June 24, 2025

Grit, Generosity, and Growth

Grit, Generosity, and Growth
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Join Divya Parekh for a grounded and energizing conversation with Honorable Paul Johnson and Larry Aldrich on what it truly takes to build lasting momentum in leadership, business, and life. Through a clear framework rooted in grit, generosity, and growth, they reveal why optimism isn’t just wishful thinking—it’s a strategic approach. Packed with practical insights on navigating change and leading with purpose, this episode is your invitation to move forward with clarity and conviction.

Beyond Confidence is broadcast live Tuesdays at 10AM ET on W4WN Radio - Women 4 Women Network (www.w4wn.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Beyond Confidence TV Show is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

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WEBVTT

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The topics and opinions expressed on the following show are

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solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not

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those of W four WN Radio It's employees or affiliates.

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be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing

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W four WN Radio.

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This is Beyond Confidence with your host d W Park.

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Do you want to live a more fulfilling life? Do

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you want to live your legacy and achieve your personal, professional,

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and financial goals? Well? Coming up on Dvparks Beyond Confidence,

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you will hear real stories of leaders, entrepreneurs, and achievers

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who have stemps into discomfort, shattered their status quo, and

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are living the life they want. You will learn how

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relationships are the key to achieving your aspirations and financial goals.

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Moving your career business forward does not have to happen

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at the expense of your personal or family life or

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vice versa. Learn more at www. Done Dvpork dot com

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and you can connect with dvants Contact dants dvpark dot com.

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This is beyond confidence and now here's your host, div Park.

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Good morning listeners, It's Tuesday in super excited to be

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with you. Not sure where your at, but we are

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facing heat waves, so be sure to stay cool because

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sometimes the heat can get too much. So I want

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to share a very powerful kind of story. So this

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is a story of one of my clients. We're just

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going to call him John. And what happened was John

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saw that his peer was being gas lit by the

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boss and it was just something about his peer and

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his boss not getting well. And because John had a

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really really really strong relationship with their boss, so what

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John started doing was just kind of sharing, like you know,

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what his peer was to do and how his fear

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was there to support and lo and behold that toxic

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relationship because of which John Spear would have left the company.

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They stayed back and the relationship improved. So yes, sometimes

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change can be difficult, but never ever think that you

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cannot bring about the change. So that little act of

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kindness venue created over a period of time, it can

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cause ripple effect. And also if you have none got

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our books. Please do get our books because part of

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the profits from both our books, as you're seeing Expert

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to Influencer Entrepreneurs Garden and my upcoming book on artificial Intelligence,

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we do give it to keyat our org. And today

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we have some very powerful guests for you. So i'd

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like to welcome honorable PAULA. Johnson and Larry Aldridge.

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Thank you, oh deep, thanks for having.

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Us, Oh thank you for joining us. So I do

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want to share a little bit about you. You know,

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honorable Paul Johnson has been the mayor of Phoenix and

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also you were CEO and co founder of Redirect Help

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amongst your extensive political career with different countries. And also

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want to introduce Larry So Larry has been also prosecutor,

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see of university physicians, healthcare Sea of some newspapers. So

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we have some very bright and accomplished gentlemen here today,

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So welcome onboard. And as we always get started, I

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want to ask y'all, whether it was in your childhood

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or during your lives, was there a moment that was

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a turning moment for you or a person who left

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a positive mark on you?

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Oh gosh, there are a lot of people that have

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left positive marks on me. Certainly my parents left one.

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I had nine brothers and sisters. They had a positive

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effect on me. Teachers. You know both of my parents,

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I would say they probably had the biggest influence. My

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dad and his brother. Their mom had died when they

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were seven years old and eleven years old, hitchhiked across

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the United States, came to Arizona and started shining shoes

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in downtown Phoenix, and later set up a business. My

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mom picked cabbage in a place called Levine. She lived

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here on her own without her parents, from about the

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age of fourteen. Both of them were I wouldn't say

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they were poor. You know, we weren't at the bottom

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economic class. But I like to say that we can

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kind of see the bottom from where we were. My

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mom was a waitress. Later on, my dad ended up

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becoming a construction working As I said, they started their

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own business. My dad had so many sayings it had

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an effected me. But I think my favorite one was

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this one day I had a guy that came in.

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He was working in the drywall for my dad, and

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the guy was thirty. He was filthy, It was hot outside,

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and he knocks on the door. I open up the door.

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I'm about twelve or thirteen years old, and I don't

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let him in just because of how dirty was I

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close the door. I tell my dad that the guy's there,

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and my dad goes to the comes out and he goes,

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why did you not let him in? I go, dad, man,

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the guy's filthy. So he brings the guy in and

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then he has to go get him a glass of

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iced tea, and I'm kind of annoyed by it, and

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I give it to him anyway. When the guy finally leaves,

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my dad says to me, Hey, what's your problem? I said,

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dad man, that guy's filthy. He's dirty, and says, you know,

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he got drywall all over the floor. I don't even

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know why you had him in here. He said, Hey,

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let me tell you something. He said, if there's somebody

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north of you, he said, there's somebody south of you,

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then there must be somebody north of you. There's nobody

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north of you and nobody south. They're just east and

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west on different levels of the horizon. And he lived

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his life that way. It was important for him to

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treat all people equally. And I have found over and

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over again that when I followed that advice. It ended

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up serving me personally very well.

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Yeah, what a powerful story, because here's the thing, right,

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we don't know very other person has been and if

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we were in the shoes that pe would have ended

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up the same way. What about you, let Ry Well.

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I have a very different upbringing from Paul.

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I certainly came from a middle class, upper middle class family,

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but from the earliest ages, my parents made it pretty

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clear that education was absolutely mandatory, and so they really

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put a focus on that focus on reading. So at

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the earliest age, I often had a book in my nose,

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and even today I might have a podcast going and

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maybe listening to you Diva and also reading a book simultaneously. So,

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you know, they just impressed upon me the power and

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the opportunities of education, and I think that has really

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created a foundation for me to be to have whatever

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successes I've had in life.

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Very powerful. So did you have Larry in your you know,

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as you were growing up a destination? How did you

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end up in the career where you were at?

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I will turn to the story we have in the

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book about the moon landing. We really, you know, I

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really wasn't true. I knew I was strong in math.

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I knew I would probably do something you know, related

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to engineering. But you know, I listened to the moon

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landing in the summer of my junior year in high school,

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and after that I simply knew I wanted to go

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to an engineering school and build airplanes and build spaceships.

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And that was probably the trigger for me. It turned

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out I went to an engineering school. I ended up

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not being an aerospace engineer but a civil engineer, and

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there I ended up going to law school. And the

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opportunities that America presents to change your mind and do

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things if you and we're presented with those opportunities, and

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I think your your listeners should really understand, you know,

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to be in America, to have the opportunities to make

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the changes you wish to and and improve your your

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standing and those of your colleagues and people that work

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with you, as there's no other place like America.

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To do that.

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Absolutely, And how about yourself, Paul No, I think, in

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thinking about your question, when you grow up poor, you're

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you kind of watch people who are successful.

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You you know you you have this. At least for me,

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I had this desire to want to try to do

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better to try to to try to do better in

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my life. So you create old er. You have all

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these heroes that existed. I can remember when I was

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a little boy. The Kennedys ended up being a favorite.

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Ronald Reagan was a favorite. So there was kind of

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the political in but there were also people in the

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space race, which was why Larry and I decided to

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start with that story. And so, you know, I think

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I came to the conclusion that at first I went

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and I first ran for city council when I was

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like twenty three or twenty four. It had a small

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business before then. I learned a lot in being on

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the council, and then I learned even more in becoming mayor.

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But the thing that began to become clear to me

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is that when you start looking at like who are

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going to make the really big changes in life. You know,

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who's going to cure cancer or extend human life or

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go to Mars or you know, for that matter, grade

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a driverless car that might be able to wipe out Dwis.

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It's so obvious that that's going to come not from government,

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but it's going to come from the private sector. And

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so the big changes are going to be in that field.

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So when I left politics, although you never completely get

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to really leave it, I ended up being involved in

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presidential campaigns and did things with the State Department and others.

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But I really put a big focus on business, and

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in that particular area, I put a focus on healthcare.

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I you know, I like the idea of being able

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to solve big problems.

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Hmmm, No, that's definitely powerful. And you became the president

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or CEO of Redirect Health, so you did mention your

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life taking the turn towards the healthcare and so telling

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them about some stuff about your journey. And there are a

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lot of aspirational especially our gen Z and millennials. They

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like to move upwards while they're looking for the meaningful work.

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What are some of the lessons that you learned on

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your travel from when you started to becoming the CEO.

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Well, what's what's clear to me if you think about

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like if you if you want a challenge, here's the challenge.

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Trying to figure out how to take things that only

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a very small group of people can afford and make

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it more affordable for more people. Now oftentimes the single

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biggest challenge, and that will be rules and regulations, there's

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some type of construct that exists that keeps you from

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being able to provide a product cheaper in healthcare. You know,

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when we look at the healthcare system, we put a

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focus on Obamacare, which created some benefits. We also take

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a look at, you know, at the normal healthcare system.

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But just think about these numbers for a moment, because

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they really impressed me. If you take the average person

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in America, the average person median income is about thirty

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five thousand dollars a year. Half of America's workers, according

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to Social Security, make thirty five thousand dollars a year

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or less. Yet healthcare costs about seven thousand dollars a

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year for an employer to be able to purchase, and

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that's with about a seven thousand dollars deductible. So if

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you imagine that the employer passed on half the premium

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to the employees, and so the employee now is to

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pay thirty five hundred bucks a year to be able

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to have insurance, and then it cost them seven thousand

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dollars before they get the first real healthcare you're talking

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about ten thousand dollars. That's just simply not affordable for

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a lot of people, and so our question became, how

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do we help employers with those employees which would help

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make their businesses more competitive, it would help them reduce

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their workers' compensation costs. We've grown that business, we're in

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all fifty states. We've been able to make that a success,

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but it's come from a lot of hard work with

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my partner, myself, actually both of my partners and myself,

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and it's kind of staying dedicated to the cause of

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trying to make certain we're making health care affordable for everyone.

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But if you were to ask me why there's other

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areas other than healthcare that I could have been interested in,

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it usually is going to be an area that's very complex,

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It has a lot of problems with it, and we're

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trying to figure out how do we.

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Sture No, definitely, so it's about I like what you

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mentioned that you know, take a product, whether you're a

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company or a business, and then see if it is

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something that you can bring into masses or to at

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least a larger segment. And when that is the case,

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in like, you know, fulfilling the need. And so talking

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to you Larry about your career, you mentioned about that

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you were in law. But also that I see that

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you know, you went towards the newspapers as well. So

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what brought on that change and tell us your journey

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on that career.

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Well. I mentioned earlier that I went from engineering.

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School to law school just because I saw an incredible

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uh trial lawyer in Atlanta when I was in school

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and getting up on the stage, and I said, I

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want to be just like him.

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I want to be the storyteller, just like him, you know.

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I like love your title live beyond confidence.

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I think confidence is a start, but having a little

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bit of hoodspa uh and I, you know, for for

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a five foot eight bald guy, I had a lot

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of huspa, you know. And so part of my journey

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was I can do that. And then I would go

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home and think, well, I better figure out how I can.

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But I think I can. And so I really was

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presented with many opportunities, many of them I.

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Didn't succeed that.

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I tried hard and thought I could work for that

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company of this company.

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They didn't think so, and I didn't.

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But after being a federal prosecutor, I ended up joining

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the get At newspapers on the corporate staff as or

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in house anti trust counsel, and I had a lot

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of HUDSPA. I pretty much told the business people, pretty

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much all the business people how to do their job.

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I said, you know, here's the legal issue, but frankly,

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you know, I think you should take that risk and

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do it. And that actually led to where they said, well,

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maybe you should come on the business side and you

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you can put your money, your money in your mouth

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where your brain is, and try that. And that's kind

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of how I went from law to running the newspapers Intucson, Arizona.

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It was just, well, we'll see if you're as good

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as you think you are. And I was okay, But

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I didn't get fired, So I guess I had enough

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lispot with enough success to not get fired.

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What would you say were a few of the lessons

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that you learned along because I'm sure you know newspaper

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there's so many different aspects to it, from writers to

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chief and editor and distribution and marketing and I mean,

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just like any other company. What were some of the

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elements that you learned along the way before you got

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into place where you could be the CEO.

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Yeah, I think the key was just believing whatever you

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did was incredibly important and that you could do it

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better than anybody else. And you know, newspaper sounds, of

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course to your audience today, it may sound pretty passe,

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but you know, years ago that was a pretty big

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deal to be in newspapers. But it didn't matter matter

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whether you're in newspapers or you're in real estate or

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you're building some widget. You know, if you did it

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with passion and belief you were doing better than anyone else,

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and surrounded yourself with really talented people. I mean I

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always worked very hard to have people smarter than me

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around the table. I would tell them they weren't so

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they would work harder, but they often work quite smarter.

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But you know, having the talent, having that confidence, having

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the belief that you could do it, but also I

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think also being able to have an awareness that sometimes

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you're moving down the wrong path. And you know, one

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of our factors in our book is about grit, but grit.

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Doesn't mean all the way off the cliff.

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Occasionally you got to stop and say, ohoh, I need

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to make a course correction. In some cases I might

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need to turn around. So having both confidence and hard

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work and grit, but also an awareness, having your eyes open,

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searching the horizon to see maybe there's a better opportunity,

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Maybe somebody can do what I'm doing better, but I

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can do something even better than that.

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And then surrounding yourself with a lot of talented people.

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Who really will tell you you're an idiot, Larry, here's why

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this would be a better idea, and not taking offense

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to that because typically they are correct.

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And that's one of the things that has changed in

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the past, Like I would say, like the nineteen eighties,

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so before you know, we went from authoritarian leadership down

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to be coming to positive enforcement. And like in doing

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positive reinforcement, what happened was people who are getting awarded

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starts just for showing up. Nothing wrong with that, And

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yet what happened is that getting the feedback became not

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so common, and then people are hesitant about giving feedback.

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So I'd love to hear both of yours opinion on that.

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Paul, you're muted, well, I will jump into again as

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Paul gets his soundback. You know, I was always known

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as being brutally honest and uh and so to me, yeah, sure,

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there was a feedback and a formal appraisal process every

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year they've alf got tied into compensation. But I tried

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very hard to provide real time feedback in the moment

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that was more important. And I really tried very hard

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not to uh uh, not to be anything, but just

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hardly honest, I mean, just making sure people were aware

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what the expectations were and uh and that I would

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hold them to those expectations. And then you know, beyond that,

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making sure that I did hold them to those expectations.

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So you know, in the old you know, you've got

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to give people immediate feedback and real time feedback so

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that they can you know, sometimes they don't even know

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what they didn't do right. And uh, you know, if

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you wait for a structured process or worse yet, never

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have that kind of conversation, they don't have an opportunity

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to succeed. They don't have an opportunity to grow and

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get better, and therefore your organization suffers. So I tried

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really hard to make sure. I mean, I was a

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manager by walking around before. You know, maybe that was

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known when I was a manager, but I was. You know,

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I love being at the newspapers and I love getting

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you know, people come down to me and said, pitch

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me some you know, some business or some technology, and

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I go, hey, you want to take a walk around

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the newspapers, And that's what I would do, and then

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I would be out there. At that time, we had

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a lot of people, but I would be out there.

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I tried very hard to know everybody's name and thank

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them and appreciate them and recognize the power. And they

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might have a very small component to what to what

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we were doing at a newspaper, but without that component,

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we would have failed. So I thought being present, giving feedback,

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raising expectations and communicating that we're critical.

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Yeah, no, absolutely, and it's about, like you know, you

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said something very powerful that it's important about setting that

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expectation and because when people know what's coming, that's what

359
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gets the surprise out of the way. So talking about expectations, Paul,

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you know what has been in your experience with setting

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expectations and feedback.

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I think I would start with saying that setting expectations

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are important, but they're important from a motivation standpoint. If

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you really want to motivate someone, there are three things

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that are important. The first thing is that you have

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to set goals. Let's say these are the goals. What

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I want to try to accomplish, and the more actionable

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they are, the better. The second thing is is that

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when people are working towards those goals, they need to

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pad on the back. They need to be told, hey, Okay,

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this is what you're doing right, that's what you're doing wrong.

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Take a look at maybe trying it this way. And

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then the third thing is you have to look backwards

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and say, okay, well, let's look at what you did.

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Let's look at what you did right and wrong, and

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let's figure out what you accomplished, how you grew. That's

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not only important to motivate people externally, it's important to

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motivate yourself internally. Internally, you need to set goals and

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then you need to make certain that maybe if you

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pat yourself on the back saying okay, well I got

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this fars not as far as i'd like to be,

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but here's where I'm trying to get to. And then

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at the end you have to look back on it

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and that keeps you motivated. But I would tell you

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there are a variety of things I think that are

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essential in the overall process that you have to think about.

387
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One of them is pessimism. I mentor a lot of

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people a mentor. I have a mentoring group of about

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thirty different business people, all of which two are new

390
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business people who are wanting to go into business, and

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we talk about kind of what they're doing and how

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they're doing it, what challenges they have. There are some

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interesting I'm going to call them stereotypes, because you know,

394
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I don't have enough people to give you actual data,

395
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but I can give you anecdotal data. I find if

396
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you take a man and a woman, at least in

397
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my group, and the guy's half confident to get something

398
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done and the woman has a PhD, the guy will

399
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say I can do it, and the woman will say, well,

400
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I'm not sure that I'm qualified. I mean it's I

401
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just see this happen over and again. Like I said,

402
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it could be anecdotal because it's a small sample size.

403
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But I like working with the women more because the

404
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only thing usually they have to overcome is the fear

405
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they have to take that next step and be willing

406
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to have faith in themselves that they'll be able to

407
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pull it off. With the guy, you have to kind

408
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of back them down a little bit and say, hey,

409
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you're not really completely ready to go as a party

410
00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:59.759
here you think you should be going, but nonetheless, the

411
00:23:00.799 --> 00:23:03.240
you can't do that if you're pessimistic. And that's really

412
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kind of the whole theme of the book. We have

413
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this whole politics of pessimism today, and that you know,

414
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where people are telling us how bad it is, how

415
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bad the economy is, how our industry has been destroyed,

416
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on both the right and the left. I'm not blaming

417
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that on one person, It's happening on both sides. But

418
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that begins to create fear, and it creates it creates angst,

419
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and people all of a sudden don't know whether or

420
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not they should act. I would tell you one of

421
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the important things is be careful what you're listening to.

422
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Be careful who you're listening to, because if you're listening

423
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to negative information all the time and people telling you

424
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how bad it is, which by the way, it's very

425
00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:43.599
profitable to do that, I can tell you it's a politician.

426
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If I know whether you're a Democrat or Republican, I

427
00:23:46.119 --> 00:23:48.599
know about five buttons on either side that I can push,

428
00:23:48.799 --> 00:23:51.279
and I can terrify you. And once I terrify you,

429
00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:54.119
I know you're going to be more dependent on me. Well,

430
00:23:54.160 --> 00:23:57.359
our book is about how do you gain agency and

431
00:23:57.440 --> 00:24:01.680
how important having agency is for you to be successful,

432
00:24:02.079 --> 00:24:05.119
and how important agency is from our country standpoint for

433
00:24:05.240 --> 00:24:07.960
us to be successful. Our country has done a lot

434
00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:10.960
of great things. We put people on the moon, We've

435
00:24:11.000 --> 00:24:13.759
built bridges and dams, We've done wonderful things. But the

436
00:24:13.880 --> 00:24:16.799
single most important thing our country did from the very

437
00:24:16.880 --> 00:24:22.359
beginning is we empowered the individual. Government empowered the individual

438
00:24:22.559 --> 00:24:27.400
over itself. But that comes with some responsibilities and obligations

439
00:24:27.400 --> 00:24:29.799
of the individual to make it a success.

440
00:24:32.119 --> 00:24:37.079
Yeah, no, definitely. And so you brought up a good

441
00:24:37.119 --> 00:24:40.319
point that you know, if I can terrify you, then

442
00:24:40.559 --> 00:24:43.440
you're dependent on me. And then this also I've seen

443
00:24:43.480 --> 00:24:46.240
and play out not only with my clients but also

444
00:24:46.279 --> 00:24:50.440
being myself in the corporate career, is that there is

445
00:24:50.480 --> 00:24:55.640
the element of fear mongering or creating that pessimism. What

446
00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:58.160
would you say is at the root of it? And

447
00:24:58.640 --> 00:24:59.920
how can one deal with that?

448
00:25:00.839 --> 00:25:05.079
Well, I can tell you politically, both for people in

449
00:25:05.119 --> 00:25:08.319
the news and for politicians, there's a huge advantage to it.

450
00:25:08.680 --> 00:25:11.720
So it is I can use less words, put less

451
00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:15.319
money into marketing, and have to be less descriptive. If

452
00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:17.720
I stand here and tell you the problems that we have,

453
00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:20.720
all right, And by telling you the problems that we have, again,

454
00:25:20.799 --> 00:25:22.240
if I know which part of you are, I could

455
00:25:22.240 --> 00:25:24.839
tell you which problems to focus on, and if I

456
00:25:24.960 --> 00:25:28.359
terrify you. What it does is it engages the amignalen

457
00:25:28.400 --> 00:25:32.039
it's called the amygdala hijack. All of our rational thought

458
00:25:32.480 --> 00:25:35.079
comes out of our neo cortext all of our ability

459
00:25:35.119 --> 00:25:39.240
to move ourself forward, to love and have optimism. It

460
00:25:39.279 --> 00:25:42.599
comes out of that frontal lobe of the brain. Well,

461
00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:46.200
what the neo cortex does is it overpowers that when

462
00:25:46.240 --> 00:25:49.559
we're terrified, and then the only thing we can do

463
00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:53.960
is fight, flight or freeze. Well, if I can get

464
00:25:54.000 --> 00:25:56.400
you there, then if I'm a news station, I can

465
00:25:56.440 --> 00:25:58.039
tell you what. I'll guarantee you you're going to watch

466
00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:01.240
me tomorrow because you're going to want to know the answer, right,

467
00:26:01.440 --> 00:26:04.839
and so I feed you stories to keep you watching.

468
00:26:05.240 --> 00:26:08.759
Politicians do something very similar. Now it's I don't want

469
00:26:08.799 --> 00:26:11.599
to bag on both of them. They both have industries

470
00:26:11.640 --> 00:26:15.000
that they're trying to promote. But what I would say

471
00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:17.119
to most people is take them with a grain of

472
00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:20.720
salt and make certain that you're getting other information and

473
00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:23.920
listen to people on the other side and be very

474
00:26:23.960 --> 00:26:28.480
careful of labeling. So you know, you'll hear the right

475
00:26:28.960 --> 00:26:31.559
talk about the left. They'll call them lib tards, and

476
00:26:31.640 --> 00:26:34.480
then the left will call the right trump tards, and

477
00:26:34.519 --> 00:26:37.160
you know, they have a thousand names for how they

478
00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:40.839
see one another. But once you label someone, you're not

479
00:26:41.160 --> 00:26:44.880
only doing an injustice to them, you're doing an injustice

480
00:26:44.880 --> 00:26:49.039
to yourself. You're creating this image in your mind of

481
00:26:49.079 --> 00:26:51.640
who the good guys are and who the bad guys are.

482
00:26:51.720 --> 00:26:54.599
And a couple things begin to happen when you do that. First,

483
00:26:54.799 --> 00:26:57.200
you're alienating people that you can work with and that

484
00:26:57.279 --> 00:26:59.720
you can make money from, and that you that you

485
00:26:59.759 --> 00:27:02.319
can have a relationship with and that you can enjoy

486
00:27:02.359 --> 00:27:05.119
life with. So that's part of the problem. But the

487
00:27:05.200 --> 00:27:08.759
other issue with other people start to recognize you're doing it,

488
00:27:09.160 --> 00:27:12.200
and when they do, they back away from you because

489
00:27:12.240 --> 00:27:15.079
they don't want to have that discussion. So you start

490
00:27:15.240 --> 00:27:22.359
losing the ability to engage more people in a broader way.

491
00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:23.240
Absolutely.

492
00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:27.240
Yeah, So Larry, what are your thoughts?

493
00:27:28.559 --> 00:27:30.799
My thoughts are are are similar.

494
00:27:30.920 --> 00:27:33.519
I mean, going back to my newspaper experience, I'd walk

495
00:27:33.559 --> 00:27:36.480
around the building and I'd ask my the circulation people, hey,

496
00:27:36.480 --> 00:27:41.960
how's business looking, and they would go, plane crashes, forest fires, earthquakes, disaster.

497
00:27:42.119 --> 00:27:45.440
Life is good. So even back then in the nineties,

498
00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:46.440
you know, that's you.

499
00:27:46.359 --> 00:27:49.279
Know, bleeding cells, that's you know, if it bleeds you

500
00:27:49.400 --> 00:27:52.720
ly was kind of the argument. But we also were

501
00:27:53.480 --> 00:27:55.720
at a place where we are at the earliest stages

502
00:27:55.759 --> 00:27:59.759
of trying to get to social media. Our newspapers created

503
00:27:59.759 --> 00:28:02.440
the it was then the fifth newspaper on the Internet.

504
00:28:02.599 --> 00:28:05.200
Directly to the Internet, we would have been second if

505
00:28:05.240 --> 00:28:07.720
back in the nineties I could have understood what this

506
00:28:07.799 --> 00:28:11.039
internet thing was one that long ago, but the Internet

507
00:28:11.079 --> 00:28:13.160
thing I had explained to my bosses as well as

508
00:28:13.200 --> 00:28:16.720
to myself. But we were really trying to create democracy

509
00:28:17.160 --> 00:28:22.640
among our our editors and reporters and their readers and

510
00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:26.319
opening those tools to the readers to interact back with

511
00:28:26.359 --> 00:28:30.319
our with our reporters in a more meaningful way. And

512
00:28:30.400 --> 00:28:34.680
we accomplished that, except one year after we we launched,

513
00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:38.359
we lost control and it was gone. The barn door

514
00:28:38.400 --> 00:28:42.160
had been open and they just all ran out. But uh,

515
00:28:42.319 --> 00:28:45.720
you know that that kind of anger is kind of

516
00:28:45.720 --> 00:28:51.039
a as Paul's pointing out, a normal human aspect. We

517
00:28:51.440 --> 00:28:53.920
just you know, we were more fearful of things we

518
00:28:53.960 --> 00:28:57.000
can lose than we are optimistic of things we gained.

519
00:28:57.359 --> 00:29:00.720
The optimism comes from thought, the fear come from emotion,

520
00:29:01.359 --> 00:29:04.359
and we, you know, we have to work a little

521
00:29:04.440 --> 00:29:05.720
harder to be optimistic.

522
00:29:05.799 --> 00:29:07.440
We want to be optimistic people.

523
00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:10.680
You see somebody in an interview, they never say they're

524
00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:14.599
a pessimist, They say, oh, I'm an optimist or I'm optimistic. Well,

525
00:29:14.880 --> 00:29:18.039
I like to describe myself as either an optimistic realist

526
00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:22.240
or a realist optimist. But because we have to step back,

527
00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:25.079
take a breath and think about the things we can do.

528
00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:27.960
And one of those things is Paul pointed out as

529
00:29:27.960 --> 00:29:30.839
we try to underscore in the book, is that we

530
00:29:30.960 --> 00:29:32.960
need to work with each other, and we need to

531
00:29:32.960 --> 00:29:36.240
continue to love each other. We need to respect each other.

532
00:29:36.880 --> 00:29:38.640
Paul and I are part of a running group and

533
00:29:38.720 --> 00:29:42.720
there are hardcore Trump supporters, hardcore Democrats, and I don't

534
00:29:42.759 --> 00:29:45.519
think we've ever had an ugly moment as we push

535
00:29:45.680 --> 00:29:47.880
very hard about why do you believe what you believe?

536
00:29:48.799 --> 00:29:51.640
But we respectfully have that because we have a foundation

537
00:29:51.759 --> 00:29:54.720
beyond just those politics, and that's part of the challenge

538
00:29:54.720 --> 00:29:59.400
across America is often the only connection is that expected

539
00:29:59.440 --> 00:30:02.119
political action, and so when it's not a connection, it

540
00:30:02.200 --> 00:30:03.039
becomes anger.

541
00:30:03.680 --> 00:30:05.079
But you know, we're better than that.

542
00:30:05.279 --> 00:30:08.119
Americans are better than that, and you know we would

543
00:30:08.200 --> 00:30:13.279
encourage every every American, certainly every one of your listeners, listeners,

544
00:30:13.720 --> 00:30:15.200
you know, to look out there, and this is going

545
00:30:15.240 --> 00:30:17.880
to sign sound naive, but look for the good and

546
00:30:18.079 --> 00:30:21.920
everybody around you. I mean, they may disagree with the

547
00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:25.920
views you have, but they're fundamentally Americans, and they're fundamentally

548
00:30:25.960 --> 00:30:29.079
good people, and we need to work together. And our

549
00:30:29.119 --> 00:30:31.759
book really focuses in the beginning on the Founders. Why

550
00:30:31.759 --> 00:30:35.240
the Founders were so successful and so visionary, but they

551
00:30:35.400 --> 00:30:38.519
were very different in their opinions. They were they were

552
00:30:38.640 --> 00:30:42.759
hardcore disagreements, but they figured out how to compromise a

553
00:30:42.880 --> 00:30:45.599
four letter word in today's world, but they figured out

554
00:30:45.599 --> 00:30:48.640
how to compromise because they saw that what was happening

555
00:30:48.720 --> 00:30:53.599
in America prior wasn't working and it was really damaging Americans.

556
00:30:54.079 --> 00:30:58.079
So they compromise and came up with the certainly the

557
00:30:58.160 --> 00:31:01.519
Declaration at the time of war and then the Constitution

558
00:31:01.720 --> 00:31:04.960
coming away from that, to say we can work together

559
00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:08.400
as Americans, and I would encourage everyone and all of

560
00:31:08.440 --> 00:31:13.200
your listeners to remind themselves we are Americans. We work together,

561
00:31:13.599 --> 00:31:16.480
and the best way we make better things is to

562
00:31:16.599 --> 00:31:19.519
disagree so that we can push to a better solution.

563
00:31:21.240 --> 00:31:25.039
Absolutely, and some very great points over here. So now

564
00:31:25.079 --> 00:31:28.559
let's say people are in the throes of an argument

565
00:31:28.799 --> 00:31:32.440
where it's very hard and human beings have this need

566
00:31:32.519 --> 00:31:35.880
to be right. And so many times what happens, especially

567
00:31:36.680 --> 00:31:41.119
in corporations. You know, when you are the manager, if

568
00:31:41.160 --> 00:31:44.400
you are a person like a new executive who has

569
00:31:44.400 --> 00:31:47.640
stepped into the company, usually they lay off people and

570
00:31:47.680 --> 00:31:50.599
then they bring their own trusted people from other companies.

571
00:31:51.440 --> 00:31:54.599
So when this is going on, and usually what happens

572
00:31:54.720 --> 00:32:00.119
is that so many times people who are already the

573
00:32:00.200 --> 00:32:02.759
company and when a new executive comes in, there's that

574
00:32:02.920 --> 00:32:06.200
element of negativity or pessimism. Oh, you know, they're going

575
00:32:06.200 --> 00:32:09.480
to come here change everything and things are not going

576
00:32:09.559 --> 00:32:13.759
to be right. So what could both the parties on

577
00:32:13.799 --> 00:32:16.640
both the sides do so that they can extend that

578
00:32:16.799 --> 00:32:20.839
handshake with each other and non get to a point

579
00:32:20.880 --> 00:32:24.480
where you're just in the throes of that conflict and

580
00:32:24.759 --> 00:32:27.319
not able to hear or be able to listen to

581
00:32:27.359 --> 00:32:27.720
each other.

582
00:32:28.160 --> 00:32:30.400
Let me pick up on that, Paul, I think what

583
00:32:30.799 --> 00:32:35.480
I would turn the question slightly differently, Adiva, I would say,

584
00:32:36.000 --> 00:32:38.359
we can't leave it to the politicians, so the political

585
00:32:38.359 --> 00:32:41.759
parties to figure it out. They're caught in their vortex

586
00:32:41.920 --> 00:32:45.279
and they don't know have any way out. But we

587
00:32:45.359 --> 00:32:48.279
in the book underscore the power of the people. The

588
00:32:48.359 --> 00:32:51.359
people are the power in America. The constitution is built

589
00:32:51.519 --> 00:32:55.359
around the federal government is limited, the state governments have

590
00:32:55.400 --> 00:32:58.279
a little more power, and the people have the most power.

591
00:32:58.599 --> 00:33:01.279
We have flipped that around America, where there's a sense

592
00:33:01.319 --> 00:33:04.640
of the federal government is all consuming, and frankly, it

593
00:33:04.720 --> 00:33:08.559
does consume a lot and stake. Governments are subservient to

594
00:33:08.680 --> 00:33:12.200
the federal government and people are subservience to government, and

595
00:33:12.240 --> 00:33:13.480
that's a huge mistake.

596
00:33:13.640 --> 00:33:15.960
So we have to get people to take the.

597
00:33:15.920 --> 00:33:19.559
Responsibility and frankly, when you don't like what the politicians

598
00:33:19.559 --> 00:33:23.000
are doing, fire their drias as quickly as you can

599
00:33:23.119 --> 00:33:25.839
and get people in there willing to work together for

600
00:33:25.920 --> 00:33:28.519
better solutions. In America. You know we're on a poor

601
00:33:28.640 --> 00:33:31.240
path if we just are in this anger at angst

602
00:33:31.680 --> 00:33:35.119
and the people. And I think the stat that I

603
00:33:35.200 --> 00:33:39.440
read recently Vivia was something like the average American gets

604
00:33:39.559 --> 00:33:43.920
eight minutes of what's considered hard news every day, off

605
00:33:43.960 --> 00:33:46.680
and off of social media. Eight minutes and in that

606
00:33:46.720 --> 00:33:50.160
eight minutes, probably seven of them are fear based, if not,

607
00:33:50.240 --> 00:33:53.200
and maybe all eight. So we need to step back

608
00:33:53.319 --> 00:33:57.440
and look for maybe not more time, but less fear

609
00:33:58.079 --> 00:34:01.799
and really being engage in a political process in the

610
00:34:02.359 --> 00:34:05.880
way to shape that and make sure the people you're

611
00:34:06.000 --> 00:34:09.480
voting for are representing what you believe is the strength

612
00:34:09.480 --> 00:34:10.599
in the future of America.

613
00:34:11.719 --> 00:34:16.039
Right. No, definitely, So tell us how can our listeners

614
00:34:16.039 --> 00:34:19.800
connect with you? Where can they find your book and

615
00:34:21.159 --> 00:34:23.079
any other passage you like?

616
00:34:24.199 --> 00:34:27.480
Yeah, a couple of things. The you know you asked

617
00:34:27.480 --> 00:34:31.320
the question a moment ago about how people can deal

618
00:34:31.360 --> 00:34:34.199
with an argument, and what I would tell you is

619
00:34:34.400 --> 00:34:36.800
depends upon what you're looking for. If you're looking to

620
00:34:36.840 --> 00:34:40.599
improve your status, you may think that talking more helps

621
00:34:40.599 --> 00:34:43.199
you get there. But I can tell you from being

622
00:34:43.199 --> 00:34:46.320
in politics this is an absolute guarantee. There's nothing that

623
00:34:46.360 --> 00:34:48.920
will do more to move your status upward within a

624
00:34:48.960 --> 00:34:53.000
group than listening to people. Overwhelmingly, doesn't matter how smart

625
00:34:53.039 --> 00:34:55.400
you are, If you take a really, really smart guy

626
00:34:55.440 --> 00:34:58.280
and he listens. In fact, most really really smart people,

627
00:34:58.320 --> 00:35:01.639
that's exactly what they do. They ask questions, They try

628
00:35:01.639 --> 00:35:04.960
to understand things about other people. In fact, I would say,

629
00:35:05.119 --> 00:35:06.960
if you find yourself in a room where you're the

630
00:35:06.960 --> 00:35:09.679
smartest person in the room, it's not just that you're

631
00:35:09.880 --> 00:35:12.760
in the wrong room. More importantly, what it really means

632
00:35:12.840 --> 00:35:16.159
is you're talking too much and not asking enough questions.

633
00:35:16.719 --> 00:35:19.920
If you do that, you'll learn more, you'll gain more,

634
00:35:19.960 --> 00:35:24.079
and you'll and you'll also improve your status by doing it.

635
00:35:24.920 --> 00:35:27.840
In our book, the thing that I think is important

636
00:35:27.880 --> 00:35:32.639
with it is it's totally focused on giving you not

637
00:35:32.800 --> 00:35:34.840
only the tools that you need to be able to

638
00:35:35.000 --> 00:35:38.079
deal with those types of situations, but more importantly, to

639
00:35:38.159 --> 00:35:41.079
help give you the optimism. Here's the really good news.

640
00:35:41.400 --> 00:35:44.639
With all the negative things that you're hearing, it's not

641
00:35:44.760 --> 00:35:48.800
confirmed by the data. The data tells us there's nothing

642
00:35:49.199 --> 00:35:55.480
like the United States. We are in an incredibly we're

643
00:35:55.519 --> 00:35:58.880
in a position in the United States that has surpassed

644
00:35:59.360 --> 00:36:02.599
anything anyone else has done in history to move human

645
00:36:02.679 --> 00:36:05.639
progress forward. And the data shows that. And that's part

646
00:36:05.639 --> 00:36:07.199
of what we try to do in the book is

647
00:36:07.239 --> 00:36:09.360
to give you the data so that you start with

648
00:36:09.440 --> 00:36:12.800
a different basis point when you're looking at your problems.

649
00:36:13.119 --> 00:36:15.159
But if you'd like to pick it up, the best

650
00:36:15.159 --> 00:36:17.519
place to pick it up probably is just Amazon. We

651
00:36:17.599 --> 00:36:20.239
have it on Amazon and you can go on there.

652
00:36:21.119 --> 00:36:24.559
Just it ended up being released, I believe June tenth,

653
00:36:24.599 --> 00:36:26.719
so now you can Now you can.

654
00:36:26.559 --> 00:36:29.119
Buy it, and there'll be an audio version I think

655
00:36:29.119 --> 00:36:33.039
coming out in early August and shout it. Also, Barnes

656
00:36:33.079 --> 00:36:37.480
and Noble and independent booksellers really support independent booksellers, so

657
00:36:37.559 --> 00:36:41.639
often independent booksellers. There's various sites to think, but Amazon,

658
00:36:41.679 --> 00:36:46.599
Barnes and Noble, either a hard copy delivered or a

659
00:36:46.760 --> 00:36:50.039
Kindle slash online version and audio in August.

660
00:36:51.440 --> 00:36:56.760
Absolutely, and any last parts, I guess I would just

661
00:36:56.800 --> 00:36:59.239
say thank you for having us, and thanks for your

662
00:36:59.280 --> 00:37:01.480
listeners who hung in there, to hang in there.

663
00:37:02.119 --> 00:37:04.840
They have busy lives and we're.

664
00:37:04.840 --> 00:37:06.719
You know, at the moment we're trying to cut through

665
00:37:06.800 --> 00:37:10.719
the fear and negativity and bring that optimism back to

666
00:37:10.760 --> 00:37:13.719
where we really want to be, not where we've been

667
00:37:13.760 --> 00:37:14.320
forced to be.

668
00:37:15.920 --> 00:37:19.159
You're here, how about you, Paul?

669
00:37:20.320 --> 00:37:22.599
I would just say, first, I agree with Larry, but

670
00:37:22.639 --> 00:37:25.000
what I would I would probably also say to people

671
00:37:25.119 --> 00:37:29.000
is to be really cautious about finding yourself caught in

672
00:37:29.079 --> 00:37:32.559
that victim triangle. The victim triangle puts us in a

673
00:37:32.559 --> 00:37:34.760
position where it's very difficult to be able to find

674
00:37:34.800 --> 00:37:37.360
our options. The way to get out of that is

675
00:37:37.400 --> 00:37:40.679
to start with changing or at least balancing what you're

676
00:37:40.719 --> 00:37:43.159
reading and what you're watching. Make certain that you're getting

677
00:37:43.199 --> 00:37:44.920
some good information.

678
00:37:45.039 --> 00:37:45.119
To.

679
00:37:47.239 --> 00:37:50.440
Make certain that you when you are working with other

680
00:37:50.480 --> 00:37:54.119
people and you're talking to other people, that you're considerate

681
00:37:54.159 --> 00:37:56.480
of who they are. You know, we know that to

682
00:37:56.519 --> 00:38:00.519
be successful in any type of argument, it's rarely happen

683
00:38:00.519 --> 00:38:02.440
if you put a label on them. It's only going

684
00:38:02.519 --> 00:38:04.320
to happen if you see them as a person and

685
00:38:04.320 --> 00:38:07.719
you're empathetic with them. But the most important thing that

686
00:38:07.760 --> 00:38:11.639
I would say is that there is no greater place

687
00:38:11.679 --> 00:38:15.039
to find opportunity than the United States. This is a

688
00:38:15.079 --> 00:38:17.360
place where you can find if you decide that you

689
00:38:17.400 --> 00:38:19.760
want to go out and start a business, or start

690
00:38:19.800 --> 00:38:22.760
a career, or change what it is that you're doing

691
00:38:22.800 --> 00:38:26.440
and move into a different field. There's no place in

692
00:38:26.480 --> 00:38:29.159
the world that has the upward mobility that the United

693
00:38:29.159 --> 00:38:31.840
States has. There are some traits that you have to

694
00:38:31.840 --> 00:38:34.679
put into it, you have to bring some confidence. Generosity

695
00:38:34.840 --> 00:38:39.039
becomes important. You need some courage to be successful in that.

696
00:38:39.480 --> 00:38:42.599
But if you make the decision that you would like

697
00:38:42.679 --> 00:38:45.079
to change your life and move it up, there's no

698
00:38:45.199 --> 00:38:46.800
better place to do it than right here.

699
00:38:49.440 --> 00:38:53.320
Absolutely, and we are blessed to have the freedom that

700
00:38:53.320 --> 00:38:56.519
we have to do and what we want to do.

701
00:38:56.599 --> 00:39:00.159
And the American dream is still very much alive. So

702
00:39:00.320 --> 00:39:03.159
thank you Paul, and thank you Larry for joining us.

703
00:39:03.400 --> 00:39:07.599
It was a pleasure, And thank you wonderful audience for

704
00:39:07.679 --> 00:39:10.519
joining us, because without you, the show would not be possible.

705
00:39:10.840 --> 00:39:13.559
You are the life and blood of our show. Please

706
00:39:13.599 --> 00:39:16.719
reach out to us as y'all always do, and share

707
00:39:16.960 --> 00:39:18.920
how it can support you, how we can help you

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live the life you deserve. And thank you one for

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making the show technically possible. We well take care and

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al fie'all.

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Next time, thank you thank you for being part of

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Beyond Confidence with your host d V Park, we hope

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you have learned more about how to start living the

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life you want. Each week on Beyond Confidence, you hear

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stories of real people who've experienced growth by overcoming their

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fears and building meaningful relationships. During beyond confidence. Dvpark shares

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what happened to her when she stepped out of her

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comfort zone to work directly with people across the globe.

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She not only coaches people how to form hard connections,

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but also transform relationships to mutually beneficial partnerships as they

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strive to to live the life they want. If you

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are ready to live the life you want and leverage

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your strengths, learn more at www dotwpark dot com and

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you can connect with w ats contact at dvpark dot com.

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We look forward to you're joining us next week