46):
I'll take you to dinner anyyear.
If it doesn't work like this,you'll start taking from the
investing and moving to thegiving.
You'll start caring more aboutthe giving column.
But here's the trick to givingwhat, youth?
If you're a young adult, whywould I give my money?
Here's the trick.
You don't understand, when youstart giving, what you think you
(32:07):
want to get.
When you start giving.
Well, if I give you 10, I'mgoing to need to get 12 back,
whatever 10 and 12 are let's saydollar, if I give you $10, I'm
going to need to get 12 back.
Here's the trick.
When you start giving, what youthink you want to get back when
you start giving is going tocompletely change.
Because when it grabs yourheart and you see what it does
(32:29):
to you, you're standing in acheckout line and a lady
standing there with tears in hereyes and doesn't know whether
to push the milk back or theformula back and you sit there
and go.
I've got the bill, put thewhole thing on my tab.
You leave, god bless, take care, I've got this and you do that,
and your whole life were builtaround just dropping grace bombs
on everybody that comes behindyou.
Watch what happened.
You think you know what youwant to get when you start
(32:52):
giving and everything is goingto change because it all gets
new perspective when you startgiving.
You can't help it.
You can't help it.
It'll completely change who youare.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Dale, and you're just .
This is just great.
Mr Walrath, you know I lovethese discussions, like talking
to you.
You know, we're just sitting inhis office, you know, and he's
giving these little nuggets ofphilosophy of life, you know,
and I remember one time he toldme he said, alejandro, he said I
want you to do two things nicefor somebody every day.
(33:25):
Every day, I want you to do twothings nice for somebody.
And if anybody finds out abouteither one of them, that one
didn't count, wow, wow, thatside of what you're talking
about, that side of generosity,that side of stewardship, you
know, do we make the worldbetter?
You know, because we were here.
(33:46):
You know when we talk aboutleadership and leadership
development.
You know when we talk aboutleadership and leadership
development, you know one of thesayings there's two sayings
that we use around our shop alot with our ambassador program
is we always like to say whenyour values are clear, your
choices are easy.
When your values are clear,your choices are easy.
And the second one that we liketo use is the essence of
(34:10):
leadership.
And they say that the essenceof leadership is to plant trees
under whose shade you may neversit.
And when we think about yourwillingness to take that talk
and to make it audible, to makeit in print, to make it a seed
that can plant seeds.
I meant who knows whatincredible oak that you may
(34:35):
plant that my grandchildren getto sit under one day?
Who's to say that somebodylistens to this podcast and they
take away a seed that helpsthem accomplish something great
in medicine and they become mygrandson or granddaughter's
doctor.
I meant we don't know Our job.
You know I tell the kids allthe time and this is for the
(34:55):
adult audience I tell the adultsall the time our job as of
adults, our job is to createopportunities.
That's our responsibility.
Create opportunities, youngpeople.
Your job is to determine theoutcome.
That's our responsibility.
Create opportunities, youngpeople.
Your job is to determine theoutcome.
That's on you.
Our job is to try to get you tothe opportunity and create more
of them.
But we need you to step up andhelp determine that outcome.
(35:19):
Shows like today and the wisdomthat Mr Alexander is pouring
into us, this right here,becomes the seeds and the fuel
to get through that door, todetermine that outcome and then
do it for somebody else.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
And when you start doing that if you're that young
adult watching this when youstart doing that, when you start
planting those seeds of justgiving and grace and being the
best you can be, of just givingand grace and being the best you
can be, life begins to havehope.
And when you live inside as I'mtrying to get people to live
inside financial margin, andwhen you're studying to be as
(35:58):
great as you can be at what youdo, when you're following what
your heart, what you love, whatyou think is your purpose and
you love talking about it, whenyou do these things, life just
tends to land lighter on you.
It's just more fun when youhave a purpose in life and
you're walking through.
I think this I love what I do,I love my spouse, I love you
(36:19):
know, I love what I do, I loveblessing others.
It's just more fun thanfollowing what the society and
stuff wants to tell you tofollow, which is very opposite
of that.
It's not hard.
There's just a lot of stufftrying to make it impossible.
Tune it out.
It's hard to tune it out.
Tune it out.
(36:40):
I'll say this about a quick lifehack that I used.
It's a competitive edge.
I use this like crazy.
If you're a young adult, asksomebody, just ask somebody.
Look, seek people who are doingwhat you want to do at the level
you want to do it, and ask themto pour into you, study them,
(37:03):
learn from them.
They're starving to tell youwhat they do.
Why can't I need anybody?
You aren't looking.
You aren't looking right.
Almost everyone wants to helpsomebody, but they're looking
for people who want to be helpedand chances are it may be
somebody you've never met.
You don't even know.
There's no shortage of jobs.
(37:23):
There's no shortage of jobs andthere never is a shortage of
jobs.
What there is is a shortage ofpeople wanting to pour into
themselves, to become the bestat whatever it is they love and
to be the best at it.
That's what there's a shortageof, and every company wants and
needs great employees.
I'm a company, I'm an employer,I'm a hirer, and the problem is
(37:43):
there's a shortage of peoplewho want to be great employees,
and there always has been.
I'm talking about employeesthat want to study what the
company does and learn how to doit better than everybody else,
to learn it from the customer'sperspective.
That never goes out of, thatnever doesn't have a job, that
never doesn't get promoted right.
(38:04):
All owners want that andthey'll pay top dollar for that.
If you're listening to this and,by the way, if you're an adult,
listening to this, pour into ayoung adult.
I heard a preacher say one timeit's not my job to fill
anyone's cup, but it is my jobto empty mine.
Empty your cup into someoneelse coming after you.
(38:25):
Leave it better than you foundit.
Leave it better than you foundit.
Leave them better than youfound them.
You find a young adult to pourinto.
They're starving for truth,they're starving for answers.
Take what you did and help themgo further, faster.
All right, sorry.
Let's go Say it one more timeit's not my job to fill anyone's
(38:47):
cup, it is my job to empty mine.
That ain't my quote.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Wow, andy Stanley said that, still it's.
It's just, it's incredible tothink about.
You know, I've studiedcombative martial arts for 20
plus years and you, you know myinstructor.
I was very blessed to have anincredible instructor that's
tied all the way back to brucelee and dan anisanto, and you
(39:15):
know, just wow.
And then combative arts,weapons arts and everything, but
I loved his philosophy.
He, his philosophy, is reallyassimilated into everything that
I do, and what he taught us wasthis If you want to be the best
, train with the best.
So we don't seek out to trainwith the black belt of a black
(39:36):
belt of a black belt.
Our philosophy is bring in thehead of a system, bring in the
top person, because if you wantto be the best, train with the
best.
Wow, and what you just said isis that, if I'm a young person,
even an adult right now, listen,and listening includes your
eyes and your ears, listen, lookaround and say you know, I want
(40:00):
to be, I want to be really goodat something who's the best.
And then, like you said, askthem.
And then, oh, by the way, ifyou're one of those people that
are kind of the best, you got aresponsibility, you've got an
obligation.
Start pouring that cup out andstart pouring it into the people
(40:21):
that are going to follow in ourfootsteps, because that is the
essence of leadership is toplant trees under whose shade
you may never see, and I'm goingto tell you if you're a young
adult.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
Well, nobody does that.
Last night, a collegelinebacker from Drake University
and I in the state of Iowa Italked to him for an hour
because he heard whatever aboutme and said I got to know you
and we talked for an hour.
This morning, a golf captain ona college golf team taught him
for 45 minutes that people areyoung adults, are doing this.
(40:53):
They're calling people.
You find people that are doingwhat you want to do that can
help you go further faster andjust make life easier on you,
and that allows you to go outand be a blessing.
Look, there's a sign in ouroffice right here.
It said when God blesses you,he seldom has you in mind.
And so, look, you're going tobe blessed and it's ultimately
(41:13):
for others.
So it may be part of yourfamily, but it's going to help
you go further faster and youuse that to start helping others
faster than the average person,ain't this?
Speaker 2 (41:24):
fun.
I tell you and again, thisshow's not about me sharing my
story, but there's a lot oflisteners that know my story and
you know my journey wasn't easyand but everybody's got a story
.
Everybody has a story.
Everybody has experiencedsomething in life and I think
(41:45):
it's hard to sometimes put ourmind around what you just said,
that all that we've been givenwas given to us possibly for one
person at one moment in ourlife that we may never even know
, which is why, as a person offaith, I like to tell people the
reason we're going to need aneternity is it's going to take
(42:08):
us that long to unpack all theconnections because it's going
to be well.
You said something to thisperson who inspired this person
and invested in this.
It's going to take forever tofigure it all out.
Speaker 3 (42:23):
That's what that meant.
What.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
Yeah, anyway, dale, listen, I hate to wrap up, but
we could keep going.
I mean we might have to do apart two to this.
I just want to tell you howmuch I appreciate you.
I appreciate your message, Iappreciate your willingness to
share, your willingness to share.
(42:49):
Like I said, everybody's got astory, but not everybody's
willing to share it, and thefact that you're sharing it is
you're pouring into others.
But, going back to what we liketo say, you're planting seeds,
seeds of greatness that, ifpeople will just take them and
nurture them and the harvest isthat you're talking about are
not just harvests of wealth.
That you're talking about arenot just harvests of wealth,
(43:10):
financial wealth.
They're harvests of wealth andhappiness and hope and
encouragement, and I just can'tsay thank you enough for what
you're doing.
Speaker 3 (43:16):
Thank you, appreciate you.
Thank you, let me be on here.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
Well, listen, listen.
We wrap up every show with thefun question.
So you're going to get a funquestion.
So tell us, Mr Alexander, whatis the best concert you've ever
been to.
Speaker 3 (43:37):
It's going to be so disappointing for y'all.
This is going to be sodisappointing.
So the beach boys this is sodisappointing.
Everybody's.
I've been the stone rollingstone whatever.
The Beach Boys this is sodisappointing Everybody's.
I've been to Stone RollingStone whatever.
The Beach Boys are a band.
If you're a young adult,they're a band from the 50s, 60s
, whatever.
(43:57):
And they were about surfing inCalifornia.
I'm a massive skateboardersurfer and, by the way, this
next week you'll see me do myhandstand.
I do handstands on skateboards.
I do my annual birthday.
It's coming up this weekendactually.
So, but the Beach Boys all mylife growing up, when I, when I
(44:18):
was in surfing and skateboarding, I just listened to them all
the time in South Georgia, andso it personally for me, it just
meant a great deal for me to gosee them, because it just
brought back.
I know that's a terrible answer.
I've failed at that.
That's a terrible answer, butfor me, the Beach Boys and
anyways, love it.
Hey, listen when you KennyChesney, other than them, kenny
(44:40):
Chesney, I've seen, kenny.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
Here's what's amazing is think about this.
It's just like foods.
Right, I'm an ag guy, so, yeah,I love a good steak, but
everybody that knows me knowsI'm also a sushi guy and so, you
know, I love watching manversus food and carnival eats,
and so I'm a kind of a foodie.
I love to go out and, you know,music's kind of the same way,
and so if anybody were to pickup my playlist, they'd find
(45:05):
anything from.
You know, carmen, stephen,curtis, chapman, all the way
through.
You know, frank Sinatra,michael Bublé, all the way
through.
You know Bruce Springsteen,jimmy Buffett.
You know and I think that'swhat's neat is to talk to guests
.
And, dale, we've had everythingfrom Metallica to Pitbull,
(45:26):
motley Crue, yeah, to GeorgeStrait.
I mean it's incredible to hearpeople talk about their best
concert.
It's a great question.
Anyway, dale, thanks again forjoining us.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank youfor stopping by the Growing Our
Future podcast.
We just appreciate you so much.
(45:46):
We hope today you found someencouragement, some inspiration.
More importantly, we hope thatyou found some seeds of
opportunity that you could plant, that you can grow, that you
can harvest and, as you heardtoday, that you can share.
Until our paths cross againeverybody.
Go out and remember.
If you want to know what thefuture is, grow it.
(46:08):
That means go out and dosomething nice for somebody else
.
You're going to feel good aboutit and our communities, state
and country is going to bebetter because of it.
Thank you for stopping by.
Speaker 1 (46:24):
We hope you've enjoyed this episode of the
Growing Our Future podcast.
We hope you've enjoyed thisepisode of the Growing Our
Future podcast.
This show is sponsored by theTexas FFA Foundation, whose
mission is to strengthenagricultural science education
so students can develop theirpotential for personal growth,
career success and leadership ina global marketplace.
Learn more at mytexasffaorg.
Welcome to the Growing Our Future podcast.
In this show, the Texas FFAFoundation will take on a
journey of exploration intoagricultural science, education,
leadership development andinsights from subject matter
experts and sponsors who providethe fuel to make dreams come
true.
Here's your host, AaronAlejandro.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening or
whenever you may be tuning in tothe Growing Our Future podcast.
Hey, listen.
Number one, thank you forstopping by.
And number two, let us say thiswe enjoy bringing the podcast
to you.
You know, we say all the timein the world of agriculture if
(00:50):
it's taught us anything, it'staught us.
If you want to know what thefuture is, grow it.
Well, how do you grow a future?
Well, you've got to put theright seeds in the ground,
you've got to take care of it,you've got to make sure you keep
the weeds out and the pest outand the negativity out.
You know, sometimes you evengot to kind of build a fence
around a little bit to protectit from unwanted guests.
(01:12):
Point is, at the end of the day, you want to grow something
that you can harvest, somethingthat nurtures you, that you can
share and grow others.
And that's what this podcast isabout Seeds of Greatness, and
we try to look out for the bestguests we can find.
We said who do we?
I tell people all the time, ifyou want to be the best, train
(01:36):
with the best.
Well, we're always on thelookout for great guests, and
today we have found another one.
I've been looking at hisbackground and I don't even know
where to start.
Professional certifiedfinancial planner, author,
speaker, motivator, encourager,all-around good guy.
Ladies and gentlemen, it's anhonor to welcome Dale Alexander
(02:01):
to the show.
Dale, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Thank you very much, Aaron.
So glad to be with you all.
That's an introduction rightthere.
I got to live up to that.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Thank you.
I have no doubt that you will.
More importantly, dale, I knowthat you're going to share some
incredible seeds of greatnessand we're going to try to share
those and get them planted andgrow an even greater tomorrow.
When we start our podcast, dale, we like to start with the same
(02:30):
question.
Okay, every guest gets the samequestion, and I think it's just
a healthy place to start from,and that is Dale, what are you
grateful for today?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
That's a great question, by the way, you
grateful for today?
That's a great question, by theway, because I heard this one
time the more we have, theharder it becomes to be grateful
for it.
So that's a great question thatyou ask and I'll say this is
after my God, after my familyand after my friends, and I
don't say that lightly.
I'll just take those top threeout and say, but after my God,
(03:05):
after my family and after myfriends, which I'm unbelievably
grateful for, I would say I'mgrateful for a passion for what
I do.
All of my life I've just I'vehad a I'm little, but I'm I've
had just had a passion foreverything that I do.
For I'll have a passion for mymarriage, for my children.
I fell in love with what Icouldn't stop thinking about
(03:28):
when I was a young adult.
I loved the study of my job andI just fell in love with it and
I don't know why God just threwthat in my heart.
And so all of my career, in mylife, I've just kind of been
known as very passionate aboutmy life and what I do in my life
for my life.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Dale, I knew this was going to be a great interview.
Everything that Dale just saidI agree with.
I'm the same way we like to sayyou know.
Again, I like to useagricultural analogies, and one
that we like to use is whenyou're green, you grow, when
you're ripe, you rot.
So we don't want to quitgrowing, and so growing requires
(04:10):
us to know that we have apurpose.
Amen, that's right.
You know, we all.
I hope everybody that'slistening to this has a birthday
.
I bet they do.
I bet everybody listening tothe podcast has a birthday.
And what happened on that dayis we entered this world and we
took an inhale, and one day whenour purpose and maybe passion
(04:33):
is complete, we're all going toexhale.
So sometimes, when we stop andjust remember all that we have
to be grateful for our family,our friends, everything.
It just makes us a little moreenergetic about the future.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
That's exactly right.
I heard someone once sayremember that someone is praying
for the things that we take forgranted.
And isn't that so true that wecan?
Just we start taking things forgranted, and certainly in this
country.
We have so much in this countryand we have to at some point
stand back and realize there arepeople all over that don't have
(05:12):
what we're blessed to have andthey're praying for these things
that we just tend to take forgranted.
And I always say be gratefulfor at least one thing every day
, and to verbally say it out, toverbally say it out loud,
because it does become easy tobe grateful for things the more
we have and forget those thingsat times.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
But anyway, Tell you what we could probably do a
whole podcast on this topicalone.
Amen, we'll run off on a rabbittrail here.
That's okay.
Listen, that's okay.
I tell people.
I said February 6, 1966, I cameinto this world and y'all
wrapped me in an incredibleblanket.
(05:53):
It was a blanket of freedom andliberty and opportunity, and
you said we're going to grow youhere.
This is where you get to growup.
And I've just never forgot that.
I thought how lucky am I to behere when I remember seeing
pictures of kids caught in thefence between East and West
(06:14):
Berlin and to see people, likeyou said, that prayed, prayed,
to complain about all the thingsthat we're blessed to have
abundance with.
So I love what you just shared.
I wrote it down.
The harder it is to be gratefulfor.
If I could say something, realquick.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
I was at a men's conference one time and they
said give us the first word thatcomes to your mind when we say
these things.
And they said race and the mensaid exciting.
And the men said competitive.
And they said run.
And they said you knowvalidation and fast.
And then they said this word,walk.
And the men said slow, boring.
(06:59):
And there was a man in the backthat had severe cystic fibrosis
and he says thankful.
Think about this.
I'm not grateful when I covetsomebody's job, when I want
their car, when I want theirthis, when I want their house,
and he's grateful for theability to walk.
(07:21):
It puts new perspective on thethings that we take for granted
and realize that not everyone isthat fortunate.
So that's a great question tostart with, love it, it's going
to be fun.
Hang on Well where that camefrom.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Just to give you a reference point, where that came
from is one of our mutualconnections is Tom Ziegler, the
son of the late great ZigZiegler, and Tom and I were
talking about gratefulness andhow it makes you feel.
You know, gratefulness makesyou feel energetic, hopeful.
There's a lot of emotion,positive emotions, that come
with gratefulness.
(07:58):
He was on the East Coasttalking to some kids at a
university and he asked themwhat is the opposite of
gratitude?
And the room got quiet andthey're all struggling and he
finally said the opposite ofgratitude is entitlement.
Give it to me.
That's not fair, that's mine.
(08:20):
And he said watch what happensto the attitude when we go from
being grateful to feelingentitled.
So when we start a podcast,when we start our days, we can
start our families and jumpstartour lives with an attitude of
gratitude.
Something tells me you look forthe good, you look for the
(08:42):
opportunities and you look forthe good.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
It's the difference in that or that.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
Ooh there he goes.
All right, y'all, here we go.
So Dale and I had anopportunity to be part of a
project with James McClam calledIgniting the Next Generation,
and I got to watch Dale and thenI started following Dale.
And I got to watch Dale andthen I started following Dale
and every time he posts apicture, every time he posts
(09:08):
something, he's always smiling,the people around him are
smiling, everybody's engaged,and I said I got to get this guy
on the podcast, started digginga little deeper, found out
former FFA member, and I saidthis is getting more and more
perfect.
So today we have the man, likeI said author, certified
(09:28):
financial planner.
I meant this guy's got anincredible resume, but I don't
want to talk about it.
I want him to talk about it.
Dale, I know you did not justfall into that chair that you're
in.
Something tells me there was ajourney that's led you to where
you're at.
They'll walk us through that.
How did you end up where you'reat and why are you so
(09:51):
passionate about what you do?
Speaker 3 (09:53):
So great.
This is a fascinating story.
When I started my career, I wasdriving, started my company.
I was driving about an hour anda half each way in Atlanta to
where I was officing in south ofAtlanta, and so I was going to
be in the car for about threehours every day.
And I made a decision.
I don't know why I was blessed.
(10:15):
God just slung in my heart adesire for growth, I don't know
why.
I looked at everybody on theroad next to me on the
interstate just sitting there,stop and go, and I said I can
either have my mind just rot,like you said, or I can have it
grow.
And, aaron, I don't know why Ichose growth.
So I went around.
(10:36):
This was I was about 24 yearsold and I went around to every
library that you could go toaround Atlanta, for about 30
miles all around the perimeter,and I would go in every library
and I would go get thesecassette series.
Young adults Google what acassette is, but I would go in
libraries and get these becauseI remember pulling physically.
(10:56):
I remember pulling them off.
Guys like Jim Ziegler, jim Rohn, brian Tracy, earl Nightingale
Let me just name them, les BrownI've listened to all of them
and listen to this For fiveyears, for five years sitting
them, and I've listened to allof them and I would dictate
(11:29):
notes into a microphone and mysecretary would type everything
up and for five years thispoured into my brain.
It changed my marriage, itchanged the culture of my
company.
It changed my friends.
As John Maxwell says, the moreyou grow, the more your friends
change, because you want it.
It changed everything about mylife.
It gave me positivity, it gaveme energy, it gave me listen,
(11:53):
hope.
It gave me hope.
The second thing that and itgave me, by the way, an
excitement and a path forsuccess that was almost
guaranteed in whatever I wasgoing to do.
There's a whole nother talk onthat we can come back to.
The second thing is I studiedwhat I did.
(12:17):
If you're a young adult goinginto business, you're going to
go into something.
Study what you do, and I wasfanatical about studying.
I'll just tell you my story.
I love the study of what to dowith money.
I just had a love, a passionfor studying what to do with
money and it landed in my heartand I loved reading about it.
(12:38):
I loved listening to speakersabout it, I loved studying it
and I loved taking what my craft, my job, and trying to be the
best at it I could be.
Because here's the truth as yougo out to begin work, no one
really cares what you think.
And I said study what thecustomer does.
(13:00):
Study and build what you'regoing to build, as my pastor
says, from an outsider'sperspective, not an insider's.
And so I started.
I loved, I was passionate aboutthis and all these speakers
poured into my mind.
See, when I left high school, Irealized that most people did
not care whether I wassuccessful or not.
(13:20):
My mama did, but she just wantedme off payroll.
But most people did not careabout whether I was successful
or not.
When I left high school thatwas over.
So I just said I'm going tostudy what I do.
We'll talk more about that,because very few people do that
and want to be great at whatthey're doing.
So those are two things.
(13:41):
It was a desire for growth andit changed everything about my
life.
Most importantly, it changed mymarriage and my parenting.
And the second thing was astudy of what I was going to do
in my work.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
And that led you to become a certified financial
planner.
You became an author, a veryaccomplished author Then you.
I guess that led to speaking,or speaking led to authorship,
and FFA was part of your journeytoo.
Is that correct?
Sure was.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Sure, was Sifonia Josie.
I've never forget that name,sifonia.
Mr Sifonia Josie was my FFAteacher in Vianna.
I'm from South Georgia, smalltowns, you know 2,500 people.
You know you get a wrong numberand you'd still talk for 20
minutes to somebody right on thephone.
So I'm in South Georgia, very,very agricultural.
(14:34):
All of my friends were farmers,my dad was the school
superintendent, and so SifoniaJose is my FFA teacher and he
taught me how to apply myself towhatever it was I was going to
do, because I could be a littlebit of a cut up now in high
school.
I don't know if you'd realizeit, but I could be a little bit
of a jokester, a little bit of ajoker.
So attention span.
(14:54):
And he'd say, alexander, look,if you just apply yourself, you
can be great at what you want todo.
I'll never forget SiphoniaJosie, my FFA, feeling that
corduroy jacket too.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
Yep AgScience.
We're very fortunate to have anincredible group of
agricultural science teacherswho take on that role of being
that advisor.
And then, like you said, kindof serving as that mentor, kind
of craft some folks and theirdreams and their direction, and
not just in agriculture.
(15:26):
Look at you, look at me.
We had different career paths,but that's okay.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
The principles still apply.
Speaker 2 (15:33):
Absolutely.
That's what I tell people.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
Principles still apply with pigs or hogs or cows.
The principles still apply todo rocks or whatever it is
you're studying.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
So people ask me all the time, dale, I've done this
for 24 years as a developmentofficer and we've raised
millions of dollars, millions,and I'll never forget it.
Somebody asked me.
They said, aaron, how do you doit?
And I said it's real easy.
I said, when people ask me,what is it that separates our
kids from everybody else, we getto say something that no other
program gets to say, and that isthis In the, the world of
(16:04):
agriculture, if we don't do ourjob, something dies.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Wow let that sink in, so in the world of agriculture.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
When you can instill that in a young person at an
early age, where they know thatwhat they do, whether it is a
plant, whether it is an animal,but what they do depends on the
life of that thing, that'ssomething they'll carry every
place they go for the rest oftheir life.
It becomes a core value, whichis why I believe folks like you
(16:36):
and so many others excel in lifebecause there's a core value
there of something bigger thanyourself, and you're just
another great example of that,by the way.
So thank you.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
It's interesting having all of my friends who are
farmers in South Georgia.
I'm in Atlanta very not farmingwhere I am.
I, more than any of my friends,appreciate rain.
I always notice rain.
I always wonder how are myfriends doing them?
I always wonder was that toomuch rain to harvest peanuts?
(17:09):
Was that, you know?
Is it too dry, is it?
I look at irrigation.
You know ponds and I alwaysnoticed that because I grew up
around that and I know howserious that is and the faith
and the faith and thedetermination it takes to be in
farming.
It's fascinating the faith youhave to have.
Speaker 2 (17:32):
Dale, I want to jump into a topic here that's kind of
synonymous with your brand, bythe way, and you know I tell the
kids all the time.
Anybody that follows me onsocial media knows I go by the
handle Live your Brand, becauseI believe that what you share,
comment on, like and what you doon social media becomes the
brand that people know you by.
That's right, and I kind ofknow your brand.
(17:54):
So I want to dive into yourbrand a little bit here if you
don't mind.
You wrote this book and thisbook has really spurred a lot of
conversation and, moreimportantly, it's very.
People are going to find outvery quickly why I'm bringing
this topic up, because you'revery passionate about this topic
.
(18:15):
But you wrote this book calledthe Talk and, as a matter of
fact, I gave it to my son andsaid hey, by the way, I think
I'm going to have the author,dale Alexander, on.
I said I'd love to.
You know, grab that copy so Ican.
I think he took it to schoolwith him when I said grab the
copy of the book, there it is,right there, the Talk.
(18:35):
I think he took it to schoolwith him when I said grab the
copy of the book.
There it is right.
There the talk.
Dale, tell us a little bitabout the backstory, why it's so
important and what you wouldhope viewers, listeners, would
get if they would just grab it,study it, plant those seeds of
the concepts of the book book,and what kind of harvest they
(18:58):
will generate.
Tell us a little bit about thetalk.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
All right, let me try and keep this under three
minutes.
I can do this.
I can do that, all right.
So I've been a certifiedfinancial planner.
That's not what I do we doinsurance brokerage but it's
what I've studied for 30 someodd years the study of money.
And I'm always talking to mykids about money.
And three years ago, novemberof 19, my middle child said Dad,
(19:21):
you need to tell all of ourfriends this story, this
principle.
And so I said get them all inmy conference room, at the
office, this room I'm standingright here.
Four years ago told this storyabout money.
The book is called the TalkAbout Money, a Young Adult's
Guide to the One Decision thatChanges Everything and our young
adults are about.
(19:43):
If you're watching this, thinkback to when you were 18, 22, or
if you have a young adultthat's 16 to 24-ish, and you
remember getting your first realjob, that job you fill out,
actually paperwork from a ladynamed Dottie.
You remember that first realjob and you're going to go from
making basically nothing to themost money you've ever seen in
(20:05):
your life, at least on a regularbasis.
When you get that first jobpaycheck, instead of taking all
of it, stop and only take 70%.
Make 70%, your 100.
70% of that first job paycheckis still going to be the most
money you've ever seen in yourlife.
You're at zero.
Make 70, your 100.
(20:26):
You don't have a standard ofliving established yet and
whatever number 70 you accept asyour standard, that becomes
your reality.
After two months you won't know.
70 is not a, that's just myhundred, it's just all I've ever
known.
And, by the way, the other 30,you invest 20% and you take 10%
of it and give it away to theworld.
(20:47):
I don't care who you give itaway to, I'll come back to that
point.
Give it away and here's themost important thing, I'll tell
them.
This is why people read the book.
They have one shot to make thishappen, because if you take
three of those first jobpaychecks, spending all 100% of
it, you will never back down to70.
(21:08):
It's over and you will livelife like most of America, which
is broke, stressed, angry andanxious because of the weight of
money, and you will not earnyour way out of this problem.
Most money problems are notproblems about money.
So I show a $36,000 startingsalary out of high school to
(21:28):
college.
Every kid in the auditoriumwill achieve that.
That's a normal starting salaryin America.
And if you make 70 or 100, youinvest 20% and you give 10% away
, you will have given away$437,000 and have 5.2 million on
a $36,000 salary.
(21:50):
Look here it does not care whatkind of family history you came
from, it's a principle andprinciples don't care.
It doesn't care I haven't saida thing about education.
And it doesn't care what race,what faith or what country
you're from.
Money doesn't care.
Anyone can be one of thewealthiest, most generous people
(22:12):
in the world.
It's just that the wealthy havea plan to have less going out
than is coming in.
And I've got the plan.
I'll shut up now.
No, I will talk for hours aboutthis.
No, keep going.
Money's not hard.
There's just a lot trying tomake it impossible.
And we talk about that.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
What's interesting about what you just shared is,
you know, I like to talk aboutthe FFA jacket and I say you
know, the thing I like about theFFA jacket that old blue, gold
corduroy is it hugs whoever'sinside.
The jacket's never said I can'thug you because of the color of
your skin or your religion orsexual or whatever we want to.
The jacket just says come here,let me give you a hug.
(22:53):
And here's an opportunity.
Now think about what you justshared.
You know a lot of people don'trealize that within ag, science
and FFA, our kids have to keeprecord books.
We have to keep a record of ourprojects.
So our kids are learning earlyon the importance of
documentation of strategy,importance of documentation of
(23:20):
strategy.
But when you couple what thatis with Dale's very simple
roadmap to an incredible future,you have a competitive edge
like no other.
I guarantee there's not a lotof kids that will have this kind
of wisdom, opportunity andtools at their disposal at an
early age.
Would you agree?
Speaker 3 (23:39):
Amen, absolutely, one of the greatest parts of FFA,
absolutely.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
So I love it.
By the way, there was agentleman he's the largest
individual donor in ffa history,by the way and, uh, they made a
movie about him.
Uh, val kilmer, um, uncle ricofrom napoleon dynamite, elaine
(24:05):
hendricks from the parent trap,db sweeney they're all in this
movie.
It's called deep in the heart,and mr walrath, dick Walrath.
Dick Walrath, who's a very,very dear friend, mr Walrath was
an alcoholic and he losteverything.
He lost his family, he losteverything, but he found his
(24:26):
faith and when he found hisfaith, he began to turn his life
around, his life around.
And one of the things that youshared, dale, that I want to
share with you that Mr Walrathalways says is he said, aaron,
I've never been able to outgiveGod.
He said God set me free andwhen he set me free, I feel like
(24:49):
I'm always trying to pay itback.
To date, he's given over $30million to 4-H and FFA kids in
the state of Texas.
That's just in the state ofTexas.
He said, aaron, I'm never goingto be able to give back.
But he said, every time workgot tough, every time the margin
got thinner, every time we hadto make some tough decisions, he
(25:12):
said, I always gave some awayand he said it never failed.
When I did I was always blessedfor doing so and that blessing
just wasn't financial.
Sometimes it was just a word ofthanks and gratitude and
appreciation at a time where youthink you've got it bad and
(25:33):
then you gave something tosomebody and they say thank you,
and you never know what that10% that you're talking about.
You never know what that 10%could do to change somebody's
life.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
You know, I believe that we should find our purpose
in something greater thanourselves.
I once heard a pastor, louisGiglio.
He said if God answers yourprayers today, will just your
world benefit or will the wholeworld be better?
And the greatest way toeliminate and I talk about this
(26:09):
in the talk with kids, why wouldyou give money?
Why would you give money?
The greatest way to eliminatehopelessness and despair and
anxiety and the things and angerand the people you may know
somebody's dealing with it's tocreate a life that has meaning.
It's through serving.
It's becoming second to others.
And when you have a purpose andyou serve, everything about
(26:31):
life gets new perspective.
Kids dealing with you knowbullying, depression, anxiety.
Nothing corrects this likeserving.
It's becoming second and theworld tells us to be first and
we try and love ourselves byserving ourselves.
It's the world's greatest lie.
Look, god puts something in ourhearts.
(26:51):
Our brain waves know this.
You cannot place others firstand have hopeless thoughts.
It's physically impossible.
Chemicals that get released inour dopamine, oxytocin,
serotonin, endorphins it'simpossible to feel hopeless when
you're giving hope and notbeing kind is just a complete
(27:11):
lack of hope.
And social media, music,hollywood these things have
people exactly where they wantus.
And social media and music andHollywood these things have
people exactly where they wantus and we know that's not the
answer.
And people that can't figureout what do I give, what do I do
?
I just tell them this.
My pastor said what breaks yourheart?
What breaks your heart in yourworld?
If you're a young adultwatching this and you just don't
(27:33):
know where to start serving,where to start serving what
breaks your heart?
And then take the gifts youhave and show somebody how much
somebody loves them by how muchyou serve them, because the
greatest among us served CoachDabo Sweeney, the coach of
Clemson.
He said let the light shiningin you be brighter than the
light shining on you.
(27:54):
Oh yeah, it's true.
That is great.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
Great, great quote.
I took my son there, by the way, we were actually on the East
Coast at a soccer camp and IDcamp and we went to Clemson and
you talk about just drivingaround in the culture of that
campus.
It's really phenomenal.
You can feel it.
You can feel it.
You can feel it.
Man, that is good stuff rightthere.
(28:20):
When I think about all this Dale, I think about you.
Know, I can't speak for Georgia.
Let me just tell you aboutTexas.
So I like to ask the kids Isaid how many high schools are
in the state of Texas?
Never fail.
Somebody say a lot.
I'm like, yeah, there are a lot.
There's over 3000 high schoolsin the state of Texas.
Now I said, now, think aboutthat.
Okay, stop and think about that.
(28:41):
Every one of them are going tohave a graduating class.
That means there's going to beyoung people that are getting
out right now.
This year they're going to belooking for a job, a scholarship
or an opportunity.
And so my question to everybodyis this what's your competitive
edge?
What separates you fromeverybody else?
(29:02):
And I believe that the seeds ofgreatness, the things that we
plant in life in those highschool years and in those
college years become the verythings that will become the
tools that we'll use to plantand grow into our career fields.
When you think about thatcompetitive edge, dale, you've
already shared so many.
(29:23):
Let's really kind of dive intothat just a little bit more.
You've already given theseyoung people parents, even folks
that are listening someincredible insight and tools of
things that they can plant inplace in their life.
That will grow a betterrelationship.
It will grow a better financialposition.
(29:44):
By the way, one of the things Ilike that Mr Walrath said
remember he's a very incrediblephilanthropist, but he said one
time he said, aaron, he goes.
I wanted to help people thatwere downtrodden.
I wanted to help people thatwere downtrodden.
I wanted to help people thatwere less fortunate than me.
And he said I figured the bestway that I could do that is not
(30:05):
become one of them.
The bounty of God blessingsomebody, or the hard work, the
harvest that comes with plantingthe right seeds, nurturing it,
caring for it and growing it.
There's a responsibility thereand, by the way, you said
(30:26):
something early on in thispodcast that I have shared with
my colleagues across the country.
I said I want you to besuccessful.
I'm going to share every tool,technique, everything I can do
to help you be successful.
But remember this with successwill come entitlement and people
(30:46):
want to get their hands on it.
So that's why your wisdom Idon't know if people caught that
or not but there's adiscernment that comes with how
you disperse that 10%.
Because if you disperse that 10%the wrong way.
Something tells me you mightnot harvest the same harvest the
next time.
So I think there's aresponsibility and I'm kind of
(31:12):
picking up that.
That was really kind of anunderlying theme of what you're
sharing is the 10% is just atool, it's a guide, but you're
going to have to exercise somediscernment of how you plant
that seed in somebody's life.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
I mean, you don't want to plant that seed in bad
soil, right?
Absolutely, you've wasted it.
You've wasted it.
And so I always tell people the10% giving column will do more
to and for you than the 20%investing column will.
You'll start caring more aboutthe 10% column than you.
Anyone challenge me on this.
(31:46):
I'll take you to dinner anyyear.
If it doesn't work like this,you'll start taking from the
investing and moving to thegiving.
You'll start caring more aboutthe giving column.
But here's the trick to givingwhat, youth?
If you're a young adult, whywould I give my money?
Here's the trick.
You don't understand, when youstart giving, what you think you
(32:07):
want to get.
When you start giving.
Well, if I give you 10, I'mgoing to need to get 12 back,
whatever 10 and 12 are let's saydollar, if I give you $10, I'm
going to need to get 12 back.
Here's the trick.
When you start giving, what youthink you want to get back when
you start giving is going tocompletely change.
Because when it grabs yourheart and you see what it does
(32:29):
to you, you're standing in acheckout line and a lady
standing there with tears in hereyes and doesn't know whether
to push the milk back or theformula back and you sit there
and go.
I've got the bill, put thewhole thing on my tab.
You leave, god bless, take care, I've got this and you do that,
and your whole life were builtaround just dropping grace bombs
on everybody that comes behindyou.
Watch what happened.
You think you know what youwant to get when you start
(32:52):
giving and everything is goingto change because it all gets
new perspective when you startgiving.
You can't help it.
You can't help it.
It'll completely change who youare.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Dale, and you're just .
This is just great.
Mr Walrath, you know I lovethese discussions, like talking
to you.
You know, we're just sitting inhis office, you know, and he's
giving these little nuggets ofphilosophy of life, you know,
and I remember one time he toldme he said, alejandro, he said I
want you to do two things nicefor somebody every day.
(33:25):
Every day, I want you to do twothings nice for somebody.
And if anybody finds out abouteither one of them, that one
didn't count, wow, wow, thatside of what you're talking
about, that side of generosity,that side of stewardship, you
know, do we make the worldbetter?
You know, because we were here.
(33:46):
You know when we talk aboutleadership and leadership
development.
You know when we talk aboutleadership and leadership
development, you know one of thesayings there's two sayings
that we use around our shop alot with our ambassador program
is we always like to say whenyour values are clear, your
choices are easy.
When your values are clear,your choices are easy.
And the second one that we liketo use is the essence of
(34:10):
leadership.
And they say that the essenceof leadership is to plant trees
under whose shade you may neversit.
And when we think about yourwillingness to take that talk
and to make it audible, to makeit in print, to make it a seed
that can plant seeds.
I meant who knows whatincredible oak that you may
(34:35):
plant that my grandchildren getto sit under one day?
Who's to say that somebodylistens to this podcast and they
take away a seed that helpsthem accomplish something great
in medicine and they become mygrandson or granddaughter's
doctor.
I meant we don't know Our job.
You know I tell the kids allthe time and this is for the
(34:55):
adult audience I tell the adultsall the time our job as of
adults, our job is to createopportunities.
That's our responsibility.
Create opportunities, youngpeople.
Your job is to determine theoutcome.
That's our responsibility.
Create opportunities, youngpeople.
Your job is to determine theoutcome.
That's on you.
Our job is to try to get you tothe opportunity and create more
of them.
But we need you to step up andhelp determine that outcome.
(35:19):
Shows like today and the wisdomthat Mr Alexander is pouring
into us, this right here,becomes the seeds and the fuel
to get through that door, todetermine that outcome and then
do it for somebody else.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
And when you start doing that if you're that young
adult watching this when youstart doing that, when you start
planting those seeds of justgiving and grace and being the
best you can be, of just givingand grace and being the best you
can be, life begins to havehope.
And when you live inside as I'mtrying to get people to live
inside financial margin, andwhen you're studying to be as
(35:58):
great as you can be at what youdo, when you're following what
your heart, what you love, whatyou think is your purpose and
you love talking about it, whenyou do these things, life just
tends to land lighter on you.
It's just more fun when youhave a purpose in life and
you're walking through.
I think this I love what I do,I love my spouse, I love you
(36:19):
know, I love what I do, I loveblessing others.
It's just more fun thanfollowing what the society and
stuff wants to tell you tofollow, which is very opposite
of that.
It's not hard.
There's just a lot of stufftrying to make it impossible.
Tune it out.
It's hard to tune it out.
Tune it out.
(36:40):
I'll say this about a quick lifehack that I used.
It's a competitive edge.
I use this like crazy.
If you're a young adult, asksomebody, just ask somebody.
Look, seek people who are doingwhat you want to do at the level
you want to do it, and ask themto pour into you, study them,
(37:03):
learn from them.
They're starving to tell youwhat they do.
Why can't I need anybody?
You aren't looking.
You aren't looking right.
Almost everyone wants to helpsomebody, but they're looking
for people who want to be helpedand chances are it may be
somebody you've never met.
You don't even know.
There's no shortage of jobs.
(37:23):
There's no shortage of jobs andthere never is a shortage of
jobs.
What there is is a shortage ofpeople wanting to pour into
themselves, to become the bestat whatever it is they love and
to be the best at it.
That's what there's a shortageof, and every company wants and
needs great employees.
I'm a company, I'm an employer,I'm a hirer, and the problem is
(37:43):
there's a shortage of peoplewho want to be great employees,
and there always has been.
I'm talking about employeesthat want to study what the
company does and learn how to doit better than everybody else,
to learn it from the customer'sperspective.
That never goes out of, thatnever doesn't have a job, that
never doesn't get promoted right.
(38:04):
All owners want that andthey'll pay top dollar for that.
If you're listening to this and,by the way, if you're an adult,
listening to this, pour into ayoung adult.
I heard a preacher say one timeit's not my job to fill
anyone's cup, but it is my jobto empty mine.
Empty your cup into someoneelse coming after you.
(38:25):
Leave it better than you foundit.
Leave it better than you foundit.
Leave them better than youfound them.
You find a young adult to pourinto.
They're starving for truth,they're starving for answers.
Take what you did and help themgo further, faster.
All right, sorry.
Let's go Say it one more timeit's not my job to fill anyone's
(38:47):
cup, it is my job to empty mine.
That ain't my quote.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Wow, andy Stanley said that, still it's.
It's just, it's incredible tothink about.
You know, I've studiedcombative martial arts for 20
plus years and you, you know myinstructor.
I was very blessed to have anincredible instructor that's
tied all the way back to brucelee and dan anisanto, and you
(39:15):
know, just wow.
And then combative arts,weapons arts and everything, but
I loved his philosophy.
He, his philosophy, is reallyassimilated into everything that
I do, and what he taught us wasthis If you want to be the best
, train with the best.
So we don't seek out to trainwith the black belt of a black
(39:36):
belt of a black belt.
Our philosophy is bring in thehead of a system, bring in the
top person, because if you wantto be the best, train with the
best.
Wow, and what you just said isis that, if I'm a young person,
even an adult right now, listen,and listening includes your
eyes and your ears, listen, lookaround and say you know, I want
(40:00):
to be, I want to be really goodat something who's the best.
And then, like you said, askthem.
And then, oh, by the way, ifyou're one of those people that
are kind of the best, you got aresponsibility, you've got an
obligation.
Start pouring that cup out andstart pouring it into the people
(40:21):
that are going to follow in ourfootsteps, because that is the
essence of leadership is toplant trees under whose shade
you may never see, and I'm goingto tell you if you're a young
adult.
Speaker 3 (40:31):
Well, nobody does that.
Last night, a collegelinebacker from Drake University
and I in the state of Iowa Italked to him for an hour
because he heard whatever aboutme and said I got to know you
and we talked for an hour.
This morning, a golf captain ona college golf team taught him
for 45 minutes that people areyoung adults, are doing this.
(40:53):
They're calling people.
You find people that are doingwhat you want to do that can
help you go further faster andjust make life easier on you,
and that allows you to go outand be a blessing.
Look, there's a sign in ouroffice right here.
It said when God blesses you,he seldom has you in mind.
And so, look, you're going tobe blessed and it's ultimately
(41:13):
for others.
So it may be part of yourfamily, but it's going to help
you go further faster and youuse that to start helping others
faster than the average person,ain't this?
Speaker 2 (41:24):
fun.
I tell you and again, thisshow's not about me sharing my
story, but there's a lot oflisteners that know my story and
you know my journey wasn't easyand but everybody's got a story
.
Everybody has a story.
Everybody has experiencedsomething in life and I think
(41:45):
it's hard to sometimes put ourmind around what you just said,
that all that we've been givenwas given to us possibly for one
person at one moment in ourlife that we may never even know
, which is why, as a person offaith, I like to tell people the
reason we're going to need aneternity is it's going to take
(42:08):
us that long to unpack all theconnections because it's going
to be well.
You said something to thisperson who inspired this person
and invested in this.
It's going to take forever tofigure it all out.
Speaker 3 (42:23):
That's what that meant.
What.
Speaker 2 (42:25):
Yeah, anyway, dale, listen, I hate to wrap up, but
we could keep going.
I mean we might have to do apart two to this.
I just want to tell you howmuch I appreciate you.
I appreciate your message, Iappreciate your willingness to
share, your willingness to share.
(42:49):
Like I said, everybody's got astory, but not everybody's
willing to share it, and thefact that you're sharing it is
you're pouring into others.
But, going back to what we liketo say, you're planting seeds,
seeds of greatness that, ifpeople will just take them and
nurture them and the harvest isthat you're talking about are
not just harvests of wealth.
That you're talking about arenot just harvests of wealth,
(43:10):
financial wealth.
They're harvests of wealth andhappiness and hope and
encouragement, and I just can'tsay thank you enough for what
you're doing.
Speaker 3 (43:16):
Thank you, appreciate you.
Thank you, let me be on here.
Speaker 2 (43:21):
Well, listen, listen.
We wrap up every show with thefun question.
So you're going to get a funquestion.
So tell us, Mr Alexander, whatis the best concert you've ever
been to.
Speaker 3 (43:37):
It's going to be so disappointing for y'all.
This is going to be sodisappointing.
So the beach boys this is sodisappointing.
Everybody's.
I've been the stone rollingstone whatever.
The Beach Boys this is sodisappointing Everybody's.
I've been to Stone RollingStone whatever.
The Beach Boys are a band.
If you're a young adult,they're a band from the 50s, 60s
, whatever.
(43:57):
And they were about surfing inCalifornia.
I'm a massive skateboardersurfer and, by the way, this
next week you'll see me do myhandstand.
I do handstands on skateboards.
I do my annual birthday.
It's coming up this weekendactually.
So, but the Beach Boys all mylife growing up, when I, when I
(44:18):
was in surfing and skateboarding, I just listened to them all
the time in South Georgia, andso it personally for me, it just
meant a great deal for me to gosee them, because it just
brought back.
I know that's a terrible answer.
I've failed at that.
That's a terrible answer, butfor me, the Beach Boys and
anyways, love it.
Hey, listen when you KennyChesney, other than them, kenny
(44:40):
Chesney, I've seen, kenny.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
Here's what's amazing is think about this.
It's just like foods.
Right, I'm an ag guy, so, yeah,I love a good steak, but
everybody that knows me knowsI'm also a sushi guy and so, you
know, I love watching manversus food and carnival eats,
and so I'm a kind of a foodie.
I love to go out and, you know,music's kind of the same way,
and so if anybody were to pickup my playlist, they'd find
(45:05):
anything from.
You know, carmen, stephen,curtis, chapman, all the way
through.
You know, frank Sinatra,michael Bublé, all the way
through.
You know Bruce Springsteen,jimmy Buffett.
You know and I think that'swhat's neat is to talk to guests
.
And, dale, we've had everythingfrom Metallica to Pitbull,
(45:26):
motley Crue, yeah, to GeorgeStrait.
I mean it's incredible to hearpeople talk about their best
concert.
It's a great question.
Anyway, dale, thanks again forjoining us.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank youfor stopping by the Growing Our
Future podcast.
We just appreciate you so much.
(45:46):
We hope today you found someencouragement, some inspiration.
More importantly, we hope thatyou found some seeds of
opportunity that you could plant, that you can grow, that you
can harvest and, as you heardtoday, that you can share.
Until our paths cross againeverybody.
Go out and remember.
If you want to know what thefuture is, grow it.
(46:08):
That means go out and dosomething nice for somebody else
.
You're going to feel good aboutit and our communities, state
and country is going to bebetter because of it.
Thank you for stopping by.
Speaker 1 (46:24):
We hope you've enjoyed this episode of the
Growing Our Future podcast.
We hope you've enjoyed thisepisode of the Growing Our
Future podcast.
This show is sponsored by theTexas FFA Foundation, whose
mission is to strengthenagricultural science education
so students can develop theirpotential for personal growth,
career success and leadership ina global marketplace.
Learn more at mytexasffaorg.
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