 Hi, I'm Rusty Komori and this is Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. I was the head coach of the Punahou Boys Varsity Tennis Team for 22 years and we're fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. My book Beyond the Lines is about leadership, creating a superior culture of excellence and finding greatness, which is what this show is all about. Today is extra special because it's my 100th TV show and I didn't think I'd make it to 20 when I first started this, but seriously, I want to sincerely thank you for making Beyond the Lines the number one TV show for two years now. My special guest today achieved global success as a singer with his hit song, Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You, and you know we all love that song, and he's the highly respected president of St. Louis School. He is the one and only Dr. Glenn Medeiros, and today we are going beyond leadership. Hey, Glenn, welcome back to the show. Hey, thanks for having me back again. Congratulations on 100 different shows. Oh, thanks. It's wonderful. Now, Glenn, I want to ask you, you know, as bad as the coronavirus situation is, what do you feel are some of the positives that's going to come out of it? Well, as a former history teacher, I can tell you that out of the worst scenarios in the world, whether it be World War II or other very horrible things that have happened, the human spirit always shows up and good things come from it, and I do think that we will get through this eventually and learn from it, and I think we'll be better prepared for another situation like this. At the same time, too, when people are in that survival mode, often people will come together and that's what I ultimately want to see. I see some of it happening, I'd like to see more of it happening, but we have to come together, we're together as Americans to see ourselves through this as a team. We agree with you, Glenn, and you know, I know that you and your wife, Tammy, are super proud of your kids' chord and lyric. What are they doing now? Well, they're both in college. My son's in the engineering program at UH, and he's, you know, getting through. He's been doing really well in class. He's in the second year now, and my daughter's at Notre Dame, University of Notre Dame, and she's doing really well there, too. She loves being there, and so it's nice to be able to see them and live vicariously through them in many ways. I could never, ever pass any engineering class, and I'm so happy my son is doing that now and doing well, and I would never have been able to make it into Notre Dame as a high school student. So anyway, but it's nice to see them doing well. Oh, I think me and you both, Glenn. Now, I know that you went to the Nationals for tennis last year with your adult tennis team. How was that experience for you? Well, it was great because the first place team couldn't make it. The second place team couldn't make it. The third place team tried our best. We tried our best to represent Hawaii, and it was great. I had a good time. It was extremely, you know, the players played at a real high level, but it was encouraging for us in many ways because it wasn't too far away from where we're at. So we know that, you know, if you put in the time, put in the practice, we can win at the national level. Won a couple of games here and there, but for the most part, we got beat up pretty bad. So you didn't hit it in, Glenn. You got to hit it in. You know what? I hit it, but they just hit it back. That was a problem. Now, Glenn, I want to thank you for writing the forward in my new second book, Beyond the Game. And you were the first person to read the book. What is it about the new book that you like? Well, first of all, thank you. I read a lot of books. I'm reading every day and I was just so blown away by a book. I like to read a lot of books about leadership, about improving the self and improving others. And what I like about your book with the three C's, you keep it simple. You take complicated concepts and you make it simple. And I think that helps people. And the other thing too is we know in education that the highest level of learning, at least of the retention of learning is when you teach. And it's really obvious to see that you've been out there and you've been working with companies, you've been presenting. You have this television show and you're constantly not just teaching, but you're learning at the same time. And that really came out in your second book. So hopefully this will be a part of a long series of books for you. Hey, Glenn, it's hard to write one book, let alone two books, you know. But you know what we've did? You know, I need to talk to some of your St. Louis alumni because we've done some big book donations to schools like Ilani and Damien and Castle and McKinley. So maybe I'll be able to connect with some of your St. Louis alumni to do a big book donation to your students of your school. That would be great. That would be excellent. Our tennis team could use your help for sure. Sorry, tennis guys. Hey, every sport needs help. That's right, every sport. It's a constant striving for excellence. Now, Glenn, you know, when I was assistant coach in tennis, when I worked at Marinal, it was, we don't always say that's a one sport that we can win St. Louis at, you know, tennis. Oh, crack me up, Glenn, you crack me up. Now, let's talk a bit about your singing career. You know, when you look back now, I mean, your big hit song Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You was such a global success. Looking back, why do you think it was such a big hit? Well, you know, that's a really good question because the song was originally recorded by George Benson. And I had, I'm a huge George, George Benson fan and I used the song at Brown Banks to start them. And the win of the contest, of course, is entitled to record the song, record a song. I was looking for original material. At the time, I didn't, I wasn't writing my own music. I was 16 at the time. And the record producer at I-94 said, no, Glenn, I really think that you should record, Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You because it was recorded by George Benson who is this incredible artist but was known more as a jazz type singer for some. And for that reason, some of his records, although they were incredible, they didn't have the kind of success that it could have had. And the example that gave me was Whitney Houston's song, Greatest Love of All, which was written, you know, the same writer who wrote Greatest Love of All also wrote, Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You, his name is Michael Massey, passed away a couple of years ago. And anyway, they said, look, if we think, Whitney did it with Greatest Love of All, when George Benson had a relationship recorded that, you think you can do the same thing with Nothing's Gonna Change My Love For You and it ended up happening. And, you know, 7 million records later, they were right. I think the secret to success with that particular song, even though I still prefer George Benson's version, I do think that the video played a huge role with that. You know, it was filmed here, it was filmed on Kauai where I was born and raised. And it was a beautiful video on the beach. I think a lot of young people connected to it. And it's a positive message. And it's a, although it's a ballad, it's kind of got a little beat to it. So I think the positive energy, the positive message, in combination with the youthful, you know, feel that I had at 16, I think worked out well. Oh, totally agree with that, Glenn. And you know, to this day, I mean, that song is still amazing. I mean, it has to be on everybody's playlist for sure. And you did a, you had a hit song with Bobby Brown back in the day called She Ain't Worth It. Well, what was the, what was most fun about working with Bobby when you guys were doing that song together? Well, it's fun because I, although I didn't really sing hip hop, I really enjoyed listening to hip hop and having Bobby in the studio and spending time with him every day. You know, you just, you're looking at him and thinking, my God, he's here in this room. I can't believe I'm working with him. The guy was just oozing with talent. And he was a very friendly, really caring person. I mean, he had, unfortunately, what I tell people, and I'm sure Bobby doesn't mind me sharing this because he's done it himself, is basically, you know, he had a struggle with drugs. And so, you know, I saw that in the studio, there were days he'd come in and he was just a different person. And then he'd come back the next day and he's very friendly with everyone and such a nice guy. So, you know, it's something that a lot of people are dealing with in the world. And especially in the music industry, you see a lot of people, it's very stressful life. And for a lot of people, just the drugs is something that they turn to. And I'm hoping that I have been able to meet Bobby in the last five years, a couple of times. And he seems to be doing well now. Oh, that's so great to hear. And you know, I love watching your video with Bobby, you know, the She Ain't Worth It video. And are you teaching your dance moves to the St. Louis students? I was just talking, it's so funny because I was just talking to my wife and my kids about it yesterday. We were down at the beach and I just, they were talking, somehow the video came up. And I said, well, number one, I just wish somebody was there to tell me, stop dancing. You know, because I got to watch that thing for the rest of my life. I mean, it was the producers that were like, do this, Glenn, do that. And I really felt uncomfortable, but you know, in retrospect, it's, you know, I had a good time. Overall, it was a great experience. Well, I thought you danced really good, Glenn. So there you go. I don't know. Now, let's talk about football. I mean, I know you're a big time 49ers fan and I know you're very happy about that they had such a great team this past year. But let's talk about, you know, Marcus, Mariota and Tua Tunga-Vailoa, how, you know, Marcus is going to the Raiders and Tua got drafted by the Dolphins. I'm sure that all of St. Louis School are instant Raiders and Dolphins fans, along with all of Hawaii. What are your thoughts about Marcus and Tua? Well, as with everyone, we were hoping that Marcus would be in a situation where he could be the starter. He's going to be backing up right now, but in Las Vegas. But I do think it's a perfect city, of course, for people from Hawaii to go to and support Marcus. I think he's making a really good decision because you want to find a place where the coaching staff really can give you the kind of tutoring that you need. And he's a great quarterback, great athlete, great person. And but also, you know, John Gruden is one of the best quarterback coaches and offensive coordinators around. So I think he knows that he'll probably grow under him. And eventually with his leadership skills and he's such a good person, you know, everyone at the tightest loved him, the whole town loved him in Nashville. And I think Las Vegas will love him too. And I think eventually he will have his opportunity to be able to start again. Totally agree. So that's good. Yeah. And as far as Tua is concerned, I just wanted him to go up as high as possible in the draft and for him to be able to make it as a fifth pick in the draft is truly amazing. He, you know, both of them, both Marcus and Tua, what I appreciate about them is that they really are leaders. They have their own style. Marcus is a little bit more quiet. A, you know, lead by example, Tua is his faith in God is so strong and powerful. And he shares that with everyone around him. And I do think, you know, Tua was really not sure as to whether or not to go to USC, which is my alma mater. And he ended up choosing Alabama. I was a little bit sad about that. But, you know, but in retrospect, I do think Alabama was the right choice for him because of the way things worked out. But also because his faith was really embraced in the South. And I think that's something I'm gonna keep in mind too as we have other students that are similar to him. Finding the right fit is really important. And he'll be a great leader, I think. I hope is, you know, we're all praying that his health is gonna hold up. But he is truly amazing. So I see great things for the both of them. Glenn, you know, Coach Cal Lee and Coach Ron Lee, I mean, they are both extraordinarily, you know, successful coaches. And it's amazing how Cal Lee stepped down as head coach and put Ron Lee as head coach now. And Cal's gonna be the defensive coordinator. I mean, they're just super amazing coaches. Now, what is it about them that you admire so much? I admire a lot about them. I would say as an educator myself, I look at them as educators because coaches really are. And with, they're different though. They're very different. They work together and they're gonna continue working together. So we'll get the benefits of both of them working as a team. But Cal is a facilitator. He's not the kind of guy that's gonna, if you watch him on the field, he's not there getting in everyone's face and telling them what to do. He watches people closely. When he does say something, everyone listens because it's rare that he does. He lets his assistant coaches coach. Whereas Ron is a little bit different. Ron is a perfectionist and he's there. Every single play is, you never do it right. Let's get back to the beginning. And it's started all over again. Every second of every throw, every turn that a wide receiver makes, everything has to be perfect. And sometimes they talk to the students about it and they'll tell them, oh my God, you can't even imagine, Dr. Madaris, how much of a profession is he has. So, and to be able to run in offense like that at the high school level, you know it's not easy to do, to get the timing of a passing offense the way we have it. So, I'm looking forward to it. We're looking for, you know, we lost a lot of really good players this year. We've got players going to Notre Dame, Michigan, Wisconsin, California, Berkeley, a lot of really good seniors. So we're gonna be a young team next year, but I do think that as they always do, they're gonna develop them into really strong players. Oh, yeah. I mean, look at, I mean, St. Louis football has set the standard for football in high school sports in Hawaii. So, I mean, it's, and look how long Cal and Ron have been working together. I mean, it's unprecedented, it's amazing. No, it's, yeah, it really is. I think it's a combination of their incredible ability to coach and then the environment at St. Louis School because the closest, you know, when I went up to Notre Dame and I dropped off my daughter, I said to myself, my God, there's so many similarities between St. Louis School and Notre Dame. You know, Notre Dame started in 1842, St. Louis School started in 1846. She's a strong tradition of football, yet strong tradition also of people that have graduated to go out to do many incredible things. The devotion to Mary as is with Notre Dame and St. Louis School. They have the, you know, the fighting Irish, we have the fighting Crusaders. They were an all-boys school until the 70s. So everywhere you look, you'll see brotherhood everywhere which is common term that we have here at St. Louis School. So when you put on the red and blue at St. Louis School, there's an expectation of excellence. And you know what that's like, having been at Poonahole. You know, did I ever tell you my story about when I was an assistant coach and we played you at Poonahole? I don't know if you probably don't remember. You gotta tell me, tell me. Oh my God, it was so funny. So all the students, so they were kind of waiting on the side for the games to start. And you were always really good because you would have, you know, your third, fourth best players play us so that it would be, you know, the matches wouldn't go too quickly. But anyway, we're sitting down and we're waiting and there was some warming up going on. And a couple of the players came up to me and said, oh, Mr. Mataris, they're gonna kill us. You guys are really good. And I said, I hate to tell you guys this, but those are the like the middle school students. This is when you were helping assistant coach at Marinal. Yeah, yeah. Well, I always tried to play my weakest lineups against Marinal. Yes, you were really good about that. HBA, you know, because I know, I mean, I went to Damien. So, you know, I know about the small schools, so yeah. This is a whole other level of playing, you know. And so, sometimes they would just want to go and watch them because the quality of play was so high. So, yeah. Well, Glenn, you know, let's talk about character. And you know, in my first book, Beyond the Lines, I talk a lot about character. And I know that you are such a great man of character and you're trying to instill that in all of the students at St. Louis School. What are your thoughts about the importance of character? You know, character is a big part of what we try working on at St. Louis School. We refer to the traits of a St. Louis man at St. Louis School. And it's really all about being a gentleman. At St. Louis School, we look at Mary, mother of Jesus, being the ultimate educator. So what would Mary want her son to turn out to be? And Mary would want her son to be a gentleman, one who respects others or respects herself and treats women in particular with an extremely high amount of respect. And so we take a lot of pride in that at St. Louis School, that being able to respect others. And I think once you learn to respect yourself and you respect others, everything else will come into play. The other thing too is we teach them to, part of being a St. Louis man is being courageous. I think it's very difficult to attain the other characteristics you need unless you are courageous. You have to be willing to take chances. You cannot be afraid. And if you are afraid, realize that that's okay. It's a normal thing. When I see our students on the football field, basketball, court, whatever it may be, whether they're competing in robotics or they're competing in some kind of hula festival, you see the courage and the teamwork that they have, the support that they have for each other. It's really nice to see. And they're young men, they make mistakes, right? You put a whole bunch of boys together, they're gonna get colloied sometimes, you know? They jump all over each other, they hug each other, but you really see that I watch them closely and when it's time for them to really be there and be a gentleman, they do it. And it's really nice to see. Well, you know, you've created such a superior culture of excellence at St. Louis School. And so in addition to being courageous, in addition to character, what's another top priority of yours with the students in your culture? For us, it's about giving back, it's a service. So if you, I mean, when you look at Marcus, he's a perfect example, I think, of what a St. Louis man is. He is not, he's well-rounded, but he takes his talents and he uses it to help other people. So he's helped to build homes for people recently in Nashville. He has a scholarship with us. Several kids are going to school at no cost because of his scholarship. He's constantly helping out there in the community. So, you know, it's not enough for us to be able to educate someone so well in science that they can go and make billions of dollars and millions of dollars. What we want is someone that can make millions and billions, but then take some of that money and give it back to the community. And that's part of who we are as a Marianist School, as the Marianist practice that and it's part of their charism. It's part of who we are as a Marianist School, where it's not just about, you know, sharing your talents out there, it's about taking that what you have and giving back to the community. No, I really love hearing that, Glenn. And, you know, it's just, it's amazing to watch, you know, the impact that you've had for some years now as president of St. Louis School and just see how, I mean, everyone is buying into that, you know, high culture of excellence. And, you know, just another thing about your character. I mean, I know that you performed at a women's prison and that was a goal of yours. What did you learn about them when you performed at the women's prison? Oh, wow. No, that was an experience that I wanted to have happened for a long time. I didn't know what to expect, honestly. And it's an experience I'll never forget. Not only were we able to meet these women in prison, but we're also able to meet their children. And what's interesting is that we have a graduate of St. Louis School and he's the warden there. And it was his idea to give an opportunity for the children and the mothers to spend time together. And I think the toughest, well, number one, they were just so happy that we were there. A lot of them seem to, you know, seem to have liked 80s music. So I was there playing my guitar and they started singing along. And they didn't know who I was when I got in there. But as soon as I started singing, next thing you know, they said, okay, let's sing this song or let's sing this together. And it was a lot of fun. When the kids came in, I kind of connected with them, one of the kids. And so I spent about the next half an hour to an hour teaching them how to play the guitar and the ukulele that I brought over. And we were able to kind of create a friendship there. So the hardest part about the whole thing was having to see the kids go because, you know, you had kids crying. You have the parents crying. And, but, you know, and all you just, it teaches you to appreciate, you know, what we have, my ability to be able to spend time with my two kids. And I just keep hoping and praying that, you know, for those women there that don't get the opportunity to get out of prison. Well, Glenn, you know, you're a man of words and actions. And you know how you talked about service and helping community. I mean, that's you right there. I mean, you talk the talk and you walk the walk exactly. And I want to ask you, what is one of the toughest challenges that you had to overcome in your life? I think the biggest challenge for me was was dealing with the negative aspects of the music industry. There, I'm a family person. I like being around, I like being at home. I like the simple life. I think having touring around the world to about 40 countries, being away from my family, being alone. And although I'm not, I'm not the kind of person that likes to go out and be in crowds of people, but I do like to spend time with, you know, the few friends and family that I do have. So, and then also living, you know, financially when you're singing, although from the outside it looks like, wow, these guys are making a lot of money and things look good for most artists out there don't really make a whole lot of money because it costs a lot of money to be out on tour and to be traveling around the world. And so it was a very stressful, the period of time in my life when I was out there singing, and even though it was a great education experience. And for me, the way to get over it ultimately was to go back to school. And I told myself, you know, that, you know, in singing, I was performing from the age of 16 to about 24, so eight years of being on the road and selling, you know, over, you know, probably about 10 million records and working really hard. And then to have, you know, record company just kind of say, ah, we're not interested anymore. And that was pretty hard to take. And so for me, I told myself that I wanna put myself in a situation where I can attain an education and that I'll always be able to bounce back on my feet again. And so that was the driving force behind me attaining my master's degree, master's degree, and then my doctorate. As I didn't want to experience what it was like again to live life on the edge, you know, financially to be away from my family. And it's been, it was worth every, I mean, if it's been worth every single hour that I put into school, because, you know, I wanna be at St. Louis School for a very long time, but if it ever comes a time where, you know, they wanna go in a different direction, I know that I can, you know, take what I've learned and continue it elsewhere. In the music industry, you can't really do that. And once you can, but it's difficult to do, once you've had success, people kind of say, okay, he's an 80s guy or, you know, or he's this and this kind of music is not really popular anymore. Whereas if you're a successful CEO, you can jump from one company to another company because you bring those same skills with you. And if you've proven to be successful in the past, well, you know, these companies will take a chance on you. No, that's great insights right there, Glenn. And I wanna ask you one more thing before we wrap up. What's one of the biggest things that the best leaders do? In my opinion, the best leaders, it really is about communication. I really think that if you can communicate well, then you're gonna be a strong leader. And it just, communication, when you're a leader, your time is so limited that although communicating sounds simple, it's very easy to get sidetracked and not communicate the way you need to. So for instance, you know, we're going through this pandemic right now. And typically I send out a newsletter to parents maybe about once every two months. But now that we're experiencing this pandemic and we're online, I send a newsletter out every single week because it's important for the families to know, okay, this is where we're at. This is, you know, this is what we see coming. And as a leader, you have to communicate really well. And not only to the middle management, but also to everybody, you know, whether it's, whether it's, you know, sometimes I'll sit down and I'll talk to the janitor, say, what do you see? How do you like what's happening around here? Work with the middle management. Work with my board, you know, work with other presidents of other schools. Communication in my opinion is the key. I'm glad you said that, Glenn, because that's one of my three C's of leadership in Beyond the Game. Yes, yes, yes. Not just because I'm Portuguese and communication comes natural right now. Hey, I'm Park Portuguese with you. My grandma would just absolutely love you. It's just that sometimes you communicate a little too much. That's okay. Hey, Glenn, I want to thank you, you know, for joining me on my 100th episode today and for writing the Ford in my new book and really sharing your insights with me on today's TV show. Well, thank you. And thank you for all that you're doing for our community. Thank you for your new book. Please, everybody get this book. It's amazing book. And good luck. And keep working, working your third one coming up. Maybe a couple of years from now. We got to pray. Okay, all right. Well, congratulations. Thank you, Glenn. Thank you. Take care. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. For more information, please visit RustyKamori.com and my books are available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and BooksHawaii.net. I hope that Glenn and I will inspire you to create your own superior culture of excellence and to find your greatness and help others find theirs. Aloha.