Changing Everything to Avoid Catastrophe: Life Post Incarceration

WEBVTT

1
00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:09.080
There are some people that make their
work just another thing they have to do,

2
00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:12.720
and there are those that make their
work something that they want to do.

3
00:00:13.480 --> 00:00:18.920
Welcome to Working on Purpose with your
host Elise Cortes. In our program,

4
00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:23.839
we provide guidance and inspiration from those
people who have found deeper meaning and

5
00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:29.000
personal connection to their work life.
It's beyond nine to five. It's working

6
00:00:29.079 --> 00:00:34.600
on Purpose. Now Here is your
host, Elise Cortes. Welcome back to

7
00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:37.560
Working on Purpose show. Thanks for
tuning in again this week. I'm your

8
00:00:37.560 --> 00:00:40.560
host, Elise Cortes, joining you
live from Dallas, which is home base

9
00:00:40.600 --> 00:00:43.039
for me. If you've been tuning
in for a while, then you know

10
00:00:43.119 --> 00:00:47.479
this program is all about helping people
create more meaningful and purposeful lives and equipping

11
00:00:47.560 --> 00:00:52.479
leaders insight organizations to cultivate meaning and
purpose that illicit's passion, inspired contribution,

12
00:00:52.640 --> 00:00:56.200
innovation, and persevering performance. I
talk with my guests to draw on their

13
00:00:56.200 --> 00:01:00.320
expertise and share my own experience consulting, speaking and developing work across the globe.

14
00:01:00.719 --> 00:01:03.439
Before we get into the program,
let me give a shout out to

15
00:01:03.479 --> 00:01:07.120
our sponsor, rent with right to
Buy dot Com. This real estate service

16
00:01:07.159 --> 00:01:11.719
allows for a Way to Buy get
to home ownership with a lot more options,

17
00:01:11.120 --> 00:01:14.879
especially when you're not actually ready.
It's a great option if your credit

18
00:01:14.920 --> 00:01:17.799
is not in the best of shape, or you're in transition such as divorce,

19
00:01:17.920 --> 00:01:22.120
downsizing and relocating, or unsure about
the new area. Anyway, visit

20
00:01:22.519 --> 00:01:25.959
rent with right to buy dot com. Each week. In these conversations,

21
00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:27.879
I hope you walk away with something
you can immediately use in your life or

22
00:01:27.879 --> 00:01:30.599
your work, and if I can
do anything to help you along your journey,

23
00:01:30.599 --> 00:01:34.000
go to my website at least Cortes
dot com and use to contact me

24
00:01:34.040 --> 00:01:38.480
future to message me. Let's open
a conversation and explore what's going on for

25
00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:41.200
you and how I might be able
to help. Whether you want to learn

26
00:01:41.239 --> 00:01:45.680
more about how to develop purpose inspired
leadership and meaning infuse culture in your organization,

27
00:01:46.120 --> 00:01:49.680
you want to see about joining a
cash fire online inspiration, accountability or

28
00:01:49.760 --> 00:01:53.640
mastermind community to nurture your own passion
and purpose, or you'd like me to

29
00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:56.760
speak for your company or conference,
and you're right, I'm glad we're connected,

30
00:01:56.799 --> 00:02:00.719
and thanks for listening with us.
This week is Mykerouse. He's a

31
00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:05.319
running an endurance sports enthusiast and philanthropist. We'll be talking about his life before

32
00:02:05.400 --> 00:02:08.639
and during prison, how he started
over after incarceration, and the full life

33
00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:12.879
he has created for himself in the
running and endurance sports industry and as a

34
00:02:12.879 --> 00:02:15.319
philanthropist. He joined the today right
next to me in my Dallas studio office.

35
00:02:15.479 --> 00:02:19.000
Mike, Welcome to Working on Purpose. Thank you. Le's good to

36
00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:21.639
be here today. So great to
have you, and thank you Katrina Benedek

37
00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:25.080
for connecting us. Really appreciate that. Okay, so we're going to talk

38
00:02:25.080 --> 00:02:28.280
about a few things. Sarah.
I want to talk about your life before

39
00:02:28.319 --> 00:02:31.919
you got into before you got into
prison, and then during. So first,

40
00:02:32.039 --> 00:02:36.639
if you would for our listeners who've
not heard the story, briefly paint

41
00:02:36.680 --> 00:02:39.120
that picture of what it was like
in that really life. You were running

42
00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:43.199
in gun and had quite a lot
going on. Well, I wasn't running

43
00:02:43.360 --> 00:02:46.680
as far as the actual sport goes, but I was running and gunning.

44
00:02:46.280 --> 00:02:49.879
I grew up about one hundred and
eighty miles west of Dallas and Ablaine,

45
00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:53.520
Texas. My father was a custom
home builder, and after graduation from college,

46
00:02:53.560 --> 00:02:59.120
I went into a partnership with him. We were very successful homebuilders and

47
00:02:59.680 --> 00:03:02.360
live was all good I was well
known. I got married at age nineteen,

48
00:03:02.439 --> 00:03:06.280
had a couple of kids, and
so I just had your typical West

49
00:03:06.319 --> 00:03:12.560
Texas lifestyle family, business, wife
and two kids, doing all the things

50
00:03:12.560 --> 00:03:15.840
that you normally do out in West
Texas, going to church and just having

51
00:03:15.879 --> 00:03:21.080
a great life. All of a
sudden, I won't get into details about

52
00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:28.439
it, but in nineteen eighty two
I got divorced and turned my whole life

53
00:03:28.520 --> 00:03:35.919
upside down. My wife and kids
moved about one hundred and our ex wife,

54
00:03:35.960 --> 00:03:38.360
I should say, and kids moved
about one hundred and fifty miles west

55
00:03:38.400 --> 00:03:40.680
to Midland, and so I only
got to see my kids every other weekend

56
00:03:40.719 --> 00:03:44.240
after driving about three hours to pick
them up. And it just kind of

57
00:03:44.280 --> 00:03:47.120
lost all facets of what I was
doing. And I got in with the

58
00:03:47.159 --> 00:03:53.280
wrong crowd. Not to blame anybody
but myself my choices, but started playing

59
00:03:53.319 --> 00:03:58.520
golf and was at the country club
five six days a week playing golf and

60
00:03:58.680 --> 00:04:02.719
all week and long, and got
involved in heavy drinking, and next thing

61
00:04:02.759 --> 00:04:09.599
you know, I was involved in
drugs and started doing cocaine and being this

62
00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:14.439
runner gunner type guy that was always
active and physical and doing everything. At

63
00:04:14.479 --> 00:04:18.199
one hundred and ten percent. I
went from starting my first line of cocaine

64
00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:24.720
to within thirty days doing one thousand
dollars a week. Wow. So I

65
00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:28.959
anything I do, I go full
bore. And so obviously that didn't do

66
00:04:29.079 --> 00:04:33.319
me well. I was on city
council there in Abalaane in nineteen eighty four,

67
00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:38.040
about three years after my divorce,
I decided I would run for mayor.

68
00:04:39.160 --> 00:04:41.800
Kind of having grown up there,
knew everybody in the city, and

69
00:04:41.839 --> 00:04:46.079
so through my hat in the ring, I hadn't officially started running for mayor,

70
00:04:46.120 --> 00:04:50.279
but I told everybody that I was
going to. And then my dealer

71
00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:56.360
got busted and put my name on
the list as one of his clients,

72
00:04:57.079 --> 00:05:00.160
and they heard it was me,
came after me because of my place in

73
00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:03.560
the city and in politics, and
make a long story short, I got

74
00:05:03.560 --> 00:05:09.040
sentenced to five years in the penitentiary
in nineteen eighty five. Okay, so

75
00:05:09.160 --> 00:05:11.680
let's talk a little bit about that. I had served on two juries.

76
00:05:11.720 --> 00:05:14.040
This is quite interesting. I'm happy
to say it was on that side of

77
00:05:14.040 --> 00:05:17.199
the law and not the one that
you were on. So you were incarcerated

78
00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:20.480
from January nineteen eighty six to February
nineteen eighty seven. You were thirty three

79
00:05:20.560 --> 00:05:25.079
years old when you went in correct, and so help us understand what was

80
00:05:25.120 --> 00:05:30.040
it like in prison? Well again, having grown up in a very successful

81
00:05:30.920 --> 00:05:34.879
business family, having been successful in
business myself, a member of two country

82
00:05:34.879 --> 00:05:39.879
Club City Council, that's the side
of life that I knew. I'd never

83
00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:43.720
had so much as a traffic ticket
when I got arrested in charge with possession

84
00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:47.240
of cocaine, and so it was
an entirely different lifestyle for me. I

85
00:05:47.279 --> 00:05:53.040
went through about eighteen months before my
actual sentencing and incarceration, and during that

86
00:05:53.079 --> 00:05:55.839
time I started to kind of try
to get my life back together, but

87
00:05:56.680 --> 00:06:01.439
obviously I'd already made the mistakes that
sent me away. So once I got

88
00:06:01.480 --> 00:06:05.079
to prison on January the second,
nineteen eighty six, to self report,

89
00:06:06.759 --> 00:06:12.240
I'd never been without freedom in my
life, and so it totally changed everything

90
00:06:12.279 --> 00:06:15.439
about me. And I'll never forget
being put into a holding sale that first

91
00:06:15.560 --> 00:06:20.040
day for about eight hours with no
clothes on, men just walking by,

92
00:06:20.160 --> 00:06:24.800
jerrying and laughing at me. And
then you get taken into if you ever

93
00:06:24.839 --> 00:06:30.439
saw shaw Shank Redemption, where they
soaked the guy with life powder and then

94
00:06:30.560 --> 00:06:34.000
washed him down with the fire hose
that happened, and that was the start

95
00:06:34.040 --> 00:06:36.959
of day one, and I thought, Wow, this is not how I

96
00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:42.959
intended for life to be. And
so I kind of made my own personal

97
00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:46.279
commitment that day that this would never
happen to me again and that I would

98
00:06:46.639 --> 00:06:50.040
use his experience to get my life
put back together. Wow. Okay,

99
00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:53.680
so I want to We've got some
time here, so I want to be

100
00:06:53.759 --> 00:06:57.000
able to present this for our listeners, because there's got to be something about

101
00:06:57.040 --> 00:07:00.680
going through that experience for whatever it
was eighteen months, almost two years that

102
00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:05.519
probably quite transformed you. In addition
to saying you put a stick in the

103
00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:09.920
ground, this is not going to
be my life. Help us understand why

104
00:07:09.959 --> 00:07:14.279
did you get from that prison experience
that really informed your life? Since you've

105
00:07:14.279 --> 00:07:17.000
been out of prison now for what
thirty some years, so help us understand

106
00:07:17.000 --> 00:07:20.120
what did you get from that experience
that changed you, that transformed you.

107
00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:23.680
Well, you know, one of
the things that I learned early on,

108
00:07:24.279 --> 00:07:27.839
at least from being there, was
I didn't know at the moment. I

109
00:07:27.920 --> 00:07:30.279
learned it later now that I've been
out and I've done a lot of research

110
00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:36.079
on prison in aftercare programs and that
kind of thing. But the average person

111
00:07:36.120 --> 00:07:41.399
makes about thirty five thousand decisions a
day. Now, I think that's probably

112
00:07:41.399 --> 00:07:44.720
astounding number to most people. But
when you when you consider, you know,

113
00:07:44.759 --> 00:07:46.480
you're going to decide what time you're
going to get up, what you're

114
00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:49.519
going to eat for breakfast, what
that breakfast is going to entail, what

115
00:07:49.560 --> 00:07:54.000
you're going to wear, from shoes
to socks, to pants to you know,

116
00:07:54.600 --> 00:07:58.519
shirt, everything about your day,
what you're going to eat for lunch,

117
00:07:58.600 --> 00:08:01.319
what's you're going for dinner today,
doing your job, doing your business,

118
00:08:01.360 --> 00:08:07.000
whatever your book, career is,
you're making about an average of thirty

119
00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:11.879
five thousand decisions a day. Wow, the average inmate makes about thirty five

120
00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:16.279
to forty decisions a day. Pretty
drastic change. Because you're told when you're

121
00:08:16.279 --> 00:08:18.439
going to get up, where you're
going to sleep, what you're going to

122
00:08:18.519 --> 00:08:22.160
wear, what you're going to eat, when you're going to eat it,

123
00:08:22.279 --> 00:08:26.720
what your job is, what your
job entails, and litterally you have you

124
00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:30.439
even told when you're going to shower. But the only thing you can do

125
00:08:30.519 --> 00:08:33.519
on your own is go to the
restaurant. I was going to say,

126
00:08:33.519 --> 00:08:37.240
that's got to be the only thing
left. That's pretty much and Obviously,

127
00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:41.600
in the line you get to choose
maybe between one or two things. But

128
00:08:41.679 --> 00:08:45.240
it's not like you have an array
of restaurants to go to. You're going

129
00:08:45.279 --> 00:08:48.519
to go through the chow hall line
and you probably have ten things and you

130
00:08:48.519 --> 00:08:52.799
can pick seven or whatever the number
is. But so the decision making process

131
00:08:52.919 --> 00:08:56.960
is so greatly diminished. And it
was so astounding me because I again,

132
00:08:58.200 --> 00:09:01.120
for thirty four years, thirty three
years, I'd lived the life I wanted

133
00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:05.799
every single day, every single minute, and now I'm told everything about how

134
00:09:05.879 --> 00:09:09.919
I'm how I'm going to react.
And so the one thing that I know

135
00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:13.919
about prison is that the last thing
you remember the day that they finally send

136
00:09:13.960 --> 00:09:18.879
you away, is that last thing
that you really made a decision about was

137
00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:22.159
a horrible decision that was the crime
that put you where you're going. And

138
00:09:22.200 --> 00:09:26.039
so your decision making process not only
has it been diminished greatly, but it's

139
00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:31.080
also refers you back to the last
great decision you made which put you there.

140
00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:33.279
And so I started saying, you
know, how am I going to

141
00:09:33.360 --> 00:09:37.720
change this? This is not how
I intended my life to go. And

142
00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:43.000
so about two weeks after my incarceration
had started, I went out in the

143
00:09:43.000 --> 00:09:46.159
prison yard during my hour out of
the yard, and I thought, how

144
00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:48.519
do I get healthy? I was
down about one hundred and twenty pounds,

145
00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:52.799
six foot tall, one twenty I
totally almost killed myself with the use of

146
00:09:52.799 --> 00:09:54.679
the drugs, And so I went
out there thinking, you know, how

147
00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:58.039
am I going to get my life
back together? How am I going to

148
00:09:58.080 --> 00:10:01.039
get healthy and put this behind me? And so I saw guys lifting weights,

149
00:10:01.080 --> 00:10:03.679
and you know, these guys had
been in twenty twenty five years.

150
00:10:05.000 --> 00:10:07.879
That wasn't going to be big,
strong box guys. And I'm thinking,

151
00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:11.720
well, that's I'm not going around
those guys. I could hardly lift a

152
00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:13.799
bar bell, much less put it
over my head. But I saw guys

153
00:10:13.879 --> 00:10:16.399
running around the exterior of the yard, and I thought, well, that's

154
00:10:16.440 --> 00:10:18.759
something I can do. I've always
thought of myself as an athlete. I

155
00:10:18.759 --> 00:10:22.480
was a high school college golfer and
you know golf. Then after my divorce,

156
00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:26.320
I've always been involved in athletics and
watching sports. So you know,

157
00:10:26.320 --> 00:10:30.600
i'd go run a couple of miles
and start to get healthy again. So

158
00:10:30.639 --> 00:10:33.200
I stopped one of the men and
said, you know, what's what's the

159
00:10:33.240 --> 00:10:35.039
deal here? And he said five
laps is two miles. It's two and

160
00:10:35.080 --> 00:10:39.240
a half laps per mile, and
I thought, okay, I can do

161
00:10:39.320 --> 00:10:41.519
that, and so I started out. Of course, I've got on my

162
00:10:43.080 --> 00:10:48.480
inmate uniform and my steel toed boots
and you know, not very comfortable for

163
00:10:48.559 --> 00:10:50.559
running, but you know, it's
all I had. And so I started

164
00:10:50.600 --> 00:10:52.679
out. And again, I'd never
run a day in my life, a

165
00:10:52.720 --> 00:10:56.039
mile in my life, and I
had no idea. And so about probably

166
00:10:56.120 --> 00:10:58.799
halfway through that first loop, I
thought my heart was going to explode,

167
00:11:00.080 --> 00:11:03.840
to stop and walk having a heart
attack, Yeah, exactly, And I

168
00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:07.799
thought, wow, I thought I
was an athlete. I'm nothing close.

169
00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:11.879
But I kept going. Mainly I
was tough, and so I kept going.

170
00:11:13.000 --> 00:11:15.679
Finished up to five laps, and
I'll never forget laying on my bunk

171
00:11:15.759 --> 00:11:18.879
that night, my leg started to
hurt and I thought, wow, they're

172
00:11:18.919 --> 00:11:22.519
already hurting. And I just did
that one time. But you know what,

173
00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:26.480
it's a good hurt. I did
something positive for myself, and so

174
00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:30.840
that was kind of the catalyst for
me starting to run. By the time

175
00:11:30.840 --> 00:11:33.000
I was released several months later,
I was up to six to eight miles

176
00:11:33.000 --> 00:11:35.960
a day. I used every day, seven days a week of my hour

177
00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:41.799
on the yard to run around the
exterior to get some free time and get

178
00:11:41.799 --> 00:11:46.519
some pressure and get my health back. Okay, so what else did you

179
00:11:46.679 --> 00:11:48.639
learn? So the experience, and
I'd love to hear a bit more about

180
00:11:48.679 --> 00:11:50.679
just what it's like. I mean, what time did you get up,

181
00:11:50.720 --> 00:11:54.399
and what's the routine? And then
what else did you learn? And then

182
00:11:54.480 --> 00:11:56.679
well, after the break, we're
going to talk about how you actually started

183
00:11:56.720 --> 00:12:00.960
over after being in prison. Well, you know, again, I couldn't

184
00:12:00.960 --> 00:12:03.240
tell you the time that I got
up. It's been too long ago,

185
00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:07.759
thirty two years since I was there, but I do remember it was very

186
00:12:07.799 --> 00:12:11.519
early three or four in the morning
that they woke you up, and you

187
00:12:11.559 --> 00:12:13.639
know, you marched down to the
mess hall and you ate, and then

188
00:12:13.840 --> 00:12:18.320
you got on a bus or whatever
to go to wherever your job was.

189
00:12:20.080 --> 00:12:24.080
The prison I was in was actually
a farm and a ranch with steers and

190
00:12:24.759 --> 00:12:28.879
dairy cows, and so people were
doing all kinds of ranching type jobs.

191
00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:33.120
And I was a clerk and so
but you know, all your day,

192
00:12:33.240 --> 00:12:37.399
every minute of every day, is
organized for you. So again you make

193
00:12:37.480 --> 00:12:43.200
no decisions. And I'll never forget
one thing that really changed me. I

194
00:12:43.240 --> 00:12:46.879
didn't realize it at the time.
I didn't. I didn't known till later

195
00:12:46.120 --> 00:12:52.039
after I was released and put on
parole. But a guy came in several

196
00:12:52.080 --> 00:12:56.519
months into my incarceration and had been
incarcerated for fifteen years, had been out

197
00:12:56.559 --> 00:12:58.519
for quite a while, and had
gotten his life together, and he was

198
00:12:58.519 --> 00:13:01.960
asked to speak to us, and
so I'll never forget His opening words were,

199
00:13:01.519 --> 00:13:03.720
I've got some really great news for
you guys, and I've got some

200
00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:07.759
really horrible news for you guys.
And I'll start with the great news.

201
00:13:07.840 --> 00:13:09.360
The great news is that once you're
released and you're all going to proll at

202
00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:13.720
some point, there's only one thing
that you have to change about your life

203
00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:16.919
to get everything back to normal,
and that is change everything. And he

204
00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:20.879
paused, and I thought, well, now that that sounds pretty easy,

205
00:13:22.759 --> 00:13:24.639
and he says, now here comes
the really, really bad, horrible news,

206
00:13:24.840 --> 00:13:30.679
that one thing that you have to
change is everything. And he paused

207
00:13:30.679 --> 00:13:33.919
again, and then he began to
rattle off changing where you live, changing

208
00:13:33.919 --> 00:13:35.279
what you do, changing your friends. And he went on and on for

209
00:13:35.320 --> 00:13:39.360
ten or fifteen minutes, going out
everything that you've got to change, and

210
00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:43.080
it was pretty astounding, and I
thought, well, that is going to

211
00:13:43.080 --> 00:13:48.120
be very difficult, and so little
did I know at that time what an

212
00:13:48.120 --> 00:13:52.360
impact that was going to make on
my life once I was released in nineteen

213
00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:58.960
eighty six seven, but it stuck
with me, and it also changed what

214
00:13:58.080 --> 00:14:01.240
I was thinking towards getting out because
I began to think, Okay, what

215
00:14:01.360 --> 00:14:05.919
can I change, What will I
change? What won't I change? Because

216
00:14:05.960 --> 00:14:09.080
I was pretty content with how I
had lived up until this drug incident.

217
00:14:11.399 --> 00:14:13.879
And it's just really a lot of
that. That's your story, plus what

218
00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:16.679
you're going to cover after and the
next segment. That why I wanted to

219
00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:18.440
have you on the show, MIC
because you really are a walking, breathing

220
00:14:18.519 --> 00:14:24.759
billboard example of human agency, the
ability and the magnificence of the human spirit

221
00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:28.320
to be able to face that kind
of adversity. I've come through the other

222
00:14:28.360 --> 00:14:30.399
side of the way that you have. That is a lot of what I

223
00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:33.720
wanted to celebrate and also share with
my listeners because everybody needs hope and you

224
00:14:33.799 --> 00:14:37.440
offer us hope with your story.
Thank you, I appreciate that. Yeah,

225
00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:41.919
you're welcome. So with that,
listeners, let's grab our first break.

226
00:14:41.200 --> 00:14:45.159
I'm Alice Cortes Live on the air, with Mike Rouse. He's a

227
00:14:45.240 --> 00:14:48.720
running an endurance, sports enthusiast and
philanthropist. We're conducting this conversation live together

228
00:14:48.759 --> 00:14:52.840
in my Dallas office studio in our
simulcasting and Facebook live stream. We've been

229
00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:56.440
talking about his early life before prison, what it was like during prison,

230
00:14:56.759 --> 00:14:58.720
After the break, we're going to
talk about just how it was if he

231
00:14:58.799 --> 00:15:03.759
meant to recreate himself post incarceration.
Stay with us, We'll be right back.

232
00:15:24.039 --> 00:15:28.759
Alise Cortes is a speaker and engagement
and development catalyst. She designs and

233
00:15:28.840 --> 00:15:33.360
delivers professional development, leadership and engagement
workshops and can bring her expertise to your

234
00:15:33.440 --> 00:15:39.799
organization. She will help ignite meaningful
development within your workforce that will increase employee

235
00:15:39.840 --> 00:15:43.279
engagement, performance and retention. To
learn more or to invite Elise to speak

236
00:15:43.320 --> 00:15:48.759
to your organization, please visit her
at www dot Elise Coortes dot com.

237
00:15:48.799 --> 00:16:00.720
She would welcome the opportunity to help
get your employees working on purpose. This

238
00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:04.960
is working on Purpose with Elise Cortes. To reach our program today, send

239
00:16:06.039 --> 00:16:12.360
an email to a Lease Ali at
Aliscortes dot com. Now back to working

240
00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:15.720
on purpose. Thanks for staying with
us, and welcome back. To working

241
00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:18.320
on purpose. If you're just joining
us. My guest is Mike Grouse,

242
00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:23.000
a running an endurance sports enthusiast and
philanthropist. Mike has experienced the high life,

243
00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:27.360
incarceration in prison, starting over and
living his passion post release. We're

244
00:16:27.399 --> 00:16:33.480
conducting this conversation live together in my
Dallas office studio and our simulcasting on Facebook

245
00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:37.639
livestream. I'm your host, Elise
Cortes. All right, so now we

246
00:16:37.679 --> 00:16:41.519
want to get into even more of
your story here. So it's been more

247
00:16:41.559 --> 00:16:45.519
than thirty years, thirty two years
since you've been released from prison, and

248
00:16:45.600 --> 00:16:49.080
it wasn't easy to reintegrate back into
mainstream society. So if you could tell

249
00:16:49.120 --> 00:16:53.679
us a little bit about those early
tender years of starting over a post release.

250
00:16:55.320 --> 00:16:57.679
You know, one of the things
that happened was the day I was

251
00:16:59.320 --> 00:17:03.360
actually parolled out. I'll never forget. I was handed a two hundred dollars

252
00:17:03.399 --> 00:17:10.640
check and a bus ticket back to
Ablaine from the penitentiary, my bag of

253
00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:15.000
clothes that I had come in with, and a handshake and we'll see you

254
00:17:15.079 --> 00:17:19.480
later. So I got out a
taxi that took me to the bus station.

255
00:17:19.559 --> 00:17:25.319
I got on the bus and I
got to Ablane, and the story

256
00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:29.079
that I told earlier today about the
gal saying that I had to change everything

257
00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:33.440
hit me really quick. Once I
was actually released. I'd kind of forgotten

258
00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:37.319
that story. But I got to
Ablaine and one of my good buddies picked

259
00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:40.759
me up at the bus station.
It was actually one of my drug buddies

260
00:17:40.759 --> 00:17:44.799
back in the day, and he
says, hey, I wanted to see

261
00:17:44.839 --> 00:17:47.920
you. It's been a long time. I'm going to take you to your

262
00:17:47.920 --> 00:17:51.759
mom and dad's house, but let's
go grab some lunch and talk and catch

263
00:17:51.839 --> 00:17:53.119
up a little bit. And I
said, okay. Well, on the

264
00:17:53.119 --> 00:17:56.119
way to the restaurant, he reached
into his pocket as he was driving his

265
00:17:56.160 --> 00:18:03.200
car and pull out a vial of
cocaine. And as he looked at me

266
00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:06.319
with a big smile on his face
and his eyes shining, he says,

267
00:18:06.359 --> 00:18:08.680
hey, let's let's relift some old
times. And I said, buddy,

268
00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:12.759
I can't do that. I just
got out of prison and I have to

269
00:18:12.799 --> 00:18:17.039
report to a pro officer tomorrow.
They're probably going to drug test me.

270
00:18:17.160 --> 00:18:19.559
There's absolutely no way I can do
that. Plus it ruined my life.

271
00:18:19.880 --> 00:18:23.400
You've been out here, I've been
locked up for months and months and months,

272
00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:26.960
I can't go back to it.
And it hit me to like a

273
00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:32.799
ton of bricks immediately that you know
what, that guy was right, you

274
00:18:32.920 --> 00:18:36.799
got to change everything. And so
once i'd gotten back to my mom and

275
00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:41.720
dad's house later that day and and
you know, we had our reunion my

276
00:18:41.720 --> 00:18:45.039
mom and dad's history and brother in
law, and we talked a little bit

277
00:18:45.079 --> 00:18:47.480
about prison, not much. They
didn't want to hear, and I didn't

278
00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:49.319
really want to talk to them about
it, but they just asked me what

279
00:18:49.359 --> 00:18:52.200
my plans were, and I said, you know, I don't know,

280
00:18:52.279 --> 00:18:55.799
but but I can't stay here and
I've got to start over. Well,

281
00:18:56.519 --> 00:19:00.200
my dad had retired while we were
while I was incarcerated, and so diduction

282
00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:03.039
company was no longer in existence.
I had financially lost everything, so that

283
00:19:03.559 --> 00:19:08.240
was done, and I decided to
come to Dallas. And so my sister

284
00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:11.480
and brother in law had an extra
car and they said, well, loan

285
00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:14.000
your car. It's a twelve year
old car, but we were going to

286
00:19:14.039 --> 00:19:15.680
sell it, but we'll let you
use it until you can afford your own.

287
00:19:17.039 --> 00:19:18.559
And I called a buddy that lived
here and I said, hey,

288
00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:21.799
you got a spot for me to
stay and he said, yeah, I've

289
00:19:21.799 --> 00:19:23.160
got a couch you can sleep on. So I got in that car with

290
00:19:23.240 --> 00:19:26.960
my clothes and I came to Dallas. So I changed everything. I changed

291
00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:32.599
my friends, I changed my home, I changed my career, and as

292
00:19:32.680 --> 00:19:34.440
much as I could, I changed
everything I could to start completely over.

293
00:19:34.759 --> 00:19:40.240
And I'll never forget going back to
those days in prison when I'd laid on

294
00:19:40.279 --> 00:19:42.920
that bunk many many nights and thought, you know what, I lost everything.

295
00:19:44.000 --> 00:19:48.240
I'm bankrupt. I can't go back
to those same friends. I'm going

296
00:19:48.279 --> 00:19:52.240
to get out of here and I'm
going to have no money, no friends,

297
00:19:52.279 --> 00:19:56.319
and I'm going to live in a
trailer park making minimum wage with three

298
00:19:56.359 --> 00:19:59.599
buddies, and that's going to be
my life. And that's kind of the

299
00:19:59.599 --> 00:20:03.440
way I came out of it thinking
I had no idea what laid in store

300
00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:06.559
for me at the time, but
I had a very negative outlook. But

301
00:20:06.640 --> 00:20:08.160
I just knew that I had to
be positive and do it the right way.

302
00:20:10.440 --> 00:20:17.160
Wow, talk about starting from zero
really and then amazingly, when you

303
00:20:17.240 --> 00:20:19.799
and I spoke when we met with
Katrina Anian Benedict to talk about your story

304
00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:23.279
and having you come on the show, you shared a few amazing breaks that

305
00:20:23.319 --> 00:20:27.200
you had, so share a couple
of those that really helped you launch your

306
00:20:27.319 --> 00:20:33.920
journey. Well, one of them
was I knew that I had fallen in

307
00:20:33.960 --> 00:20:37.680
love with the running world, the
sport of running, and I loved everything

308
00:20:37.720 --> 00:20:41.400
about it, and I wanted to
stay involved in it and keep that hobby

309
00:20:41.480 --> 00:20:44.519
or whatever you want to call it. At that time going. It's no

310
00:20:44.559 --> 00:20:47.759
longer a hobby. It's a life
for me now, a lifestyle, but

311
00:20:47.799 --> 00:20:51.200
at the time it was still just
a hobby. And so I walked into

312
00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:55.559
a Luke's locker here in Dallas,
Texas, and some of you may not

313
00:20:55.599 --> 00:21:00.559
have heard of it, but one
of the finest running stories in America experience

314
00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:03.599
in retail. I'd on my own
business, but I knew how to run

315
00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:06.720
a business, but I didn't know
how to do retail. And I really

316
00:21:06.759 --> 00:21:10.119
didn't know anything about running other than
just going out and going around a prison

317
00:21:10.200 --> 00:21:12.599
yard. I didn't know anything about
shoes or brands or any of that kind

318
00:21:12.599 --> 00:21:17.279
of stuff. But I walked in
and applied and was very fortunate and was

319
00:21:17.599 --> 00:21:22.480
hired to work in that store,
and that was my first big break.

320
00:21:22.799 --> 00:21:26.680
A few months later, I decided
I need to get back into church.

321
00:21:26.759 --> 00:21:32.759
And I was in church one Sunday
morning and I met a man who introduced

322
00:21:32.799 --> 00:21:34.319
himself and said, hey, I've
been going here for years. I haven't

323
00:21:34.359 --> 00:21:37.960
ever seen you here before, but
i've noticed you here the last few weeks.

324
00:21:37.359 --> 00:21:42.319
I felt compelled to come introduce myself, and so we ended up talking

325
00:21:42.359 --> 00:21:45.720
for a while and I told him
my story as i've shared with you guys

326
00:21:45.720 --> 00:21:51.000
today, and he started smiling as
I'm telling my story, and he says,

327
00:21:51.039 --> 00:21:52.039
you know, there's some way I
want you to meet And I said

328
00:21:52.039 --> 00:21:53.759
why is that? And he says, well, what do you want to

329
00:21:53.799 --> 00:21:56.400
do with that? And I said, well, I've been a taker all

330
00:21:56.440 --> 00:22:00.359
my life. For thirty three years, I took tuk tuk whatever I could

331
00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:03.519
get. I wanted the most money, the best house, the nicest cars,

332
00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:07.640
the most girls, all that kind
of stuff, all that I wanted.

333
00:22:07.720 --> 00:22:10.680
And now I need to start giving
back. And I said, so,

334
00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:12.839
I want to give back to those
guys coming out of prison who haven't

335
00:22:12.880 --> 00:22:18.440
been as fortunate as me to have
that learning family, a college degree,

336
00:22:18.720 --> 00:22:22.759
business experience, to be able to
get a job and start over and get

337
00:22:22.759 --> 00:22:26.559
my life back. And I want
to give back to those guys and help

338
00:22:26.599 --> 00:22:30.200
them start. And so he introduced
me to a lady and I won't use

339
00:22:30.240 --> 00:22:36.160
her name, but if I could
use her name, she was one of

340
00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:37.920
the most powerful women in America at
the time, who I had no idea

341
00:22:37.960 --> 00:22:42.720
who she was, and I met
her for lunch through my buddy i'd met

342
00:22:42.720 --> 00:22:51.680
at church, and we were able
to discuss my past and what needed,

343
00:22:52.119 --> 00:22:56.759
what I wanted to do, and
she agreed to help me. And about

344
00:22:56.880 --> 00:23:00.480
sixty days later we had formed five
oh one c three nonprofit called Exodus,

345
00:23:02.079 --> 00:23:07.559
and we had started a nonprofit prison
aftercare program for ex offenders and their families.

346
00:23:07.640 --> 00:23:11.599
They're in East Dallas, and I'm
glad to say, fortunately, thirty

347
00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:17.440
two years later, that program is
still going. It's changed the lives of

348
00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:19.960
hundreds of hundreds of hundreds of men
and women and their kids that have come

349
00:23:21.000 --> 00:23:26.519
out of prison and put them back
on the right track. And so immediately

350
00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:30.279
I realized that I wasn't going to
be living in that trailer park, working

351
00:23:30.279 --> 00:23:33.559
for minimum wage with three friends,
that I was going to have the opportunity

352
00:23:33.680 --> 00:23:37.359
to make a difference in the world. And I've been greatly blessed by that.

353
00:23:37.559 --> 00:23:41.599
Let me emphasize a really key learning
point for anybody. There's a few

354
00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:45.279
people who are on this on the
Facebook live stream who heard me say this

355
00:23:45.319 --> 00:23:48.039
before, But this is the power
of saying what you're up to in life,

356
00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:51.720
what you want, what you're up
to, and where you're going.

357
00:23:51.799 --> 00:23:55.079
Because when you do it, especially
with any kind of conviction or passion,

358
00:23:55.519 --> 00:23:57.079
people get enrolled and they want to
come with you. And I think this

359
00:23:57.160 --> 00:24:02.480
is a great example of how my
has been able to share what he wanted

360
00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:04.759
to do and make happen. He
did get lucky in his breaks. There

361
00:24:04.799 --> 00:24:08.240
may have been some divine intervention there, who knows. But the point is

362
00:24:08.440 --> 00:24:12.039
sharing what you're up to is so
important. People can't help you unless they

363
00:24:12.119 --> 00:24:15.119
know what you're up to. So
I want to emphasize that point, and

364
00:24:15.160 --> 00:24:18.839
then from there what I'd love for
you to share. And by the way,

365
00:24:18.880 --> 00:24:22.240
let me acknowledge a couple of people
have said, you know a love

366
00:24:22.279 --> 00:24:25.480
a comeback story. We're hearing here
on W four c y Chat. We're

367
00:24:25.559 --> 00:24:29.880
recording the show live. Thank you
for that comment. Tiff is asking what

368
00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:32.160
made you turn your life around?
We're covering all that. There was a

369
00:24:32.160 --> 00:24:34.960
lot of it about going through prison
TIF that started that off. But the

370
00:24:36.039 --> 00:24:37.920
other thing that happened for you after
you got out of prison, Mike,

371
00:24:38.039 --> 00:24:42.200
is that you had a lot of
success in various sales roles post release.

372
00:24:42.279 --> 00:24:45.920
So say a little bit more about
how those roles came about and really what

373
00:24:45.960 --> 00:24:52.920
you were doing in those Well.
After working for the retail store for several

374
00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:59.200
years Lukes Locker, I decided that
I wanted to someday own my own running

375
00:24:59.200 --> 00:25:02.079
store. That was kind of a
dream because again, having been in business

376
00:25:02.480 --> 00:25:06.519
from the time I graduated college still
I went to prison, I knew how

377
00:25:06.559 --> 00:25:10.480
to run a business, and I
was an entrepreneur guy, and so I

378
00:25:10.519 --> 00:25:12.359
wanted to own my own running store, but I didn't know how to do

379
00:25:12.440 --> 00:25:17.160
that. I got experienced from Luke's, but I decided I need to learn

380
00:25:17.160 --> 00:25:19.200
the wholesale side. And so one
of the reps came in one day with

381
00:25:19.279 --> 00:25:23.640
Brooks running shoes and told me that
she was looking for a partner to help

382
00:25:23.640 --> 00:25:26.880
her out in covering four states and
Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, and Iowa.

383
00:25:26.920 --> 00:25:30.160
And I threw my name in the
hat, and fortunately she brought me

384
00:25:30.200 --> 00:25:33.759
on board with her, and so
I moved up there and did that for

385
00:25:33.799 --> 00:25:40.880
a while, and then Missuno Running
Shoes Massuna, USA called me up in

386
00:25:40.960 --> 00:25:47.240
nineteen ninety six and said that they
were going to open up a new division

387
00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:49.400
for running here in the US and
wanted to know if I was interested in

388
00:25:49.440 --> 00:25:53.519
taking a position. And I took
it, and they moved me out to

389
00:25:53.559 --> 00:25:59.359
San Diego and I was the Western
regional sales manager out there for several years.

390
00:26:00.960 --> 00:26:04.519
Then went on from that to be
national sales manager at Exeter sorry exs

391
00:26:06.000 --> 00:26:11.319
at Zoos Sports and when they got
into the running shoe business and so I

392
00:26:11.400 --> 00:26:14.519
worked there for three years. And
then when Casewiss got into running shoes,

393
00:26:14.920 --> 00:26:18.640
they hired me as the vice president
of running and then I worked for on

394
00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:25.000
running company and then later on started
my own running store back here in Texas

395
00:26:25.240 --> 00:26:27.559
a couple of years ago. But
I was very fortunate that everywhere I went,

396
00:26:27.640 --> 00:26:32.359
I crossed paths with the right people
at the right time. Yeah,

397
00:26:32.400 --> 00:26:34.440
there's definitely fortune in that, and
I will always say thank you for that

398
00:26:34.519 --> 00:26:38.240
beautiful contribution. There's also something to
you said about just the way you walk

399
00:26:38.319 --> 00:26:41.440
through life, Mike. I mean, as you said, you don't do

400
00:26:41.480 --> 00:26:45.079
anything halfway right, So people get
that right, they know this guy's a

401
00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:47.039
winner. You know, I'm gonna
bet on this horse kind of thing.

402
00:26:47.160 --> 00:26:52.200
So what I have to know next
is what is it about running that enduring

403
00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:55.640
sports that you love so much.
I'm a runner, I run three times

404
00:26:55.640 --> 00:26:57.200
a week, but it doesn't mean
the same thing to me as it does

405
00:26:57.240 --> 00:27:02.960
you. And I'm not as crazy
as you were. Well, you know,

406
00:27:03.880 --> 00:27:06.759
I haven't talked much about this,
except just the part about me running

407
00:27:06.759 --> 00:27:10.079
in President and working for the store. But actually, once I got out,

408
00:27:10.160 --> 00:27:11.440
I knew I wanted to stay in
with it, and so I started

409
00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:17.240
running five k's and ten k's here
in Dallas, and then somebody said something

410
00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:19.039
about doing a marathon, and I
thought, well, that's the farthest thing

411
00:27:19.079 --> 00:27:22.680
I could, you know, anybody
could ever run. So I'm going to

412
00:27:22.759 --> 00:27:26.799
do that and kind of expand my
horizons a little bit. And so I

413
00:27:26.880 --> 00:27:29.599
ran my first marathon, thinking,
you know, that would be it,

414
00:27:30.599 --> 00:27:33.279
and I fell in love with it. I never forget crying at the finish

415
00:27:33.319 --> 00:27:36.839
line and just had the time of
my life. And I ran several more,

416
00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:41.200
and then all of a sudden,
one day, one of my board

417
00:27:41.240 --> 00:27:45.480
members at Exodus, I'd just run
the Boston Marathon, and he asked me

418
00:27:45.519 --> 00:27:48.680
to lunch, and so as we're
talking about Boston, and I'm all proud

419
00:27:48.680 --> 00:27:53.160
about finishing the Boston Marathon and how
cool I must be that I qualified and

420
00:27:53.160 --> 00:27:56.839
then got to go run it.
And this older gentleman, he was in

421
00:27:56.880 --> 00:28:00.279
his late fifties and I'm still in
my thirties at the time, late thirties,

422
00:28:00.319 --> 00:28:03.599
early forty and he says, well, when you become a real man,

423
00:28:03.640 --> 00:28:07.920
you can come run my fifty mile
race. And I said, mister

424
00:28:07.000 --> 00:28:08.880
Jackson, what are you talking about? And he said, well, I

425
00:28:08.920 --> 00:28:14.920
put on a fifty mile race out
at Botman Lake every January, and on

426
00:28:14.960 --> 00:28:18.920
my fiftieth birthday, I ran fifty
miles to celebrate life, and it became

427
00:28:18.160 --> 00:28:22.119
a hit, and so I created
a race out of it. Well it's

428
00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:26.880
crazy me again. Got to do
it big time, right, And so

429
00:28:26.960 --> 00:28:33.200
I started training. In January of
eighty eight, I ran my first Jackson

430
00:28:33.240 --> 00:28:37.400
five oh fifty miler and had the
time of my life. And then about

431
00:28:37.519 --> 00:28:41.200
six months to a year later,
I saw the Western States one hundred on

432
00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:44.880
TV. I thought that's got to
be the greatest. So I got enrolled

433
00:28:44.880 --> 00:28:48.519
in that and went out and did
that race. And I've been doing ultras

434
00:28:48.559 --> 00:28:52.160
ever since, for thirty years.
But I think part of part of it,

435
00:28:52.200 --> 00:28:55.200
for me at least, is the
fact that it literally running did change

436
00:28:55.240 --> 00:29:00.640
my life. It wasn't the be
all end all of what changed my life.

437
00:29:00.680 --> 00:29:04.880
There were other things God and family
and just supportive people that I met

438
00:29:04.880 --> 00:29:10.680
that became friends and encouraged me and
were there for me. But running just

439
00:29:10.759 --> 00:29:17.160
gave me something that made me feel
better about myself. And I have a

440
00:29:17.200 --> 00:29:19.920
passion for it that I can't even
explain. And people ask me all the

441
00:29:19.920 --> 00:29:23.759
time, why would you run a
hundred miles? And my response is always

442
00:29:23.799 --> 00:29:30.079
were If you can't understand it,
I can't explain it because there's nothing smart

443
00:29:30.119 --> 00:29:33.839
about it. There's nothing cool about
it. It's crazy, but it's who

444
00:29:33.880 --> 00:29:37.559
I am and what I do,
and I just get so much passion from

445
00:29:37.599 --> 00:29:42.359
it. And I've met so many
people. I'm literally fortunate enough to say

446
00:29:42.599 --> 00:29:48.119
I know the top three or four
runners in America. Medical Felesky is good

447
00:29:48.160 --> 00:29:51.599
friend of mine. Des Lendon that
won Boston Marathon first America in thirty five

448
00:29:51.680 --> 00:29:56.400
years is a dear friend of mine. The top ten or fifteen guys at

449
00:29:56.440 --> 00:30:00.519
Ironman World Championships every year, old
friends of mine from three friends living in

450
00:30:00.559 --> 00:30:06.160
a trailer park to knowing the greatest
athletes in the world and being national sales

451
00:30:06.160 --> 00:30:08.599
manager for two brands in the running
industry. It's just given back to me

452
00:30:08.799 --> 00:30:15.400
so much that I just love the
sport. So hope our listeners understand just

453
00:30:15.480 --> 00:30:18.839
how crazy you are. So you've
done I think it's a two hundred and

454
00:30:18.839 --> 00:30:22.279
fifty marathons to learn sixty marit I
earned sixty marathons, how many fifties,

455
00:30:22.400 --> 00:30:26.200
seventy eight fifty mile race, seventy
eight fifty mile races, and how many

456
00:30:26.200 --> 00:30:29.400
one hundred mile races? I just
had my thirty seventh one hundred mile or

457
00:30:29.480 --> 00:30:32.519
twenty four hour ride. So,
ladies and gentlemen, this is what crazy

458
00:30:32.599 --> 00:30:37.680
looks like and sounds like crazy.
Okay, now we know he's certifiable.

459
00:30:37.079 --> 00:30:41.119
Okay, with that, let's grab
our last break. I'm Alis Cortes,

460
00:30:41.279 --> 00:30:42.559
your host. We've been on there
with Mike Rouse. He is a running

461
00:30:42.559 --> 00:30:48.359
an endurance sports enthusiast and philanthropists.
We're conducting this conversation together in my Dallas

462
00:30:48.359 --> 00:30:52.200
office studio and simulcasting on Facebook live
stream. After the break, we're going

463
00:30:52.240 --> 00:30:55.440
to talk about that whole other passion
of his about giving back, staying with

464
00:30:55.519 --> 00:31:18.319
us, We'll be right back.
Alise Cortes is a speaker and engagement and

465
00:31:18.359 --> 00:31:25.440
development catalyst. She designs and delivers
professional development, leadership and engagement workshops and

466
00:31:25.519 --> 00:31:30.279
can bring her expertise to your organization. She will help ignite meaningful development within

467
00:31:30.359 --> 00:31:34.400
your workforce that will increase employee engagement, performance and retention. To learn more

468
00:31:34.640 --> 00:31:40.119
or to invite Elise to speak to
your organization, please visit her at www

469
00:31:40.240 --> 00:31:44.839
dot Elise Coortes dot com. She
would welcome the opportunity to help get your

470
00:31:44.880 --> 00:31:56.519
employees working on purpose. This is
working on Purpose with Elise Cortes. To

471
00:31:56.640 --> 00:32:01.559
reach our program today, send an
email to a lease Alice at a leascortes

472
00:32:01.680 --> 00:32:07.920
dot com. Now back to working
on purpose. Thanks for staying with us,

473
00:32:07.960 --> 00:32:09.480
and welcome back to working on purpose. If you're just tuning in,

474
00:32:09.519 --> 00:32:14.000
My guest is Mike Rouse. He's
a running, an endurance sports enthusiast and

475
00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:17.839
philanthropist. Mike has experienced the high
life, incarceration in prison, starting over

476
00:32:17.880 --> 00:32:22.160
and living his passion post release.
We're conducting this conversation live together in my

477
00:32:22.240 --> 00:32:27.519
Dallas office studio and our simulcasting on
Facebook live stream. I'm your host Alis

478
00:32:27.559 --> 00:32:30.839
Cortes. So for this last segment
here, Mike, we want to talk

479
00:32:30.839 --> 00:32:32.160
about one of your other passions.
And before I do that, I want

480
00:32:32.200 --> 00:32:36.839
to first acknowledge something that you said
in the last segment, the idea about

481
00:32:36.880 --> 00:32:39.039
really living your purpose. So when
I go out and speak, as Brandy

482
00:32:39.119 --> 00:32:43.640
Nice can attest, passion for me
is what we give of ourselves to the

483
00:32:43.680 --> 00:32:46.160
world. Inspiration is what we get
back from the world by the way of

484
00:32:46.200 --> 00:32:51.039
experiences and what the world gives us. So you're kind of recharging. You're

485
00:32:51.039 --> 00:32:53.279
getting both passion and inspiration in the
work that you're doing with your running.

486
00:32:53.799 --> 00:32:57.680
Now we add in your philanthropy piece, and so I want to go back

487
00:32:57.720 --> 00:33:00.400
to what you said about you were
ready to give back after you got out

488
00:33:00.519 --> 00:33:04.440
at a prison, and you have
found it and directed to nonprofit organizations.

489
00:33:04.440 --> 00:33:07.359
So let's talk about each of them. First. There's the Kurtis Relief Foundation.

490
00:33:07.599 --> 00:33:12.960
How did you start this? What
does it do well? It kind

491
00:33:12.960 --> 00:33:17.200
of piggybacked off the exous program that
I started back in nineteen eighty seven that

492
00:33:17.240 --> 00:33:22.000
had been going for about three or
four years. And for those of you

493
00:33:22.039 --> 00:33:23.920
that can recall in nineteen ninety one, we had the first person Gulf War

494
00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:31.440
where Iraq invaded Kuwait and Elder Bush, Elder President Bush, went in and

495
00:33:31.519 --> 00:33:35.880
drove him out of Kuwait, drove
him, annihilated his army, and drove

496
00:33:35.920 --> 00:33:40.160
him back away, and in return, Saddam decided he had to continue to

497
00:33:40.160 --> 00:33:44.319
show military support to his people,
and so he went up into the mountains

498
00:33:44.359 --> 00:33:49.279
of northern Iraq where the Kurds lived, which is the largest people group in

499
00:33:49.319 --> 00:33:52.880
the world without a country. They
live in eastern Syria, southern Turkey,

500
00:33:52.920 --> 00:33:57.079
Western Iran, and northern Iraq in
kind of a little pocket there. And

501
00:33:57.160 --> 00:34:00.480
so he went up into those mountains
where these villagers and annihilated them and drove

502
00:34:00.519 --> 00:34:07.200
them up into the mountains and then
destroyed all their villages. And so I

503
00:34:07.359 --> 00:34:10.239
was at a conference on how to
raise funds for a nonprofit in Waco,

504
00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:17.639
Texas, and the last speaker of
the convention was a gentleman who walked to

505
00:34:17.679 --> 00:34:22.320
the microphone, and this was in
nineteen ninety two, about six months after

506
00:34:22.400 --> 00:34:28.000
the invasion of Kuwait, and he
started talking about his people, the Iraqi

507
00:34:28.119 --> 00:34:30.679
Kurds, and how they had been
annihilated by Saddam and driven into the mountains,

508
00:34:31.280 --> 00:34:35.599
and yet the American government had gone
into one of Saddam's prison camps and

509
00:34:35.719 --> 00:34:38.559
taken about two thousand of those Kurds
and brought them to Dallas, Texas.

510
00:34:39.800 --> 00:34:44.719
And he's explaining the dilemma that these
people in even though now they're free,

511
00:34:44.760 --> 00:34:49.840
they're safe, they're out of the
dictatorship of Saddam. But yet these people

512
00:34:49.840 --> 00:34:53.519
are sheep herders and apple growers who
have on the clothes that they wore or

513
00:34:53.880 --> 00:34:59.000
wearing in the camp. They've never
spoken English, they've never been allowed to

514
00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:02.719
go to school about Saddam. So
they're uneducated sheep herders and apple growers and

515
00:35:02.840 --> 00:35:07.280
their only parya clothes they have.
They're living in an apartment complex in North

516
00:35:07.360 --> 00:35:13.719
Dallas Midpark and seventy five, just
north of LBJ, and they're given food

517
00:35:13.719 --> 00:35:15.920
stamps and a free place to live. And these are families of ten to

518
00:35:15.960 --> 00:35:21.159
fifteen people each living in three bedroom
apartments, sleeping on the floor, eating

519
00:35:21.159 --> 00:35:23.559
out of cans and eating raw food
because they don't know how to cook and

520
00:35:23.559 --> 00:35:29.440
they have no utensils. And so
I'm hearing MafA talk about this, and

521
00:35:29.480 --> 00:35:31.760
so when he gets through, I
ran up to him and I said,

522
00:35:32.159 --> 00:35:35.639
you don't know me, but my
name is Mike Rouse. Here's my card.

523
00:35:36.159 --> 00:35:39.280
I have a nonprofit where we have
furniture and donations given to us to

524
00:35:39.320 --> 00:35:44.800
furnish apartments for ex convicts. But
if I can help, you really touched

525
00:35:44.880 --> 00:35:49.320
my heart with what the problem is
with these Kurdish people here in Dallas,

526
00:35:49.599 --> 00:35:52.079
and I want to help. So
the next day he calls me and he

527
00:35:52.159 --> 00:35:57.360
says, mister Mike, I'm wondering
if you can help us furnish those fifty

528
00:35:57.360 --> 00:36:00.079
three apartment units. And I kind
of laughed and I said, well,

529
00:36:00.079 --> 00:36:02.840
MafA, I can help with maybe
a couple of couches and four or five

530
00:36:02.880 --> 00:36:07.840
beds and some pots and pans,
but I can't furnish fifty three apartments.

531
00:36:07.880 --> 00:36:10.480
There's absolutely no way. And I
said, but I'll do what I can.

532
00:36:10.760 --> 00:36:14.760
Give me your number and i'll call
you when I can do something.

533
00:36:15.440 --> 00:36:16.840
Well, I hung up the phone
talking to him. Within just a matter

534
00:36:16.880 --> 00:36:20.519
of hours, the lady who was
the president of the Junior League of Dallas

535
00:36:20.559 --> 00:36:22.800
called me and said, Mike,
we're having a Junior League broade sell this

536
00:36:22.840 --> 00:36:27.440
weekend in North Dallas. Everything that's
left over on Monday has to be out

537
00:36:27.440 --> 00:36:30.199
of the warehouse. Would you be
interested in having that for your program?

538
00:36:30.239 --> 00:36:32.360
If you'll pick it up, you
can have it all. And I was

539
00:36:32.440 --> 00:36:37.000
like, Wow, how crazy is
this that within hours after I get this

540
00:36:37.039 --> 00:36:39.039
request, I get this phone call
and so I called MafA and I said,

541
00:36:39.480 --> 00:36:44.039
be at this address on Monday morning
eight o'clock fifteen twenty strong men three

542
00:36:44.119 --> 00:36:46.639
or four U hauled big trucks and
we'll see what we can do. Well.

543
00:36:46.719 --> 00:36:51.519
By eight o'clock seventy two hours later, after that initial phone call and

544
00:36:51.599 --> 00:36:57.480
meeting, fifty three apartment units were
furnished top to bottom beds, couches,

545
00:36:57.840 --> 00:37:01.159
clothing, pots and pans, dish
shoes gone, you name it, enough

546
00:37:01.199 --> 00:37:09.320
clothes for everyone to have plenty,
and long story short, we ended up

547
00:37:09.320 --> 00:37:14.440
starting another five oh one c three
nonprofit called the Kurdish Relief Association to help

548
00:37:14.480 --> 00:37:16.920
them again. These kids had never
been allowed to go to school. The

549
00:37:16.960 --> 00:37:21.360
parents didn't have jobs, they didn't
have drivers, livesns, they had nothing.

550
00:37:21.480 --> 00:37:24.639
So we did a program similar to
Exodus and where we had tutors come

551
00:37:24.639 --> 00:37:28.719
in from the Richardson School district and
tutor the kids, teach them English.

552
00:37:29.280 --> 00:37:31.960
We had people come in teach the
men how to drive. We had people

553
00:37:32.000 --> 00:37:36.480
from different stores come in and teach
the ladies how to put on makeup,

554
00:37:37.000 --> 00:37:39.519
everything you can do. We had
doctors and dentists that would come in and

555
00:37:39.559 --> 00:37:43.880
give them free exams for their teeth
and give them shots to get into school.

556
00:37:44.280 --> 00:37:50.800
It was amazing and so these people
were totally blessed. And then about

557
00:37:50.800 --> 00:37:52.800
six months later I got another call
from my buddy MafA Barzani, and he

558
00:37:52.840 --> 00:37:57.039
says, Mike, we want to
start a school in northern Iraq, working

559
00:37:57.079 --> 00:38:00.599
with the Kurds and help our families
to learn democracy in English. And so

560
00:38:00.800 --> 00:38:05.519
I was fortunate enough about six months
later to go over to a Rock for

561
00:38:05.559 --> 00:38:07.599
the first time, and we started
a school in the hook a Rock,

562
00:38:07.639 --> 00:38:12.079
a city of a million and a
half people with no electricity, no water,

563
00:38:12.400 --> 00:38:16.320
no sewer, no phone service,
no streets. So that had destroyed

564
00:38:16.320 --> 00:38:21.079
the city basically, but one point
five million people still live there. And

565
00:38:21.119 --> 00:38:24.639
so we started this school and a
burned out building with sixty young people,

566
00:38:24.760 --> 00:38:30.840
teenagers, and that school went on
for three years. I went in several

567
00:38:30.880 --> 00:38:35.679
times in and out, in and
out, and just a blessing, total

568
00:38:35.679 --> 00:38:38.239
blessing, and those people are all
doing well now. The Kurds, and

569
00:38:38.280 --> 00:38:43.039
so that nonprofit didn't last as long, but it didn't need to. It

570
00:38:43.079 --> 00:38:45.000
was one of those short, short
term type things. But you know,

571
00:38:45.039 --> 00:38:50.440
again, I learned that giving back
changed people's lives, and it changed my

572
00:38:50.519 --> 00:38:53.360
life because I realized I thought my
life was tough, and here are people

573
00:38:54.079 --> 00:38:59.119
who you know, have been living
under a dictatorship all their lives. A

574
00:38:59.159 --> 00:39:02.400
little bit of perspective goes a long
way. Okay, So that's amazing,

575
00:39:02.440 --> 00:39:05.119
Mike. I mean, let me
just say, I mean, talk about

576
00:39:05.159 --> 00:39:08.079
making a sea change difference to somebody
else's life, not just a person's life,

577
00:39:08.079 --> 00:39:13.880
but a multiple number of people's lives. I mean, just really appreciate,

578
00:39:13.920 --> 00:39:15.719
and again, listeners and viewers,
I really want you to be able

579
00:39:15.760 --> 00:39:19.960
to get present to just what you
can do in your life if you really

580
00:39:20.000 --> 00:39:22.880
set your mind to it and you
just keep looking for ways to do it.

581
00:39:22.920 --> 00:39:25.079
And I'll say more about that later, but really, there's so much

582
00:39:25.079 --> 00:39:29.000
you can do in your own life. So the next thing that I wanted

583
00:39:29.000 --> 00:39:30.559
to talk about was you said already
you talked about the Exodus program, and

584
00:39:30.800 --> 00:39:34.480
Molly Wade said that she knew about
this program, but say a little bit

585
00:39:34.519 --> 00:39:37.440
more about that program. What is
it, Who does it serve? What

586
00:39:37.480 --> 00:39:40.840
do you do in the program?
Well, again, EXOUS is about reuniting

587
00:39:40.880 --> 00:39:46.079
families. It's about putting someone who's
been incarcerated again back to what we said

588
00:39:46.079 --> 00:39:50.480
at the very first, from thirty
five decisions to thirty five to forty decisions,

589
00:39:50.840 --> 00:39:52.800
and all of a sudden, one
day they're let out and they said,

590
00:39:52.800 --> 00:39:54.440
Okay, here's freedom. Now go
out and do the right thing,

591
00:39:54.519 --> 00:39:59.760
or you're coming back. And so
they need to be taught things, you

592
00:39:59.760 --> 00:40:04.119
know, how to get jobs at
The average inmate in the Texas penitentiary system

593
00:40:04.199 --> 00:40:07.199
is about a ninth grade education.
Most of them are from single parents and

594
00:40:07.480 --> 00:40:15.239
second, third, and fourth generation
convicts. They come out their families probably

595
00:40:15.239 --> 00:40:19.199
still love them, but yet they've
been mistreated and abused and used by them.

596
00:40:19.599 --> 00:40:23.119
Their wives, their children don't know
who they are anymore. The wives

597
00:40:23.159 --> 00:40:28.960
may still love them as a husband
and a dad, but yet they've been

598
00:40:29.000 --> 00:40:32.079
living from house to house, shelter
to shelter, and now they come back

599
00:40:32.119 --> 00:40:36.039
in trying to rule the roost.
And so there's a lot of dysfunction going

600
00:40:36.079 --> 00:40:39.480
on. And so that program will
set up to help them with getting a

601
00:40:39.480 --> 00:40:44.119
ged, with helping them get a
job again, how does the guy with

602
00:40:44.159 --> 00:40:51.440
the ninth grade education whose resume would
say drug addict, drug dealer, attempted

603
00:40:51.519 --> 00:40:54.480
robbery, attempted murder, that's your
job resume? Wow? And you walk

604
00:40:54.519 --> 00:40:59.119
into a job trying to do the
right thing and be honest and forthright,

605
00:40:59.559 --> 00:41:05.000
and yet that's on your record.
Your family's still leary because again you've taken

606
00:41:05.039 --> 00:41:09.039
from them, you've embarrassed them,
and so they're not ready to trust you

607
00:41:09.159 --> 00:41:13.559
yet. So we try to get
that program. Exodus is to give them

608
00:41:13.599 --> 00:41:17.320
the tools to reintegrate back in society, to do it right this time,

609
00:41:17.800 --> 00:41:21.960
to realize what they need to do
to be a father or a mother to

610
00:41:22.039 --> 00:41:28.159
their children, and just do things
right and start giving back rather than takers.

611
00:41:28.159 --> 00:41:31.639
They were like me, They were
takers all their lives. Wow,

612
00:41:31.880 --> 00:41:37.559
Mike, talk about helping, helping
a group of people that otherwise could no

613
00:41:37.679 --> 00:41:40.000
way help themselves, they would be
destined to just seep, to repeat the

614
00:41:40.000 --> 00:41:45.480
cycle and go downward in the spiral. Wow. And then on top of

615
00:41:45.480 --> 00:41:49.119
all that, you also raise funds
for the Navy Seal Foundation and the Blazeman

616
00:41:49.199 --> 00:41:52.440
Foundation War on Aos. What was
that about? I mean, where do

617
00:41:52.480 --> 00:41:55.000
you get time for that. Well
again that thank goodness for my running.

618
00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:59.320
That's how that started. Back in
two thousand and two. They're in San

619
00:41:59.360 --> 00:42:01.679
Diego. I met a Navy seal, a couple of Navy seals who came

620
00:42:01.719 --> 00:42:07.519
out to our running group because they
were training for a marathon. And my

621
00:42:07.599 --> 00:42:08.639
first thought is, you know,
there's thirty five or forty of us that

622
00:42:08.679 --> 00:42:13.639
are elite runners that run seven days
a week, and we're all pretty fit

623
00:42:13.760 --> 00:42:16.599
and thin and you know all the
stuff that comes from an elite runner group.

624
00:42:17.079 --> 00:42:20.400
And here are these two big guys, six foot four, two hundred

625
00:42:20.440 --> 00:42:22.360
and thirty pounds trying to run with
us, and yet they could. They

626
00:42:22.760 --> 00:42:27.639
were pretty good. But we became
friends, and after several weeks, one

627
00:42:27.679 --> 00:42:30.480
of them came up and says,
hey, can we talk for a second.

628
00:42:30.480 --> 00:42:32.400
And I said sure, and he
says, I'm from Rockford, Iowa,

629
00:42:32.760 --> 00:42:36.559
and I don't get to see my
parents very often, but I need

630
00:42:36.599 --> 00:42:38.880
a West Coast dad. Would you
be my West Coast daddy and I'll call

631
00:42:38.920 --> 00:42:43.159
you pops? And I said,
well sure, and he said, well,

632
00:42:43.159 --> 00:42:45.400
I'm training for marathon and I know
you're a big time marathon or would

633
00:42:45.440 --> 00:42:50.920
you train with me? So we
started running together pretty regularly and became very

634
00:42:51.000 --> 00:42:54.280
very close, like a step son
to me. And so down through the

635
00:42:54.360 --> 00:43:00.159
years we became I became friends with
many many other Navy Seals through and Bow,

636
00:43:00.280 --> 00:43:06.599
my first two that I met.
And then in August the sixth,

637
00:43:06.639 --> 00:43:09.239
twenty eleven, we lost JT.
My buddy, the one that i'd met

638
00:43:09.280 --> 00:43:15.599
first. He was shot down on
a helicopter called Extortion seventeen in Afghanistan,

639
00:43:15.360 --> 00:43:20.480
the loss of thirty one American lives
that day, and so I knew that

640
00:43:20.519 --> 00:43:22.760
I had to do something to honor
his life. Like I said, he

641
00:43:22.800 --> 00:43:24.719
was almost like a son to me, and so I set up a race

642
00:43:24.760 --> 00:43:30.119
there in San Diego called Jogging for
Frogmen, which was a five k run

643
00:43:30.599 --> 00:43:35.159
and a twenty four hour run.
The twenty four hours was just me running

644
00:43:35.159 --> 00:43:38.079
for twenty four hours, running a
three point one mile loop thirty one times,

645
00:43:38.079 --> 00:43:40.159
and each time I would run a
loop in honor of one of those

646
00:43:40.199 --> 00:43:45.199
men who had lost their lives and
given everything. And then when I was

647
00:43:45.239 --> 00:43:49.760
done, then we would have the
five k race. And we've raised now

648
00:43:49.840 --> 00:43:52.840
after eight years, we've raised about
two point seven million dollars for the Navy

649
00:43:52.880 --> 00:43:59.039
Seal Foundation in honor of those men. And you know, it's just to

650
00:43:59.119 --> 00:44:04.559
me, it's not even about suffering
or hard work or anything else other than

651
00:44:05.079 --> 00:44:09.760
thirty one men love their country enough
to give their ultimate sacrifice in their lives.

652
00:44:09.960 --> 00:44:13.920
So for me to go out and
hurt for one day is very small

653
00:44:13.960 --> 00:44:17.440
gift in my mind. What a
fantastic way of looking at it. And

654
00:44:17.480 --> 00:44:21.599
so what I also talk about so
often in my programs am I speaking is

655
00:44:21.719 --> 00:44:24.840
how it is that we frame things
the lens that we allow ourselves to view

656
00:44:24.840 --> 00:44:29.480
the world opportunities people, and you
are a great example of how you can

657
00:44:29.519 --> 00:44:32.920
control that for the best possible good. And so to that end, we're

658
00:44:32.920 --> 00:44:36.760
getting close to the end of the
show. I really see you, my

659
00:44:36.840 --> 00:44:37.360
coin. Part of the reason I
want to have you on the show is

660
00:44:37.639 --> 00:44:43.519
you're a magnificent example of the human
spirit to persevere and to really cause agency

661
00:44:43.559 --> 00:44:47.800
in the world to make something happen
from nothing to something enormous. So for

662
00:44:47.840 --> 00:44:52.159
our listeners to understand, how would
you describe what you've gone through, what

663
00:44:52.199 --> 00:44:54.920
you've gotten from life, and how
has that made you into this energy ball

664
00:44:54.960 --> 00:45:04.039
that you are today. Well,
my whole philosophy about life and I try

665
00:45:04.039 --> 00:45:07.400
to live this every day. I
don't always live it every day. But

666
00:45:07.440 --> 00:45:12.559
the only way that you can fail
is if you try, right. If

667
00:45:12.559 --> 00:45:15.880
you don't try, you can never
fail. So the only thing you need

668
00:45:15.920 --> 00:45:20.639
to be afraid of is not trying. Because as long as you're afraid,

669
00:45:20.840 --> 00:45:24.480
as you're willing to fail once,
fail twice, fail three times, eventually

670
00:45:24.519 --> 00:45:28.199
you're going to win out and people
are going to be blessed by that.

671
00:45:28.960 --> 00:45:32.519
So I try every single day to
give everything I have. You know,

672
00:45:32.840 --> 00:45:36.400
again, being a sports guy,
I look at a Michael Jordan or a

673
00:45:36.440 --> 00:45:39.039
Tiger Woods. Does Tiger Woods make
every put? Does Michael Jordan make every

674
00:45:39.079 --> 00:45:44.320
free throw? Does any athlete do
everything right every time? No, there's

675
00:45:44.360 --> 00:45:47.440
failures every single time. If you've
got a three thirty batting average, you're

676
00:45:47.480 --> 00:45:52.360
a darn good hitter in Major League
Baseball. You know one is perfect.

677
00:45:52.400 --> 00:45:57.199
You're going to have failure, but
you can only fail if you try.

678
00:45:57.599 --> 00:46:00.000
And there's people out there that needs
you to try because they need your support

679
00:46:00.039 --> 00:46:05.400
and your help. That's phenomenal.
And I think again, it goes back

680
00:46:05.440 --> 00:46:07.920
to framework mindset, and that's just
so important. And you can control that,

681
00:46:07.960 --> 00:46:10.880
you can develop that, you can
control that and what I would say

682
00:46:10.920 --> 00:46:14.960
to that is what I often say
when I'm not speaking audience is Mike is

683
00:46:15.280 --> 00:46:16.800
I asked them in the very beginning, what will you do with your one

684
00:46:17.119 --> 00:46:22.239
precious life? Yep, you have
choice in that matter every single day.

685
00:46:22.880 --> 00:46:25.039
So with that, here we are
at the very end. You know,

686
00:46:25.119 --> 00:46:29.000
this show is listened to across the
globe. People will hear it over and

687
00:46:29.039 --> 00:46:32.119
over again. What would you like
to leave listeners with that you think will

688
00:46:32.159 --> 00:46:39.159
help them really live a life of
meaning, passionate purpose. Well, I

689
00:46:39.159 --> 00:46:43.360
think it kind of goes back to
what I was saying about the trying.

690
00:46:43.960 --> 00:46:50.280
My philosophy is that when I die
and we're all going no way out of

691
00:46:50.320 --> 00:46:55.320
it, no way out of it, I want one thing to be put

692
00:46:55.360 --> 00:47:00.440
on my tombstone, and that is
that Micross made a different and that if

693
00:47:00.480 --> 00:47:06.079
each and every one of us can
have that same attitude and sane mindset,

694
00:47:06.159 --> 00:47:08.920
that you made a difference. And
it may not have been to a group

695
00:47:09.000 --> 00:47:12.760
of people. It may not have
been to a world, It may not

696
00:47:12.800 --> 00:47:15.400
have been to a big company.
It may have been to your son or

697
00:47:15.400 --> 00:47:17.800
your daughter, or your wife or
your husband. It may have been to

698
00:47:17.840 --> 00:47:23.480
your you know, one person at
work. But if you made a difference,

699
00:47:24.119 --> 00:47:28.639
your worth was your life was worth
something. And I don't ever want

700
00:47:28.639 --> 00:47:30.679
to leave this earth and people say, man, he could have done better.

701
00:47:31.440 --> 00:47:34.719
I want to give it all I
got. And that's the reason why

702
00:47:34.920 --> 00:47:37.519
running is so special, because I'm
able to give it all I got when

703
00:47:37.559 --> 00:47:39.639
I go run mm hmm, when
nothing left in the tank, I got

704
00:47:39.679 --> 00:47:43.599
that. Mike Ross, I want
to thank you for being my guest and

705
00:47:43.599 --> 00:47:45.079
working on purpose, touching the life
of the people who are listening to the

706
00:47:45.079 --> 00:47:49.800
show, and making a difference in
the world. Thank you, so,

707
00:47:50.280 --> 00:47:52.000
listeners, I didn't cry, Yeah, well I was. I was.

708
00:47:52.079 --> 00:47:55.400
I was hoping you might because then
I might join you. But and I

709
00:47:55.400 --> 00:47:58.719
want to. I want to always
embrace emotions. So I'm okay with you

710
00:47:58.760 --> 00:48:01.480
crying and me too. But listeners, just one thing to echo that Mike

711
00:48:01.519 --> 00:48:04.920
said there at the end. One
of the things I do in my programs,

712
00:48:04.920 --> 00:48:07.159
and I often say when I'm out
speaking, I really encourage you to

713
00:48:07.320 --> 00:48:12.440
start with the end in mind and
go write your own eulogy. Go write

714
00:48:12.480 --> 00:48:15.119
what it is you want people to
say about you when you're actually gone,

715
00:48:15.280 --> 00:48:17.519
and live to that. That is
an amazing way to architecture, Life and

716
00:48:17.599 --> 00:48:22.679
Mike queue that up for us.
So just something to think about. If

717
00:48:22.679 --> 00:48:24.199
you want to learn more about Mike
Rouse and the work he's doing in his

718
00:48:24.239 --> 00:48:28.199
philanthropy endeavors, or if you want
to get involved with him somehow, if

719
00:48:28.239 --> 00:48:30.079
you want to be part of what
he's up to, or you want to

720
00:48:30.079 --> 00:48:32.039
be able to help him in one
of his various endeavors, reach out to

721
00:48:32.119 --> 00:48:35.920
him. There's two ways to do
it. You can catch him on Facebook.

722
00:48:36.639 --> 00:48:40.039
His name is Mike Rouse, that's
r O U s E. So

723
00:48:40.119 --> 00:48:43.400
find him there anything related to running
it. You know you got the right

724
00:48:43.400 --> 00:48:45.639
guy. There's about five of them
on there, so get the right guy.

725
00:48:45.079 --> 00:48:49.400
The other way is to send him
an email, and that is Mike

726
00:48:49.559 --> 00:48:52.519
dot Rouse fifty two at gmail dot
com. Let me spell that again for

727
00:48:52.559 --> 00:49:00.239
you, m I K E dot
R U s E fifty two at gmail

728
00:49:00.320 --> 00:49:01.400
dot com. I'm sure you'd love
to hear from you. Reach out.

729
00:49:01.920 --> 00:49:04.920
Last week, if you missed the
live show, you can always catch it

730
00:49:04.920 --> 00:49:07.760
be recorded podcast. We were on
the air with the Parnasy talking about mindful

731
00:49:07.840 --> 00:49:13.840
leadership and conscious capitalism. Next week
we'll be on air with Selena Santibiez of

732
00:49:13.920 --> 00:49:16.079
GPS Consulting. As I take the
show on the road with me while speaking

733
00:49:16.119 --> 00:49:21.519
at the Cornerstone Credit Union Leadership Conference
in San Antonio, we'll be talking about

734
00:49:21.519 --> 00:49:23.599
the impact she's making in San Antonio. See you there. Remember that work

735
00:49:23.679 --> 00:49:31.639
is at least one of our lives, so let's work on purpose. We

736
00:49:31.760 --> 00:49:36.760
hope you've enjoyed this week's program.
Be sure to tune in to Working on

737
00:49:36.840 --> 00:49:42.519
Purpose, featuring your host Alis Cortes, each week on the Voice America Empowerment

738
00:49:42.639 --> 00:50:00.360
Channel. This week, find your
life's purpose at work you