The Rusty George Podcast

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Rusty George
Today's episode is brought to you by Belay Solutions. What if you could get 15 hours of your week back? BELAY Creative Solutions can provide just that. Check them out. belaysolutions.com.

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Intro/Outro
Welcome to Leading Simple with Rusty George. Our goal is to make following Jesus and leading others a bit more simple. Here's your host, Rusty George.

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Rusty George
Happy New Year, everybody. Hope you're having a great kick off to 2023. It's unbelievable. We've made it to 2023, right in 2020. We thought we would never see the light of day. And here we are. My name is Rusty George, and I'm the host of Leading Simple. And I'm honored to have you with us. Whether you're listening from a remote location on a treadmill in a Starbucks or later on because somebody shared it with you. Hey, today we have a return guest with us, One of my closest friends in ministry in leadership.

00;01;03;21 - 00;01;31;29
Rusty George
His name is Brian Dodd. Brian is an incredible individual that works with hundreds of leaders every single year. But he also inspires thousands of leaders every single day through his blog. Brian Dodd on Leadership. You want to make sure you subscribe to this because Brian will take contemporary movies, he will take sports, he will take current events, and he will mine out the leadership principles that we all need to learn.

00;01;32;09 - 00;01;56;15
Rusty George
And one of my favorite things to talk about with Brian is sports, because he sees things from such a beautiful perspective. He lives deep in the South. He knows all things college football, but he's a student of all the games. So we wanted to talk about the college football playoffs at the time we're airing this. The playoffs are probably already happened, but I wanted to ask him about these four programs, what we learn from them, what we learn about leadership from them.

00;01;56;24 - 00;02;25;22
Rusty George
A few of his predictions and some great stuff along the way. Hey, we're kicking off a new season of sponsorship with BELAY Resources. BELAY does incredible things to help you accomplish more and juggle less. Need a virtual assistant accounting, social media, website services. They got it. So make sure that you check out belay. They are an unbelievable team to help you with your organization.

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Rusty George
Belay Solutions dot com. Okay, here we go. My conversation with Brian Dodd.
Brian Dodd, thank you for joining the podcast again! I think this might be your third time. This is the hat trick you get a special coupon to McDonald's for that. So great to have you.

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Brian Dodd
Well, yeah, you know, at some point, you know, I'm just going to ask for equity in the in the real simple company there. So.

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Rusty George
Well, that would be wonderful if there was equity to share. So I'm happy to do that.

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Brian Dodd
Well, it is a thrill to be here. I always love hanging out with you always and love investing in your audience. And and thank you for the invite. It's deeply appreciated.

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Rusty George
So, you know, for our listeners that haven't heard your previous episodes, just tell them briefly about just who you are and you have a day job, but yet you're kind of known for your side hustle, which is Brian DOD on leadership and the books that you write and the blogs that you put out. And you're a curator of stuff too.

00;03;27;07 - 00;03;28;20
Rusty George
So tell our listeners about you.

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Brian Dodd
Yeah, so I'll get the day job out of the way cause that's, that's quick. Just celebrated my 20th year with Enjoy Stewardship solution. So that's a company founded by John Maxwell and we help churches raise significant capital for four major projects and and we also do leadership development and help increase weekly giving. So that's my daytime job. And so you and I got connected and your audience primarily knows me through my website.

00;03;56;14 - 00;04;19;05
Brian Dodd
Brian Dot on leadership dot com and you know Rusty it's the funniest thing I just started as a hobby just to basically journal and get my thoughts down Got somehow blasted and I just read something it's now the 20th most visited leadership website in the world and who knows I mean it's just I mean that's just the whole story of God.

00;04;19;05 - 00;04;47;22
Brian Dodd
There was no strategic plan or, you know, nothing of that nature, but out of it birthed the coaching course for books, got my own podcast that I do with a guy named Jeff Wright. And yeah, what God has done over the last 15 years or so. And basically my website, I do have a lot of friends that, you know, I like to promote their, their content and point people to them.

00;04;48;01 - 00;05;09;23
Brian Dodd
Yours is one that I do from time to time and there are some others and, and I do love you know, John Maxwell taught me years ago this was early nineties that the best leaders are always the ones who don't say, look at me. But they're always saying, Hey, look at that pastor downtown or look at that business across the street, or let me tell you what they're doing.

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Brian Dodd
And for whatever reason, I didn't think my story was all that great. So I started telling other people stories and, you know, God has just richly blessed that. And it's just it's just a privilege to invest in leaders. And I'm honored to do it.

00;05;26;23 - 00;05;49;10
Rusty George
So well. You've been very kind to me and to our podcast and to our leadership course. And you've been incredible. It is. It is a level five leader, as Jim Collins would say, one that doesn't just build a platform but gives it away and you continue to do that. So so thank you and thanks for coming back on the show, although.

00;05;49;10 - 00;05;54;28
Brian Dodd
I'm glad to be here. And I know we're talking today about a very serious topic.

00;05;55;08 - 00;06;18;25
Rusty George
Yes, we are. Yes, we are. Sports. All right. You and I think really connected over sports books, because I love reading sports books because it's a it's a little bit of leadership content, but it's a lot of behind the scenes and kind of it's the way that I unwind, but I always learn from it. And there's such a shortage of really good ones.

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Rusty George
There's a lot out there, but finding the really good ones is hard and you always seem to have a nose for them and always point me in the direction. So tell me, tell our listeners just a few of your favorites or maybe a few that are recent for you.

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Brian Dodd
Yeah, you know, if I was going to give you my favorite sports books ever written, here's the thing about sports books, and here's how you've got to look at all their history books. They are how great leaders have built great organizations and achieve great things. That's the way you have to look at sports books. So, you know, some of my favorites, Gridiron Genius by Michael Lombardi, the best loved that book.

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Brian Dodd
He's the only person that has served under Bill Walsh, Al Davis and Bill Belichick, and he served with Nick Saban. So, you know, great insights. The Cubs Way by Tom Verducci is also one of my favorites. The score takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh is one of the five best leadership books of any genre I have ever read.

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Brian Dodd
Off the Radar book Legacy by James Kerr, which is a study of the culture of the All Blacks, the New Zealand rugby team. Incredible book. You can't recommend it in a book this past summer. I'll do I'll give you a couple of recent ones from this past year too, that stick out to me. The leadership secrets of Nick Saban by John TALTY Tail Wire is an outstanding book And you're a Dodgers fan.

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Brian Dodd
How to Fix a Broken Game is just an incredible book of how the Dodgers built their organization. And it's a great study on the merging of new ways of thinking analytics. But old school, traditional hard work scouting. Yeah, and it's just a great book. So if you don't know what to buy for Christmas or any of those five books will make the leader in your life extraordinarily happy.

00;08;20;21 - 00;08;36;25
Rusty George
They are great books. I've read most of those. The Dodger book led us to an introduction from you of Marty LAMB, who was a guest on the show, who was great, and then also Kevin Burrell, who was awesome as well. So thank you for those introductions.

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Brian Dodd
Yeah, definitely. You know, I want to go ahead and give a shout out. Both of those guys. I got connected through our mutual friend Marc Lynch. Yes. And on Monday mornings we participate in a high school college, minor league and professional baseball scouts and coaches, Bible study. And across the country, average over 70 people every week. I know you have you've attended that this past Monday.

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Brian Dodd
We're recording on a Wednesday. Two days ago, three people gave their life to Christ in that Bible study.

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Rusty George
Wow.

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Brian Dodd
It's it is.

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Rusty George
Fantastic.

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Brian Dodd
I mean, just take the concept that I'm going to start a Bible study on Z. I'm just going to start a Bible study and I'm going to start it for a niche group. Well, somehow that niche group has grown to over 70 people nationwide, all with a common interest, a love of baseball and a love of their faith through Jesus Christ.

00;09;37;26 - 00;09;45;12
Brian Dodd
And now they're inviting their unchurched friends to it and people are getting saved. It's miraculous what what's happening in that Bible study.

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Rusty George
Wow, that is so cool. What a what a great idea. And proof once again that God could use any medium to advance his gospel. And Zoom is just amazing.

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Brian Dodd
Unbelievable.

00;09;59;21 - 00;10;24;28
Rusty George
Okay, let's dive in. We're going to air this podcast soon because the college football playoffs are on the horizon. And I want to walk through the four playoff teams and you tell me what we can learn from the program or their coach in regards to leadership. Let's start with the number one team in the land. Your team, because you hail from Georgia, the Georgia Bulldogs.

00;10;25;07 - 00;10;52;00
Brian Dodd
So on Georgia and each of these four teams, I'm going to give a major leadership principle. I'm not going to break down X's and O's or nothing like that, but a major leadership principle that anyone can use, whether you're a sports fan or not. Okay, perfect. So Georgia and I wrote about this on my website. Kirby Smart was being interviewed prior to the SEC championship game, and he was just talking about his program.

00;10;52;00 - 00;11;16;14
Brian Dodd
And then he goes, That's what he league teams do. So then I went back and actually broke down what he said. And so I'm walking away and I'll hit this very fast due to time. But if you want to build an elite team at your church, at your nonprofit, your athletic organization, your school, your business, here are ten qualities that make up big league teams.

00;11;16;27 - 00;11;43;13
Brian Dodd
Number one, they're made up of many good leaders, not many leaders, but many good leaders. You can never have enough good leaders. So they're made up of many good leaders. They're aligned and attuned. This may be called unity in your environment. In other words, you've got all these leaders and they are echoing the message of the main leader, and they're telling everybody else, this is how we do things around here.

00;11;43;25 - 00;12;07;02
Brian Dodd
Okay? Elite teams have elite coaching. Makes total sense. An elite teams going to have elite leaders. Number four, they're accountable to each other. You know, you've got a great team when they self-police each other and you don't have to do it as a as a leader. Elite teams have elite preparation. They work just I'm going to use college football.

00;12;07;02 - 00;12;30;13
Brian Dodd
They work just as hard Monday through Friday as they do on Saturday. Okay. Games are won before they're ever played. So it's a sales presentation. So is teaching a class, preaching a sermon, and things are are won before they're ever done. Number six, elite communication. Okay. You know, they communicate well with each other. That's part of the accountability.

00;12;30;13 - 00;13;00;19
Brian Dodd
But here's where we go. Follow me. Lack of entitlement, huge thing with successful teams yesterday. Solutions will not solve today's problems. Yesterday's team will not win today's game. Okay. So lack of entitlement. Number eight, they elevate the team above the individual. Very difficult to do in today's society in the individualistic. Let me tell you my story and tell you my truth and all of that.

00;13;00;28 - 00;13;28;06
Brian Dodd
The ability to elevate the team and the team's agenda over personal agenda, short memories, successes and failures are quickly forgotten. We're moving on to the next game. Hmm. Okay. And number ten and we'll talk about this a lot more when we get to Ohio State. But they're resilient. They keep coming. They keep bouncing back and, you know, you can't keep a good team down.

00;13;28;06 - 00;13;44;05
Brian Dodd
So when I think about Georgia, the number one thing that I want leaders to know and if you didn't have a time to write all of those down, maybe I'll put it in the show notes. But about a week ago, I wrote about the qualities of an elite team from Kirby Smart. Those are the tier.

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Rusty George
Wow. So with that in mind, they've been able to sustain a long winning streak, even through the SCC, and find themselves with a chance to become the first team to repeat in a while. Do you like their chances?

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Brian Dodd
You know, here's the thing. It's not going to be easy. And you know, if you want to we'll talk about Ohio State now if you want to.

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Rusty George
Let's do that.

00;14;11;22 - 00;14;37;29
Brian Dodd
I think now, look, I live in the south. I wished Alabama would have been the fourth team, but from a pragmatic standpoint, they got the right team in there. Okay. Now, I will go ahead and tell you this. If there's one team, I would not have wanted Georgia to play. It's Ohio State. Yeah. And if you think about the last two years, they've only lost one game and that was in last year's SCC championship.

00;14;38;11 - 00;15;09;04
Brian Dodd
And that was because the wide receivers, John Mackey and James Williamson just ran all over them. Well, if you're talking about a team with the late skill position players that's Ohio State C.J Stroud Marvin Harrison Jr is arguably the best wide receiver in the nation. You know you've got other quality people on that team like Emeka Ibuka and Julian Fleming at the wide receiver position.

00;15;09;12 - 00;15;37;22
Brian Dodd
Treyvon Henderson the running back may be coming back they got skill players so the match up, they're tough for Georgia. They may beat them. They may. It's basically a home game for Georgia. They may run them off the field, but it isn't going to be easy. But here's the number one thing that I want from a leadership perspective to everybody know about Ohio State, the value of resilience.

00;15;38;12 - 00;16;00;20
Brian Dodd
Bruce Feldman, the great Fox reporter, Fox sports reporter, and he also writes for the Athletic. He also writes books as well, wrote The Meat Market, the Cube, some other good books. He was on the Michigan sideline and he was saying that during the game, they said, stay after them, stay after them. They're going to break, keep hitting on.

00;16;00;21 - 00;16;27;09
Brian Dodd
They're going to break. And that was a mantra on the Michigan sideline. And they broke and they broke in the fourth quarter. So what I'm watching from Ohio State, I expect them to have some big plays. I expect their skill players to play well. Will they break in the fourth quarter? Did they learn from the miscues George is going to hit on to engage Georgia.

00;16;27;18 - 00;16;50;09
Brian Dodd
Georgia's as big and tough as Michigan is. They're going to hit home, too. And the word is out that you can break them. Will Ohio State have the resilience and the mental toughness and the mental fortitude to withstand that? Now, here's the thing. You're not going to tell that in the first half. You're not going to be able to say, man, they came out of the game strong.

00;16;50;18 - 00;17;21;26
Brian Dodd
No, they broke in the fourth quarter against Michigan. Will they break in the fourth quarter against Georgia? Now, here's the lesson for leaders. Leadership is hard and leadership is a noble track and it is waves off an ocean. It just keeps coming and it never stops. Will you have resolve in the fourth quarter? Do you have the mental fortitude, the mental toughness, the resilience, the perseverance to finish?

00;17;21;26 - 00;17;38;18
Brian Dodd
Well and last long as a leader? I think that's a lesson that I'm looking to learn from. And if they do finish well against Georgia, I'm going to try to find some articles on what did Ryan Day teach them from the Michigan game to this game.

00;17;38;26 - 00;17;40;02
Rusty George
Oh, that's a great idea.

00;17;40;06 - 00;17;53;21
Brian Dodd
Yeah. Did they just get embarrassed and man up? I mean, is it that simple or was there some things he did in practice and in the weight room and in training that better prepared them for resilience? Mm hmm.

00;17;54;09 - 00;18;04;00
Rusty George
That's so good. Okay, let's let's shift gears to Michigan. All right. The counterpart to Ohio State, which would be a really fun national championship. Ohio State, Michigan again.

00;18;04;07 - 00;18;06;20
Brian Dodd
Yeah, Well, yeah, No.

00;18;07;17 - 00;18;10;22
Rusty George
You're right. I know you don't want to see that.

00;18;10;22 - 00;18;41;02
Brian Dodd
Yeah, no, we don't want that. We do want Georgia and Michigan. That's what we want. So but here's what we learned from Michigan. Jim Harbaugh and culture everywhere Jim Harbaugh goes, San Diego State, Stanford, San Francisco, 40 Niners, Michigan Wolverines. Eventually the team takes on his personality. Tough, physical, never quits, don't care about the weather, go anywhere, play anybody.

00;18;41;02 - 00;19;04;25
Brian Dodd
Let's just let let let's just go. Here's the thing about that. If you're a leader and you want to develop culture, you need to know as the leader. You don't get the culture you want. You get the culture you are. The culture is is the length and shape and shadow of a single individual. In Michigan, it's Jim Harbaugh.

00;19;05;16 - 00;19;32;04
Brian Dodd
Okay. So, you know, to all to everybody listening to this podcast, I mean, you're probably leading churches, leading businesses, leading an athletics culture is two things. Number one, it's who you are. And number two, culture is who you hire. And so, you know, Jim Harbaugh is a reminder to us and by the way, he was getting incredible heat from people at Michigan in the first few years to be more like Ohio State.

00;19;32;15 - 00;19;49;25
Brian Dodd
Know the answer to that was he needed to be more like Jim Harbaugh. And you've seen that the last two years. And leaders, you don't need to be anybody different than who you are, but you need to know who you are, hire to who you are and stay true to who you are. For an extended period of time.

00;19;49;25 - 00;19;51;18
Brian Dodd
And then you'll see the positive results.

00;19;51;28 - 00;20;10;11
Rusty George
Wow, that's really good. There's some leadership gold in that. Okay, let's let's shift gears to the country's football darling, TCU. Oh, yeah. Much maligned. Everybody didn't think they belonged in there and then they lost and everybody thought, oh, now they're out, but they're still in. Do they have a shot?

00;20;10;18 - 00;20;45;05
Brian Dodd
Oh, yeah. They they definitely have a puncher's chance because they got athletes and they got NFL players on that team. Quentin Johnston is one of the best wide receivers in the nation. If he goes pro, I predict will be a first round pick. Kindra Miller, the running back also a junior Great running back and they got the best defensive back in the country Jim Thorpe all-American you know Travis Hodges Tomlinson So yes, they've got talent and they got a puncher's chance and obviously they got the Heisman runner up in Match.

00;20;45;05 - 00;21;13;16
Brian Dodd
Duggan. Here's the thing that I want leaders to learn from TCU. Two main things. First, let's look at Coach Sonny Dikes. When he went to Cal in 2013, his first year, they were one and 11, two years later they were eight and five from Cal. He then moved on. Well, scuse me. Even before Cal, he was at Louisiana Tech in Louisiana Tech in 2010.

00;21;13;16 - 00;21;39;17
Brian Dodd
He was five and seven. In 2012, he was nine and three. He left Louisiana Tech, went to Cal, went from one in 11 to 8 and five, left. Cal went to SMU. SMU, his last three years there. And that was a job nobody wanted. You know, they're still reeling from the death penalty in the early in the early 2000 or actually I mean, the early eighties.

00;21;39;24 - 00;22;11;14
Brian Dodd
And I apologize for that. But last three years was ten and three, seven and three and eight and four. Guy And he goes to TCU and they go 12 and one. Here's the thing you take from Sonny Dikes, everybody. If you want to get better, get a better leader. If you if you lead a church or a business and you've got a department that's underperforming, get a better leader in the department like your board of directors and you're you lead a for profit or a nonprofit.

00;22;11;22 - 00;22;39;26
Brian Dodd
I don't recommend this with pastors. But yeah, if you want to get better, get a better leader. Everything rises and falls on leadership. And you know, that is a for the people who have to make those decisions, it seems very cutthroat. I get it. It seems very pragmatic. I get it. But the reality is, if you're not going to make a leadership change, then you better have a very good leadership development plan.

00;22;40;29 - 00;23;13;22
Brian Dodd
But everything gets better when a leader gets better. That's number one. Number two, never confuse an outlier with a stable. Hmm. Okay. So let me explain that. When I go to the grocery store, what are the staples? Bread, flour, milk, fruits and vegetables, Some type of protein. Those are the staples. Okay. Those are also in the main most walk through sections of the grocery store.

00;23;14;18 - 00;23;51;27
Brian Dodd
It's Christmas time. So if I'm looking for my Claxton fruitcake, it's probably in a very small section overall, Mile 12 somewhere. Okay. And I'll need help finding it. That's an outlier. A Claxton fruitcake is an outlier product. You buy it once a year and it occupies enough shelf space, lets you look at TCU. How often are you going to get a team who's who's star player takes over In the second game, he wasn't good enough to start.

00;23;51;27 - 00;24;17;05
Brian Dodd
He takes over in the second game because of an injury. By the way, couple of years prior he had heart surgery, but he somehow is so good. He leads the team to an undefeated season except for the championship game and he comes in second in the Heisman. This is not a recipe you want to build consistent success on.

00;24;17;05 - 00;24;44;04
Brian Dodd
Okay. And I think they've got a coach that understands that because he's proven it at three different locations where it was not optimal for winning conditions. But as a leader, if you had, you know, the hell back. Comet passes Earth once every 75 years. You know, a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while. You can't build a sustainable organization on outlier events.

00;24;44;26 - 00;25;03;05
Brian Dodd
So you have to have a system, you have to have a process, you have to plug people into the system, and you need a sustainable system for sustainable success. So the lessons I get from TCU, everybody gets better when you get a better leader, but don't confuse an outlier with a stable.

00;25;04;03 - 00;25;35;11
Rusty George
Hmm. Good wisdom. All right. Well, there's only four teams in the playoffs this year, and a couple of years will get 12. Yeah, but what about some of these teams that are usually in the hunt, but they did not make it. You know what? What are they doing right now to be a contender next year? Things are teams like Alabama, Oklahoma, Clemson, Notre Dame, you know, what are you seeing from them that makes a leader say, we didn't make it this year, but by golly, we'll be back next year and here's how.

00;25;35;16 - 00;26;02;11
Brian Dodd
Yeah. So Alabama's got the process, the system as of right now. So the recruiting side I follow is Rivals.com. You know, there's a handful of good recruiting systems right now. Alabama's got the number one recruiting class in America. They're just going to reload. Okay. Alabama's not going anywhere. So if you are celebrating the demise of Alabama, you may want to rethink that.

00;26;02;19 - 00;26;05;27
Brian Dodd
Okay.

00;26;05;27 - 00;26;06;26
Rusty George
How did you know?

00;26;07;08 - 00;26;10;06
Brian Dodd
Yeah, exactly. You may want to rethink that.

00;26;10;11 - 00;26;11;22
Rusty George
I like Bryce Young, though.

00;26;11;28 - 00;26;34;29
Brian Dodd
Well, of course you did. He's from your neck of the woods. He is? Yeah. So, you know, the second team I want to talk about is Notre Dame in a 12 team playoff with Marcus Freeman as their coach, you need to get used to seeing them in the playoffs. And the thing that you need to know about Notre Dame is they have an eight and four record.

00;26;35;10 - 00;27;13;23
Brian Dodd
Okay? Two of those losses were extraordinarily unusual. Stanford and Marshall, OC, Extra ordinarily unusual, but they finished the season five and one and in one of those games beat Clemson 35 to 14. Notre Dame finished strong and they by the way, have the number three recruiting class this year and rivals Wow This is a team this is a team that as it goes to 12 teams in the playoff, you need to get used to saying huh and here's what you need to know as a leader.

00;27;13;23 - 00;27;38;20
Brian Dodd
Number one, they've hired they've hired a great leader, Marcus Freeman. Okay. But they're finishing five and one. Here's the thing. Understand the value of momentum and how to leverage it. They are going to leverage this strong finish, this springboard into next year. They got their two fluky losses out of the way and they are finishing strong under their new leader, Oklahoma.

00;27;38;21 - 00;28;09;25
Brian Dodd
I'm saving Clemson for last. I'm perplexed on Oklahoma. If I was a if Oklahoma was the stock, I'd have to sell it. They are six and six this year. They do have the number nine recruiting class, but they're going to the SCC, SCC West, which will then just become the SCC but they lost this year 55 to 24 to TCU and 49 to nothing to Texas.

00;28;09;25 - 00;28;34;04
Brian Dodd
Obviously the sample size for Brant Venables is one year. We'll wait and see. I wish I would just sell them if I was a stock. I think we are heading into the post Barry Switzer era until Bob Stoops came along and you had that era in there. I think now that Lincoln Riley's left, we are entering into that era for the foreseeable future.

00;28;34;14 - 00;28;53;26
Rusty George
So. Okay, So Brian, I got to jump in here because, you know, I was born in Norman on the Sooners fan. This is so painful to hear, and I'm afraid you may be right. I was on the bandwagon to get rid of Venables after the three or after the loss to Texas. Go after Matt Rule, which Nebraska got him.

00;28;54;16 - 00;29;19;06
Rusty George
But we're stuck with him. But I'm holding out hope that because of his defensive mind, because of his time with Dabo at Clemson, he can right the ship. If we get the right recruiting. We lost so many players to the transfer portal last year. But what concerns me is, as as Colin Cowherd says, you always fix your side of the ball first.

00;29;19;06 - 00;29;43;17
Rusty George
He's a defensive guy and our defense was terrible. So that's what concerns me. So I understand you're selling I'm going to give it one more year and then I'm all out. Let me interrupt this podcast for just a second to thank Ballet Solutions dot com for the support of the podcast. I want to help you accomplish more and juggle less virtual assistants, accounting, social media and website services.

00;29;43;17 - 00;29;52;29
Rusty George
Check out their resources at Belay Solutions dot com Bazley Solutions dot com. Okay, back to the show.

00;29;53;19 - 00;30;19;21
Brian Dodd
I was yeah I get it. Look we will by the way because Brant Venables was at Clemson for so long that is the home office of the company I work for is in that area a lot of market, a lot of the people who work for our company were friends with his kids and know him and they all went to New Spring Church together and all that kind of stuff.

00;30;20;11 - 00;30;51;03
Brian Dodd
I'm rooting for him. He's a good man. Some people we'll find out. Some people, both at the collegiate and the professional level, are just better coordinators than they are head coaches. Right. We'll find out. I hope he does. Great. So which does leave us to lead us to Clemson? Okay. Absolutely. For me, one of the two most fascinating organizations in college football and here's why Coach Swinney is so old school.

00;30;52;25 - 00;31;26;06
Brian Dodd
So this is how college football should be. I'm fascinated to watch them, in my opinion, other than the tech, you know, out in Silicon Valley, I've never seen an industry be disrupted like college football in the last two years. So. Oh, yeah, under mass disruption. How does an old school straight down the fairway, high moral, high integrity. This is how it should be done later.

00;31;26;14 - 00;31;42;16
Brian Dodd
Adjust in a time of disruption. I'm hoping Clemson continues to operate at an elite level. We'll see. I'm just fascinated to watch and see how that all plays out. So. Hmm.

00;31;43;02 - 00;32;03;13
Rusty George
Well, we're all cheering for Dabo. Definitely. And he's going to he's in a conference he can win. Miami seems to still be years away, so we'll see what happens to them. Okay. Because I'm out here on the West Coast. I got to ask you about UCLA and USC. I mean, USC certainly turned it around because of Lincoln, Riley and Caleb Williams, both from Oklahoma.

00;32;04;00 - 00;32;12;02
Rusty George
But UCLA seems to keep getting incrementally, incrementally better. But now we've got to get a new quarterback. So what do you see with those two teams?

00;32;12;07 - 00;32;34;09
Brian Dodd
Yeah, UCLA will be going through a time of change, but I love what Chip Kelly does. Chip Kelly, great coach. I would think they're probably always looking at nine and three. They're always going to be a very good program, but just a shade low. By the way, I sold all my Oklahoma stock. I purchased USC stock with all of it.

00;32;34;24 - 00;32;36;27
Rusty George
So it's so painful to hear.

00;32;37;15 - 00;32;59;09
Brian Dodd
I yeah, I'm so sorry. I look, here's the thing. Here's what I think Lincoln Riley is going to do, and I think you've already started to see it. Who? What? And it's just what Pete Carroll did a lot of these successful programs, the blueprint for how to make them successful was built previously locked down Southern California and Lincoln.

00;32;59;09 - 00;33;34;13
Brian Dodd
Riley's doing that. There is enough talent in Southern California to build a squad that will be in the College Football Playoff every year. And I think Lincoln Riley is the type of coach who not only will lock down Southern California, but just like Pete Carroll, have the cachet, have the pedigree, have the offensive system and have the leadership components that he can go outside of Southern California and cherry pick specific athletes to come into the program.

00;33;34;29 - 00;33;46;25
Brian Dodd
I think USC is a power is is back upon us and next year I would predict they will be in the in the four team playoff next year.

00;33;47;22 - 00;34;17;24
Rusty George
MM Yeah, I would say so especially with Keller Williams being back. Yeah. Okay. We've been talking off air about the, the surprising rise of Deion Sanders from a player that was kind of out there. He was obviously talented, but he also got a lot of negative press at times, kind of bombastic, kind of all over the place, has a conversion experience and then life changes in so many ways for him.

00;34;17;24 - 00;34;30;02
Rusty George
And now he's regarded as a as a really good developer of young men. As a coach, what do you see in the leadership style of Deion Sanders that we could all learn from?

00;34;30;08 - 00;34;57;11
Brian Dodd
Well, assuming Deion has the character privately that appears that's being displayed publicly, you know, for the last 10 to 15 years, Dion is the kind of leader that a lot of us really want to be. Okay. I think let me tell you how high I am on the Deion Sanders hire. Auburn should have hired him. And I'm hoping Georgia Tech in two or three years not wishing any ill will on their current coach.

00;34;57;24 - 00;35;26;08
Brian Dodd
But when it comes time for a coaching change that Deion or say enough of this cold weather I'm going back to Atlanta and he locks down the city of Atlanta. Okay. At Georgia Tech. Here's the thing about Deion Sanders on if you're if you're a young male, 17, 18 years old, and you're looking at your dreams and they're okay, there's something from Ryan Day.

00;35;26;08 - 00;35;51;11
Brian Dodd
There's something from Nick Saban, their son from Dabo Swinney, their son from Brant Venables, and just go down the list and there's something from Deion Sanders. Deion Sanders will be open in every young person's dream. Hmm. And when you go to Colorado the beauty of that campus, you know, the only thing that goes against them is how cold it is.

00;35;51;11 - 00;36;11;05
Brian Dodd
But, you know, you go to that campus and you go to Deion and Deion says, I can tell you what it takes to become a Hall of Famer. I can tell you what it takes to get to the next level. And mom and dad, I'm going to make your young man the best young man he can be at seven and eight years old.

00;36;11;05 - 00;36;32;16
Brian Dodd
I told my mother she would never have to work again a day in her life and I was going to make enough money for that to happen. And I did. And I can help. Your son did the same thing. Young people. Look, I'm mesmerized by Deion Sanders and I'm 56 years old. If you're an 18 or 19 year old, we talked about disruption.

00;36;32;23 - 00;37;01;09
Brian Dodd
Deion Sanders is disrupting the coaching profession and here's what he's doing. That's brilliant. All these YouTube videos where camera crews are following him everywhere, a lot of people think that's ego. I disagree with that. I think that is strategic. And I think what he's doing is he is getting into the homes of every four and five star athlete in America through YouTube and through Instagram and through Facebook.

00;37;01;19 - 00;37;29;21
Brian Dodd
And he's saying and to their parents, if you come to this campus, here's what your meetings will be like, here's how you will be coached, here's how you will be developed, here's what you can expect on a day to day basis. And here's the type of excitement that you can expect. And oh, yes, I'm bringing the initial money with me and Rusty, you may not realize this, but last year the number one high school player in the nation was from North Atlanta.

00;37;30;24 - 00;37;55;21
Brian Dodd
I was actually in the office of that school team's chaplain on National Signing Day, and everybody thought he was God. Travis Hunter was going to Florida State. Georgia had an outside shot, and we were all hoping for Georgia. And it came through. He was going to Jackson State. There is a magnetism and a power that Deion Sanders has.

00;37;57;04 - 00;38;25;17
Brian Dodd
Here's my prediction. They will be in a bowl game next year from one in 11 to at least six and six. They'll be in a bowl game next year. In two years, they'll be co-champions champion of the PAC 12 or PAC ten, whatever they may be. And I'm really hoping in 3 to 5 years he comes to Atlanta and saves our draw and resurrects our Georgia Tech program.

00;38;25;17 - 00;38;46;25
Brian Dodd
That is a former world and a former Falcon. He will lock down a portion of this state that Auburn, Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson that all of these people have in Tennessee. All of them will be coming into Atlanta and riding it. Those days will end when they on if it comes to Georgia Tech. So we'll see.

00;38;47;05 - 00;39;16;29
Rusty George
Well, from your mouth to God's ears, I would say this. When I watched his video of his first meeting, the Colorado players, I was struck by this. A lot of coaches go in there and promise national championships or NFL level and now even now. But the first thing that he said, and this is what you spoke about was I want to give you the chance to take care of those you love.

00;39;16;29 - 00;39;40;07
Rusty George
And I thought, that's leadership 101. You're you're playing the game for something bigger than yourself. You're working for something bigger than yourself. You're doing something for somebody else. That's servant leadership. I, I just thought that is brilliant. And to see those kids lean in the way they did and for him to be so honest with them, to say, I'm going to try to get you to quit.

00;39;40;21 - 00;39;42;15
Rusty George
Yeah, was just incredible.

00;39;43;00 - 00;40;07;00
Brian Dodd
Well, there's two things. Number one, I wrote about this in a previous post, and basically they they taped a tape meeting and he was given the 5 to 10 minute speech before practice. And he looked at the young man at Jackson State and he said, 95% of you are not going to make the league. Mm hmm. That means I'm training you for life.

00;40;07;24 - 00;40;35;13
Brian Dodd
Mm hmm. So we're going to develop skills today. That will make you a better husband, a better father, a better man. That's the way he leads that program. That's the way he's going to lead Colorado. And that, you know, that that's what's going to be there. Second thing I want to point out, most people thought the transfer portal was to help the player, and the player can't help themselves in certain situations.

00;40;36;16 - 00;41;09;24
Brian Dodd
But here's what everybody basically what's happened is college scholarships have always been year to year contracts. They always have. But but this but the universities have traditionally just, you know, recognized it and automatically re-upped it because you don't want to develop the reputation as an organ, as a college, that they'll yank your scholarship. You'll never getting players. What the transfer portal has allowed coaches to do is to look at certain players and say, Look, you've been great for our program.

00;41;09;24 - 00;41;30;07
Brian Dodd
It's been a privilege having you here. I don't think you have a future here as a player. If you want the opportunity to play and go to the next level, I'll I'll help write letters of recommendation and talk to my friends. But I would recommend you enter the transfer portal because you're not. We've got players ahead of you.

00;41;30;07 - 00;41;47;27
Brian Dodd
You're not going to get an opportunity here. What it allowed Cal and Deion was the first that ever dated on a public stage, but privately it gave a lot of coaches power to say, You're never going to play here. Let's get somebody in your spot who might could actually help the program.

00;41;48;22 - 00;41;55;00
Rusty George
Wow, That's so good. Okay. Well, we'll wait and see what Diane does. Yeah.

00;41;55;19 - 00;41;57;18
Brian Dodd
Okay. Hey, can I ask you a question?

00;41;58;00 - 00;41;58;13
Rusty George
Yeah.

00;41;58;19 - 00;42;04;18
Brian Dodd
Is there a more talked about program right now in college football than the one and 11 Colorado Buffaloes?

00;42;05;03 - 00;42;06;04
Rusty George
No, no.

00;42;06;04 - 00;42;07;26
Brian Dodd
He is the power of the young man.

00;42;08;03 - 00;42;09;21
Rusty George
Yeah, he's magnetic.

00;42;10;18 - 00;42;12;15
Brian Dodd
Okay, Speaking of magnetic.

00;42;13;18 - 00;42;14;09
Rusty George
What's that?

00;42;14;15 - 00;42;16;25
Brian Dodd
Dolly Parton.

00;42;17;29 - 00;42;43;00
Rusty George
Yes. I wanted to ask you about some of these recent blogs. Sure. And just you've written some this is what's great about you is your you have no boundaries when it comes to looking for leadership lessons. You've got blogs about Army Rangers, New York Jets quarterback, an Alaskan man that survives a grizzly. And as mentioned, Dolly Parton's thoughts on Whitney Houston's rendition of I Will Always Love You.

00;42;43;14 - 00;42;44;21
Rusty George
What did you learn from that?

00;42;45;04 - 00;43;08;09
Brian Dodd
Well, you know in the last couple of weeks, it was the 30th anniversary of the release of Whitney Houston's version of I Will Always Love You from the movie The Bodyguard. I thought the way Dolly Parton handled that is a model for how all leaders should celebrate the success of others. So in 1973, Dolly originally releases that song and it was a good hit.

00;43;08;09 - 00;43;31;00
Brian Dodd
I mean, it was a good modest hit. You know, Elvis Presley actually wanted to remake the song, but he wanted the half the rights to the song. And Dolly Parton would not hand over all the rights. So we fast forward about 20 years and they're making the movie The Bodyguard, and they want Whitney to be able to sing that song.

00;43;31;12 - 00;43;56;24
Brian Dodd
Hmm. So the first time Dolly ever heard that version was in her car and she literally had to pull over. And I'm going to paraphrase. I've got the exact quote in in the article. But she basically said, I never dreamed a song that I wrote could be so powerful, so well done, so impactful as what Whitney Houston did.

00;43;57;06 - 00;44;00;18
Brian Dodd
And she goes, I was so overwhelmed, I thought I was having a heart attack.

00;44;02;19 - 00;44;25;00
Brian Dodd
So here's the thing about that. And I saw the interview with Dolly doing that. And I said, if somebody took my idea and it became the voice of a generation, how hard would it be for me to not always go, Hey, that was my idea. I appreciate, you know, that you're loving Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. It's my idea.

00;44;25;06 - 00;44;56;20
Brian Dodd
You know, how hard would that that level of humility, that ability to celebrate the success of other people, that positive attitude, that power of partnership, that if I can take my writing and put it with Whitney's voice, we can do something that'll impact a generation. That type of attitude and spirit of generosity is something I think all leaders should strive to develop in their lives.

00;44;56;28 - 00;45;03;02
Brian Dodd
And it's actually quite convicting to me that I'm not that type of person. Hmm.

00;45;03;19 - 00;45;05;07
Rusty George
And as so well said.

00;45;05;09 - 00;45;35;26
Brian Dodd
And other than just and other than just being a nice person or a better person. Generosity begets generosity. You know, people who are Christians may call that karma. You know what you put in the world, You get back from the world. You know, Christians would say what you reap, what is what you so because Dolly held on to that song, she got $10 million of royalties in 1992.

00;45;36;00 - 00;46;02;23
Brian Dodd
In 93, for that song. Hmm. In today's dollars, that'd be over $21 million. Hmm. Generosity. And obviously, she didn't do it for that reason. But generosity begets generous kitty. So other than if I need to give you a reason other than just being a nice person, it's just a very good, practical way to live your life from a strategic standpoint, just in general.

00;46;03;02 - 00;46;09;18
Brian Dodd
So that's. That's. That's what I get out of the Dolly Parton relationship with Whitney Houston.

00;46;10;05 - 00;46;17;10
Rusty George
That's amazing. The movie is coming out about Whitney. I'm excited to see that. And I know that you all have a blog about that. Have you seen it?

00;46;17;17 - 00;46;26;16
Brian Dodd
No, I've not seen it already. Okay. You know, it's it's a busy I'm not getting the movies like I used to. Rusty, I need to reorder my life. You know?

00;46;27;00 - 00;46;37;20
Rusty George
You really should. Yeah. You need to rethink some things. I know. Okay. Let me ask you about one other blog. Alaskan man survives a grizzly attack. You pull leadership principles out of that. What do we see?

00;46;38;01 - 00;47;01;25
Brian Dodd
Rusty, you mentioned three of them. And I know we're running out of time. I'm so glad you picked that one. I love this story so much that I put it in my book, 2021, The Year in Leadership. So let me let me hit it. Nome, Alaska, is a is a remote city in Alaska. It's got a population of 3866.

00;47;02;09 - 00;47;23;21
Brian Dodd
It was very big during the gold rush in the early 1900s. But it's it's so remote today that it does not appear on the Alaskan road maps. And you can only get there by small engine aircraft. Hmm. So you'll either land in an ocean or land in a dry riverbed. That's the only way to get to Nome, Alaska.

00;47;24;06 - 00;47;58;13
Brian Dodd
If you if you were to go to Nome, Alaska, last July, July 20, 21, and drive 40 miles deeper into the wilderness. So you're in a second space, and now you're in outer space. Okay. You go there and go 40 miles into the wilderness. You would have found a gentleman by the name of Richard Jesse. And so what happened on one day of July 2021, Richard Jesse is driving his ATV vehicle through one of the rivers and he's ambushed by a grizzly bear.

00;47;59;28 - 00;48;24;21
Brian Dodd
So what happens is his ATV sinks to the bottom of the river. More importantly, his cell phone sinks to the bottom of the river, and he was able to ward the bear off immediately with a shotgun. But now he's 40 miles into the wilderness. No communication, no travel, and he's stalked by Grizzly Bear for several days. Wow. Okay.

00;48;25;18 - 00;48;57;18
Brian Dodd
So what happens is he does a variety of things like getting on the roof of his shacks and things like that to stay alive. He made an S.O.S., you know, symbol out in the in the yard area. And then an interesting thing happened several days later. A fog bank settles in over Nome, Alaska. Well, a U.S. coast Guard helicopter is trying to get to Nome, Alaska, and it can't.

00;48;57;18 - 00;49;27;12
Brian Dodd
So it has to divert around the cloud back. And it happens to divert over where he is. And so what happens is this this U.S. Coast Guard helicopter sees him out there with the S.O.S. sign waving to arms. Now, I did not know this, but the universal signal one arm is Hello, two. Two arms is held. Okay. They come down and they rescuing.

00;49;27;14 - 00;49;37;19
Brian Dodd
Take him to a hospital. Richard, Jesse is alive today. And I'm sure Leonardo DiCaprio is going to be playing him in an upcoming movie. Okay.

00;49;37;21 - 00;49;38;10
Rusty George
Of course.

00;49;39;02 - 00;50;05;19
Brian Dodd
Three leadership lessons from this guy. Number one, we were built for community. We are not our best when we're alone. We are at our best when we're worth the team and when we're around other people. And when we isolate ourself or when we head to isolation, we are in, we are in. We are in critical danger whether we know it or not.

00;50;06;14 - 00;50;39;05
Brian Dodd
We're in spiritual danger. We're in emotional danger. We're in psychological danger. And in certain cases, like Richard Jesse, we are in physical danger. We as human beings were not made to exist alone. We were made for community. Okay. Number two, in times of crisis used clear, crisp and simple messaging. S.O.S.. One of the best examples of this I ever saw.

00;50;39;05 - 00;50;54;28
Brian Dodd
If you watched the Tom Hanks movie Sully, when. When the Canadian geese hit the plane. Notice the language that is used. You know, you're. You're playing my plane. You head down. Stay down.

00;50;54;28 - 00;50;55;22
Rusty George
Stay down.

00;50;55;26 - 00;51;30;20
Brian Dodd
Yeah. Everything is crisp and clear. When of crisis hits or trouble hits, it is not time for. You know, this reminds me of a story from 1948. Yeah. Is not the time for that. Clear, crisp, simple messaging takes people out of crisis and into periods of calm and safety. Hmm. Final thing. Don't quit. One of my favorite scenes is in the movie Castaway.

00;51;30;20 - 00;51;58;00
Brian Dodd
When Tom Hanks is back home and he's recounting the fact that he considered suicide, but he just kept getting up every day and he kept living and he kept going on because you never know what the title bring in. One day it might bring a sail. Hmm. I thought about that with Richard. Jessie. Keep living. Keep fighting. Keep going on.

00;51;58;20 - 00;52;33;21
Brian Dodd
You never know what the fog will bring in. It might bring a Coast Guard helicopter and it might bring safety. And I always think about that story. And there's people probably listening to this who are thinking about quitting their marriage, quitting their jobs, maybe ending their life. And the message you get, the biggest message you get from Richard Jessie is keep living one day at a time, Keep fighting the next day, the next day, the next day.

00;52;33;27 - 00;52;52;24
Brian Dodd
You never know what the title bring in. You never know what the fog will bring in. You never know what God will do in your life if you just keep going one more day. So that those are my three lessons I get from the Alaskan bear attack and in the life of Richard Jessie.

00;52;53;05 - 00;52;57;09
Rusty George
That's a perfect way to end this. That's brilliant. Where can people find you?

00;52;58;22 - 00;53;22;07
Brian Dodd
Best brand on leadership. NBC.com. You have always been so generous, pointing people there. My website. I write about what I find interesting. That's why it's all over the map. You know, I just read some I think that's interesting. And so I write about it. So you get a good, eclectic leadership across the board. Look at things on Twitter.

00;53;22;13 - 00;53;45;22
Brian Dodd
I'm still old school, Rusty. I'm still hanging on to that Twitter. Me and Elon Musk, we're in there together at at Brad K, Dodd, B, R, and K, and then dot dot. But my website brought on leadership com Twitter at Brian K Dodd. Those are the two best places to find me. And I'd love for your audience to reach out.

00;53;45;22 - 00;53;48;09
Brian Dodd
I love to interact with them and love to invest in their.

00;53;48;18 - 00;54;03;22
Rusty George
Brian You've invested in my life so much and then our audiences as well, and I'm so grateful for your partnership and leadership and ministry. And thank you for today. It was not only fun as I knew it would be, but it was also very insightful. So I so appreciate you, brother.

00;54;04;04 - 00;54;12;10
Brian Dodd
Well, I love you, my friend. I can't wait to come back. The fourth time. And. And I hope you and your family have a merry Christmas.

00;54;12;16 - 00;54;39;04
Rusty George
Thank you, sir. Well, I love my conversation with Brian Todd. I hope you did as well. Make sure you subscribe to his leadership blog. Brian Todd on leadership and make sure that you pick up some of his books he writes. Great stuff. Really good stuff out there. Make sure you check that out next week. We're back with a really fun conversation with a church planter that grew up Mormon and then became a Christian and planted church in Salt Lake City.

00;54;39;22 - 00;54;59;08
Rusty George
Kyle Costello live to tell about it. And he is going to help us understand what is Mormonism, what do they believe is a different than Christianity? And what did he learn in launching a church? And he's preparing to launch another church in Ojai in California. So make sure you join us next week for a conversation with Kyle Costello.

00;54;59;18 - 00;55;09;17
Rusty George
Hey, make sure you leave us a review or a rating that would help us out tremendously to get the word out about the podcast. And as always, we'll talk to you next time. Keep it simple.

00;55;10;02 - 00;55;23;22
Intro/Outro
Take a moment and subscribe to the podcast so you'll get it delivered every week and subscribe to the Rusty George YouTube channel for more devotionals, messages and fun videos. Thank you for listening to Leading Simple.

00;55;24;03 - 00;55;36;22
Intro/Outro
(sings) Let’s just breathe...