Nice Bike_with Mark Scharenbroich

What. A. Guest. Intern Jeff lands another excellent storyteller! Enjoy. We did.

Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Oh, sound drop.
Is this a long story?
I did not know that.

(00:27):
Welcome to the KindnessChronicles.
We don't know what we're doinghere.
We're, once again, we hope toinject the world with a dose of
the Minnesota kindness that itdesperately needs.
Jeff, our 55-year-old intern hasbeen having a little bit of fun
with our equipment here.
While we were away last week, wegot some nude sound drop
buttons, we got Jeff, Hoffman,here in the studio.

(00:48):
We've got.
Steve Brown in the studio, alland kg.
You are in Piqua Lakes as Iunderstand it.
Yeah.
Beautiful country.
Uh, up here in NorthernMinnesota in loving it up here
for a few days before I headback, uh, to work at Canterbury
this weekend.
And, uh, really enjoying the,uh, the new digitized format Oh

(01:10):
yeah.
Of our show.
We're, we're big time here.
Yeah.
Are you up there doing communityservice i'm just relaxing.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
You know, 4th of July weekend atCanterbury was kind of a
grinder.
It was the humidity.
John, you were down in Michigan,uh, at the lake down there in
New Buffalo.
I'm telling you right now, the,uh, the humidity last weekend at
the racetrack was off thecharts.
Um, so yeah, I'm, I'm happy tobe up here doing very little and

(01:34):
I'll get back to work onWednesday.
Jeff, you have a special guest.
We're gonna get right into this'cause we got one that, uh, that
we all have a history with.
Yeah.
Yeah, super excited.
I'll, I'll just kick it offhere.
So today on The KindnessChronicles, we're joined by
someone who made a lastingimpression on me, even if it
took a few decades to fullyrealize it.

(01:55):
I first heard Mark Sharon Brockspeak in 1985.
During my sophomore orientationat Forest Lake High School, I
was 15.
Fairly overwhelmed stepping intoa big new school of over about
1500 students.
But something about Mark'smessage must have stuck with me
all those years because about 18months ago, his talk randomly
resurfaced in my memory, I.

(02:16):
And I couldn't recall his name,but I remembered he was there
with Jostens, who was alsopromoting class rings and
yearbooks.
Yep.
Well, that clue led me to avideo called The Greatest Days
of Your Life So Far, which waswritten and performed by Mark
and seen by millions of studentsin the 1980s listening to his
message.
Now as a husband, father, andcareer professional.

(02:38):
I realized how deeply themessage had taken root.
So I read Mark's book, which iscalled Nice Bike Making
Meaningful Connections on theRoad of Life, and it further
confirmed that it's a messageworth hearing again, Mark's an
Emmy Award winner, a member ofthe National Speaker's Hall of
Fame, and a storyteller whosededicated his career to helping
people create authentic andmeaningful connections with one

(03:01):
another.
In a world so quick to divideMark's message is one that
powerfully unites.
Guys, please help me welcome tothe Kindness Chronicles, Mr.
Mark Sharon Brock.
Woo.
Welcome sir.
Sweet.
Thanks, Jeff.
Yeah.
That was really nice.
Well, thank you for coming.
Really, uh, once again, this isa second week in a row where
Jeff was virtuallyhyperventilating.

(03:23):
He was so excited about theguests that we were having on
with, with good reason.
These are great guests.
He's Mark's a great guest.
I, I am well aware.
I remember Mark.
Yeah, me too.
Well, yeah, to know that I'm apart of random memory.
Is, uh, well, and, and old, oldmemories.
I was a high school assemblyspeaker for, gosh, about 25
years.
in.
All 50 states, all provincesCanada.

(03:43):
And I loved it.
I I love high school assemblies.
It's like a lion's den.
Yeah.
Yeah.
need to know the mascots likeyou guys are in the studio in
Monte.
That's gotta be what, the zeright?
That's right.
Wow.
Wow.
If Barb trivia had high schoolmascots, I, I think I'd, how
does one become a high school?.

(04:04):
what do we call motivationalspeaker Kind.
Motivational speaker.
I mean, did you just decide oneday I'm gonna be a, a high
school assembly speaker, or how,how does one find their way into
that line of work?
the figure senior year in highschool, you either make really
dumb choices or some fun ones.
Ours was both.
We decided to, to form a comedyteam, a comedy group.

(04:25):
Uh, so four of us guys gottogether, a couple young women
with us, and we did sketchcomedy.
This is pre Saturday Night Live.
Uh, kind of the money, PythonDays, ACE Treking company, old
comedy groups like that.
Mm-hmm.
You know, deadly Rigs type ofsketch comedy.
Yeah.
our group kind of caught on,not, not as big as Johnny
Clueless, but the, oh boy, thegroup cut on.

(04:48):
So we started performing inschool.
You know, we'd, we'd go to athing called Stay Quit.
We're in a quarter go tour, uh,playing high schools and small
colleges.
And then when the group brokeup, because my wife, Yoko Ono,
um, I ended up, uh.
You know, maybe high school isnot the best time for everybody,

(05:11):
but as long as you're there, youknow, make some moments count.
Mm-hmm.
So that, that's how it happened.
And Jocelyn's heard about me,the class ring people.
I never had to talk about theproduct.
They just said, you know, justbe a, a kind of value added for
us.
And so, uh, they said, we get alot of demand, none of you.
And so we made a film of my, myspeech to high school students
called The Greatest of Your LifeSo Far.

(05:33):
And so that was played in, Idon't know, 10,000 high schools
every year as an orientationfilm for about 10 years.
Oh, wow.
mark, I, this is Jeff again.
I have a crystalline memory of acouple of students that would've
normally, I would've thoughtnever you're, you're talk
would've never maybe resonatedwith them.

(05:54):
But I remember them specificallysaying, wasn't that awesome?
Wasn't that great?
Two kids with jean jackets, kindof the mullet, you know, picture
of the eighties.
But I tough guys that that madean impression and the entire
auditorium just roaring withlaughter made an impression.
And so you had us.
From the get go and took us on ajourney.

(06:14):
It was awesome.
Did he have you at Hello?
Well, I, I didn't, I don'tremember.
I didn't remember the exactelements of his talk.
But I do remember, as I wasreading your book, mark a story,
and, and I, and I thought aboutthis, how interesting is it that
I'm 15 and all these kids arelaughing, but you are telling
the story of.

(06:35):
The birth of your first son, andI think it was a difficult labor
from your wife, and you saidsomething like, I swear this is
all I said, and, and, uh, do youremember that?
And then everybody just brokeout laughing, like they knew the
girl, the lady would be in pain.
And I just, I couldn't believeit, but I, at that age, I was
laughing.
Maybe we had seen enough TVshows with labor pains and stuff

(06:57):
so it could resonate.
But you did a great job.
I don't know the, the piece wassu had terrible back labor and,
uh, apply pressure her back andback.
You know, all I said were was,wow, my arm hurts.
And the next sensation I feltwere free nails digging deep

(07:19):
into my arm, uh, deeper than Ithought they could ever go.
That was great.
And I said, I'm fine.
I'm, I'm really fine.
I'm okay.
If, if I may, I have to share astory about my wife in labor
with our first child, Jack.
And it's a very similar story towhat Mark just described.
She had 24 hours of labor withJack.
Jack had an enormous melon, thishuge head.

(07:42):
And about 20 hours into it, Istarted getting kind of hungry
and I excused myself and said Iwas gonna go to the bathroom and
I ran down to the, uh, thecafeteria and I snuck in a
cheeseburger.
Oh, John.
And she smelled it and she goes,oh, what the f is that?

(08:03):
And I looked at her, I said, I'mkind of hungry.
She, I'm telling you, I wish shewas down here.
'cause she would.
Light my ass up because it wasone of the big, to this day, I'm
still paying for sneaking thatcheeseburger and it wasn't even
that good of a cheeseburger.
Aw, that's funny.
But anyway, I, um, I just, onelast thing.
do you remember the skit whereChris Farley is interviewing?

(08:27):
Uh, Paul McCartney.
Paul McCartney, watching,getting hints of that with Jeff
right here?
Yeah.
Sage, do you remember that?
That's exactly what he looked, Ithought the same thing.
That's good.
That's all right, Jeff.
That's totally okay.
I feel like that right now.
I, I will say, mark, I rememberwhat I, I did not remember your

(08:47):
name, but Jeff, uh, sent us aclip.
And I immediately remembered youbecause I remembered your humor
and I also remembered the, the,the really great message that
came out of that.
Yeah.
And it affected me as a15-year-old as well.
Yeah.
It was cool.
So I just Oh, that's great.
We're gonna let you talk at somepoint here, mark.
Yeah.
Um, I, we're clearly excited tohave you on at some of us more

(09:08):
than others.
Um, but Mark, this is theKindness Chronicles and I
recall.
That some of the stuff that youtalked about is so consistent
with the stuff that we're tryingto do on this podcast.
Yeah.
And it takes me back.
I, was watching one of yourvideos on YouTube and you

(09:31):
described an exercise that wasdone in the school where, known
and named and known.
Um, oh yeah.
Why are you on the KindnessChronicles?
Tell us why this is such, you'resuch a great guest for this
program.
Well, I love being with fourguys that are Minnesotan.
That, yeah.

(09:56):
Yeah.
Isn't that what it's called?
Yeah.
YouTube like a.
Well, the, that story isphenomenal from the standpoint.
There was a, uh, it's a, it's amiddle school down in Texas,
about 900 students, and theprincipal, uh, had a whole staff

(10:17):
together the day after vacation,Christmas vacation, and kids
came the next day.
He said, welcome back.
We, we had a good start that endbig.
I put the names of all nine kidsup on the, and.
Every student is named and knownto you, uh, not just by their

(10:37):
name that you know, I know kg,but the fact that he went to St.
Thomas, the fact that he playedfor the Burnsville Braves was
the goalie for the 85 hockeyteam.
Woo.
And to this day, people come upto him in the streets of
Burnsville saying, yeah, thatwas a great day.
Yeah.
He peaked in high school too.
I.

(11:03):
30 didn't have a sticker.
Wow.
And he said, I, I know we'regood, but I know we could be
great by connecting with morekids.
And I don't need you to be bebig brother, big sister.
Just, just go out there and makea connection with kids.
Find out something about, becurious, make a connection in
some way, acknowledge kids andhonor them.
And they did.
And, and shoot.

(11:28):
50 schools in the county, theywere rated number 26
academically, and they moved upto number five within a three
year time period.
So it, it's just the power ofconnection, the power of
acknowledging others, um, ofhonoring them and, and, you
know, letting know that whothey're, and what they have to
say matters.
I am convinced that I havestolen Yeah, you have virtually

(11:52):
my entire shtick.
Explain what what you do with,with this information.
Let, lemme me just explain.
So Mark, I work with anorganization called Minnesota
Masonic Charities and one of ourprograms that we put on, and
it's relatively new, but it'ssomething that, I did with my
children when they were in highschool.
and we call it, uh, civilitySchool.
And essentially one of theoverarching themes of civility

(12:15):
school is, it's important tomake people feel like they
matter.
And one of the exercises that Ihave these kids do when we, ask
them to bring their yearbook, tothe program, go through the
yearbook, and I want you to findthree or four people that you've
either never seen before oryou've just never noticed
before.
And I want you to make a pointof going and saying hello to

(12:39):
that person by name.
You know, we do the whole DaleCarnegie, the most beautiful
sound is the sound of your ownname.
And just see what kind of areaction that you get from those
kids and report back when youcome back to, to the second part
of our program.
And like these kids, they, theyget like teary eyed because.
If you're not being seen bythem, you're probably not being

(13:02):
seen by anybody.
And I have this belief that, ahigh school lunchroom is the
most lonely place in the worldif you're not connected with
others.
And I swear, I, I've stolen myshtick.
You have from you, you haveconcept because it sounds so
similar to concept.
Similar what you're trying tosell.
Yeah.

(13:23):
Yeah, but it's a, it's auniversal message.
Mm-hmm.
You know, it, it's one of, offinding purpose and meaning what
you do.
I mean, why are we in thisworld, um, you know, answer some
of the basic questions if it'snot to bring a sense of
kindness.
And you, I mean, the thing of itis you never know what's what's
going on in other people'slives.

(13:44):
I remember I had a high schoolpresentation.
I mean, now presentations.
I spoke at a really sweet schooland a nice theater, and there
was a, a woman, a teacher upfront, front row, uh, right in
front of me, did not crack asmile.
The entire presentation was justkind of Scully, and it was, I

(14:08):
mean, you should be looking atthe people in the audience that
like you, not the ones thatdon't like you, but, um, I.
Did I say a thing to offend you?
You know, did I, did I drop theF bomb or something?
Was I, did I say something?
And she said, oh, I, I'm sorry.
I just, I just found out our, myhusband has got terminal cancer

(14:31):
stage four.
We didn't realize it, and Iwasn't even in the room.
I, I apologize.
Oh boy.
Oh, I'm so sorry.
I'm, that's, you never knowsomebody else's life.
Maybe lift it up just a littlebit by your kindness.

(14:52):
I can relate to you as aperformer, you wanna find the
person who's not into it andfigure out what you could do to
get them into it.
You're challenged by the leastperson, and that's a very, a lot
of comedians do that, butperformers too, like you want
to, why isn't that guy clapping?
What, what's going on?
Yeah.
Why is he scowling at me?
Like, let's get that going so Ican totally relate.
Sometimes I really don't likeyou.

(15:13):
And that's, that, that could beit.
Yep..
I want to bring KG into thisbecause I have a great example
of a past episode where Kevin,you'll have to refresh the
memory, but a goalie, a, a, ahockey goalie, didn't have a
good game, and I think youtexted him or texted his mom or
something and mm-hmm.
Like state championship, wasn'tit?

(15:34):
Yeah.
Could you It was the class Astate championship.
It was the kid, uh, who led hima really bad goal, uh, in
overtime that allowed his teamto lose.
And he had played great allweekend and it was a
heartbreaking finish for him.
And I, I just wanted to makesure I acknowledged him from the

(15:55):
broadcast privately.
How well.
And his mom and, and grandpa hadstopped by the set to say hello,
uh, during the pregame show.
And so I connected with her onFacebook.
She gave me a cell number and Itexted him during the medal
ceremony and he was clearlyupset and uh, just told him,

(16:18):
know, I, I've let him worse.
NHL boys have let him worse,like, like this is gonna happen
if goal goal goes, doesn'tcompeted.
Six minutes of them leaving theice.
He had texted me back and, andlater that night, during the
double A Championship, heactually by himself walked over

(16:39):
to the desk and introducedhimself and thanked me for the
message.
And I was blown away.
You know, this is a kid that'san underclassman, so he's
another year of high schoolleft.
So he is 16, 17 years old.
And uh, I just told him, I said,the fact that you're up here
doing what you're doing, telliein.

(17:00):
Yeah, I mean, when you go to theairport, you, you see the signs,
you hear the messages from tsa.
Uh, if you see something, saysomething.
Yeah.
Well that works for KindnessChronicles too.
Ooh, I like that.
Uh, if you see something reallygood in life happening, say
something.
You know, because a lot of us inour head have that statement,
well that was really kind ofthem, or that was really nice of
them.
Or God, that was a great job.

(17:22):
Um, but then to actually takethe action just simply, if you
see something, say something tosupport people, I'd like the
intern to write that downbecause we're gonna start using
that.
I mean, that is, that, that isultimately the theme of what
we're trying to get accomplishedhere.
I do have a question.
About your website is nicebike.com.
Mm-hmm.
And typically when you have abranding person, nice bike does

(17:48):
not scream what you're talkingabout until you understand what
it means, and then there'sbrilliance in it.
Can you just explain how youcame up with Nice Bike?
Yeah.
From a marketing standpoint,it's confusing.
It's.
But it's not.
Once you understand, you know,well once, yeah, once you get
it.
Well, I had a presentation inMilwaukee, um, flew from

(18:11):
Minneapolis, Atlanta, Milwaukee,rented a a car beige Ford tour
from national pick, pick anycar.
And I took a beige Ford tour,God flashing, and I realized
immediately.
Hardcore Harley Davidson riders.
It happened to be the HarleyDavidson hundredth year
anniversary and there werebikers and throughout the world

(18:32):
it was just packed.
And I'm not a Harvey guy.
I'm more of a pontoon boatfellow You in?
Well, a base Ford fellow.
Yeah.
But I.
You see this big tough Harleyguy, the beard, I mean, right

(18:53):
outta a Game of Thrones.
And this little guy walked byhim, look at him standing by
his, his Harley Davidson, justchrome gleaning.
He'd go, oh, nice bike.
And all of a sudden thisconversation started.
The guy, there was a Harleyrider would talk.
Yeah.
My dad and I were in bikes andmy dad did this and we worked on
this thing and his stories arebeing, and I realized that had

(19:15):
nothing to do with the Harleyhad everything to do with that
connection.
You bet.
Yep.
And the next day I was talkingto a group of teachers said, you
know, tomorrow is the first dayof school for you.
And when students are walkingthrough the door and you, you
know, you know some of theirnames instead of saying, hi,
welcome.
Hi there.
Hi there.
Hi.
There're doing a flightattendant walk.
Say, Jeff, it.

(19:37):
I said that's, that's nice bike.
And all the teachers nodded.
I went, I think I'm ontosomething here.
Mm-hmm.
So nice bikes become themetaphor for, you know, how you
connect with others.
At least the starting point.
It's so good.
Yep.
It's just so brilliant.
When Jeff initially sent the,uh, you know, this nice bike guy
is gonna be on, I'm like, whatthe hell is nice bike?

(20:00):
He works for Eric, the bike manor something.
That's honestly, I thought, isthis guy gonna be selling like
some special bikes or something?
What's going on here?
Cannondale or something.
And then you, you, you go onyour website and it's like, oh
my God, this is really clever.
We like clever.
Yep.
We're big fans of Clever aroundhere.
Oh good.
Well, it, it, I mean the lastname's Sharon Brock.
Nobody.

(20:21):
Yeah.
I mean, you can hear any speakerin the world's darn near, and
then you walk outta theirsession and five minutes later.
I know, but I like to talk.
And so the only way for to findthis is, yeah, go find the nice
bike guy, Google.
Nice.
And you find the guy.
And so that's worked for us.
Connecting with big audiences inthat setting is so hard to do.

(20:44):
And you know, John.
Mason Charities has that.
Oh boy.
It is it, no, it's an art.
And I, I gotta ask you, how muchof your on a given day is
pre-scripted and how much is youreading the audience?
Because I'm certain part of theskill that allows you to have

(21:06):
that connection with thosegroups is, is.
How much of it is scripted?
Do you have writers for this?
Do you write it and then howmuch of it's just free flowing
feeling, you know, kind of whatthe audience is giving you?
Great question.
Susan, my wife, uh, bride of 40plus years, she's my co-writer.

(21:28):
I was run things by what shethink and she's my training.
It's Friday afternoon, last hourbefore, you know, vacation
break.
Oh, and the room is hot.
Um, the are all in the hallway,not sitting with the kids.

(21:49):
And you, you had to read theroom.
You had to focus more on thestudents, in the audiences know
what's going on constantly, um,so you can stay ahead of them.
Uh, and so my whole life has,uh, in speaking, the audiences
have been to know my storieswell enough.
That I'm more focused on theaudience than I'm on what's

(22:10):
next.
The Marx Brothers, you know,Chico, Groucho Harpo, that group
fact, one of their, the firstshow at the Orpheum, downtown on
Avenue, done by the Marx, doneby the Marx Brothers, they
opened up that theater, huh?
And every time they did a show,they would tweak a line until

(22:31):
they found the perfect laugh.
They went, that's it.
At the end of the run, they'dmake the movie knowing where
every single line would hit andknowing that it would play.
So I think to know your stories,to know how they're, they work,
but then the transitions to getsome story A to story B, that's
all free flow.
That's all in the moment.

(22:51):
That makes it, makes it more ofa.
Versus a presentation, I alwaysfeel like a well timed curse
word gets their attention, youknow?
Well, I, I will say what theschool district's looking for
that, John.
Yeah, I, I will say Mark,though, you do customize it
based on bringing differentpeople up, and that actually
creates, you know, a customized,uh, show or a, you know, an

(23:15):
event for that room, because allthose different personalities
will bring your message to life.
You do a really good job of thattoo.
Oh, it's fun.
I mean, audience interaction is,yeah, it's part of the game, but
I always, I always say, youknow, where are my Harley
writers out there?
And there's always a Harleywriter Uhhuh, and I bring them
up on stage and interview them,uh, partially to tie in what
that group is all about.

(23:36):
And, but then to talk about thehundred anniversary and, and to
set up the story, uh, and talkHarley.
Yeah, that's always a funelement.
Yeah.
in your history of doing the,the, the school programs, have
you gotten some, feedback ofstories that really connected
with a particular student thatreached out to you afterwards?
Other than Jeff Hoffman doingthat?

(23:58):
I think we, We had talkedearlier about the birth of our
firstborn and or any of ourchildren.
Each one's being so new.
We have three.
And I remember when our son wasabout six months old, um, he was
looking in the mirror like alllittle kids do, but there was a,
a light bulb that went off inhis head.
It realized.

(24:23):
All babies, no matter what thezip code or country code is,
when they look in mirrors andthey realize it's them, I mean,
what do they do?
They lean forward, touch themirror, and give the reflection
of big kids.
Oh.
And yet for a lot of us, we wokeup this morning no matter where
we were, and the last thought inour mind was lean forward.
That reflection of kids.
Yes.
And, and the question is, youknow, what, what happened?

(24:46):
What happened to us along theway?
What, what changed?
That kid that would in firstgrade threw their hand up in the
ear, not because they knew theanswers, but just because they
wanted to, to engage andparticipate.
You know, what if that kid usedto see value in their lives and
now, you know, questions,everything they do.
The only answer I could come upwith is, is when we as human

(25:07):
beings, uh, stop sharing thatjoy and start comparing.
Mm-hmm.
The example I gave to studentswas true.
I mean, I grew up in a bigCatholic family in cloud.
I was number four or five kids,and I always had the cigar box,
crayons, junk drawer, crays, youknow, the ones were really
gnarly.
And when I was in first grade, Igot my first of five.

(25:31):
Beautiful.
Never touched by another humanbeing.
Crayons.
And I remember when it, when itwas time to, to draw pictures, I
was so jazzed to put that box offive up in front of me and
little girl sitting next to mereached inside her little la
attache case and had the big boxof crayons.
I mean the 3000 crayons, theelectric, sharper in the
background, gold, silver,copper, crayons.

(25:52):
I remember her looking at mesaying, I have 10, 17 different
shades of orange.
Oh, Jesus.
And me thinking, I don't evenhave orange, and I, I think it
said, that moment when you stopgetting excited about coloring
and start counting the crayonsinstead.
That you lose sight of?

(26:13):
Well, if I had as many crayonsas they did, or if I only had
what they had, then I could, butif I had that location, if I had
this, if I had that, but life'snot fair and they're more worth
more and I'm worth less.
And you can't win because nomatter how many crayons you end
up with, muscle always havemore.
You know, so the, the message I.

(26:37):
Just draw pictures.
Love it.
And that message seemed toresonate, uh, for kids to, you
know, be your personal best,find out what you're good at,
pursue it.
Was just, um, reflecting on thefilm the, the greatest days of
your life so far.
And I think probably the mostemotional moment in that, uh, by

(26:58):
the way, the song is so cool,even though it's very eighties
esque, uh, it brings me rightback and all those images.
So yeah, you and Jo's did agreat job on that.
It's fun to watch.
Um, but, uh, kind of that, thatend where.
You, you shared that story aboutthe crayons and, and sort of all
the beating up of a, a persongoes through in life and then

(27:21):
they just say, you know, I'm notgonna raise my hand.
I'm not gonna take that risk.
And you, you made a really goodimpression on me in that you
said, you know, I'll just, I'llwait till I'm a senior and then
I'll, you know, you know what?
No, I'm gonna wait until Igraduate.
And you kept going on and on.
And then eventually it's maybe,you know, I'll wait until I'm
dead and then I'll have all thetime in the world.

(27:42):
And it's like, wow.
That like hit, uh, hit me at thecore.
And I, and that's why I feellike maybe you set the
trajectory in a way, because itwasn't until I saw Ferris
Bueller's Day off.
And he said life moves prettyfast.
Mm-hmm.
That kind of became a, a mantrafor me.
Life moves pretty fast.
If you don't stop and take alook around at once in a while,

(28:03):
you might miss it.
And then a year later, dead PoetSociety came out, Carpe Diem
and, and, and it, I alwaysthought it was those two and,
and it was, but you were thefirst person that said that same
message in a different way.
And it made that impression.
And that's when I'm like, Idefinitely saw you live.

(28:23):
I'm happy that one hit.
I have a question for you, mark.
So you've obviously made a hugeimpression on Jeff and me.
I remember too, and I really,really did appreciate it.
At a time when you kind of, youknow, you're in that vulnerable
state, you're kind of pivotal.
You're gonna be, what are yougonna be when you grow up?
Kind of that kind of thinking.
My question is, sounds likeyou've been, this is your.

(28:45):
Mission in your life, you'vebeen, you're still doing it and
you're doing, sending thatmessage out.
Have you altered your message,what angles have you taken
because of the way of the world,or haven't you changed it at
all?
Reinforced., When you're in yourtwenties, you have a certain set
of beliefs.
But you're not sure if they'rereally correct or not.

(29:06):
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
Idealistic kind of thing, youmean?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, what you think isimportant or what.
Yeah, and I, I, I mean, I had areally cool experience in Las
Vegas.
I spoke, uh, to I-C-C-F-A, whichI'm sure you guys are all
familiar with.
Oh, yeah.
Totally.

(29:27):
Cemetery Cremation FuneralAssociation.
Yeah, it's one of my favorite.
I got the tattoo associationsspeak.
Speaking of, uh, maybe when Idie, I know, but it was a
thousand people in the eye, allthat deal with death on a weekly
basis.
And, but the two things Ilearned, a people that deal with
death on a weekly basis embracelife on a daily basis.
They don't, they don't letmoments by them or people get

(29:50):
past them.
Jeff and I touched on this alittle bit.
I I met a guy named Vinny.
He grew up in New Jersey.
What are the odds?
What a surprise.
Bob was a sound, he was a soundtech, right?
So always has his big crew.
I mean, this guy had Mike fourpresidents, was on tour of the

(30:11):
Stones, uh, worked with TonyBennett chair.
I mean, he was the guy, he wasjust fascinated in the middle of
conversation before the show.
He turned me and he strange.
I'm curious, what are your corevalues?
And I just kind of sta it aroundlike, um, I dunno, you know, to
be nice, um, lead the campsitebetter than I found it.

(30:35):
I, I don't know.
And he rolled up his shirt.
Steve on Army had three tattoos.
They red, uh, respect, honor,loyalty, a.
I was impressed because, I mean,if you sat down with a group of
friends and, and you're at atable together and said, okay,

(30:56):
table topic, everybody, what areyour core values?
You know, the question is, couldyou state them?
Could you, we all have theserandom thoughts in our head, and
you ask me, you know, has mymessage changed or have my
thoughts changed?
And what's happened is just tome, more clarity because.
Two and a half hours, just kindof really focusing in on what

(31:18):
are my core values?
What's my moral compass?
Can I state them?
Can I answer it and supportthose.
And I think that's a big turningpoint for a lot of people to
really understand what it isthey're doing and why, um, that
brings meaning and purpose totheir lives.
And I mean, the core valueschronicle's.

(31:42):
Other than making the lives ofothers around us, just, just a
wee bit better.
Mm-hmm.
In some way, because you neverknow what that small thing, I
mean, the, the message, the textmessage to a goalie, uh, that
hit that kid so hard, you neverknow what you might do.
That's gonna really impactsomebody's life in some way
short term.
So I think that's one of thebiggest things that's happened

(32:03):
to me is to really be able todefine core values and know how
much of a, a moral compass thatis.
Cool..
I just have to say, I wish thatmy memories of the.
School auditorium presenters wasas strong as yours.
I might have early onsetsomething.
My memories tend to be aroundthe girls that we went to high
school with.
Yeah.
But hey, we're different thatway.

(32:25):
We're different that way.
I gotta tell you, people needto, to consume your message.
Where do we find more about,,nice bike.
Nice bike stuff?
I'm assuming Nice bike.com is agreat place to start, but are
you still doing speaking?
Are you, still going?
Can we hire you to come andspeak to a group?
I'm still speaking.
I still love it.

(32:46):
It's telling stories, it's, uh,taking universal messages and,
and bringing them alive.
So people go, I mean, it's likethe TSA thing.
If you see something, saysomething.
If you, if you have some wordswith a hook to them that people
a week, a month, a year latercan remember.
yeah, I mean that it's, it'sfun.
Yeah.
I mean it's a nice bike.com.

(33:07):
I think our book Nice.
Yeah.
Nice bike is on Amazon.
I.
Something, it's actually, you'venot, you've, you've not
experienced a book until you'vehad Alexa read it to you.
And, uh, she actually does apretty good job'cause I couldn't
find the audio audible version,but it, it, she did a pretty

(33:27):
good job.
But then why I did look at whydid you have her do that?
I bought Kindle and I, and I'mconstantly like trying to do two
things at one.
I didn't know that was thething, but Mark, I did want make
a connection.
I'm, I, I, I went on the Kindleand I'm like, oh, look at these
cute pictures of these kids inthe backseat.
And I wonder who drew those?
And I went to the front and itlooked like it was your son that
illustrated some of those.

(33:47):
So it, it looks like it was afamily affair.
It was.
I map it off his, uh, car thatway.
It was great.
Wow I'm gonna pivot here realquick because you had mentioned
that you were part of a comedytroupe and last weekend I was in
Chicago and for the first timewent to Second City.
Ah, cool.
I've never been there before.
And.
my expectations were franklykind of low going in there.

(34:09):
It's like, you know, how funny,can this be improv, Talk about a
great place to start to learnhow to connect with people.
Yeah.
The way that those people fedoff of the crowd.
Yeah.
And it's kind of magic.
It is magic.
It's a language they learn, butwhen it's put to to good use it,
it feels like magic in front ofyou.
And I just think that what agreat foundation for the stuff

(34:31):
that Mark is doing.
Yeah.
You know, having done that whilehe was at St.
Cloud State.
So you did, you grad, yougraduated from St.
Cloud State.
Thanks for that question.
And after five years, yes.
Hey, that's enough compared tosome of these people.
Mark, could I interject too, ifyou, uh, tell the story about
that, but could you tell us alittle about like,'cause.

(34:51):
When I'm reading your book, andby the way, I'm an auditory
learner, that's why I had tohave Alexa read it, the Kindle
version.
To me it's not okay.
Alright.
But I did look at the visualthing and saw the picture.
So, but anyway, does your wifeknow you're dating Alexa?
Sorry.
Um, but I, when I'm readingsomething like that and

(35:13):
listening to someone who istelling these great deep stories
that are like, wow, this ismoving, this is, uh.
Really resonating.
I, I then think to myself, whathappened to this person?
Were they born always this way?
Did they just kind of come outinto the world with these core
values?
Did something happen that shapedthem?

(35:33):
And I did a little bit ofbackstory research and learned
that you were in student counciland this Dr.
Earl room was a mentor of yours.
So maybe factor all that in asyou're responding to John.
I'd love to hear that backstory.
my mentors have always been, uh,teachers.
I think they've in, in large andsmall ways.
I mean, the, um, a 62ndinteraction with Leroy

(35:57):
Radanovich, uh, my shop teacherback in high school kind of
changed, changed how I.
One of the fun exercises in lifeis to go through,, make a, a
three column list of the person,the experience and the lesson.
and it's a great writingexercise too, but you go through

(36:19):
different people in your lifeand then throughout all the
years, some experience you hadwith them.
And then what was the lessonthat you took away from it, and
how do you apply it to your,what you do every day now?
And I, I think you find that weall think that heroic people,
big heroes of these superheroes,but oftentimes it's just little
interactions that you have withpeople along the way that just

(36:41):
stay with you forever.
I heard a quote from BarbaraJordan years ago.
Uh, first representative fromTexas first.
And she's on 60 minutes, but shesaid something that just changed
my life.
She said It's, it's moreimportant to be interested than
interesting.
Come on.
Used that all the time.

(37:02):
You know, it's, it's AsMinnesotans, I always thought
that people from California andNew York are interesting and
they're people from Italy areinteresting.
Yeah.
And they.
It's, I found out from her thatjust to be curious that

(37:22):
everybody has a story and youspend less time trying to tell
your story, more time, trying tofind out about somebody else's
story that has a huge impact on,on what you learn and how you
interact with others.
That might be my favorite guestof all time.
I'm not kidding.
Yeah.
So, um, this is really good.
uh, We're at 40 minutes and weusually don't want to burden our

(37:45):
guests with too much of oursilliness, but kg do you have
any final questions for ourguest?
Well, I think we've hit the, themain topics.
Is there a guy that or a, thatinspired you?
Like, you know, I.
Have a gift.
Someone somewhere maybe Was thatspark that ignited this whole

(38:07):
thing?
Or do you still have somebodythat you watch and maybe they do
stand up so it's a littledifferent and, and you try to
use them as a mentor?
Sweet question both ways.
I mean, I remember when JerrySeinfeld come, came to
Minneapolis and we were like inthe fourth row, and I, I didn't
laugh for 20 minutes because I.

(38:28):
In awe of what an so good,amazing artist he's that
everything he does is so, Imean, so you look like, you look
at people like that.
Um, but then, the Renaissancefair, the state fair, the Piqua
days, bean hole days, um,county, county fair.
You go to all these differentexperiences related in some of

(38:53):
how to.
I think he had a wide range oflessons that way.
But I mean, the biggestinfluence would be my wife
Susan, who is without question,good answer.
Beautiful woman.
I know she's the most beautifulwoman that ever said hello.
Back was.
It was incredible, huh?
Most of them just walked by.
I was invited by some studentsto speak up at a graduation in

(39:16):
Superior Wisconsin.
And, uh, early, early in mycareer, I was in my early
twenties and I went way toolong.
It was really stupid, it wasn'ta good speech.
And on the way home from Duluththat night, I said, I, you know,
I, I would've been thisdifferent, I would've done that
different, but I really likedit.
I wish I could do this sort ofthing.
And she said, then you should.

(39:37):
Wow.
I don't know what, I don't knowhow we get there, but I think
you should.
So I think to have somebody inyour life that say that is a, I
think you should person, um, andthen there's everything that
they can to help you find therocket fuel for that.
That's, that's the biggestinfluence.
Awesome.
I agree.
That's awesome.

(39:57):
Well, Jeff, this is your guest.
Any final words?
Are you, are you with us?
He's Speechless Sim similar toyou with Jerry Seinfeld.
I just don't, no, I could go onand on.
I mean, I just don't wanna, um,I, I guess we know that you
could go on and on and on.

(40:18):
Maybe we could maybe I Exactly.
Our, our guests need to listento him and see how, how talented
he really is too.
So we gotta get the clip out sowe can't take it enough for the
time there.
I don't know if we can wrap itup with, um, I'm always looking
for applied ways that I can takea teaching and, and apply it in,
in everyday life and seesomething, say something that,

(40:38):
but I think that we're in a,we're in a day and age right now
with artificial intelligence andwith smartphones and everybody.
You know, performing for eachother on social media with, I'm
thinking of the kids, you know,and taking pictures.
It's, it's increasinglydifficult to sort of get their
attention and understand andlearn.
Then again, you've got a wealthof information to learn a lot

(41:01):
about.
What they're interested in andwhat it, it gives you a vi a
window into some of their valueswhen you, you, you can do some
of the backstory research.
Is this a long story?
He's using my sound pads againstme.
But the, the, I don't know ifyou, I don't know.
I was just, um, wondering if youhad any, uh.

(41:23):
Last minute anecdotes oranything that, um, we should be
thinking about when we're tryingto engage or get the intention
of someone and trying to justhelp them.
Hasn't he just done 45 minutesof that?
We might have gone a bridge toofar here.
Sorry.
You know what, mark?
We're gonna, we're gonna saveyou from answering that

(41:43):
question.
We are grateful for your time.
We've gone way over our budget.
Do you want me to hit the thememusic as I, as I like to say,
we've given them more than theydeserve.
Great guest.
And with that, thanks, mark.
Thank you, mark.
Off we go.
Thank you, mark.
Thanks guys.

(42:03):
It's great with you.
Alright, see ya.
I'm glad I entertain you guys.