 All righty, welcome back. Okay, our next speaker lives in Atlanta, got on I-85 and just headed west until as Tesla ran out of charge. So we plugged it in in front of Major Hartnett's house, he's on the let-ex staff, they are full service here. True statement, I know, right? Andy Christensen is a founding partner of Capacity Seven and Certified Life Coach and FYI next year who'll be climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. So I'm gonna bring to the stage now. Andy Christensen. Woo! Woo, let-ex! Hey, you know what time it is? It's fourth quarter. Fourth quarter of the football game. Right, this is where you, we find out what you've really got. Like it's time to apply some stuff, okay? And I wanna really encourage a segment of our population here, I'll let you know in a minute. In truth be known, the Tesla did not run out of juice, it just got very low. And that's trouble. If any of you are EV car users, you know what I mean. But to run out of juice is almost, that's a bad deal, it's like Fubar. You know what that is in the military. Okay, so what's radical about mentoring? I don't think mentoring's all that radical. I really don't, I think it's been kinda a little boring, a little bit outdated. Let's get the clicker and we'll show you how that plays out. And for example, is it radical? I mean, what do you think? I think as I would point out, it's a little bit OCD. It's a little bit outdated, it's a little bit complicated. And it's a little bit dull. In my opinion, it's a need of a refresh. We need to get to the next level, the next generation if you will. Something needs to change. For example, some of you that are younger here, Centennial's millennials, you'll know what TIL means. Today I learned. And so I put that as an acronym. What if it could be more true, more inspiring, more life changing? Does that make it a little more radical? Starting to lean in a little bit more. But what if, what if the next generation could get this? And if you're in that next generation here, if you are 18 to 38, Centennial's and or millennials, it's time for us to get serious about this. It's time for you to get serious about this. Because in some ways, my generation and above, we've kind of got an F. We've kind of failed you a little bit. And so we're gonna talk a little bit about that. So do you mind if I take off the jacket? Cause we're gonna get serious about this, all right? And sometimes this can look a little too formal. But it's time to get to work. And I only have a few minutes here to inspire you to get to the next level. So let's look at it this way. In that generation, two generations really, Gen Z and Gen Y. They are, or you are if you're in that age group here, the most educated generation in the history of the world. Do you believe that? The history of the world. So large metropolitan areas in the United States and cities around the world have 50% or more college degrees. That's a lot of knowledge and information. Is it not? And as well, the most connected generation. What do I mean by that? Well, on average, the 18 to 38 year old has 250 friends. Compared to 25 friends 50 years ago. Now I know, okay, some of those are Facebook, Instagram, I get it. But you're still connected. They're still connected to those people. And that can bring benefits and dividends to help influence and change this world. And this is the most passionate generation. They desire social change like we've never seen before. But they're kind of stuck in a construct that's tough to work around. So what I suggest is that you've been dealing with false hope if you're in that generation. False hope that we are coming, that Calvary is coming. And like I said, I think, sorry, baby boomers. We kind of get an F on being available and being intentional with mentoring. Now there are a few of us that are out there. So God bless you, but there just aren't enough. So what's the solution to that? I say to you Centennials and millennials, it's time to take back control. Well, gosh, I'm only 23, Andy, what do you want me to do? How can I go mentor people? Well, I do a podcast with a 21 year old and I learn as much from him as he learns from me. Wait, what? You do a podcast with a 21 year old? Yeah, I'll show it to you in a minute. And it's amazing. What we get to do together, we're modeling what seems so hard for other people. As well, I think if you initiate, and that's what it really comes down to, initiate. You have to initiate the things you've learned here at Leadx. You have to start thinking, what am I gonna do different? And hopefully with what I'm telling you during this talk, what will you do? You have to be deliberate. So what is mentoring? That word, man, it's got a lot of baggage. And when I first wrote my book, I didn't call it mentoring, I called it the 40 40 principle, but inside I described it as strategic advisors because mentoring was, it was overhanded, it was heavy handed. It was almost like controlling, but I believed in the concept so much because it helped me in my life. So then millennials come of age and they're like, you ought to rewrite that and use the word mentoring. So we did. So it does have some baggage, change the name if you want, but it goes sideways, it goes up and down, it can go all around. Don't put too many restrictions on it. Just be intentional about learning from other people. And what I'm saying is, I want you to be intentional today to go get interested in other people, to be the initiator, to ask that person, tell me your story. Hey, I have a few questions. Could we grab coffee? Could we grab breakfast? Could we grab lunch? Just get interested. It's better to be interested than interesting. Have you ever thought about that? We're all trying to be interesting. Some of the most interesting people are the most interested. So what if you don't do this? No harm, no foul, right? Well, if nothing changes, nothing changes. You've heard that. So be the change agent. We heard Jeff DeGraft say that this morning, this generation is primed 38 and younger to go make a significant difference in the world. I've heard that almost with every talk here so far to that degree. What I'm asking you to do, quite simply, and then we're gonna get out of here. Wait, that's it? You're just gonna ask us to do one thing? Yes. Co-mentor someone. Initiate. Well, what's co-mentoring? It's making this thing as simple as possible. For example, there's a guy by the name of retired Colonel Bill DeMarco. I don't know if Bill's in here, I can't see. But he and I met at a conference 15 years ago and it looked something like this. We're at Phillips Arena and we had this mentor booth up. It was a gathering for leadership, 20,000 people, Atlanta, Phillips Arena. You get the picture and we have this booth called Mentor Boot Camp. We're gonna train people how to mentor. And so we're over here and people pour out during breaks and they're kind of marching along and they see this booth kind of peripheral and then they get a good look at it and they all just kind of instinctively do this. I'm like, wow, we're really scaring these people because we were camo and camo nets and they get back in line and they walk down the hall. And it would happen consistently. You're like, wow, we are scaring all these people away. And then here comes this guy with another guy. What's this? What you doing? This looks awesome. Can I sign up? Where do we go? How do we pay? What do we, what is it? I'm like, wow, I like this guy. He's a man of action. So that was Colonel DeMarco. He shows up for the event. A lot of people would sign up and not show up. Not Bill. There he is. And he brings a friend with him. And we start this kind of geeky leadership connection because we both love leadership. We start talking about it. And years later he invites me over to Milden Hall to speak. And it was fantastic. And I said, hey, have you ever thought about doing some exploratory work with some of your team members? He's like, what's that? I'm like mentoring and coaching and all this stuff. And he said, I'd love to hear about it. So we tried it with six of his guys and it was fantastic. They loved it. So we decided to spread it out. And he invited some other people like Jason Wamek, Helena Kim, into the mix. And they started doing some of the same type of work. And he started to realize there's something here. And then he moves over to the United States. And he's back here at Air University. And he's just enough of a troublemaker to keep this stuff going. Thank God for him. And he invites more people, more academics into the mix. And it starts to grow. And he starts leaders by design. And leaders by design hits. And it's on a waiting list. And people loved it. And then I asked one day, I said, Bill, where did you have a reunion? How cool would that be? He's like, that's a great idea. Let's get some more people involved. And we started talking about, what would it look like to bring people back to Air University? Guess what it turned into? Latex. You get some good minds together. But what's my point? Two guys connecting, being intentional, OMG. What could you be creating? Maybe you already are. But what more could you be creating to get more smart people into the mix? As iron sharpens, iron sodas, one person sharpened another. Two are better than one, right? One falls down, the other can get back up. There's a better return on their investment. Strength in numbers. You've heard all the phrases, but are you doing it? Are you being that change agent in your world? That's the message in a nutshell. And on top of that, oh, by the way, there's that handsome guy, Bill DeMarco. And there's one of the first leaders by design group. And of course, that's latex. So the challenge I leave you with is to simply write a name down. I mean, come on, it doesn't get much easier. Well, simpler. It doesn't mean it's easy. Who are you thinking about that you could go initiate a conversation with? Just say, I'd love to hear your story. I've already set this up with two people here since I've been here. Hey, I just want to hear your story and see if it grows into something. The last thing you want to do, please don't do this. Hey, you look like somebody that could use me as a mentor. Want me to mentor you? Or you mentor me? I'm like, whoa, that sounds like heavy duty. I don't know about that. I got a lot more questions than answers. But a conversation, a cup of coffee, easy-peasy, powerful, dynamic. So if you haven't written somebody down, think about it. Write them down. At least put a date down when you will. So I want to be a part of the solution for you. I've written this book. It's back in the book area. If you want to copy, grab one as well. I want to show you something else we put together because I was at a conference three weeks ago. General Dunn was the keynote. I spoke the next day. Everybody mentioned mentoring. I'm like, gosh, you guys are setting me up really good. And then I spoke on the topic. But people walked up and they said, hey, really like we had to say, but we need some resources. Do you have any resources? Well, you have a book. Now, is there a guide? Is there a course? And I'm like, am I an idiot? Why have I not created this stuff yet? I've been doing this for years. So out of that event, we have created this tool that goes live today. It went live this morning. You can sign up for a mentor course. And this would be good if you're a corporate or your military. You just want to influence another person. It's just good stuff. How can I be a mentor, an influencer, for positive change? Quite simply put. You can find it here. You can sign up in the book area as well, if you want. And this is the podcast. So Instagram, if you want to stay in touch, I'd love to hear from you. DM me there. Or the podcast is overwhelmed. How to overcome being overwhelmed. And again, that's myself. Over 50. Jojo, 20-something. Joseph Jacobson. And we toss around how to become purposeful. The last one we just did Sunday night, I think it went live on Monday, was all around. I said, hey, I want you to interview 20-somethings. Interview your people and find out what's overwhelming them. And he came back with this data and we tossed it around. It's fascinating. It's fascinating. So one of the people that I think models this so well, and unfortunately, we lost him a couple weeks ago, Kobe Bryant, I've been following him as a virtual mentor to me for about three months. And so when that helicopter went down, I almost felt like I lost a friend. Because I've been getting to know him. He's a really good motivator. If you want to Google anything like Mamba Motivation, Kobe Bryant, really pretty good stuff. I'm going to play you a little bit of a clip in a second. But one of the things he was really good at was giving to others. And that's what I'm asking you guys to do, is take some time and give. And one of the best ways to give is to just listen to people. That's all you need to do. Ask good questions and listen. So do you know Katie Lou Samuelson? She's a Yukon basketball player. Well, he befriended her because he loves Yukon. She went to a camp and he said, hey, Katie Lou, have you seen the film from the game you lost and know her name? She's like, are you kidding? It's too painful. I can't do that. Ugh, like pain in the heart. And he said, no, you have to. You must because if you don't, if you don't, you're never going to learn. And you're not going to get better. Do you think you'll ever faced know her name again? She said, yeah, probably. He said, I just can't do it. This is Kobe. Kobe says, you know what? What are you doing tomorrow? I'm sure he was a busy man. What are you doing tomorrow? Well, okay. So they sat down and watched the entire game replay twice. He pointed out footwork, what people did on timeouts, why they took the timeout. He was helping her think in a bigger way. He was truly giving and giving back. So in closing, I just want to play a short clip of what Kobe had to say when Louis Howes, who is a talk show kind of guy, Instagram guy, asked Kobe, hey, how would you define greatness? Kobe Bryant, take a listen. I think the definition of greatness is to inspire the people next to you. Yeah, I think that's what greatness is or should be. It's not something that lives and dies with one person. It's how can you inspire a person to then inspire another person? That then inspires another person. That's how you create something that I think lasts forever. And I think that's our challenge as people is to figure out how our story can impact others and motivate them in a way to create their own greatness. We lost a good one. So guys, I hope you've been inspired. And I would just ask you to take some time and go inspire some other people around you. Thank you very much.