When Life Gives You Cancer, Make Greatfruit - Steve Garraty

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What happens when a rebellious teenager receives a life-altering cancer diagnosis at 18? 

In this powerful conversation, Steve Garraty shares his extraordinary journey from self-destructive partying to profound purpose after doctors discovered a grapefruit-sized tumor in his neck on July 4th, 1986.

Steve candidly reveals his spiral into reckless behavior after moving to Atlanta as a teen – drinking before school, wrecking five cars while intoxicated, and causing tremendous stress for his family. Just after high school graduation, everything changed with three devastating words: "you have cancer." Through nine grueling months of chemotherapy, Steve kept a journal that would eventually become his book "Greatfruit: How Cancer Led to Living a More Fruitful Life."

The heart of this episode explores how facing mortality at such a young age transformed Steve's approach to fatherhood. With doctors warning he might never have children due to his treatments, each moment with his two children became a profound gift. Now a grandfather and successful sales leader at companies like Salesforce, Oracle, and Workday, Steve reflects on how his cancer journey cultivated deep empathy, gratitude, and perspective – qualities that shaped both his parenting and professional leadership.

Most compelling is Steve's insight about extracting meaning from life's hardest moments. "We all go through stuff," he shares. "It may have a different face for you than for me, but we all go through moments or events that change us." His message to parents: be resilient through challenges, lean on your support network, and look for opportunities to grow through adversity.

Whether you're facing your own struggles or simply seeking perspective on what truly matters in parenting, Steve's story will inspire you to embrace each day with intention and appreciation. Listen now to discover how life's greatest challenges can become the foundation for our greatest strengths.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Hi, I'm Riley and I'm Ryder and this is my dad show.
Hey everybody, it's CaseyJaycox with the quarterback dad
cast.
Welcome to season six, and Icould not be more excited to
have you join me for anotheryear of fantastic episodes and
conversations really unscriptedand raw and authentic

(00:24):
conversations with dads.
If you're new to this podcast,really it's simple.
It's a podcast where weinterview dads, we learn about
how they were raised, we learnabout the life lessons that were
important to them, we learnabout the values that are
important to them and really welearn about how we can work hard
to become a better quarterbackor leader of our home.
So let's sit back, relax andlisten to today's episode on the
Quarterback Dadcast.

(00:45):
Well, hello everybody, it'sCasey Jaycox with the
Quarterback Dadcast.
We're in season six and I know Ikeep saying this, but our
guests keep getting better.
And again, like you probablyheard me say this, whenever time
we get a referral specificallyfrom this gentleman and this
fine lady the one and onlyJonathan Kaplan and Rachel Clav

(01:06):
Miller when they refer a guest,I drop everything and say OK,
who is this?
Who is this gentleman?
And his name's Steve Geraghty.
I was joking before we startedrecording.
Every time you see his lastname.
I want to talk in an Irishaccent, so if you see me do that
today I apologize.
But he is a fantastic, talentedfather with a story.

(01:27):
He's a Georgia Bulldog.
He spent last 33 years in salesand sales leadership.
He's written a very impactfulbook called Great Fruit how
cancer led to living a morefruitful life.
We'll get into that.
But, more importantly, we'renot here to talk all about that.
We're here to talk about SteveGarrity, the dad, how he's
working hard to become theultimate quarterback or leader

(01:49):
of his households Withoutfurther ado.
Mr Garrity, welcome to theQuarterback Dadcast.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
Hey, casey, thanks for having me.
It's great to be here.
I'm glad John and Rachelconnected us.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
I'm glad too, and I don't know why I called him
Jonathan, like I think he's introuble for somebody.
He's not.
Yeah, I've never called himthat, so neither did I, john.
I apologize.
I don't know why I did that,but I hope maybe you got a
little bit of a giggle at this.
Well, we always start out eachepisode with gratitude, so tell
me, what are you most gratefulfor as a dad today?

Speaker 3 (02:19):
Oh, man, that's an easy one.
I have two, but the first one'san easy one.
I became a grandfather lastThursday I think we talked prior
to that, casey and so, yeah,I've got a grandson and I'm up
here visiting him.
They live about seven hoursaway, they live in Atlanta and
so, yeah, we're up just soakingin every minute we can get with

(02:40):
him right now.
But, yeah, his name is PhilipJames and he was born last
Thursday.
My daughter and her husband hadtheir first child, so, yeah, I
couldn't be more thankful andgrateful for that.
And then I guess my second isbecause I know you start every
show like this the second is myI guess my kids' choice in

(03:01):
spouses.
My son just got engaged and welove his fiance.
We've gotten a chance to meether family.
And then my daughter gotmarried early this year and
we've gotten a chance to get toknow his family really well.
But his name's Christian and myson's fiance is Claire and I'm
very thankful for both of themand glad they're going to be

(03:23):
part of our families for therest of our lives so cool.

Speaker 2 (03:27):
What a gift.
Oh yeah, and I remember wetalked what yeah a week ago and
you said, hey, there's a chancewe might need to pause this
podcast because you might be uh,you might be getting scrubbed
up and right in the room andhelping.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
I'm not talking about that, but what a gift right
after that.
So yeah, last Thursday, lastThursday he.
But what a gift right afterthat.
So yeah, last thursday.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Last thursday he was born and, yeah, we couldn't be
more thrilled wow, so cool.
Um, well, what I'm mostgrateful for today is, um, a
couple things.
One I was complaining to youabout stupid tennis elbow I have
, but you know what?
I'm still keeping the bodymoving.
I know it's just a, a blip onthe radar that'll eventually go
away.
But when we get older, I don'tknow about you, man, but I,
these annoying little injuriesget really taxing and I try to

(04:08):
like just, but I got up, keptmoving the body a little bit,
took the dog for, you know, awalk.
She didn't hear that.
She didn't come back in here,um, so I'm grateful for that.
But I'm also grateful for, uh, I, I love seeing when, when, just
like in the wide world of likecoaching, when you can make
someone, you can make something,someone else's idea because

(04:30):
they have belief in it.
When you have belief in it, andI just I'm very grateful that
my kids both have a very, verystrong work ethic.
And there's a stoicism quoteabout, you know, falling in love
with the process of, you know,not always seeing the end game
of what the result might be, butjust falling in love with the
process of um, you know, notalways seeing the end end game
of what the result might be, butjust falling in love with the
process of working your ass offand um, like every day.

(04:51):
When my daughter committed towhere she can play basketball in
college, she's the collegecoach talked about, hey, that we
make 500 shots a week.
Um, so now riley is alreadymaking 500 shot, 500 shots a
week, and her she's in ops.
She's about to start fall ballfor her senior in high school
and my son's the same thing.
He lives at the golf course,just loves it, and I'm just

(05:12):
grateful.
They have found their passionand um, hard work and they know
it's gonna be.
This is.
These skills you're buildingnow are gonna take you through
life and whether it's in salesor you're a bus driver or you,
you know, barista at Starbucks,you still got to work.
You got to fall in love withwhatever you're doing.
So I'm grateful if they have.
I feel like they're reallyembracing that mindset.
That's awesome.

(05:33):
Okay, well, you teased us,grandpa, with a little bit of
family news there, but bring usinside the Garrity Huddle, talk
a little bit about each memberof the squad, the inner squad,
and then tell us how you andyour wife met.

Speaker 3 (05:51):
Yeah, so I'll start with my wife.
She and I just hit our 30-yearanniversary.
Last year we made a decision torenew our vows.
We live in Tampa, florida nowMoved down there 25 years ago.
So we went back to we live inTampa, florida now moved down
there 25 years ago, but we gotmarried in Atlanta.
So we went back to the churchthat we got married in, we

(06:11):
renewed our vows and then didlike a little honeymoon to
celebrate our 30 yearanniversary.
We have two kids that Imentioned my daughter.
Her name is Grayson.
She is now 27 years old 28, I'msorry and, as I mentioned, got
married early this year, justhad our grandson.

(06:31):
And then my son is Jack and helives closer to us.
He lives in St Petersburg andjust got engaged about two
months ago.
So a lot going on this year.
It's been pretty busy, butthat's that's my immediate
family.
My wife's mother moved down toTampa when she figured out we
weren't moving back to Atlanta.

(06:53):
She moved down and she's closeto us.
She basically lives in amother-in-law suite behind us.
So that's kind of the immediatefamily.
I met my wife shortly aftercollege.
We both went to Georgia.
We found out on our first datethat we had spoken on the phone.
We were both social chairman ofour respective sorority and

(07:14):
fraternities and had spoken onthe phone but never met.
And but we met in Atlantathrough a mutual friend and on
our first date kind of put twoand two together that we had
spoken on the phone about threeyears prior but just started
dating, dated, you know, kind ofhit it off pretty quick and got
married in 1994.

(07:34):
And, like I said, celebrated 30years last year.
Wow, Congrats.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
Thank you Exciting.
This is going to get into themeat of what we're having.
I'm excited we're going to talkto Steve today.
So take me back to what waslife like growing up.
I know, but I want to helpeverybody else learn about this.
But take me back to what waslife like growing up for you and
talk about the impact that momand dad had on you, now that you

(07:59):
can reflect as a dad and agrandpa.

Speaker 3 (08:02):
Yeah, sure.
So my parents are both stillhere, they're both still married
to each other and we basicallygrew up, started off.
My dad was kind of I would callhim, you know, lower income
kind of getting started and Iremember as a young child, you
know, we didn't have much moneyand things were tight and then

(08:24):
we made a move.
So each time we made a move itwas for a career opportunity for
him.
So I started in Chicago andthen we moved to Connecticut
when I was eight and he'd gottena job offer there and I would
say that kind of moved them up alittle bit from a financial
perspective.
We were probably more lowermiddle income then and really
enjoyed a few years inConnecticut.

(08:45):
Then we moved to the southeastwhen I was 12 and moved to
Atlanta and again that was for ajob opportunity.
And then, you know, I think mydad's career really started to
take off in Atlanta.
My mom was a state.
She decided to stay at homeonce she had I'm the oldest of
three and so she decided to stayhome.
But she has been an artist andso she was always doing pottery,

(09:10):
painting, she taught kids inthe neighborhood art classes and
she made some side money doingthat.
It was a side hustle.
I don't think we called themside hustles back then, but she
did that.
So a lot of the neighborhoodkids would come over.
We had two kilns in the houseto cook the pottery and my dad

(09:32):
was my dad was an electricalengineer and just kind of moved
up through leadership roles andthen we were in Atlanta
basically through middle schoolfor me and high school and then
went off to college.
So Atlanta was home until Imoved to Tampa.
But life was good.
I'd say we had a normal family,nothing unusual.

(09:53):
My dad worked hard and kind ofclimbed the corporate ladder,
always worked for largecompanies, and then my mom I
think we were fortunate that shewas able to stay home with us
and was definitely the caregiver.
So that's kind of what life waslike.
And then I started going alittle bit sideways in high
school and I know that's whatyou were alluding to.

(10:14):
I'm happy to jump into that.
But I would say growing up,casey, life was, you know, life
was pretty normal Dad, dadclimbing the corporate ladder
and my mom raising three kidsand and an artist on outside of
that.

Speaker 2 (10:29):
How, how hard was moving for you?

Speaker 3 (10:32):
It was very, very difficult.
You know, I'd say the secondmove when I was eight.
I had a lot of close friendshadn't lived anywhere else.
That was a little bit difficult.
But when I moved when I was 12,basically in Atlanta at the time
you went from lower school tohigh school and so, even though
I called it middle school, youbasically were in elementary up

(10:55):
through seventh grade and thenyou started high school in
eighth grade and so I started wemoved the summer after sixth
grade, and so I had one yearbasically being the oldest kid
in elementary school in seventhgrade and then I went off to
high school and so, yeah, it wasa huge transition.
Plus, you know, we were quoteunquote Yankees moving down to

(11:18):
the southeast and I went to highschool in a very country, rural
.
Today it's funny because it'snow considered part of Atlanta,
but back then it was consideredthe boonies out in the woods, if
I can use the word, redneckthat was probably the best way
to describe it and so all thatwas.

(11:38):
It was a huge transition andprobably a little rough for a
year or two.

Speaker 2 (11:43):
Dad's starting to have success, mom's staying at
home holding the fort down,keeping the kids doing their
best.
We're starting to move, which Ithink that makes sense of some
of the challenges you're goingto talk about Before we dive
into that, as you reflect whatwere the core values that mom
and dad did their best to try tojust instill in you and your
siblings.

Speaker 3 (12:03):
Yeah, you know you mentioned you were thankful for
your kid's work ethic that'sprobably the first word that
comes to mind with my dad, likehe always worked really hard and
like his career was, you know,was important.
And I think he he put a lot oftime and effort into that.
And then, on top of that, youknow, he always took care of
stuff at the house, made sure tocreate memories for us.

(12:26):
So I have a lot of memories ofmy parents were big into camping
and so we used to camp in atent for the longest time and
then eventually, you know, likeI said, as his career was
growing, we ended up getting acamper.
I remember when I was six orseven we took a camp.
We drove from Chicago down toOrlando, went to Disney World
and went to the campground therefor a week and I thought, you

(12:49):
know, I thought I was in heavenwhen we did that.
So, yeah, I'd say work ethicfor my dad and, and then I'd say
both my parents, creatingmemories for us was important.
And I would say the third, whichprobably impacted my career
choice they are extremely social.
They just moved into a nursinghome and they are loving it,

(13:10):
just because, you know now theythey're meeting friends, meeting
people every single day.
They're having, you know,there's a cafeteria, there's a
library, there's classes andactivities, and so they're
they're in heaven right now,just just really spending time
socially.
And so I always saw from myparents that it was important to

(13:30):
their friendships and each timewe move, starting over, they
were always great at meetingfolks through church, through
the neighborhood, through schooland building friendships and
they've always had really closefriends, close circles of
friends, and they've also donereally close friends, close
circles of friends, and they'vealso done a really good job of
keeping up with those peopleeven when we move.

(13:50):
I mean they're best friendslonger than I've been alive,
started in Chicago and my dadand this guy worked together and
they ended up becoming closeand you know our families took
trips together but I'd sayfriendships.
My parents really put a lotinto that.
It's always been important andI think that that was something

(14:11):
that was instilled upon me thatI carry forward.

Speaker 2 (14:16):
Love it.
When did things start going offthe rails for you?

Speaker 3 (14:20):
You know you asked, you asked about moving and
whether that was hard.
Probably haven't thought aboutit a lot this way, but you know

(14:45):
that might have led to somebehavioral issues.
I will say, like the summerafter and this always scares the
crap out of me when I thinkabout, you know, having two kids
and when they were in theirteens.
But the summer after sixthgrade I ended up getting stoned
one night and drunk the next andmy friend in Connecticut I'd
gone back up to visit him and hehad an older sister right, it's
usually the older siblings thatget you into trouble and she
and her boyfriend took us to,they had a beach place and the
first night we're there, and youknow, the first night we're

(15:07):
there, they they pull outmarijuana and then the second
night they went and bought beerfor us, and so that was the
first time that I did either ofthose.
And and then you know we hadjust moved to Atlanta and and I
probably started, you know,maybe it was a desire to be
popular and to fit in and someof that transition and struggle
from moving, like I said, fromthe Northeast down to the South

(15:30):
and kind of going to high schoolin a totally different culture
than what I was accustomed to.
But I started partying andstarted you know, that social
aspect was really important tome and started experimenting
with some of that my freshmansophomore year.
But my junior and senior year,you know, I would describe it as

(15:51):
kind of going off the rails andI think you've probably read
about about that a little bit inmy book.
But yeah, it caused a lot offriction with my, my parents, I
think.
My siblings were, unfortunately, my brother and sister were
unfortunately impacted by that.
But yeah, I mean, it got to thepoint where I was, you know,

(16:12):
trying to drink harder andharder liquor.
You know I was partying everyweekend.
That eventually led to drinkingbefore school quite a bit.
So, yeah, just a lot of poorchoices and it just continued to
.
If you've seen Breaking Bad andyou saw how Walter White's
character kind of spirals down,when I look back at high school,
that was, I was in a spiral, Ithink, and it just kept getting

(16:36):
worse and worse until I got awake up call.
But yeah, that's, I thinkthat's what led to it and I just
I love the parties, I love thesocial scene.
We didn't call it FOMO backthen, but if I missed a party I
had FOMO.
I wanted to be part of everysocial aspect of high school and
took things to an extreme.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
When this started happening.
I want to encourage people togo pick up Grapefruit, which
we'll talk about later in ourconversation, which really talks
about openly these strugglesthat you faced head on.
You really didn't have a choiceto face head on Were your
siblings?
Did they see these trends andwere they concerned?

Speaker 3 (17:22):
No, Um, so they were both younger.
Um, they definitely saw thetrends, they definitely saw what
I was doing.
Um, they were.
We all had very differentpersonalities.
So you know it's funny, I wentinto sales, sales leadership.
Um.
My sister, uh, went to medschool.
She's a doctor now.
She was the smart one.

(17:43):
And then, um, my brother did alittle bit of school but he
ended up starting his ownbusiness and um business and
owns his own company, and so wecouldn't be more different.
Personality wise, and careers, Ithink, are a testament to that.
But yeah, they were very awarewe're separated by two years
each, and so they were, you knowthey were.

(18:04):
They were basically in startinghigh school, when I was kind of
in the thick of my worstmoments.
They saw all that, I would sayI probably leaned on my sister
to protect me, a lot, meaninglike if I knew, you know, like I
would call her and ask where myparents were, if they knew I
was in trouble or if they hadheard.
And so, yeah, they were.

(18:25):
They were not clueless by anystretch of the imagination.
You know they didn't talk a lotabout how they were impacted,
but I know that I took a lot ofattention, negative attention
from my parents that probablyrobbed them of some of the
attention they should have beengiven.
I think my parents were dealingwith me a lot, both with my

(18:48):
troubles and then when I gotsick, and so but yeah, looking
back on it, I know that myselfishness and poor decisions
had a huge impact on both ofthem.

Speaker 2 (18:59):
Take us to take us to July 4th.

Speaker 3 (19:03):
Yeah.
So I graduated high school.
Like I said I was.
I wrecked my parents cars fivetimes in high school, all under
the influence of something, andso things continued to spiral
down and I had, towards the endof my senior year I had this
started with what was a weirdsensation in my neck.

(19:24):
When I would drink alcohol Icould feel it tingling, but
there was nothing visible.
That eventually started toprotrude outward and you could
see there was something amiss onmy neck and the one side
started.
There was a mass basicallygrowing within my neck and I
kept partying, kept ignoring it.

(19:44):
I graduated high school.
I was working during the dayand I was going out every night
and when I say every night, itwas seven nights a week.
I was going out at a party ordrinking with friends and my
parents, I think, were tired ofme.
They were ready for me to gooff to college.
I avoided them and so theydidn't really kind of see this
mask growing and a friend's momwho was a nurse basically saw it

(20:06):
kind of freaked out and she waslike you need to go get that
checked out and if you don'ttell your mother, I'm going to
tell her.
So I went home told my parents.
They looked at it, they gotconcerned.
We ended up going to a walk-inclinic.
This was all probably in theJune time frame, right after
graduating high school, and thewalk-in clinic had no idea, but

(20:27):
they were concerned.
Graduating high school and thewalk-in clinic had no idea, but
they were concerned.
That was very clear.
They sent us to an ear, noseand throat doctor.
They were concerned and said weneed to schedule a biopsy,
figure out what's going on.
And so we did that within a fewdays.
It was all pretty rushed, whichalso was kind of telling that
something was not good, and Iwasn't that worried Again.

(20:49):
I was 18.
I was more concerned that itwould interfere with any given
night's party and so I went onJuly 3rd.
We had the biopsy scheduled andthey took out a mass the size
of a grapefruit which led to thename of my book.
But they took out that mass andcalled on the morning of July

(21:10):
4th, so obviously my dad washome from work.
We were all kind of waitingpatiently there were no cell
phones back then, so we'rewaiting for that wall phone to
ring and jumped on that call andthe surgeon said you have
cancer and you need to go in andget tests to find out how much
it's spread.

(21:31):
So over the next week that waskind of the course of action I
did CT scans and x-rays and theyfound it in my neck, chest and
stomach, which made it stagethree.
And I had read enough to knowthat that meant chemotherapy.
So stage one or stage two wouldmore likely be radiation and
also, from what I read, I waskind of hoping it would be

(21:53):
radiation, because chemotherapyis, I mean, neither are good,
but chemotherapy is more roughon the body.
And so stage three was likeanother blow.
And then of course, theoncologist said we're going to
treat you with chemotherapy.
So that began the worst year ofmy life and a year of hell.
And I was put on a biweekly.
Every two weeks I would go inand get basically they would

(22:16):
hook me up to a bag of drugs andthe chemo would slowly drip
into my veins and then usually Iwas puking my guts out before
that finished and for aboutanother 12 hours.
So but that's what happened onJuly 4th.
That changed my life and I liketo say it started a second life
for me, because that first lifewas, was had to be put on hold

(22:39):
and really, really kind ofkilled that first life and a new
life began on July 4th 1986.

Speaker 2 (22:47):
Wow, began on July 4th 1986.
Wow, so we have.
We have the, the.
The phone call no one wants toget and the words no one wants
to hear.
Um, partying is now put on hold.
There was a little denial Again.
I want, I want, I don't want totell the full story, because I
want people to go out and getthe book and hear and learn from
you.
Uh, cause, it's powerful, it'svery, very powerful.
How long did this journey ofcancer last?

Speaker 3 (23:16):
About 10 months.
Well, the actual liketreatments lasted about 10
months.
Nine and a half 10 months.
Yeah, about nine, 10 months,and obviously there was the
residual effects lasted longer.
But yeah, the chemo itself wentabout nine and a half 10 months
.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
And bill of health.
Did you eventually get that?

Speaker 3 (23:29):
Yeah, I'll never forget that doctor's appointment
we had.
I went in not because you don'twith cancer you usually don't
know when the end is.
You just kind of keep goinguntil they, the tests, reveal
they got it all.
And so we went in for what Ithought was going to be another
round of chemo and I had donesome x-rays and CT scans and so
I knew we were going to get likean update from those.

(23:49):
But they did those.
I don't know every six to eightweeks we would do those.
And so we went in to see theoncologist.
I was expecting chemo.
He walked in.
He was like I've got great newsfor you, we've gotten it all,
you're finished.
And I was almost in disbelief,but I was very grateful.
You start every call with whatare we grateful for?
If I had to pick one highlightof my life that I've been

(24:12):
grateful for, certainly my kids,my wife.
But that day, being told I wascancer free, it's hard to hard
to beat that.
Yeah, I mean, it almost broughtme to tears.
Tell me the story right there.
Yeah, I mean nothing else.
Nothing else happens, right ifI don't beat the cancer.
So I wouldn't have met my wifeif I had not gotten cancer.
I was actually supposed to goto another college and probably

(24:35):
would have failed out or, youknow, ended up killing myself or
somebody else unintentionallywith the path I was headed down.
But yeah, the gratitude andblessing that I felt when he
said you're cancer free wasunbelievable.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
Hi, this is Kathy Orton.
I'm the director of talentmanagement at CoWorks Staffing
Services.
Coworks is one of the largeststaffing firms in the United
States, with operations in all50 states, over 60,000 temporary
field talent.
We are devoted to the successand growth of our employees and
our clients.
We are celebrating our 50thanniversary this year and are

(25:14):
proud to have a legacy oftreating people the right way,
doing the right thing,supporting our communities and
putting field talent first.
Our team places candidates inadministrative light, industrial
, call center, distribution,third-party logistic positions
with additional opportunitiesthrough our executive search,
creative staffing and luxury,beauty and fragrance divisions.
We had the pleasure of havingCasey Jaycox deliver a keynote

(25:36):
presentation and trainingworkshop to our sales team this
year and I have to tell you itwas exceptional.
Casey is funny, he is engagingand he is approachable.
What sets Casey apart is thathe really walks the walk.
He lives what he teaches.
He spent time with us outsideof the workshop, really taking
the time to get to know ourpeople.
He shared information about hispersonal life, about his family

(25:58):
, creating the foundation forauthentic relationships, one of
the core elements of thestrategy he teaches.
Casey left our teams feelingmotivated, energized and armed
with the actionable tools totransform their sales
performance.
I cannot recommend Casey enoughto any or any organization
looking to grow and unlock theirfull potential.

(26:18):
If you want to learn more aboutCowork Staffing, please visit
our website at CoworkStaffingcom.
Now let's get back to thepodcast.

Speaker 2 (26:27):
How has, how has this journey?
Um, cause it's almost like whenI met you and I'm still talking
to you and I've heard you onanother podcast and I read, read
in the book it's it's almosttwo different guys and to be
able to to write about it andtalk about it now, how, how hard
, how hard is that?
As you reflect, sometimes likethat guy was not me, but it was

(26:50):
me.
Is this ever like?
Sometimes like because you dosuch a good job of articulating
it both verbally and written.
But as you reflect back now asobviously a much more mature
father, now grandfather, like,does it ever like?
Stop your tracks.
Like what does that?
Was that really me?

Speaker 3 (27:10):
Yeah, I guess I have mixed feelings on that.
What's interesting about thejourney is when I was going
through chemo.
There were a lot of things thatwere very painful about going
through chemo, but for me themental aspect and the social
aspect were probably the hardesttoo chemo.
But for me the mental aspectand the social aspect were

(27:30):
probably the hardest too.
So what I mean by that is whenI was diagnosed you know I was I
had friends that we would goout drinking every night.
They were drinking buddies andthey all.
They also were all scheduled.
Most of them were going off tocollege in the fall, and so they
all did that and a lot of themlike at 18, who wants to hang
out with somebody who's gotcancer Right?
And so my social life quicklyshrunk and there were a couple

(27:52):
of guys that ended up kind ofbeing heroes of my my journey
and heroes of my story.
But my social life shrunk andthen it was pretty.
You know, my girlfriend and Iquickly broke up, and so it was.
It was a very, very lonely year, and so where I'm going with
that is my parents hadencouraged me strongly to start
a journal, and so I wrote inthis journal as I'm going

(28:14):
through chemo and it wastherapeutic for me and I filled
up I don't know a notebook and ahalf just of my thoughts,
feelings, what I wasexperiencing, and that became
the genesis of what's now mybook.
And that became the genesis ofwhat's now my book.
And so to your question.
I went off to college and Ididn't think about cancer much.
I thought about it but I nevertalked about it.

(28:35):
I didn't share it.
I have people now reaching outthat they've heard about my book
.
They're like I hung out withyou for four years in college
and had no clue and so.
But then, I guess, when I gotinto my twenties and started to
mature a little bit, I pickedthat journal back up and I took
some writing courses and I waslike I want to turn this, you

(28:57):
know, I want to kind of documentthis and make it a better story
.
And then, when I had twochildren, it became I want to
leave this story to my, to mykids.
And then eventually I felt likeI've got a pretty good story
that can impact not only cancerpatients but anybody who's been
through grief or divorce or jobloss, any of the big life

(29:19):
hurdles that get thrown our way.
So, to answer your question,it's been a long journey of
being able to talk about it,share it, and once I started
telling people I was writing abook, I was very open about it.
But it didn't happen overnight,it happened over a long period
of time and I feel blessed thatit took me so long to write the

(29:43):
book because life kept gettingin the way.
Right, I had kids, I'm in sales,I travel a lot, so I would pick
it up, I would write a littlebit and then I may not touch it
for three, four years.
But the benefit of that is thefirst half of the book is really
my journal and it's kind ofwhat happened and how it
happened and why it happened.

(30:04):
But the second half of the bookis how it ended up impacting
the rest of my life, how itimpacted being a father, how it
impacted being a husband, abusiness leader, and so I'm kind
of glad that it took me 37years.
I joke that it took me 37 yearsto write it, but I'm glad it
did because it's a perspectiveof what happened then and what

(30:27):
you were just describing readingabout where I'm very vulnerable
and like that's all basicallymy journal.
That was cleaned up and but thesecond half of the book is that
impact it had on my life.

Speaker 2 (30:40):
Yeah, man, you use one of my favorite words right
there, steve be vulnerable.
The three words I'd say.
Values that drive me in my lifeare being vulnerable, humble
and curious.
I think those create amazingcultures, not only as fathers
but in business.
I think when people arevulnerable, it removes fear,
drops egos, allows people toshare like how we're not.

(31:02):
That's why I, like in the workI do, I love telling people
where I suck, and still suck Inthe book I wrote I talk about.
It wasn't a book, but hey, letme tell you how great I was in
business.
It was like, let me tell youwhere I sucked and struggled.
I'm sure I had some good years,but I think people I find I
connect more, people who arejust real and authentic and

(31:24):
honest and like there's nofacade, and I think you are a
testament to that real andauthentic and honest and like
there's no facade.
And I think you are a testamentto that and I know I know deep
down in my heart, this, this,your story, is going to continue
to impact many people and it'sno surprise why you've had such
a successful run in sales andsales leadership at some very,
very big brands such as, youknow, oracle and workday and
currently now salesforce.
You know raising kids and thisjourney you, you, you are, have

(31:50):
been on.
Tell me when, did when?
Do you remember telling yourson and daughter dad was kind of
a little bit of a hell's angelback in the day, a little bit of
a wild child.

Speaker 3 (32:01):
Yeah, um, I would make comments about.
You know that I was, um, not agreat kid and my brother and
sister were, and obviouslythat's their, their aunt and
uncle and they know them well,and so I'm like you know, I
would jokingly say, you want tobe like uncle David and aunt
Jennifer and um, and and so theywould hear those comments.

(32:23):
I don't think they ever knewwhat that meant.
Um, my sister and I uh, she'llprobably listen to this and
laugh when I say this, but wegot into a fight one time
because she, she, my kids wereup spending the summer at my
parents or spending a month upat their lake house, and my
sister was up there and I wasnot.
She was like let me tell yousome stories about your dad, and

(32:44):
so I didn't appreciate that.
So there was, there was a pointthat I would that I would share
with them, but I didn't go deep.
I mean, I didn't want toencourage them or put thoughts
in their head as they weregetting closer to their teen
years, but they learned moreover time.
But when they read my book,they were both like okay, we
knew you were bad, we didn'tknow you were that bad, and so,

(33:07):
yeah, it's been that also.
I guess has been a gradualprocess of exposing them to kind
of the type of kid that I wasor the type of teenager that I
was.

Speaker 2 (33:18):
How much fear was in your mind as a father knowing
that.
Oh, I mean, I guess for me I'mgoing to leave my witness.
If it was me, I'd be like oh myGod, please don't, please,
don't be me, please don't be me,please don't be me.
Like was that?
Did that ever go through yourhead?

Speaker 3 (33:33):
From a from a.
Well, yes, it did I mean thegood.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
the good side, sure, but like I don't, I don't want
to give it away, cause I wantpeople to go read your book but
like the decisions you weremaking, as I'm reading through
this, I'm like this dude's nextlevel.

Speaker 3 (33:55):
Yeah, I mean you, at full throttle.
Yeah, I was going to say Ididn't know you.
Yes, I was very worried thatthey would go down that path.
Neither of them did.
I mean, they both had their.
You know, like most teenagers,they both did dumb things and
would get in trouble at times,but more normal kid stuff, I
would you know.
It sounds like you probablyagree if you read my story, like
I was above average on gettinginto trouble.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
You were elite to use John Kaplan's word.

Speaker 3 (34:21):
Yeah, yeah, and so, yeah, I was worried about that.
And then I was also worriedthat they would get cancer.
I you know, I was just my sonhad a couple of times a scare
like he had a swollen lymph nodeone time and mine started in my
neck.
He had a swollen lymph node inhis, in his neck and I, just my
mind went to a dark place.

(34:42):
So, yeah, I was always worried,one, they would get in trouble
and two, that they would getsick.
And yeah, those were probablymy two biggest fears as they
ended their teens.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
How, much of your journey.
Tell me how has it biggestfears as they ended their teens?
How much of your journey.

Speaker 3 (34:57):
Tell me, how has it impacted you as a dad, from a
mindset perspective, so manyways.
You know there's not a day thatgoes by, really, that I don't
think about my experience withcancer, and there's not a day
that goes by of the drugs you'renot going to be able to have
kids, and when I was 18, Ididn't care, but obviously my

(35:28):
parents knew that I would careand they were concerned.
So I feel like every day is ablessing with my kids.
It's just and so now to hold mygrandson up here and look at my
daughter, who's married and hasa kid of her own, I mean, I
think about it all the time.
So I'd say how it impacted me.
One would be gratitude, justbeing grateful for every minute

(35:48):
I get with them and trying tocreate memories, like my parents
did for us as an example ofthat.
I know you played college ball.
I'm a diehard Georgia Bulldogfan and I my son, even though we
graduated from Florida.
I raised him as a Georgia fanand so when he was 10, nine or
10, we started a annualfather-son trip where we pick a

(36:08):
Georgia away game and then we goto that city watch Georgia play
and then we do an NFL game, sowe've been to a lot of cool
places, yeah, and so we've donethat for a long time.
But trying to create memories,and then I'd say that the
gratitude and I try to instillthat on my kids too to be
thankful, to be grateful, toexpress that to people.

(36:33):
And then the other thing theoncologist said was prior to
1970, and this was in 86, keepin mind.
So 16 years ago there was nocure for this, like I would be
telling you to get your thingsin order, say your goodbyes, and
now you've got an 85% chance.
Based on your stage three andbased on the chemo and where

(36:55):
it's come to over the last 16years, you've got an 80, 85%
chance that you're going to beatthis.
And so, yeah, I mean just thegratitude is probably the
biggest thing, casey, beinggrateful for my kids, being
grateful for each day that Ihave had on this planet since I
was diagnosed and then declaredcancer-free, so I'd say that's

(37:16):
probably the biggest one.
It also made me that experiencemade me empathetic.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
I'm just going to say that word.
You took it out of.
You read my mind.

Speaker 3 (37:25):
And so, yeah, empathy is definitely a theme for me in
my life and I think it hasserved me well in sales.
I think it has served me wellas a parent.
Tell me how.
What's that?
Tell me how as a parent.

Speaker 2 (37:41):
Or a parent and a sales leader.

Speaker 3 (37:42):
Yeah, as a sales leader, you know, I think, for
one, all of us go through stuff,right, like all of us have
things, like there's people youinteract with on a daily basis
that have gone through or goingthrough things that you'll never
know or you know you may notknow.
And so I think when I wentthrough that, that really was

(38:05):
instilled upon me that, like weall go through life you know I'm
not unique we all, we all gothrough stuff.
It may be different, it mayhave a different face for you
than for me, but we all, we allgo through moments or events
that change us.
And and so for me, I think itthat realization and going
through that one and then two,all the people, like my parents

(38:27):
did a 180, right, like myparents threatened to send me to
military school a number oftimes.
My parents, like I just can'timagine what I put them through.
And the day I was told you havecancer like they, they, you know
I don't want to say theyflipped a switch, but they did
what you would do for your kids,right, like they were, they
went above and beyond.

(38:47):
My siblings were the same wayand I had some friends who do,
friends who did that.
And then there was a nurse atthe doctor's office who I never
knew before, who ended up beingmore of a friend and then really
an angel, and so I think all ofthat made me empathetic, that
you know we're all going throughsomething, and so I always try
to put myself in somebody else'sshoes, as an example, as a

(39:11):
sales leader.
If somebody's struggling, likeI try to identify why it could
be.
Could be they have cancer, itcould be they're experiencing a
divorce or something.
There could be a reason forthat.
And so I think just being ableto put yourself in somebody
else's shoes, at least to thebest that you can, allows you to

(39:32):
kind of empathize andunderstand what somebody else is
going through.

Speaker 2 (39:36):
Yeah, no, that's good , I was going to ask you.
You articulated it well.
So you leave Georgia, wherewe've got obviously the cancers
in your thought will obviouslybe there, but health wise, you
beat it, which is fantastic.
When did when did you realizesales was for you and sales
leadership was for you?

Speaker 3 (39:57):
You know, my parents, you use you've used the word
with me curiosity a lot.
My parents I'll never forgetthis we were at.
We were at Epcot.
You were mentioning Epcotbefore we started recording.
We were down there on a trip.
I was about 12 and my parentssaid you should write a book
called 100 Questions.
That you know.
Basically, like I would alwaysask questions and I think great

(40:20):
salespeople ask a lot ofquestions, they also have
empathy and somebody ended updid writing that book.
So I should have written itwhen I was in high school.
But yeah, you know, I would say, in college, casey, I started
selling magazines over the phonefor a company called Dial
America and people would come inthere and do that for a night.

(40:41):
This is back in the day, right?
No cell phone.
So you're calling people athome in the evening.
They're cursing at you, they'rehanging up on you, and the
model was if you got one yes perhour, you made good money,
right.
And so back in the in, when Iwas in college in the late
eighties, I was making $13 anhour, which you know.
Most people were busing tablesor waiting tables for $3.50 an

(41:04):
hour or whatever minimum wagewas back then, and so I knew I
was pretty good at it and Icould take the rejection, was
pretty good at it and I couldtake the rejection.
I deal with rejection a lot insales, like I always compare it
to my best.
My worst day today nevercompares to my best day going
through chemotherapy.
So for me, like people hangingthe phone up on me, I've been

(41:25):
through a lot worse, like whatelse you got.
So that probably is when Istarted to realize I had a knack
for sales.
I was a finance major so I wasjust thinking banking was the
logical next step and I triedthat and after about 18 months I
was like I got to get out ofthis.
So, um, I ended up jumping intosales, uh, with a company

(41:45):
called paychecks and it was agood mix of, uh, finance it was,
you know, payroll and benefits,mixed with sales, and I kind of
found my calling in that.
But I would say it was sellingmagazines over the phone is when
it was.
I can do this Like this is thisis not hard.
It is hard, but at the time Iwas pretty good at it.

Speaker 2 (42:06):
I hope there's a younger dad listening and that
he's like what Selling without acell phone?
I'm like, yeah, everybody.
And when I started started myfirst job, that they there
wasn't even the internet backthere.
Literally they would.
I literally email.
Actually went to college we hadthe system called pine.
If you remember that.
It was like a college dos basedsystem and I remember like my

(42:27):
wife went to um university ofwashington.
I went to central washington,which is the harbor of the west
coast many people don't knowthat and I we'd logged onto the
system and you'd be able to saylike hi, return, return.
And we're like we thought wewere this, you know, and so
there's that.
But then there's just like awall phone.
I knew what a wall phone was along ass cord, like 30 footer.
Yeah, you could take wraparound, but like what, uh, um,

(42:52):
for for people, if you're, ifyou're a salesperson, listen
this one, and you're scared topick up the phone.
Man, listen to listen to my boysteve just selling all types of
magazines at night.
I love it.
Grittiness, um, have you ever?
Have you ever like I onethought as you know, you're
saying your story that thisquestion keeps coming back to me

(43:14):
is I mean your parents for whatthey went through, that journey
, that stress, it screamsdivorce rates, but they made it
through it, which is hallelujah.
Have you ever talked to themlike, hey mom, how'd you do it?
Hallelujah, you know.
Have you ever?

Speaker 3 (43:32):
talked to them like, hey, mom, how'd you stay, how'd
you do it?
Yeah, they um.
So before I got sick, casey, we, they had me in therapy just
because of all my behavioralissues and, um, once I was sick,
they, they started doingtherapy as well.
They actually they actuallyshared with me, uh, and I don't
remember I was maybe in mytwenties, maybe even th 30s, but
they shared with me that theycame very close to getting

(43:54):
divorced.
They, you know, I had thisoncologist who was one of the
best in the country, but herequired payment when you came
in, Like you couldn't.
My dad had good insurance but hecouldn't get reimbursed, so my
dad had to come up with cashevery two weeks for the
treatments and the appointments,and so there was a lot of

(44:15):
financial stress, I think, on mydad.
There was obviously a lot ofstress on both of them.
I had an 85% chance, which wasgood, but I certainly with my
kids, if somebody said they havesomething and there's a 15%
chance they won't make it, thatwould scare me.
There's a 15% chance they won'tmake it, that would that would
scare me.
Um, but yeah, just all the, theall that I went through, um, it

(44:37):
was, it was tough on them andso they did share that.
They came very close to gettingdivorced.
They talked, talked about itand um, I think it ended up
making them stronger.
I'm glad they didn't, but Ithink it was.
You know it was therapy and umeventually ended up pulling them
together.
But yeah, you're right, if youread statistics you know grief
is a another example parentsthat lose a kid.

(44:58):
I think it's it's extremelyhigh divorce rate.
It's it's tough to make itthrough.
You know things like that inyour life.
How young are mom and dad?

Speaker 2 (45:17):
How, uh, they're 80, 83 and 84.
Love it.
Yeah, yeah, my pops.
He passed away, uh, december29th 2021.
He would have been, uh, he justwas, shy, 80, but um, he
wouldn't, I wouldn't say, youknow, nursing home I was, he was
in assisted living for shoot,15 years.
Uh, I should send you, um, Ishould.
I did a only solo episode I'veever done was when my dad passed

(45:37):
away.
I just had right and I got backfrom from you know, the
hospital.
I had this like urge I go, I goright and I wrote this little
monologue.
I call it the final whistle,kind of like a football analogy
of like coach.
So I said, play to the whistle,run to the whistle.
And I was with my dad in hislast breath and I came home and
I wrote this thing and I waslike I'm going to, I'm going to
read it and just, and it waslike one of my most.

(46:00):
I don't, I don't, I should dothis more as a business guy, but
I don't track a lot of stats inthis podcast, steve.
I don't track a lot, I justlove doing it.
I love talking to people, Ilove getting stories out there
and and how I measure success.
This thing is impact.
If I get one person saying, man, that was a blast, thanks, let
me do it, it's worth it.
If I get someone that sends mea note, oh man, I'm so glad I

(46:22):
did this, that was worth it.
I'm not trying to be frickingRicky Lake or, you know, phil
Donahue, it just you know, it'sjust fun to talk to people.
Now again, I probably shouldhave a different mindset, but at
almost 50 years old, I justenjoy sharing, giving a platform
for you to share your story andbless the world.
And so thanks again for comingon today.

Speaker 3 (46:47):
My story really.
I think the impact I'm tryingto make is that there's an
opportunity, regardless of whatyour listeners have been through
we all go through stuff.
There's an opportunity to growand transform and it took me a
while but I think through myexperience with cancer,
eventually I was able to kind oflook back and say how can I,
how can I take positives out ofit and impact my life in a

(47:11):
positive way?

Speaker 2 (47:13):
How can I take positives out of it and impact
my life in a positive way?
No, I know you're going to dothat for sure and I'm grateful
John and Rachel introduced usbecause you know you've already
introduced me to a couple ofpeople that want to connect with

(47:33):
on Facebook, on LinkedIn, andone I already read his book,
white Fang, on LinkedIn.
And one I already read his book, white Fang.
If you're a football guy, agolf guy, business guy, father
son guy, go read White Fang andthe Golden Bear it is.
I read it in four days and,unfortunately, if you didn't
tell me to read that, I wouldhave powered through your book,
but that was a finish to thatone.
So now I'm on page almost 50 ofSteve's book, but I know the
story because I've heard him ona podcast.
But I'm still going to read itand I hope everybody else goes

(47:55):
and reads it.
So we've talked about this book.
Tell us the title, which I'vekind of teased a couple of times
.
But how can people go find it?
How?

Speaker 3 (48:04):
can they?
How can they learn?

Speaker 2 (48:05):
more about it.

Speaker 3 (48:06):
Yeah, it's.
It's called great fruit, whichis one word G R E,
a-e-a-t-f-r-u-i-t how Cancer Ledto Living a More Fruitful Life.
You can get it on Amazon online, barnes and Noble online pretty
much any of the onlinebookstores.
You can also go tostevegaritycom and it's
G-A-R-R-A-T-Y, butstevegaritycom, it's got links

(48:30):
in there to the book, my storypodcasts.
I'll have this up on there onceit's live.
So yeah, that's stevegaritycom.

Speaker 2 (48:39):
Love it.
Are you audible?

Speaker 3 (48:44):
yet it's funny you should ask it's almost done?
Yeah, it's all been recorded.
I hired somebody to narrate itand I'm doing the final's almost
done.
Yeah, it's all, it's all beenrecorded.
Um, I hired somebody to narrateit and, um, I'm doing the final
kind of checks on it, but it'llbe out in the next week or two.

Speaker 2 (48:59):
Okay, I was going to say, if you'd ever decide to do
a part two, a sequel, my requestis that you narrate it yourself
.
I thought about that.

Speaker 3 (49:09):
I just, yeah, I, if I wasn't working, I would do that
, but I don't know if I have.

Speaker 2 (49:15):
Yeah, we got time, we got part, part, part.
I will.
The only reason I say thatselfishly is I.
I narrated mine and it was very, very.
What's the word I'm looking for?
I don't know what, how todescribe the experience, but,
like you, I don't know how todescribe the experience, but,
like you, I don't know if you,as an author, learn from

(49:35):
yourself, but I feel like, inall human, I learned from myself
, which reminds me that I'm aflawed human and it reminds me
that I have that just because Igot a podcast, that doesn't mean
I struggle as a dad, justbecause I wrote a book on
leadership and sales and I stillstruggle with the same things
everybody else does 100%.

Speaker 3 (49:57):
Yeah, well, I wish we had met sooner because I I
toyed with the idea of doing thenarrating myself, but just I
didn't think I had the time withthe editing and all the stuff
that's involved.
So yeah, it's.

Speaker 2 (50:09):
yeah, I mean definitely took time.
I was lucky I found a guy towho can do all, because there's
so much I didn't know this, butlike, every noise thing mattered
to a certain decibel to getinside Amazon's Audible store.
So that was a lesson learned.
Okay, before we get into someshenanigans, steve, if we were

(50:31):
to summarize, actually, before Igo to that, I wanted to ask
about one last question I forgotto ask your journey as a dad.
No one's perfect.
We all got gaps.
My gap I've learned to get alot better at is patience as a
father.
Tell me what would be your, asyou reflect back on your life as

(50:55):
a dad, an area of your dad gamethat maybe wasn't always what
you wish.
It was that maybe a younger dadcan maybe learn from you to say
, man, here's an area of my dadgame that if I could go back
again, I'd focus on doing Xbetter.
Tell me what comes to mind.

Speaker 3 (51:05):
Man.
For me it would always be and Idon't know if this falls into
what you're asking, but it wouldalways be spending more time
with my kids, um, and I feltlike I tried to do that, but I
also worked a lot, um, so, yeah,it would be like like if I
could go back and do it overagain, I would have spent a
little bit less time in theoffice, a little bit more time
with them.

(51:29):
I think I probably spent alittle bit more time with my
kids than my dad did.
I think you know work lifebalance is like a new term and I
think that over overgenerations, is is changing how
we balance work and family ischanging how we balance work and
family.
But I would say it would belike and my message to both my
kids would be spend that qualitytime, especially now with cell
phones, like dinner, put thecell phone down.

(51:51):
You know, when your kid comesto you and is telling you about
their day, like those moments,don't you know?
They get into their teens.
Those moments don't happen asmuch, if at all, and so it would
be like the quality time andmaking sure you're dialed in
with your kids and that youspend every minute and that
you're thankful and blessed forevery minute that you get with

(52:13):
your kids.

Speaker 2 (52:15):
Yeah, well said, if there's a younger dad listening,
these aren't cliches.
Everybody, we get everybody on.
Who's listening, everybodyalive, gets 1,440 minutes a day.
No one gets more, no one getsless.
So we say I don't have time,that's an excuse, that's a story
you're telling yourselfeverybody.
And so I think if you want tomake the time, you can make time
for anything you want to do.
I, as Steve's got you know kidsin their twenties.

(52:42):
I got a 19 year old and a 17year old tomorrow.
We're recording this.
On September 4th my daughterturned 17, senior in high school
, and I remember yesterday shewas in a baby Bjorn, I remember
it was, and now I'm almost 50.
I'm like, what in the hell, howdid this happen?
And I remember people tellingme that and so now I'm that guy
telling those stories.
So I think, just if there's ayounger dad listening, man,

(53:02):
embrace it.
Listen to what Steve said.
Time is a precious, a preciousthing that we all get, and so
maximize it each and every day.
As we wrap up, steve, if youwere to summarize everything
we've talked about, that a dador a mom or a grandma, anybody
listen can take from ourconversation day and apply.

(53:22):
We'll call it.
You know two or three themes oractual advice to they can apply
in their own life as a dad, tobecome that ultimate quarterback
or leader of their home.
Tell me what comes to mind.

Speaker 3 (53:33):
Yeah, I would say it's, and you can instill this
on your kids and I've tried todo this with mine.
I, you know.
I would say it's life'sadversity and things that come
up in our life.
Um, one is being resilient andgetting through that and leaning
on people.
I mentioned my small circle,that um of people that helped me
get through it.
But I would say one is beresilient, lean on your you know

(53:56):
, your network, lean on thepeople close to you that can
help you get through it.
And then, once you either for meit took getting through it to
start to look back and reflecton how can I, how can I grow
from that experience and I'vetried to instill that on on both
my kids and when you do havesetbacks, whether it's, you know

(54:17):
, losing a job or whatever it isin life, how can you grow from
it, how can you improve?
I would say that's probably thebig message and then getting
through it, just leaning onthose that people want to help.
They may not always know theright thing to say when you're
going through something, butsometimes just having those
folks close to you just sitthere and just be there can help

(54:42):
you get through something.
So, leaning on people andletting them know when you need
the help, and then look, thenfiguring out how do I grow from
this experience?
Love it.

Speaker 2 (54:52):
Well said, man.
If people want to connect withyou on social, you've shared
your website.
Is there any other social linksyou like to share with people
where they can connect with youon social?
You've shared your website.
Is there any other?

Speaker 3 (55:00):
social links you like to share with people where they
can connect with you.
Yeah, steve Garrity, author ispretty much on both Instagram
and Facebook, and then onLinkedIn, steve Garrity.
Again, it's G-A-R-R-A-T-Y.
Most people want to spell itI-T-Y, but it's A-T-Y.
Yeah, linkedin I use LinkedInevery day.

Speaker 2 (55:18):
Awesome.
We'll make sure you're taggedthere, steve.
It's now time to go into thelightning round, which I show
you the negative hits of takingtoo many hits in college not
bong hits, but football hits.
Your job is to answer thesequestions as quickly as you can.
My job is to try to get agiggle out of you.
Awesome, okay, true or false?
You once kicked a 40-yard fieldgoal at Georgia to win the
Peach Bowl, I wish, but false,okay, tell me, if you're going

(55:41):
to go on vacation right now, youand your wife, where are we
going?

Speaker 3 (55:44):
That's easy.
We're going to Ireland inNovember.
Never have been and, obviously,garrity, our heritage is from
Ireland and my son is bringinghis fiance, so they're going to
be there for two days.
They're going gonna be with us.
So, um, yeah, can't wait forthat trip very cool.

Speaker 2 (56:02):
Uh favorite 80s comedy movie is, uh caddyshack
solid choice.
Uh, what would be one genremusic that uh your friends would
be surprised to listen to?

Speaker 3 (56:16):
um, I don't know what you would call it, but lincoln
park is probably one of my topfavorite bands and when people.
I've been to their shows beforeand I'm the oldest, oldest
person in the audience, soprobably Lincoln Park, maybe
heavy alternative.

Speaker 2 (56:30):
I came to your house for dinner tonight, steve, what
would we have?
Uh, mexican, okay, um, if therewas a book written about your
life, tell me the title greatfruit.
There we go.
Weird, it's already out.
Okay, now they're going to turngreat, great fruit into a

(56:51):
critically acclaimed, hit newmovie that's going to just crush
it.
And netflix and hulu, they'refighting for this.
They want, they want to getthis, this thing, made into
movie.
You are now the castingdirector, steve.
Tell me who's going to star youin this critically acclaimed,
hit new movie.

Speaker 3 (57:05):
Well, in the book there's a young me and an old me
, so two answers.
Probably Timothee Chalamet,because he was in a movie where
he's got issues similar to I doin my book that he did a
phenomenal job in with SteveCarell.
And then the older me would beNicolas Cage.
I've always liked him.
My wife doesn't know why, butI've just always been a Nicolas

(57:27):
Cage fan.

Speaker 2 (57:28):
Solid.
Okay, and then last questiontell me two words that would
describe your wife.

Speaker 3 (57:35):
She is entrepreneurial and a strong
leader, both professionally andthen in the home.

Speaker 2 (57:43):
Solid.
Well done, steve.
We've made it to the lightninground.
I am so grateful that JohnKaplan and Rachel Klatt-Miller
have introduced us.
I'm grateful our paths havecrossed.
I can't wait to meet you inperson.
I can't wait to see where thepower of this connection goes,
and I'm excited to have peoplelisten to this episode, share it

(58:03):
with somebody else that maybehas gone through a challenge.
Pick up your book.
We'll make sure that's linkedin the in the show notes.
We'll make sure that uh, steve,the, uh, the sales leader is
also linked in the show notes onLinkedIn, so people can connect
with you that way.
But I'm grateful for your time.
I'm grateful for your time.

(58:24):
I'm grateful for your story.
I'm grateful that there'speople like you in this world
that have gone through suchchallenging times yet have the
strength and ability toarticulate what you went through
in such a meaningful andencouraging way.
So bravo to you on the book andcongrats on also becoming a
grandfather.
I can only imagine the joy inyour heart from that experience
too.

Speaker 3 (58:41):
Yeah, thanks, casey.
It's been an honor and apleasure being on your show you
bet, mel, we'll talk to you soon.