February 17, 2025 • 41 mins
Prepare to be inspired! In my latest podcast episode, I had the privilege of speaking with Dr. David Schein, a renowned Houston professor and the "Employment Guru" himself. Dr. Schein's journey is a true testament to the power of resilience, determination, and ethical leadership. Despite facing numerous challenges growing up in a low-income military family, Dr. Schein's unwavering passion for helping others and his parents' belief in his potential propelled him to achieve remarkable success. Dr. Schein's story demonstrates how combining hard work, ethical principles, and adaptability can lead to extraordinary success. His insights on leadership, personal development, and workplace culture offer valuable lessons for aspiring professionals. Plus, he grades the latest few United States Presidents on their leadership.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What do you do when you come from a low
income family with limited educational resources, yet you aspire.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
To achieve great thing.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
On this episode of Life Jack the Resilience Podcast, I
have the theemed pleasure of seeking with doctor David Schein,
a true embodiment of resilience and determination. As the oldest
of seven children, Doctor Shine navigated the challenges of its
upbringing to secure an Ivy League scholarship and ultimately earned
(00:36):
multiple advanced degree including an NBA.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
JD and PhD.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
His journey is not just the tale of personal triumph,
but also a reflection of the importance of discipline posted
and then wavering commitment to ethical success. Doctor Shine, nicknamed
the Employment Guru, is currently a professor at the University
of Saint Thomas in Kustin, Texas, and she is known
(01:05):
for being able to answer jet about any employment related
question one could imagine. Join me at Doctor Schein shares
an inspiring story. It insights on leadership, workplace ethics, and
the critical role of resilience and achieving professional goal.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Sometimes life gives us lemons, Sometimes it gives us lemonade.
Other Times it gives us something entirely out of left
field that makes us say w t F. But no
matter what obstacles come, there is most often a way
out on the other side, and we are once again victorious.
(01:49):
My name is doctor Rome and you are listening to
my podcast about resilience. Every guest shares a tragedy to
triumph story to give listeners like you the inspiration to
push through every single day. Listen now as my next
guest shares how they were.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Like Jack, Hi, docs are shy. Welcome. Thank you so
much for being a guest on my show. How are you?
Speaker 4 (02:19):
I am doing great, and I want to just say
right up front, thank you so much for the invitation,
and it's been delightful to connect with you.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
No, most definitely, especially so if you're a Houstonian. And
of course I live in the Houston area too, so
anytime I run across the person who touches yourself that
definitely embody resilience. I definitely want to, you know, make
sure that you are on my show because I do
have a large following from the Houston area.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Yes, well, that's that's that's great.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
And of course up Houston sometimes is called the world's
biggest small town.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
No, absolutely, and yet that we were discussing earlier in
the pre interview, you it seem like people are moving
here by the minute.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
And we welcome you know, we're pretty friendly people here.
And I'm not originally from Houston. I'm not here as
quick as I could well next two of.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Us, because I'm actually from Austin Technic, all right. What
motivated you to pursue higher education to fite the challenges
that you bake.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Well, it was, it was. It was a difficult start.
My parents did not have a lot. My dad was
a career en listed man in the Navy, and that
is a very low income position, and we did not
live originally on the naval base, and for a lot
(03:44):
of long term enlisted military part of the way of
surviving financially is to actually live in government housing. And
so my mom had a ged. My dad did finish
high school, had taken a couple college courses and decided
it wasn't for him. But my parents were very unusual
(04:07):
in that from a very early age, my parents just
kept saying, you're going to go to college.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
You're going to go to college, You're going to go
to college.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
And that in itself was a driver, but it really
kind of kicked in about seventh or eighth grade, and
for me, a separate incident happened. I had some emotional
issues as a youngster, you know, I seven or eight
years old, and I saw a pediatric psychiatrist through the
(04:36):
US Navy, through the Naval Hospital and was very inspired.
And so I had two goals. One is from my
parents wanting to finish college. The other one is I
actually went to college to become a medical doctor and
that did not work out in droves. So and that,
you know, kind of a story that I'm working on
(04:58):
right now, trying to explain to people in fighting what happened.
But it was pretty crazy, and of course with having kids.
And I was very very focused in high school and
was a top performing student and was rewarded with his
scholarship to University of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia. And I had
(05:19):
never been on the campus until the day I reported
for classes.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Wow. And so since you did not come from a
family who ad degrees, right, So your first generation college graduate,
what do you seem attributed to your success to want
to even see higher degrees?
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Right?
Speaker 1 (05:39):
So you didn't just get a bachelor like you pushed
forward to masters and then at the golf roam level.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Well, I when I started in college, what happens is,
of course, scholarship only covers tuition and fees, so I
had a federal loan and I also had to work,
and they actually had me working for a medical doctor
as my work study job, and that convinced me that
(06:06):
I really didn't want to be a doctor. But then
I had this issue, well, what will I do. I've
been committed for fifteen years to be a doctor, you
know what happens now? And so I began to be
involved in business and did some analysis at the career
(06:27):
training center there, and they said, gee, you really cut
out to be a lawyer. And I ended up having
my own business. And so as I progressed through undergraduate school,
I decided that I needed an MBA and a law
degree because I wanted to be a real big corporate
leader of business. And the very competitive MBA program at
(06:52):
the University of Virginia Garden School accepted me. I was
only one of three students in that class who came
direct from college. But the reason they did it is
because they were fascinated by the fact that this kid,
you know, scholarship kid starts a business and manages to
keep all his bills paid for three and a half
years while he's in college. And so that's how I
(07:15):
ended up on the business track and getting the NBA
and then the law degree.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Wow, you've worked with various Fortune fifty companies as well
as taught at prestigious universities.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
So how do you.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Think that those experiences take your approach to leadership?
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Well, Shell Oil was my I worked for Golf Oil
in law school, and Golf Courses is still a branded name,
but it's no longer an oil company. And I realized
that they weren't the best run oil company in the
country or in the United States. And then Shell really
taught me a great deal. They were when I worked
(07:57):
for them, and many people I still know who frankly
have retired from Shell at this point is Shell was
the first class operation. So I got a chance to
see how things are done right. And then I went
to a mid size oil company which was owned by
a huge conglomerate, and that was Tentaco Oil Company. And
as Ustony may remember that the marathon in Houston used
(08:20):
to be the Tenaco Houston Marathon, and I was at
Teneco at that time. I actually ran the marathon in
nineteen eighty six, and so Tenaco melted down while I
was there, And so it influences me as a business
professor because I've seen Shell Oil do it well and
(08:42):
Tenaco fail. A gigantic corporation, the whole corporation failed, and
so it gave me two different sides of the coin,
and it enables me to say, whatever you do in life,
you need to do it the right way. You need
to go in there with enthusiasm. You need to have
a good business plan if you're in business, and you've
(09:06):
got to put your heart into it, and it's very important.
And of course we've seen, you know, horrible meltdowns like
Tenaco was not an ethical meltdown, it was just a
business failure. But of course then you know, twenty years later,
we saw Enron right here in Houston self destruct and
that was an ethical failure. And that's one of the
(09:29):
key cases that we talk a lot about when I
teach business.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Well, everything of course evolves over the year and over decades,
and I can definitely attest that leadership is one of
those things that has evolved. I'm thinking partially because now
each with each generation, we kind of have to handle
each generation differently, and so for this latest generation, I believe,
(09:55):
you know now we are the gen xers and the
millennium are giving Burke to I get jin Alpha is
what they're calling them. But what do you think are
the key qualities that define effective leadership into gave modern
age that is totally different from when you fust far
(10:15):
out in the innership.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
Well, one of the basics is still hard work and
an ethical approach to to everything. I think a more
accepting concept of diversity is part of the reality of
modern leadership is that this is not the you know,
(10:37):
white shirt and narrow ties of the IBM generation, of
the you know, big blue and it's it's it's just
a very very different environment. But I think one of
the things that's been undersold is I actually had an
MBA student right in an essay, I'm I'm going to
(10:57):
just work nine to five.
Speaker 5 (10:59):
I refuse to compromise my life and all that.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
And I just thought it was kind of humorous because,
you know, in my first job at Shell Oil, I
worked at six am to six pm Monday through Friday
and was hopeful if they didn't need me on Saturday.
But I was promoted three times in three years and
like And that's one of the concerns I have is
(11:25):
that we have much higher absenteeism, much higher you know,
people sitting on their phones and distracted and not committing
to their position, and yet they expect to be treated,
you know, the same as the A team. And you know,
my personal reference to myself is you're dealing with an
(11:46):
eighteen person And I'm sorry, but if you want to
be in the A team, you've got to make that commitment.
And you know, that includes getting a good education and
not just getting through school, but actually learning the material.
That doesn't mean all straight a's, It means really learning
the material and am putting in some hard work. But
(12:07):
I think the leaders today need to be more tuned
into the individuals that they work with than perhaps anytime
in the past.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
No, for sure, I can definitely tell you as a
leader myself in my job, and it is definitely you
do have to have resilion specific short sture because it
can be frustrating.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I guess it's a word I want to use.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
I don't know if that's the most correct word, because
this generation of workers very different than when I started
out working, and I very much.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
So in the feel of vegetation.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I got to work really early, or I stayed really late,
finds the great papers and get lesson plans done and
all a talking to parents.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
And now you just can't.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Find many people who will stay late like that unless
it's a part of their job, like they have to
covers of back ball being or act there's a parent
and I you just can't find that. You just so,
do you think that that's a good thing there is
that that this degeneration of workers has a better graph
(13:12):
of work like balance or what.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Do you think it is?
Speaker 4 (13:16):
Well, you know, given how hard I've worked in my life,
and I'm still working very hard. I'm in the office
today as I do seven days a week, and I
don't think that there's an understanding that if you want
to compete with the A performers, you need to put
(13:38):
in the A.
Speaker 5 (13:40):
Performer work.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
And this is one of my concerns about some of
what we're hearing in the current generation is that they
want to kind of have their personal style of life,
but they don't understand that there are people out there
who are out there really putting it in for the
business or for their own family or you know, writing
(14:03):
six books instead of one book. I mean, you know,
there's all sorts of different examples, and so I do
get a little frustrated by that. I can tell you
that I teach in class and online, and I'm concerned
because a lot of students are opting for online.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
Because they see it as easier.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
And certainly if you're commuting in the Greater Houston area,
you know, commuting is no fun, but there's much more
impact educationally in the classroom. But one of the things
that I run into is increasingly poor attendance in the classroom,
even if the student has selected it in person class.
(14:45):
And like I said, the number one concern I'm hearing
from employers today is that the new generation, the current generation,
does not show up for work, and when they do
show up, they're not putting in, They're not dedicated to
getting the job done. Turnal was much higher today in
many businesses. I do get concerned that we somehow haven't
(15:10):
gotten the message out that life does involve a lot.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Of no most definitely, And now you often speak about
the importance of having an ethical work clipace. So in
your vision of the perfect workplace at you know, the
most perfect ethical workplace.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
What exactly does that look like.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Well, first of all, it's top down. Is you have
to set an example from the top. And a good
example is we mentioned Enron a few minutes ago. Is
Enron had.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
A really corrupt leadership.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
In fact, you know, the president, the CEO, the chief
financial officer have all been convicted of federal fraud. And
so I can say that with comfort that these people
you know, engaged in extensive corruption.
Speaker 5 (16:06):
But what happened down the ladder.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Is when the mid level managers and others saw that
the whole operation was corrupt, a lot of them said, well,
if they're going to be corrupt, we can be corrupt,
and we can be even more corrupt, and so it
fed into a very bad cycle. So Number one is
that you've got to have an ethical reed from the
(16:32):
very top. And a good example of this was one
of a major pharmaceutical company had really worked very hard
on some major ethical challenges and problems that incurred in
their workplace, and then shortly after that they found out
that some of their senior vice presidents, some really important
(16:54):
people in the company were skimming on their expense accounts.
We're listing things on their defense accounts that they had
not incurred or not incurred in pursuit of the business.
And the president of the company was so incensed that
he fired those other senior managers and said, you know,
we have spent so much money to get past our
(17:17):
challenges and things. How can you not set a good
example and follow the trail. So I think it's important
that companies act ethically across the board. And there's a
professor at darden Ed Freeman and he came out with
an approach to ethical analysis called stakeholder analysis, and that's
(17:39):
basically where you treat everybody well, whether they're employees, vendors, customers,
members of the community around you. And I endorse that approach.
I endorse and approach where you look at your stakeholders
and you make sure they're all being treated well.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
There's a leader out there who's wothening this peticular episode
and they feel like their culture is less than ethical
or it's not a desired culture that they would like,
and make sure that they have a functioning team.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Where should they start?
Speaker 4 (18:17):
Okay, One of the things I do tell my students,
and I have seniors and then NBA candidates mostly in
my classes is that a lot of people finish school
and they're in debt, and they've been living poor, and
they've been driving a twenty year old car and all that,
living in an apartment. And as soon as they get
out and they get that first big job, they you know,
(18:42):
get the new car. My joke is they get the
two and a half children and the dog and you know,
so forth. But what happens is they become a prisoner
of the system. So they may see unethical conduct, but
they're so financially bound that they can't just say to
the company, take this job and shove it. So I
(19:02):
actually encourage new professionals, young professionals to be very very
careful in there, in there what they do early on,
and not incur a lot of debt when they first
get out of school, and kind of evaluate the waterfront.
And one example that I do use is a personal
(19:24):
friend of mine who is a very high level international consultant.
When he got his NBA at the University of Chicago,
which is a very prestigious operation, he actually ended up
at Enron in the mid nineties, and he got there
and he realized that even in the mid nineties it
was a corrupt operation and it took him six months
(19:48):
to get out of there because he just couldn't quit
because he had so much overhead from pursuing his MBA
And so fortunately he did get another job, but it
took him six months, and he said it was a
very low six months. So I think first of all
is to be aware of your surroundings. Try to work
for companies that have a hard line ethical approach, and
(20:12):
I think that's that's, you know, number one. And as
a leader, like I said, I think it's really important
to set a good example yourself and to emphasize across
the board how you approach things. And of course the
government gets involved these days with things like the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act, which is a is a very big
(20:34):
deal and things like that where the government encourages businesses
to have good, solid auditing programs, so that usually you
can if there's a problem in a company, you can
tell by the numbers.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Now it's interesting actually mentioned government stafforshein.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
And of course we're about a month out from the
inauguration that just happened for President Trump, and you know,
this path election was a very polarizing election for the country,
and so a lot of people have come to distress
government and presidential indis in the United States.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
And so you have a book The.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Decline of America One hundred Years of Leadership Failure. Then
it addressed significant issues in leadership, particularly presidential leadership. So
in you're your opinion, what do you think made a
great president to lead this unique country of the United
States of America, So we don't keep feeling like jack ourselves.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
Well, it is a really crazy situation in the United States.
And if we ran corporations the way we run the government,
the entire place that be bankrupt would be a third
world country. And it's very unfortunate. And of course one
(21:59):
of the things that that Trump ran on with his buddy,
his new buddy, Elon Mosque is government efficiency. And I'm
a huge proponent of massive cuts in the federal government,
and not for the punishing people, but because we need
(22:19):
government to be responsive and it's become flabby and unresponsive
to the needs of our citizens. But we have just
somehow put together an amazing list of people who were
not as I mentioned earlier eighteen in my opinion, And
(22:41):
I got a lot of flack when the book came out,
and the book did well but I got a lot
of flack because of my grade. In fact, several different
people come in and said, you know, doctor Shine's a
really hard greater because the highest grade in my book
is a B minus for Harry Truman. And since I'm
known as a conservative, sometimes people criticize my book as being,
(23:05):
you know, unfair to certain Democrat people. But you know,
I gave a D minus to George W. Bush, Bill Clinton,
and Obama. I haven't graded Trump because we held up
on the book came out right after Obama left office,
(23:25):
and so.
Speaker 5 (23:26):
We stopped booked at that point.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
But my observation is is that we should be selecting
candidates in a more somehow, in a more scientific approach
of people who are exceptional leaders, and somehow it doesn't
seem that we've been able to do that. And I
think the twenty twenty four election was one of two
(23:53):
very flawed candidates in a very flawed system, and so
I'm not sure how we can get into a better
position where we can pick some better people to even
be the candidates on each side the others. I want choice,
I want the public to get a chance to vote.
But this election, more than the twenty twenty four election
(24:16):
more than any in my lifetime. I have heard people say,
I am not really that excited about either candidate, but
I'm voting for X or Y because I think that's
the lesser of two evils, and that really concerns me.
So I think, if anything, I think we've gone downhill.
And again I don't you know, Harry Truman made some
(24:40):
breaeous mistakes when he was president, but he still came out,
in my humble opinion, you know, a kind of top
of the stack, and a lot of Republicans would have
liked to have seen Ronald Reagan with a higher rating.
And Ronald Reagan was very popular with the people, but
(25:01):
the reality is that they didn't do much to balance
the budget and control the growth of government. Though people say, well,
here you had twelve years of Republicans, two terms for Reagan,
one term for w for hw Bush, and yet we
didn't really move the country that far forward. But there
(25:24):
was a pretty positive environment during Reagan. That's a good thing.
I'm not knocking positive environment, but I would have liked
to have seen government not get bloated out of control.
And that's the part that a lot of people will overlook,
is that Reagan had a very good relationship with Tip O'Neil.
He was dealing with the Democrat controlled oh and Bi
(25:47):
O'Neil basically got everything he wanted, while Reagan was It's like, know,
you guys together didn't really help the United States get
on a more firm footing, so that, you know, not
to be too political. But again, I'd like to see
some stronger candidates who have hardcore business backgrounds and you know,
(26:08):
can can do things that would make the country run better.
We have got to fix so many problems quickly. The
national debt. National debt is scary, scary. Social Security runs
out of money in twenty thirty, Medicare may run out
of money. First, we have got to get better leadership,
(26:30):
and you know, maybe this administration will do that. I've
got my fingers crossed, well, you know, I you.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Know, I have to ask you, you know, for the
last two president, for Trump and Biden, what grade.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Do you think you would give each of them?
Speaker 4 (26:47):
Remembering I'm a conservative, so this is always considered. I
would give Trump a D for his first term, and
I am awarding an F to the Biden administration. I
consider it the worst performance of a president in one
hundred and ten years, going back to Wilson, which was
(27:09):
the beginning that the American the American leadership period began
with the end of World War One. That's why I
started my book with Wilson, and I think that this
is a failed administration. Now people will quickly say, well,
it's not completely fair because Biden obviously is suffering, you know,
(27:34):
from dementia during most of his term, and of course
that was hidden by his spouse and the people around him.
But my opinion is that Biden's selection of the people
he surrounded himself with and what happened during his four
years in office, it clearly was a failure, you know.
(27:56):
And again it's professor. I award him in F grade.
The only other F grade in this time period is
Richard Nixon, who obviously resigned in dis grace.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
But oddly enough, rid.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
Nixon's F grade is interesting because he resigned in this grade,
but he actually accomplished more in his administration than some
other people did. No, it's a tough deal putting in
grades on this, but yeah, I would give a Trump
a D. And remember he did not get reelected after
his first term. That's that's certainly not a big endorsement,
(28:31):
and then you know Biden, Like I said, I know
there's some people out there defending Biden, but I don't
think it's defensible.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
No, understandable.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Now, you also emphasize the role of dis the flint
in building resilience. So can you share the practical strategy
that the litener is to implement to develop discipline, because
I know it's very difficult to have discipline, especially when
there are a lot of distractions here.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
So how do you develop discipline to build resilion?
Speaker 4 (29:04):
Oh gosh, that's probably the hardest question I get asked.
Speaker 5 (29:07):
And I am.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
Renowned as a very disciplined person. You know, it takes
a lot of discipline to complete four degrees. I can
tell you that. A real low point for me was
I had been at UPenn for four years, a very
heavy duty competitive NBA for two years, and then I
went to law school directly from the NBA program, and
(29:32):
about the middle of my second year law school, I said,
I am really hating this. This is really I need
to get out and work a full time job, and
I'm just really burned out. And it was very difficult
for me to finish school, but I finished it because
I had started it, and I think that's an important concept,
(29:56):
is that sometimes it's part of so that discipline is
to you just finish things because you started them. And
it's interesting because you study, you know, drop out rates
in college and drop out rates. We don't worry so
much about high school anymore, but there's still drop out
rates in high school, but certainly at the college level
(30:17):
in the graduate ranks. And you've got to make a
commitment to the future. And for me, the future was
I wanted to have an MBA and a law degree,
and I wanted to be a captain of industry.
Speaker 5 (30:31):
And I tried.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
You know, I work for two Fortune fifty companies and
saw what I saw and saying, yeah, you know what,
I think, I'm going to go.
Speaker 5 (30:39):
Do my own thing.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
And that's kind of how I did my own thing
for the next twenty five forty years. But you have
to have that commitment to the future and pay your dues.
I get a lot of credit for doing something that
is completely personal to me, so I'm not holding this
out like I'm great. Both they committed to working out,
(31:05):
and my friends know me as somebody who religiously works out,
and what I tell people is I have an appointment
with myself. And what happens is is that some people
work out after work. I go to a lot of
First of all, I teach in the evening, but I
also go to a lot of networking meetings and things
(31:25):
like that. So what I do is I set the
alarm and including this morning, and got up early and
went over to the gym, and I have a defined
workout at the gym and did that and came home
and restarted work my day. But by doing it first
thing in the morning, that's what worked for me. For
(31:46):
some people that works better to do it after work.
But I work out three mornings a week at the gym,
and I do a little yoga workout on the days
I don't go to the gym. But I mean, I
am absolutely on track. And even if I get up
and I feel lousy, it's like, you know what, my
body will will appreciate that. And I frankly did have
(32:07):
a harder workout this morning than I did Friday morning.
It's just the nature of the beast. But you've got
to commit to whatever it is that you want to accomplish.
And that's to me sometimes that you know, there's the
famous table of the tortoise and the hair, and sometimes
it's better to be that hardworking tortoise who just keeps ongoing.
Speaker 5 (32:29):
And it's not the speed with what you.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
Get there, it's the fact that you put your head
down and you kept going.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
No.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Most definitely I can't agree with you.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
More so speaking of your own journey, like being upon
it and especially reflecting upon the support that you received
over the years.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
So important do you feel that having the support system
is in overcoming adversity?
Speaker 4 (33:00):
It's really important, It's absolutely critical. And nobody does anything
by themselves. And I'm rather critical of the Obama speech
where he says, you know, you didn't get that business
where you were by yourself, and I think that was
a very callous billy statement. But the reality is is
(33:21):
that even though I tend to be a solo person,
a solopreneur I think is the term sometimes used, I
still have a team. And your team in life starts
with your parents. And one of the things that has
carried me through my whole life is my parents gave
me a great start. And one of the things that
(33:44):
I think is encouraging right now, and it's been a
controversy over the last few years, as you know, is
parents showing up at school board meetings saying this is
what we want in our classrooms. And that's extremely important
because I think parents back the way we've got mostly
(34:06):
two parent working families today, We've got a lot of parents.
Speaker 5 (34:12):
I was a solo dad for.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
A long time, raised my two sons, and you've got
to be invested in your kids education. And I think
that helps to get discipline started. No, you will sit
here and do your homework from you know, five to
six and then we're going to eat dinner at six
o'clock or something like that is and the people that
(34:34):
have that discipline and have that inspiration from their parents,
that's the first step in my opinion.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
No, I couldn't agree with you more so in your opinion,
what is the best way to build resilience?
Speaker 4 (34:53):
Doing it? Just doing it over and over and over again.
And you know, like I said, I go to the
gym regularly. I can't conceptualize my life at this point
without going to the gym. I was not a gym regular,
but I became. I was a runner first, and then
(35:13):
I discovered that for some of us, running is not
the best thing. Things called yeh, the needy. After I'd
torn up, they said, yeah, probably not a good idea
to keep running.
Speaker 5 (35:30):
So that's what turned me into a gym rat.
Speaker 4 (35:33):
And you have to have objectives, and so I think
part of resilience is to say, these are my objectives.
Like I said, my early life objective was to become
a medical doctor. When I realized that was not a
good fit for me personally, I refocused myself on something else.
(35:53):
And I did have a period of gee, what do
I really want to be? And sometimes factors, you know,
come in. But one of the things that happened to
me is I had some terrific teachers in high school
and I started in Catholic school. I was K through eight.
In Catholic school, the nuns are very committed to their students,
(36:17):
and that guidance from the nuns, supported by solid parenting,
was very powerful in terms of getting me on the
right track. I still can't My penmanship is still horrendous,
but the nuns did their best. They helped me write
good penmanship. But then in high school I had some
super teachers. And then when I got to pen it
(36:39):
was more of a mixed bag. But I had some
excellent teachers. But as I mentioned, I started my own
business and I was very blessed to work with two
very very different people work with me during most of
the time I had the small business in Philadelphia, and
they were very very different people and yet in their
(37:03):
own special way, they contributed a great deal to me.
And that's what I mentioned is through life you will
have that team feeling, even if you don't have official teams.
Speaker 5 (37:13):
So today.
Speaker 4 (37:15):
I'm really kind of a stilopreneur, but I have the
support of some of my fellow faculty at my university
and I have a big networking operation where I go
to a lot of businesses. I'm active with the Greater
Heights Chamber of Commerce. I've been in the Heights for
twenty seven years and it's very inspiring to feel accepted
(37:39):
and people know who you are and they talk to
you and.
Speaker 5 (37:42):
They're very supportive.
Speaker 4 (37:44):
And that's I think very important to be connected with
your community and to not everybody's going to be your
quick buddy, but sometimes just having the right connections makes
a lot of difference. And that's the part of what
I think works for people is building that team.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
And so what's next for you? Doctor sein Well?
Speaker 5 (38:07):
So I've got three courses.
Speaker 4 (38:09):
It's an eight week course on health care law and ethics,
and I'm very excited about teaching it. That'll be my
second time teaching that course, and I'm getting my two
others syllabi ready to roll on. I will be teaching
two classes in the classroom. What I want to do
is finish the book that you and I talked a
(38:31):
little bit about is a Cheap Education, which is bluntly
my four years at the University of Pennsylvania.
Speaker 5 (38:38):
It's a play on words.
Speaker 4 (38:40):
It's you pen Is today, and it was then one
of the most expensive universities in the country. I got
a better education on the streets of Philadelphia than I
did in the classroom.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Go.
Speaker 5 (38:56):
I think people are going to find that interesting.
Speaker 4 (38:58):
So the book, the title of the book is plan Words,
and I'm pretty far behind. I was kind of chicken
along and I got through fourteen chapters and then I
had to I taught eleven courses last school year against
a normal courseload of like three and three, and so
it was just too much to keep going.
Speaker 5 (39:20):
But I'm hoping to return to it.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Well, thank you, doctor Stein for sharing your incredible journey
and valuable insights on resilience, leadership, and ethics in the workplace,
and also giving us your take on leadership presidential.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
Leadership in the United States.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Your story is a powerful reminder that with discipline, focused
and a strong support system, we can overcome opticals and
receive our goals. So how can listeners finally connect with
you or read any of your work or purchase a
copy of any of your books.
Speaker 4 (39:55):
I'm on Amazon, and I'm active on all of the
major social media sites LinkedIn Facebook, Instagram x formally Twitter,
and so I'm pretty easy to find any.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
Last words of encouragement for the listeners.
Speaker 4 (40:13):
If you feel misguided or that you don't see a
good path forward, talk to some people you know. Talk
with your parents, and talk with your teachers, talk with
your boss. But don't just wander around and say, gosh,
I really don't know where I want to go. If
you need help focusing, seek that help, because you don't
(40:35):
want to look back twenty five or thirty years later
and say, gee, I could have accomplished so much if
i'd finish college, or I finish graduate school, or I
did this or that or the other thing. So I
encourage people to set goals and pursue them well.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
Doctor Stein, I appreciate the work you're doing and I
look forward to seeing how you continue to inspire other
than their journey.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Thank you so much for being.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
A guest on Life Jacks the Resilience Podcast. I wish
you and your family nothing but blessing and abundance. Please
take care.
Speaker 5 (41:09):
Thank you so much, and I as the same for
you and yours.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Doctor David Shine.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
Everyone be sure to join me next time for more
uplifting stories and insight on resilience.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Until then, eat pushing.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
Forward, embrace the journey, and remember that every setback can
lead to a greater comeback. Doctor Rowe finding off
What do you do when you come from a low
income family with limited educational resources, yet you aspire.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
To achieve great thing.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
On this episode of Life Jack the Resilience Podcast, I
have the theemed pleasure of seeking with doctor David Schein,
a true embodiment of resilience and determination. As the oldest
of seven children, Doctor Shine navigated the challenges of its
upbringing to secure an Ivy League scholarship and ultimately earned
(00:36):
multiple advanced degree including an NBA.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
JD and PhD.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
His journey is not just the tale of personal triumph,
but also a reflection of the importance of discipline posted
and then wavering commitment to ethical success. Doctor Shine, nicknamed
the Employment Guru, is currently a professor at the University
of Saint Thomas in Kustin, Texas, and she is known
(01:05):
for being able to answer jet about any employment related
question one could imagine. Join me at Doctor Schein shares
an inspiring story. It insights on leadership, workplace ethics, and
the critical role of resilience and achieving professional goal.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Sometimes life gives us lemons, Sometimes it gives us lemonade.
Other Times it gives us something entirely out of left
field that makes us say w t F. But no
matter what obstacles come, there is most often a way
out on the other side, and we are once again victorious.
(01:49):
My name is doctor Rome and you are listening to
my podcast about resilience. Every guest shares a tragedy to
triumph story to give listeners like you the inspiration to
push through every single day. Listen now as my next
guest shares how they were.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Like Jack, Hi, docs are shy. Welcome. Thank you so
much for being a guest on my show. How are you?
Speaker 4 (02:19):
I am doing great, and I want to just say
right up front, thank you so much for the invitation,
and it's been delightful to connect with you.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
No, most definitely, especially so if you're a Houstonian. And
of course I live in the Houston area too, so
anytime I run across the person who touches yourself that
definitely embody resilience. I definitely want to, you know, make
sure that you are on my show because I do
have a large following from the Houston area.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Yes, well, that's that's that's great.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
And of course up Houston sometimes is called the world's
biggest small town.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
No, absolutely, and yet that we were discussing earlier in
the pre interview, you it seem like people are moving
here by the minute.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
And we welcome you know, we're pretty friendly people here.
And I'm not originally from Houston. I'm not here as
quick as I could well next two of.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Us, because I'm actually from Austin Technic, all right. What
motivated you to pursue higher education to fite the challenges
that you bake.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Well, it was, it was. It was a difficult start.
My parents did not have a lot. My dad was
a career en listed man in the Navy, and that
is a very low income position, and we did not
live originally on the naval base, and for a lot
(03:44):
of long term enlisted military part of the way of
surviving financially is to actually live in government housing. And
so my mom had a ged. My dad did finish
high school, had taken a couple college courses and decided
it wasn't for him. But my parents were very unusual
(04:07):
in that from a very early age, my parents just
kept saying, you're going to go to college.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
You're going to go to college, You're going to go
to college.
Speaker 4 (04:16):
And that in itself was a driver, but it really
kind of kicked in about seventh or eighth grade, and
for me, a separate incident happened. I had some emotional
issues as a youngster, you know, I seven or eight
years old, and I saw a pediatric psychiatrist through the
(04:36):
US Navy, through the Naval Hospital and was very inspired.
And so I had two goals. One is from my
parents wanting to finish college. The other one is I
actually went to college to become a medical doctor and
that did not work out in droves. So and that,
you know, kind of a story that I'm working on
(04:58):
right now, trying to explain to people in fighting what happened.
But it was pretty crazy, and of course with having kids.
And I was very very focused in high school and
was a top performing student and was rewarded with his
scholarship to University of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia. And I had
(05:19):
never been on the campus until the day I reported
for classes.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Wow. And so since you did not come from a
family who ad degrees, right, So your first generation college graduate,
what do you seem attributed to your success to want
to even see higher degrees?
Speaker 5 (05:39):
Right?
Speaker 1 (05:39):
So you didn't just get a bachelor like you pushed
forward to masters and then at the golf roam level.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Well, I when I started in college, what happens is,
of course, scholarship only covers tuition and fees, so I
had a federal loan and I also had to work,
and they actually had me working for a medical doctor
as my work study job, and that convinced me that
(06:06):
I really didn't want to be a doctor. But then
I had this issue, well, what will I do. I've
been committed for fifteen years to be a doctor, you
know what happens now? And so I began to be
involved in business and did some analysis at the career
(06:27):
training center there, and they said, gee, you really cut
out to be a lawyer. And I ended up having
my own business. And so as I progressed through undergraduate school,
I decided that I needed an MBA and a law
degree because I wanted to be a real big corporate
leader of business. And the very competitive MBA program at
(06:52):
the University of Virginia Garden School accepted me. I was
only one of three students in that class who came
direct from college. But the reason they did it is
because they were fascinated by the fact that this kid,
you know, scholarship kid starts a business and manages to
keep all his bills paid for three and a half
years while he's in college. And so that's how I
(07:15):
ended up on the business track and getting the NBA
and then the law degree.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Wow, you've worked with various Fortune fifty companies as well
as taught at prestigious universities.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
So how do you.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Think that those experiences take your approach to leadership?
Speaker 4 (07:35):
Well, Shell Oil was my I worked for Golf Oil
in law school, and Golf Courses is still a branded name,
but it's no longer an oil company. And I realized
that they weren't the best run oil company in the
country or in the United States. And then Shell really
taught me a great deal. They were when I worked
(07:57):
for them, and many people I still know who frankly
have retired from Shell at this point is Shell was
the first class operation. So I got a chance to
see how things are done right. And then I went
to a mid size oil company which was owned by
a huge conglomerate, and that was Tentaco Oil Company. And
as Ustony may remember that the marathon in Houston used
(08:20):
to be the Tenaco Houston Marathon, and I was at
Teneco at that time. I actually ran the marathon in
nineteen eighty six, and so Tenaco melted down while I
was there, And so it influences me as a business
professor because I've seen Shell Oil do it well and
(08:42):
Tenaco fail. A gigantic corporation, the whole corporation failed, and
so it gave me two different sides of the coin,
and it enables me to say, whatever you do in life,
you need to do it the right way. You need
to go in there with enthusiasm. You need to have
a good business plan if you're in business, and you've
(09:06):
got to put your heart into it, and it's very important.
And of course we've seen, you know, horrible meltdowns like
Tenaco was not an ethical meltdown, it was just a
business failure. But of course then you know, twenty years later,
we saw Enron right here in Houston self destruct and
that was an ethical failure. And that's one of the
(09:29):
key cases that we talk a lot about when I
teach business.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Well, everything of course evolves over the year and over decades,
and I can definitely attest that leadership is one of
those things that has evolved. I'm thinking partially because now
each with each generation, we kind of have to handle
each generation differently, and so for this latest generation, I believe,
(09:55):
you know now we are the gen xers and the
millennium are giving Burke to I get jin Alpha is
what they're calling them. But what do you think are
the key qualities that define effective leadership into gave modern
age that is totally different from when you fust far
(10:15):
out in the innership.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
Well, one of the basics is still hard work and
an ethical approach to to everything. I think a more
accepting concept of diversity is part of the reality of
modern leadership is that this is not the you know,
(10:37):
white shirt and narrow ties of the IBM generation, of
the you know, big blue and it's it's it's just
a very very different environment. But I think one of
the things that's been undersold is I actually had an
MBA student right in an essay, I'm I'm going to
(10:57):
just work nine to five.
Speaker 5 (10:59):
I refuse to compromise my life and all that.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
And I just thought it was kind of humorous because,
you know, in my first job at Shell Oil, I
worked at six am to six pm Monday through Friday
and was hopeful if they didn't need me on Saturday.
But I was promoted three times in three years and
like And that's one of the concerns I have is
(11:25):
that we have much higher absenteeism, much higher you know,
people sitting on their phones and distracted and not committing
to their position, and yet they expect to be treated,
you know, the same as the A team. And you know,
my personal reference to myself is you're dealing with an
(11:46):
eighteen person And I'm sorry, but if you want to
be in the A team, you've got to make that commitment.
And you know, that includes getting a good education and
not just getting through school, but actually learning the material.
That doesn't mean all straight a's, It means really learning
the material and am putting in some hard work. But
(12:07):
I think the leaders today need to be more tuned
into the individuals that they work with than perhaps anytime
in the past.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
No, for sure, I can definitely tell you as a
leader myself in my job, and it is definitely you
do have to have resilion specific short sture because it
can be frustrating.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
I guess it's a word I want to use.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
I don't know if that's the most correct word, because
this generation of workers very different than when I started
out working, and I very much.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
So in the feel of vegetation.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I got to work really early, or I stayed really late,
finds the great papers and get lesson plans done and
all a talking to parents.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
And now you just can't.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Find many people who will stay late like that unless
it's a part of their job, like they have to
covers of back ball being or act there's a parent
and I you just can't find that. You just so,
do you think that that's a good thing there is
that that this degeneration of workers has a better graph
(13:12):
of work like balance or what.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Do you think it is?
Speaker 4 (13:16):
Well, you know, given how hard I've worked in my life,
and I'm still working very hard. I'm in the office
today as I do seven days a week, and I
don't think that there's an understanding that if you want
to compete with the A performers, you need to put
(13:38):
in the A.
Speaker 5 (13:40):
Performer work.
Speaker 4 (13:41):
And this is one of my concerns about some of
what we're hearing in the current generation is that they
want to kind of have their personal style of life,
but they don't understand that there are people out there
who are out there really putting it in for the
business or for their own family or you know, writing
(14:03):
six books instead of one book. I mean, you know,
there's all sorts of different examples, and so I do
get a little frustrated by that. I can tell you
that I teach in class and online, and I'm concerned
because a lot of students are opting for online.
Speaker 5 (14:22):
Because they see it as easier.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
And certainly if you're commuting in the Greater Houston area,
you know, commuting is no fun, but there's much more
impact educationally in the classroom. But one of the things
that I run into is increasingly poor attendance in the classroom,
even if the student has selected it in person class.
(14:45):
And like I said, the number one concern I'm hearing
from employers today is that the new generation, the current generation,
does not show up for work, and when they do
show up, they're not putting in, They're not dedicated to
getting the job done. Turnal was much higher today in
many businesses. I do get concerned that we somehow haven't
(15:10):
gotten the message out that life does involve a lot.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Of no most definitely, And now you often speak about
the importance of having an ethical work clipace. So in
your vision of the perfect workplace at you know, the
most perfect ethical workplace.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
What exactly does that look like.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
Well, first of all, it's top down. Is you have
to set an example from the top. And a good
example is we mentioned Enron a few minutes ago. Is
Enron had.
Speaker 5 (15:49):
A really corrupt leadership.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
In fact, you know, the president, the CEO, the chief
financial officer have all been convicted of federal fraud. And
so I can say that with comfort that these people
you know, engaged in extensive corruption.
Speaker 5 (16:06):
But what happened down the ladder.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
Is when the mid level managers and others saw that
the whole operation was corrupt, a lot of them said, well,
if they're going to be corrupt, we can be corrupt,
and we can be even more corrupt, and so it
fed into a very bad cycle. So Number one is
that you've got to have an ethical reed from the
(16:32):
very top. And a good example of this was one
of a major pharmaceutical company had really worked very hard
on some major ethical challenges and problems that incurred in
their workplace, and then shortly after that they found out
that some of their senior vice presidents, some really important
(16:54):
people in the company were skimming on their expense accounts.
We're listing things on their defense accounts that they had
not incurred or not incurred in pursuit of the business.
And the president of the company was so incensed that
he fired those other senior managers and said, you know,
we have spent so much money to get past our
(17:17):
challenges and things. How can you not set a good
example and follow the trail. So I think it's important
that companies act ethically across the board. And there's a
professor at darden Ed Freeman and he came out with
an approach to ethical analysis called stakeholder analysis, and that's
(17:39):
basically where you treat everybody well, whether they're employees, vendors, customers,
members of the community around you. And I endorse that approach.
I endorse and approach where you look at your stakeholders
and you make sure they're all being treated well.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
There's a leader out there who's wothening this peticular episode
and they feel like their culture is less than ethical
or it's not a desired culture that they would like,
and make sure that they have a functioning team.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Where should they start?
Speaker 4 (18:17):
Okay, One of the things I do tell my students,
and I have seniors and then NBA candidates mostly in
my classes is that a lot of people finish school
and they're in debt, and they've been living poor, and
they've been driving a twenty year old car and all that,
living in an apartment. And as soon as they get
out and they get that first big job, they you know,
(18:42):
get the new car. My joke is they get the
two and a half children and the dog and you know,
so forth. But what happens is they become a prisoner
of the system. So they may see unethical conduct, but
they're so financially bound that they can't just say to
the company, take this job and shove it. So I
(19:02):
actually encourage new professionals, young professionals to be very very
careful in there, in there what they do early on,
and not incur a lot of debt when they first
get out of school, and kind of evaluate the waterfront.
And one example that I do use is a personal
(19:24):
friend of mine who is a very high level international consultant.
When he got his NBA at the University of Chicago,
which is a very prestigious operation, he actually ended up
at Enron in the mid nineties, and he got there
and he realized that even in the mid nineties it
was a corrupt operation and it took him six months
(19:48):
to get out of there because he just couldn't quit
because he had so much overhead from pursuing his MBA
And so fortunately he did get another job, but it
took him six months, and he said it was a
very low six months. So I think first of all
is to be aware of your surroundings. Try to work
for companies that have a hard line ethical approach, and
(20:12):
I think that's that's, you know, number one. And as
a leader, like I said, I think it's really important
to set a good example yourself and to emphasize across
the board how you approach things. And of course the
government gets involved these days with things like the Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act, which is a is a very big
(20:34):
deal and things like that where the government encourages businesses
to have good, solid auditing programs, so that usually you
can if there's a problem in a company, you can
tell by the numbers.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Now it's interesting actually mentioned government stafforshein.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
And of course we're about a month out from the
inauguration that just happened for President Trump, and you know,
this path election was a very polarizing election for the country,
and so a lot of people have come to distress
government and presidential indis in the United States.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
And so you have a book The.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Decline of America One hundred Years of Leadership Failure. Then
it addressed significant issues in leadership, particularly presidential leadership. So
in you're your opinion, what do you think made a
great president to lead this unique country of the United
States of America, So we don't keep feeling like jack ourselves.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
Well, it is a really crazy situation in the United States.
And if we ran corporations the way we run the government,
the entire place that be bankrupt would be a third
world country. And it's very unfortunate. And of course one
(21:59):
of the things that that Trump ran on with his buddy,
his new buddy, Elon Mosque is government efficiency. And I'm
a huge proponent of massive cuts in the federal government,
and not for the punishing people, but because we need
(22:19):
government to be responsive and it's become flabby and unresponsive
to the needs of our citizens. But we have just
somehow put together an amazing list of people who were
not as I mentioned earlier eighteen in my opinion, And
(22:41):
I got a lot of flack when the book came out,
and the book did well but I got a lot
of flack because of my grade. In fact, several different
people come in and said, you know, doctor Shine's a
really hard greater because the highest grade in my book
is a B minus for Harry Truman. And since I'm
known as a conservative, sometimes people criticize my book as being,
(23:05):
you know, unfair to certain Democrat people. But you know,
I gave a D minus to George W. Bush, Bill Clinton,
and Obama. I haven't graded Trump because we held up
on the book came out right after Obama left office,
(23:25):
and so.
Speaker 5 (23:26):
We stopped booked at that point.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
But my observation is is that we should be selecting
candidates in a more somehow, in a more scientific approach
of people who are exceptional leaders, and somehow it doesn't
seem that we've been able to do that. And I
think the twenty twenty four election was one of two
(23:53):
very flawed candidates in a very flawed system, and so
I'm not sure how we can get into a better
position where we can pick some better people to even
be the candidates on each side the others. I want choice,
I want the public to get a chance to vote.
But this election, more than the twenty twenty four election
(24:16):
more than any in my lifetime. I have heard people say,
I am not really that excited about either candidate, but
I'm voting for X or Y because I think that's
the lesser of two evils, and that really concerns me.
So I think, if anything, I think we've gone downhill.
And again I don't you know, Harry Truman made some
(24:40):
breaeous mistakes when he was president, but he still came out,
in my humble opinion, you know, a kind of top
of the stack, and a lot of Republicans would have
liked to have seen Ronald Reagan with a higher rating.
And Ronald Reagan was very popular with the people, but
(25:01):
the reality is that they didn't do much to balance
the budget and control the growth of government. Though people say, well,
here you had twelve years of Republicans, two terms for Reagan,
one term for w for hw Bush, and yet we
didn't really move the country that far forward. But there
(25:24):
was a pretty positive environment during Reagan. That's a good thing.
I'm not knocking positive environment, but I would have liked
to have seen government not get bloated out of control.
And that's the part that a lot of people will overlook,
is that Reagan had a very good relationship with Tip O'Neil.
He was dealing with the Democrat controlled oh and Bi
(25:47):
O'Neil basically got everything he wanted, while Reagan was It's like, know,
you guys together didn't really help the United States get
on a more firm footing, so that, you know, not
to be too political. But again, I'd like to see
some stronger candidates who have hardcore business backgrounds and you know,
(26:08):
can can do things that would make the country run better.
We have got to fix so many problems quickly. The
national debt. National debt is scary, scary. Social Security runs
out of money in twenty thirty, Medicare may run out
of money. First, we have got to get better leadership,
(26:30):
and you know, maybe this administration will do that. I've
got my fingers crossed, well, you know, I you.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Know, I have to ask you, you know, for the
last two president, for Trump and Biden, what grade.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
Do you think you would give each of them?
Speaker 4 (26:47):
Remembering I'm a conservative, so this is always considered. I
would give Trump a D for his first term, and
I am awarding an F to the Biden administration. I
consider it the worst performance of a president in one
hundred and ten years, going back to Wilson, which was
(27:09):
the beginning that the American the American leadership period began
with the end of World War One. That's why I
started my book with Wilson, and I think that this
is a failed administration. Now people will quickly say, well,
it's not completely fair because Biden obviously is suffering, you know,
(27:34):
from dementia during most of his term, and of course
that was hidden by his spouse and the people around him.
But my opinion is that Biden's selection of the people
he surrounded himself with and what happened during his four
years in office, it clearly was a failure, you know.
(27:56):
And again it's professor. I award him in F grade.
The only other F grade in this time period is
Richard Nixon, who obviously resigned in dis grace.
Speaker 5 (28:06):
But oddly enough, rid.
Speaker 4 (28:08):
Nixon's F grade is interesting because he resigned in this grade,
but he actually accomplished more in his administration than some
other people did. No, it's a tough deal putting in
grades on this, but yeah, I would give a Trump
a D. And remember he did not get reelected after
his first term. That's that's certainly not a big endorsement,
(28:31):
and then you know Biden, Like I said, I know
there's some people out there defending Biden, but I don't
think it's defensible.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
No, understandable.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
Now, you also emphasize the role of dis the flint
in building resilience. So can you share the practical strategy
that the litener is to implement to develop discipline, because
I know it's very difficult to have discipline, especially when
there are a lot of distractions here.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
So how do you develop discipline to build resilion?
Speaker 4 (29:04):
Oh gosh, that's probably the hardest question I get asked.
Speaker 5 (29:07):
And I am.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
Renowned as a very disciplined person. You know, it takes
a lot of discipline to complete four degrees. I can
tell you that. A real low point for me was
I had been at UPenn for four years, a very
heavy duty competitive NBA for two years, and then I
went to law school directly from the NBA program, and
(29:32):
about the middle of my second year law school, I said,
I am really hating this. This is really I need
to get out and work a full time job, and
I'm just really burned out. And it was very difficult
for me to finish school, but I finished it because
I had started it, and I think that's an important concept,
(29:56):
is that sometimes it's part of so that discipline is
to you just finish things because you started them. And
it's interesting because you study, you know, drop out rates
in college and drop out rates. We don't worry so
much about high school anymore, but there's still drop out
rates in high school, but certainly at the college level
(30:17):
in the graduate ranks. And you've got to make a
commitment to the future. And for me, the future was
I wanted to have an MBA and a law degree,
and I wanted to be a captain of industry.
Speaker 5 (30:31):
And I tried.
Speaker 4 (30:32):
You know, I work for two Fortune fifty companies and
saw what I saw and saying, yeah, you know what,
I think, I'm going to go.
Speaker 5 (30:39):
Do my own thing.
Speaker 4 (30:40):
And that's kind of how I did my own thing
for the next twenty five forty years. But you have
to have that commitment to the future and pay your dues.
I get a lot of credit for doing something that
is completely personal to me, so I'm not holding this
out like I'm great. Both they committed to working out,
(31:05):
and my friends know me as somebody who religiously works out,
and what I tell people is I have an appointment
with myself. And what happens is is that some people
work out after work. I go to a lot of
First of all, I teach in the evening, but I
also go to a lot of networking meetings and things
(31:25):
like that. So what I do is I set the
alarm and including this morning, and got up early and
went over to the gym, and I have a defined
workout at the gym and did that and came home
and restarted work my day. But by doing it first
thing in the morning, that's what worked for me. For
(31:46):
some people that works better to do it after work.
But I work out three mornings a week at the gym,
and I do a little yoga workout on the days
I don't go to the gym. But I mean, I
am absolutely on track. And even if I get up
and I feel lousy, it's like, you know what, my
body will will appreciate that. And I frankly did have
(32:07):
a harder workout this morning than I did Friday morning.
It's just the nature of the beast. But you've got
to commit to whatever it is that you want to accomplish.
And that's to me sometimes that you know, there's the
famous table of the tortoise and the hair, and sometimes
it's better to be that hardworking tortoise who just keeps ongoing.
Speaker 5 (32:29):
And it's not the speed with what you.
Speaker 4 (32:31):
Get there, it's the fact that you put your head
down and you kept going.
Speaker 1 (32:35):
No.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
Most definitely I can't agree with you.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
More so speaking of your own journey, like being upon
it and especially reflecting upon the support that you received
over the years.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
So important do you feel that having the support system
is in overcoming adversity?
Speaker 4 (33:00):
It's really important, It's absolutely critical. And nobody does anything
by themselves. And I'm rather critical of the Obama speech
where he says, you know, you didn't get that business
where you were by yourself, and I think that was
a very callous billy statement. But the reality is is
(33:21):
that even though I tend to be a solo person,
a solopreneur I think is the term sometimes used, I
still have a team. And your team in life starts
with your parents. And one of the things that has
carried me through my whole life is my parents gave
me a great start. And one of the things that
(33:44):
I think is encouraging right now, and it's been a
controversy over the last few years, as you know, is
parents showing up at school board meetings saying this is
what we want in our classrooms. And that's extremely important
because I think parents back the way we've got mostly
(34:06):
two parent working families today, We've got a lot of parents.
Speaker 5 (34:12):
I was a solo dad for.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
A long time, raised my two sons, and you've got
to be invested in your kids education. And I think
that helps to get discipline started. No, you will sit
here and do your homework from you know, five to
six and then we're going to eat dinner at six
o'clock or something like that is and the people that
(34:34):
have that discipline and have that inspiration from their parents,
that's the first step in my opinion.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
No, I couldn't agree with you more so in your opinion,
what is the best way to build resilience?
Speaker 4 (34:53):
Doing it? Just doing it over and over and over again.
And you know, like I said, I go to the
gym regularly. I can't conceptualize my life at this point
without going to the gym. I was not a gym regular,
but I became. I was a runner first, and then
(35:13):
I discovered that for some of us, running is not
the best thing. Things called yeh, the needy. After I'd
torn up, they said, yeah, probably not a good idea
to keep running.
Speaker 5 (35:30):
So that's what turned me into a gym rat.
Speaker 4 (35:33):
And you have to have objectives, and so I think
part of resilience is to say, these are my objectives.
Like I said, my early life objective was to become
a medical doctor. When I realized that was not a
good fit for me personally, I refocused myself on something else.
(35:53):
And I did have a period of gee, what do
I really want to be? And sometimes factors, you know,
come in. But one of the things that happened to
me is I had some terrific teachers in high school
and I started in Catholic school. I was K through eight.
In Catholic school, the nuns are very committed to their students,
(36:17):
and that guidance from the nuns, supported by solid parenting,
was very powerful in terms of getting me on the
right track. I still can't My penmanship is still horrendous,
but the nuns did their best. They helped me write
good penmanship. But then in high school I had some
super teachers. And then when I got to pen it
(36:39):
was more of a mixed bag. But I had some
excellent teachers. But as I mentioned, I started my own
business and I was very blessed to work with two
very very different people work with me during most of
the time I had the small business in Philadelphia, and
they were very very different people and yet in their
(37:03):
own special way, they contributed a great deal to me.
And that's what I mentioned is through life you will
have that team feeling, even if you don't have official teams.
Speaker 5 (37:13):
So today.
Speaker 4 (37:15):
I'm really kind of a stilopreneur, but I have the
support of some of my fellow faculty at my university
and I have a big networking operation where I go
to a lot of businesses. I'm active with the Greater
Heights Chamber of Commerce. I've been in the Heights for
twenty seven years and it's very inspiring to feel accepted
(37:39):
and people know who you are and they talk to
you and.
Speaker 5 (37:42):
They're very supportive.
Speaker 4 (37:44):
And that's I think very important to be connected with
your community and to not everybody's going to be your
quick buddy, but sometimes just having the right connections makes
a lot of difference. And that's the part of what
I think works for people is building that team.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
And so what's next for you? Doctor sein Well?
Speaker 5 (38:07):
So I've got three courses.
Speaker 4 (38:09):
It's an eight week course on health care law and ethics,
and I'm very excited about teaching it. That'll be my
second time teaching that course, and I'm getting my two
others syllabi ready to roll on. I will be teaching
two classes in the classroom. What I want to do
is finish the book that you and I talked a
(38:31):
little bit about is a Cheap Education, which is bluntly
my four years at the University of Pennsylvania.
Speaker 5 (38:38):
It's a play on words.
Speaker 4 (38:40):
It's you pen Is today, and it was then one
of the most expensive universities in the country. I got
a better education on the streets of Philadelphia than I
did in the classroom.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
Go.
Speaker 5 (38:56):
I think people are going to find that interesting.
Speaker 4 (38:58):
So the book, the title of the book is plan Words,
and I'm pretty far behind. I was kind of chicken
along and I got through fourteen chapters and then I
had to I taught eleven courses last school year against
a normal courseload of like three and three, and so
it was just too much to keep going.
Speaker 5 (39:20):
But I'm hoping to return to it.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
Well, thank you, doctor Stein for sharing your incredible journey
and valuable insights on resilience, leadership, and ethics in the workplace,
and also giving us your take on leadership presidential.
Speaker 2 (39:37):
Leadership in the United States.
Speaker 1 (39:39):
Your story is a powerful reminder that with discipline, focused
and a strong support system, we can overcome opticals and
receive our goals. So how can listeners finally connect with
you or read any of your work or purchase a
copy of any of your books.
Speaker 4 (39:55):
I'm on Amazon, and I'm active on all of the
major social media sites LinkedIn Facebook, Instagram x formally Twitter,
and so I'm pretty easy to find any.
Speaker 2 (40:09):
Last words of encouragement for the listeners.
Speaker 4 (40:13):
If you feel misguided or that you don't see a
good path forward, talk to some people you know. Talk
with your parents, and talk with your teachers, talk with
your boss. But don't just wander around and say, gosh,
I really don't know where I want to go. If
you need help focusing, seek that help, because you don't
(40:35):
want to look back twenty five or thirty years later
and say, gee, I could have accomplished so much if
i'd finish college, or I finish graduate school, or I
did this or that or the other thing. So I
encourage people to set goals and pursue them well.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
Doctor Stein, I appreciate the work you're doing and I
look forward to seeing how you continue to inspire other
than their journey.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Thank you so much for being.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
A guest on Life Jacks the Resilience Podcast. I wish
you and your family nothing but blessing and abundance. Please
take care.
Speaker 5 (41:09):
Thank you so much, and I as the same for
you and yours.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Doctor David Shine.
Speaker 1 (41:15):
Everyone be sure to join me next time for more
uplifting stories and insight on resilience.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Until then, eat pushing.
Speaker 1 (41:22):
Forward, embrace the journey, and remember that every setback can
lead to a greater comeback. Doctor Rowe finding off
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