Aug. 7, 2024

The Promise of a “C-Suite” Education and its RX for Humanity 2nd episode

The Promise of a “C-Suite” Education and its RX for Humanity 2nd episode

For humanity to flourish, we must all embrace life-long learning and transform it into wisdom. Through Keyes’ “RX for humanity,” we can be inspired to reach for our own better angels while constantly improving our ability to discern information,...

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For humanity to flourish, we must all embrace life-long learning and transform it into wisdom. Through Keyes’ “RX for humanity,” we can be inspired to reach for our own better angels while constantly improving our ability to discern information, practice positivity, be humble, and embrace compassion everywhere we go. When we do so, we elevate our own personal enlightenment and fulfillment while contributing mightily to a more civilized society that champions a “we’re in this together” spirit.

Working on Purpose is broadcast live Tuesdays at 6PM ET and Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). Working on Purpose is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).

Working on Purpose Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.

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The topics and opinions express in the following show are

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solely those of the hosts and their guests and not

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What's working on Purpose?

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Anyway?

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Each week we ponder the answer to this question. People

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ache for meaning and purpose at work, to contribute their

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talents passionately and know their lives really matter. They crave

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being part of an organization that inspires them and helps

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them grow into realizing their highest potential. Business can be

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such a force for good in the world, elevating humanity.

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In our program, we provide guidance and inspiration to help

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usher in this world we all want Working on Purpose. Now,

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here's your host, doctor Elise Cortez.

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Welcome back to the Working on Purpose program, which has

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been brought to you with passion or pride since February

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of twenty fifteen. Thanks you Tonigan in this week. Great

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to have you. I am your host, doctor Elias Cortes.

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If we've not met before, you don't know me. I'm

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an organizational psychologist and logo therapist, speaker and author. My

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team and I at gusto Now help companies to enliven

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and fortify their operations by building a culture and leadership

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activated by meeting and purpose. Our mission is to help

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our clients create a destination workplace where people flock to join,

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are intrusively motivated to perform with their best, can grow

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to the floor potential, and are committed to stay and

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dinatically deliver on the company's mission, which translates to higher

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profits for you. You can learn more about us now. We

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can work together at gustodashnow dot com or my personal

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site at least Coortes dot com. Getting back into today's

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program we have with us today.

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James W.

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Keyes a global business leader, philanthropist, educator, artist, musician, commercial

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rated pilot and modern renaissance man. He is the former

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CEO of two internationally recognized Fortune five hundred companies, both

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which you should recognize seven eleven in Blockbuster. He has

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had a lifel commitment to education, serving as a founding

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director of the Dallas Education Foundation, and he's the founder

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of the Education Is Freedom Foundation. He's the author of

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Education Is Freedom The Future Is in Your Hands, which

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we'll be talking about today again for a second time.

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He joins it today from Dallas. Jim, welcome back to

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Working on Purpose.

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Thank you. It's great to be back with you.

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So I got a confession for you. So, in the

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nine and a half years I've been hosting this podcast, Jim,

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I believe I've had people come back on the show,

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maybe under five or six times, but always to talk

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about another book. I believe you are the only guests

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that I've ever had on to come back and talk

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more about the first book that we were on about.

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How's that for a distinction.

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Well, that's great, But you know, I'm afraid that it

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may have been because I was too I used up

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all the time. We didn't get through the book.

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But I think I maybe also contributed that I'm a

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little over zealous in how many topics I wanted to

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get out of you. So not to worry, but to

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kick us off for those guests and listeners who didn't

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actually hear yours, serior, the first time. I just want

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to situate just really, what a remarkable life that you

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have cultivated for yourself. Jim, you know the CEO of

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these two companies seven to eleven Blockbuster, being a philanthropist,

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a pilot, and artist and musician, among many other achievements.

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And so what I love about that and what I

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want to celebrate is you really are a walking billboard

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for lifelong learning. So let's just start there.

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I do a lot of things, yeah, and it truly

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is what motivated in many ways the creation of the book.

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But it is my attempt to share with others a

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gift that I've been given, which is an ability to

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learn how to learn. And this gift is one it

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just keeps on giving because as I go through life,

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the more I can learn, the more interesting life becomes,

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just because whether it's learning how to paint or creating

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a piece of music or flying an airplane. It's just

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grateful every day for the opportunity to have new adventures

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that result from this very very simple ability to learn

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something that anyone can do.

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Learning is free, Yes, And I have to say that

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there's got to be a catalyst there right, So and

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So one of the reasons I love doing this program Jim,

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and it's hopefully encouraging brothers, is I want to help

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ignite their desire to learn. I want to help increase

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their appetite for learning. So clearly something in you. And

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we did talk a little bit about your own upbringing

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in the last program, so we won't revisit it so

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people can go back and listen to that other one.

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But clearly you have You've got an insatial appetite to learn.

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So where does that come from?

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Yeah, I wish, I wish I knew. I think it

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was probably that I never gave up being a child.

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That explains a lot, Jim.

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Okay, it kind of does.

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Yeah.

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In fact, if you were to talk to family members

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that they'd say, yeah, that's that's about right. But in

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all seriousness, if you think about it, we all grow

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up with an innate curiosity and desire to learn and

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just to ask why, and to want to take things

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apart and understand how they work, and and and we

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all grow up with an ability to be creative, which

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is is really the same thing as curiosity. It's just

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it's just taking that curiosity to another level. And and

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and and having fun with it, and and these are

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the things that many people lose as they get older,

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and for a whole host of reasons. But I think

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the culprit in many of us is insecurity fear those

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things that are caused by other people defining who we are.

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So at some point we sang like are you know,

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like no one cared, and then someone probably said, well,

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oh that's you know, God cut it out, you know,

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or we we cray on the wall and our parents said,

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don't do that, bad boy. And those those negative influences

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that make you doubt yourself and your own ability to

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be curious or to be creative and just let it

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rip stay with us unfortunately, and some people let that happen.

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I think the difference with me. And I'll give you

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an example that someone said recently, they said, hey, we

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got to think outside of the box. And I said, well,

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thinking outside of the box, maybe we should learn outside

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of the box, because there really is no box, right,

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And I think that was the difference that I've never

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had a box. I've never let someone else define who

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I am by saying, oh, you're this. You know, you

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studied this, so that's what you are, or you're this

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kind of person or you're this demographic, So that's who

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you are, what you are. No, I'm whatever I want

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to be, and and there is no box the boxes

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in our head.

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Well, I completely I completely agree with that, which is

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why I do a lot of work that I do

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inside of organizations. And we probably maybe that's the next

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book you got to work on, Jim is helping people to,

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you know, get rid of the boxes that society imposes

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on them. That might just be just like you need

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something else to do, but let me just and if

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your wife comes after me saying, at least you gave

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him this great idea and now he's off doing it.

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Yeah, the next book.

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Yeah, well okay, So what I want to do in

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this conversation Jim is I would love it if you

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could so. I love how your book is organized into

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those street parts what to learn, how to learn as

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the second part, and the third one is why to learn,

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And we didn't get to the third part. So can

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we quickly just sort of give a little bit of

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summation on what to learn and how to learn? And

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before we dive into the way to learn stuff?

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Please sure? What to learn came? Actually it was an inspiration.

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Shortly after being named CEO of seven to eleven for

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the first time, I was having those self doubts. I

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was having those normal human instincts of am I good enough,

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am I smart enough? Et cetera. And I was fortunate

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to stumble on what I now freely call my gift.

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And it really occurred to me in the course of

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a dream that I think I went through in some

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detail on our last chat. But the idea was that

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I had this dream and I was told I was

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going to get this gift, and I woke up and

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I was all excited, and I wrote down these three words.

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And when I stepped back from it and started to

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talk with friends and family about this gift that I

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was disappointed that I didn't get because I woke up

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too soon, they said, well, that is your gift. You know,

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you have three things that I've now characterized as what

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to learn. You have these three things. You have an

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ability to embrace change and to find even in negative change,

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something bad that happens, you're able to say, well, it

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happened for a reason, and I'm going to find out.

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I'm going to find the silver lining. And this there's

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got to be one in here somewhere. And then secondly

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you have confidence, the ability to have the courage to

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see it as an opportunity and to do something about it.

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And then thirdly, you have an ability to have clarity,

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clarity of both inbound communications listening and then outbound communications

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in the form of ultimately simplification, the ability to take

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very complex things and break them into simple terms. So

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those three things change. Confidence and clarity, Jim, are your gift.

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And by the way, in your dream, you were supposed

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to share this gift with others. And so that's what

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I'm doing, and I've done it my whole career. I

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shared it with my team at seven to eleven and

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at Blockbuster, and I've shared it with thousands of students

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over the years. And now I've put it in a

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book and I'm sharing it in the form of what

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to learn before you even progress to how to learn

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or why to learn?

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Beautifully done beautifully.

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It's a hopefully it's a gift that everyone can can

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can use and then and then give to others as well.

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Okay, so that's what to learn. I also loved how

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you described how to learn. I thought I was very

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christ so you can summarize that as well.

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Sure, the first element of how to learn is critical thinking,

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and it's something that this is something we all learn

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in grade school. You know, the Socratic method, the scientific method,

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but the ability to truly dig in and and use data,

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use knowledge facts to make decisions to form opinions. And

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then the ability I love there's an expression that Aristotle

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had that true intelligence is the ability to entertain a

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thought without to go to entertain a thought without accepting

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the thought yes, yes, yes, yeah, and and and it's

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genius and it's so relevant to what we're doing today

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when we have this social media magic that allows us

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to entertain all these thoughts but we accept them as

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fact rather than whether than engage our own critical thinking

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to challenge those thoughts and to make sure we have

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the facts behind them. So critical thinking is the first

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and the second is curiosity. And that's what fuels critical

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thinking because if you just scanning the Internet and you

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take things at face value and you're not curious. You're

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curious enough to want to scan the Internet, that's curiosity

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at work, but then you're not curious enough to dig

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deeper to say, oh, that's interesting, I wonder if that's true,

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let me find out and then maybe take a Google

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search and find out the facts behind that meme that

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was so cute. That's curiosity. And then uh, the final

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of the how to Learn is creativity, which I've I

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mentioned in the previous session that Einstein called it intelligence

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having fun.

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Yes, I love.

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You, and it truly is. It's just fun. Creative creativity

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is just letting your imagination run wild and having fun

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with it. Whether it's painting or singing, or playing music

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or learning a new language, is all part of a

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creative design that allows you to have a richer life.

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Completely agree. Now let's circle back to that create that

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critical thinking here, Jim. I can tell you that several

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of my clients have complained to me and we've tried

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to address what they really see is a horrible lack

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of critical thinking and the people that are coming into

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their organizations. And so I appreciated what you what you

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shared in the book about how to develop that, how

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you specified some activities around that. I do really see

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that as a missing in a lot of today's workforce.

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It is, and I candidly I relearned an approach to

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critical thinking from my Japanese licensee when I was at

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seven to eleven.

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That story, I remember that till it.

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Yeah, they just had such a do a fabulous job

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of reinventing the idea of convenience, and they lit up

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the convenience business by constantly adapting to change. And I

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was well, I said the words I've talked to talk before,

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but I wasn't able to execute to the extent that

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they did. When I started digging into how do you

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do this? They gave me a simple solution that actually

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came from an American. It was Edward Deming that went

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to Japan after World War Two and he taught the

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Japanese business people how to use the scientific method. Of

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all things, I never thought about applying the scientific method

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to business, but it was very simplified into can into

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plan do se and what does that mean? It means

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first you plan. You come up with a hypothesis. I think,

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if we put this new product on the shelf that

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will sell X number of units. Then you do you

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actually take that action and then you and this is

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the important part, this is what we always forget. You

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step back and measure the results. So we've got the

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plan due part down but so many businesses forget to

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see oh yeah, yeah, yeah, of course it worked. But

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that measurement piece is critical in that critical thinking process

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because what the measurement piece then does is lets you

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truly change your original hypothesis based on facts. So if

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you find out that your assumption was incorrect now that

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you have data, now that you have facts, then you're

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free to change your assumption in your hypothesis. Now if

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you apply that to what's going on today and you

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see this thing on the internet that says, oh, you know,

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here's the thing that we're going to pass off as

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the truth, and you say, hmm, well, the hypothesis is

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that's correct. But now I'm going to actually do something.

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I'm going to go to an action to find out

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the facts, and then once I get the data, I'm

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going to say, oh huh, that was incorrect. Now I

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can change my hypothesis. Rather than rather than repost that

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incorrect meme, I might say, I'm going to fire off

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a message to whoever sent that to me and say,

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by the way, here are the facts. It's incorrect. You

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may not want to embarrass yourself by continuing to send

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out memes that are incorrect. And that's the critical thinking

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that ironically help propel seven to eleven to greatness by

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allowing them to introduce items so many times. But it

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has a broader application in society. If we would just

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step back and have our own plan do see process.

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Whenever we have information presented to us, or we've got

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our own hypothesis about the way the world is or

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the way our job is, we can apply the same

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the same methodology and it works well.

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And I think our future depends on that. So on

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that note, let's take our very first break. I'm your host,

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Doctor Release Cortes. We're on the air with Jim Keyes,

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a global business leader, philanthropist, educator, artist, musician, commercial rated pilot,

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and modern retisence man. He is the former CEO of

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seven to eleven and Blockbuster. We've been talking a bit

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about the first two parts of his book, which speak

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to what to learn and then how to learn. After

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the break, we're going to start peeling into why we learned.

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Stay with us.

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Will be right back, Doctor Release. Court haz is a

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management consultant specializing in meaning and purpose. An inspirational speaker

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and author, she helps companies visioneer for greater purpose among

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stakeholders and develop purpose inspired leadership and meaning infused cultures

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that elevate fulfillment, performance, and commitment within the workforce. To

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learn more or to invite a lease to speak to

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your organization, please visit her at elisecortes dot com. Let's

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talk about how to get your employees working on purpose.

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This is working on Purpose with doctor Elise Cortes. To

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reach our program today or to open a conversation with Elise,

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send an email to a lease a LISEE at elisecortes

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dot com. Now back to working on purpose.

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Thanks for stating with us, and welcome back to working

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on a purpose. I'm your host, doctor Elise Cortes, as

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I am dedicated to helping create a world where people

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realize the potential at work and are led by inspirational

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leaders that help them find their greatness. I continue to

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research and write my own books, so my last one

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came out in March of twenty twenty three. It's called

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The Great Revitalization, How activating meaning and purpose can radically

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in liven your business and I wrote it to help

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leaders understand the changed lay of the land in terms

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of who the workforce is and what do they want

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and then I provide twenty two best practices about build

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into your culture to provide to provide that for them.

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You can find my book at at leastcortest dot com

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or at almazont Amazon if you are just now joining us.

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My guest is Jim Keyes. He's the author of Education

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is Freedom The Future is in your hands, which is

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what we've been talking about today. So all right, so

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now and I want to spend some time on this, Jim.

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I think this is really interesting and the last thing

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that you were talking about is going to get us

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into the second one of the seeds that you talk about.

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But in terms of why we learned, just like in

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your first other two parts, you have three pieces to that.

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But first, the why we learned piece was really interesting

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for me, Jim, because when I think about, just you

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know what, why do we spend all these this time

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educating ourselves. I've been going to school most of my life.

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My poor mother was like, when you need to stop

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going to school? I'm like, I hope never, Mom, which

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would give really small series of many heart attacks of course, right,

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But putting forth, I think it's interesting that you have

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a whole section on why we learned. So let's just

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start with you know, why did you situate that section?

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Then we'll get into the three parts.

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Well, I'll start I start with a broader definition of

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why to learn and why education and why the name

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education is freedom and supposed to education for a good

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job or something. And that came back to my dad,

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who didn't even graduate from I think he went as

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far as the sixth grade. He was a factory worker,

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but he had spent some time in World War Two

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on the Burma road. He was a truck driver and

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an army guy, and came back from that experience and

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he used to tell me stories about the Burmese people

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and the beautiful culture that he experienced, and how amazing

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it was to have been privileged. Even though it was

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World War Two. He wasn't excited about being in the war,

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but he had the privilege of traveling the world for

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the first time in his life. Small town in Massachusetts guy,

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and he experienced the Burmese culture and the people and

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the food, and he was fascinated by that and kept

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talking about someday, if you ever have the chance, you

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should travel the world because the amazing people you can

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meet and the things you can learn by getting out

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of this little area where everybody looks and sounds just

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like us, is just amazing. So to him, that was

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the why of education, not about getting a fancy job

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or making a lot of money. His why was freedom.

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The more you learn, the more freedom you have to

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travel the world and mix with cultures and people that

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are different from you, and that was his definition of success.

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So from a very early age, I kind of filed

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that away, and that was a part of the inspiration

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for the book, being education is freedom. That was a

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I grew up with a very definite, different definition of

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what freedom was all about, and I was blessed with that.

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But then as I started writing the book, I got

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to the first two sections, and I was trying to

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simplify almost a mnemonic device. Let's put this advice in

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the form of three s's or six s's, so that

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it's memorable for people. And then I had given a

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draft of this manuscript to a friend and he said, Jim,

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it's great that you're doing this, but you never addressed

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the why. And he said, did you ever read Simon

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Sinek's book about why? You know? Just ask why? And

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then do you do you know the why of everything,

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of your being, of your business. And I reflected on

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that and I thought, garn it, you know he's right.

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I haven't, and I started looking at the why, and

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I came up with I actually had these three c's

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already in my head, and they were part of the formula,

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but I was in the interest of simplifying, not adding

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too many steps in this. And then I said, wait

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a minute, now there are three of these c's that

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really very clearly explain why education is so important and

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why we have to learn. Yes, at forty thousand feet

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it's all about freedom, but why is it so important

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to learn how to be free? And I started with

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the idea of collaboration because in school, we tend to

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be individual performers. We all through grade school and high school.

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We take tests, we study, but we're never asked to

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have to collaborate, except you might be in you know,

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your baseball team or something like that. And then we

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enter the workforce. And my first experience exposure to collaboration

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was in school, but it was in business school. We're

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in anticipating the workplace. They forced us into case studies and.

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It forced us into okay.

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And I say, forced us because I hated it the

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idea that my grade was going to be subject to

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some other knucklehead, you know, who maybe didn't have the

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same work ethic or studying or whatever. But it's a

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great story because I get into this first case study

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and it was an accounting class, and I was like, oh,

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dead accounting. This is a terrible It was a political

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science undergrad and here I am at Columbia Business Wan

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I have to take core accounting. And then I'm looking

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around and one of the guys in the case study

426
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was from Price Waterhouse Cooper's. He's an accountant. I'm going, oh, okay,

427
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made this collaboration things not so bad? He can actually

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help me. Then I started feeling guilty, as like, oh wait,

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these people all have accounting experience of some sort. He's

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the only CPA, but they all have some accounting. I'm

431
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the guy it doesn't have any acatty experience. And yet

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what I found is at the end of the case study,

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I contributed a completely you talk about out of the box,

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a completely creative solution to comparing balance sheets that as accountants,

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their initial reaction was you can't do that, you know, well,

436
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but yeah, why not, and we ended up using this

437
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creative solution and we got an A in the class.

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So the non accountant actually contributed, and what it demonstrated

439
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was the power of collaboration. And so I've got another

440
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great example that I use going back to my childhood.

441
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I learned how to play an instrument early on in

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grammar school, a flutophone, and then I progressed to a trumpet,

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and I was terrible on the trumpet. But I then

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had the privilege of sitting in on a small youth orchestra,

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and I was amazed, just amazed at how good I

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sounded with the collaboration of other instruments and other students

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all playing together. Now, we were probably terrible because we

448
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were a youth orchestra, but we were a heck of

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a lot better than me alone on my trumpet, right,

450
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and as the power of collaboration. And I like to

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tell that story now because then I progressed and I

452
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ended up being chairman of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and

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I had a lot of activity on the stage with

454
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the musicians, and I learned these musicians were all very different,

455
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very very different, and their instruments are very different. So

456
00:26:41.440 --> 00:26:46.880
think about You've got this beautiful violin right now. If

457
00:26:47.119 --> 00:26:52.680
imagine these these instruments were people, the violins sitting there

458
00:26:52.720 --> 00:27:02.440
looking at the base gone fat, yeah yeah, right at

459
00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:06.519
the base is looking at the cello saying what do

460
00:27:06.640 --> 00:27:08.920
you you know? And then both look at the oboe

461
00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:11.400
and they say, you sound squeaky and what will you

462
00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:15.319
look really weird? And then the trumpets start and the

463
00:27:15.359 --> 00:27:17.720
brass starts and they're like, oh man, what's up with

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that you? We don't like that noise. But you bring

465
00:27:21.160 --> 00:27:26.640
them together and they create a beautiful symphonic harmony, right,

466
00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:32.079
and they all appreciate their collective the beauty of their

467
00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:37.000
collective sound. Now take that metaphor and apply it to humans.

468
00:27:38.319 --> 00:27:40.240
And you put a group of humans in a room

469
00:27:41.160 --> 00:27:44.839
and one's tall and thin and one's not so thin,

470
00:27:45.559 --> 00:27:48.799
and one may be a different race, and one may

471
00:27:48.839 --> 00:27:51.200
be a different religion, and one may be a high

472
00:27:51.279 --> 00:27:54.920
voice and a low voice, and old and young and

473
00:27:55.039 --> 00:27:57.079
rich and poor, and throw them all in a room

474
00:27:57.519 --> 00:28:01.960
and ask them to solve a problem. Their initial reaction

475
00:28:02.119 --> 00:28:04.119
maybe to point to each other and go, look at

476
00:28:04.119 --> 00:28:06.279
this character. I don't want to work with them, just

477
00:28:06.319 --> 00:28:08.599
as I did when I entered my first case study.

478
00:28:09.359 --> 00:28:14.920
And yet the end result, if managed effectively, if they

479
00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.920
all can appreciate the power of collaboration and make a

480
00:28:19.960 --> 00:28:24.440
beautiful harmony and create a product better than any individual

481
00:28:24.559 --> 00:28:26.640
one of them, or two of them, or five of

482
00:28:26.680 --> 00:28:33.799
them could produce, I call that the second C cultural literacy.

483
00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:37.200
Yes, before you go there really quick, I want to

484
00:28:37.240 --> 00:28:39.160
I want to dive into something. Jim, and you were

485
00:28:39.240 --> 00:28:43.640
reminding me of one of my big pet peeves and

486
00:28:43.680 --> 00:28:46.400
when I'm when I'm consulting with clients that I see

487
00:28:46.559 --> 00:28:49.079
companies do all the time is they shoot themselves in

488
00:28:49.119 --> 00:28:50.839
the foot when they're hiring people and they say, oh,

489
00:28:50.839 --> 00:28:54.319
we can't hire Jim. He doesn't have abc experience, their

490
00:28:54.359 --> 00:28:58.799
industry experience like us, right, And it is so backwards.

491
00:28:58.839 --> 00:29:01.519
There's no collaboration out there. You know. Look at that

492
00:29:01.640 --> 00:29:05.559
beautiful example of you at Columbia with the accountants, right,

493
00:29:06.319 --> 00:29:08.559
you could see something that they couldn't see because they

494
00:29:08.559 --> 00:29:12.440
had been schooled a certain way. And so, ladies and gentlemen,

495
00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:14.559
as you're listening and watching, I really encourage you to

496
00:29:14.599 --> 00:29:18.359
consider if hiring people from outside your industry as a

497
00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:20.960
form of collaboration just had to get that in before

498
00:29:21.000 --> 00:29:23.680
we get to the next sea. Actually, you know, we've

499
00:29:23.680 --> 00:29:25.759
got some time before we hit our next break. So

500
00:29:26.039 --> 00:29:28.480
the culture literacy for me, Jim, your second seat is

501
00:29:28.519 --> 00:29:31.079
really near and dear in my heart. I am somebody

502
00:29:31.079 --> 00:29:35.440
who is a tremendous beneficiary of travel. I lived abroad

503
00:29:35.519 --> 00:29:37.599
in Spain, in Bzil for three years and in my

504
00:29:37.680 --> 00:29:41.400
twenties went all over Western Europe, all over South America.

505
00:29:41.480 --> 00:29:46.720
It was incredible mind blowing experience. And that because of that, Jim,

506
00:29:46.880 --> 00:29:49.960
I still speak Spanish and Portuguese. I'm married to Costa Rican,

507
00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:52.119
which is how I got the name Cortez, and that's

508
00:29:52.160 --> 00:29:54.799
where my company is named Gusto now, because Gusto means

509
00:29:54.839 --> 00:29:57.680
about the same thing in English, Spanish and Portuguese, which

510
00:29:57.720 --> 00:30:02.039
is zest and verb andenthusiasm. So I just really wanted

511
00:30:02.039 --> 00:30:04.799
to echo that bit about collaboration and then as beginning

512
00:30:04.839 --> 00:30:07.440
to culture literacy. So now I'm back to you, please

513
00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:08.799
cultural literacy please.

514
00:30:10.000 --> 00:30:15.359
Yeah. Well, I didn't have any background in cultural literacy

515
00:30:15.359 --> 00:30:17.759
because I grew up in a place where the only

516
00:30:17.799 --> 00:30:22.319
minorities were Irish or Italian. You know, we were very,

517
00:30:22.599 --> 00:30:29.200
very small town Ish, and I didn't have exposure to

518
00:30:29.240 --> 00:30:32.880
other people, Protestant or Catholic. It was about it right.

519
00:30:33.960 --> 00:30:38.279
And then I had the privilege of during college, I

520
00:30:39.279 --> 00:30:43.039
earned a scholarship to go to London, to the University

521
00:30:43.039 --> 00:30:47.440
of London to study abroad. And I go over there

522
00:30:47.559 --> 00:30:49.720
first time ever outside of the country, first time on

523
00:30:49.759 --> 00:30:54.519
an airplane. I parachuted into it, not literally, but I

524
00:30:54.559 --> 00:30:59.480
parachued into a place in southeast London where I thought, boy,

525
00:30:59.519 --> 00:31:02.240
they're going to me. I'm an American. Everybody loves Americans.

526
00:31:02.279 --> 00:31:06.200
And I got over there and didn't like me at all.

527
00:31:06.960 --> 00:31:10.039
I didn't understand. I thought, how can you not like me?

528
00:31:10.200 --> 00:31:14.599
I mean, I'm American, I'm cool, right, And I was

529
00:31:14.640 --> 00:31:17.319
a Yank and they called me names, they called me

530
00:31:17.400 --> 00:31:21.680
the Yank, and they weren't including me and their friend

531
00:31:21.759 --> 00:31:22.720
circles and everything.

532
00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:26.160
And it was pretty rough the first time. And the

533
00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:30.839
people who embraced me, which was really interesting, were my

534
00:31:31.039 --> 00:31:35.440
Indian and my Pakistani friends, who all of a sudden,

535
00:31:35.480 --> 00:31:38.759
now they were the minorities in London at the time.

536
00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.119
They were discriminated against to some extent, and one of

537
00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:49.319
those guys named Mushtock Malik ended up being one of

538
00:31:49.319 --> 00:31:52.559
my best friends. And I just left his house by

539
00:31:52.599 --> 00:31:56.079
the way in Monaco, where he has become a wildly

540
00:31:56.119 --> 00:32:01.000
successful real estate developer, and we've we had this very

541
00:32:01.079 --> 00:32:07.480
conversation that I learned in that experience culture literacy. He

542
00:32:07.799 --> 00:32:11.599
and my Indian friends. He was from Pakistan or his

543
00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:16.279
family was from Pakistan. They taught me a sense of

544
00:32:16.359 --> 00:32:24.640
confidence that allowed me to assimilate into the British circles.

545
00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:27.920
But I needed to change. I needed to adapt, and

546
00:32:28.000 --> 00:32:32.720
I needed to respect their culture, not force mine on them.

547
00:32:32.799 --> 00:32:36.920
I needed to respect their culture and understand it and

548
00:32:37.000 --> 00:32:42.599
become truly literate in their ways of doing things. And

549
00:32:42.640 --> 00:32:46.720
then once I did that, then they were more interested

550
00:32:46.720 --> 00:32:49.680
in my culture. And what started out as an aversion

551
00:32:49.759 --> 00:32:53.559
to Americans became an interest in Americans. And now all

552
00:32:53.559 --> 00:32:56.000
of a sudden, I'm being brought to play, to join

553
00:32:56.039 --> 00:32:58.480
the cricket team and play rugby and do all these

554
00:32:58.519 --> 00:33:01.359
other things. And they ended up making me senior student,

555
00:33:01.400 --> 00:33:06.160
which was the sort of head resident of the house,

556
00:33:06.200 --> 00:33:09.039
the student housing we were living in by the second semester.

557
00:33:09.160 --> 00:33:14.759
So I went from the outcast minority to the you know,

558
00:33:15.039 --> 00:33:20.039
popular kid on campus. So I've characterized this in the

559
00:33:20.079 --> 00:33:24.000
book in the context of all of this noise we

560
00:33:24.119 --> 00:33:28.680
have today out there in society about diversity and wokeness

561
00:33:28.759 --> 00:33:34.440
and dei and all that, and it's become such a polarizing,

562
00:33:34.720 --> 00:33:39.279
negative mess out there. But if you break down the

563
00:33:39.319 --> 00:33:43.440
real purpose of the concept of woke which by the way,

564
00:33:43.480 --> 00:33:46.920
didn't start with thelam It started in nineteen twenty seven

565
00:33:47.559 --> 00:33:50.839
in the black community, to have the black community tell

566
00:33:50.960 --> 00:33:54.400
others within the black community, you know what, just be

567
00:33:54.640 --> 00:33:58.559
aware there is a different culture that we have to

568
00:33:58.599 --> 00:34:03.880
assimilate too, and we have to understand. And they encouraged

569
00:34:03.920 --> 00:34:09.840
each other to adapt and to understand and and so

570
00:34:09.920 --> 00:34:13.119
all of these negatives that are swirling around now are

571
00:34:13.199 --> 00:34:22.559
completely unnecessary and they're they're politicization, politicization of of of

572
00:34:22.599 --> 00:34:28.880
a concept that is truly the right concept, which is

573
00:34:30.360 --> 00:34:33.920
understanding each other's culture so that we can become citizens

574
00:34:33.920 --> 00:34:37.239
of this world and we can come better at collaboration

575
00:34:38.159 --> 00:34:39.039
cultural literacy.

576
00:34:39.519 --> 00:34:42.000
Oh beautiful, Jim, I want to see a little bit

577
00:34:42.000 --> 00:34:43.599
more about that. But let's take our last break here.

578
00:34:44.119 --> 00:34:46.159
I'm your host, doctor Reali's Cortez, who've been on the

579
00:34:46.159 --> 00:34:48.760
air with Jim Keys, who has had a lifetime commitment

580
00:34:48.760 --> 00:34:51.800
to education, serving as a foundation founding director of the

581
00:34:51.880 --> 00:34:55.159
Dallas Education Foundation and is the founder of Education and

582
00:34:55.320 --> 00:34:59.239
Freedom Foundation. We've been talking about now why to learn.

583
00:34:59.639 --> 00:35:03.039
So far, you've covered the collaboration and culture literacy. After

584
00:35:03.039 --> 00:35:04.920
the Rik, We're going to talk about character and also

585
00:35:04.960 --> 00:35:08.239
get into one of his other key topics are extra humanity, stay,

586
00:35:08.280 --> 00:35:09.320
what will be right back.

587
00:35:24.599 --> 00:35:28.119
Doctor Elise Cortes is a management consultant specializing in meaning

588
00:35:28.199 --> 00:35:32.000
and purpose. An inspirational speaker and author, she helps companies

589
00:35:32.079 --> 00:35:35.880
visioneer for greater purpose among stakeholders and develop purpose inspired

590
00:35:35.960 --> 00:35:39.920
leadership and meaning infused cultures that elevate fulfillment, performance, and

591
00:35:40.000 --> 00:35:43.239
commitment within the workforce. To learn more or to invite

592
00:35:43.239 --> 00:35:46.000
a lease to speak to your organization, please visit her

593
00:35:46.039 --> 00:35:49.280
at elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how to get

594
00:35:49.320 --> 00:35:58.119
your employees working on purpose. This is working on Purpose

595
00:35:58.239 --> 00:36:01.480
with doctor Elise Cortes. To reach our program today or

596
00:36:01.519 --> 00:36:04.280
to open a conversation with Elise, send an email to

597
00:36:04.360 --> 00:36:08.920
a lease a l I se at eliscortes dot com.

598
00:36:08.960 --> 00:36:11.119
Now back to working on purpose.

599
00:36:16.800 --> 00:36:18.880
Interesting with us and welcome back to working on Purpose.

600
00:36:18.920 --> 00:36:21.199
I'm your host doctor at least Cortes. I mentioned in

601
00:36:21.239 --> 00:36:23.239
the first break about my last book coming out in

602
00:36:23.239 --> 00:36:25.599
March of twenty twenty three, the Great Vialization. What I

603
00:36:25.639 --> 00:36:28.280
did for you is I created a three page assessment

604
00:36:28.320 --> 00:36:31.119
that you can download from my website gustodeshnow dot com,

605
00:36:31.400 --> 00:36:33.920
and it will help you understand the extent to which

606
00:36:33.920 --> 00:36:36.280
you are. You have a culture today that meets today's

607
00:36:36.280 --> 00:36:40.239
discerning standards. It's at gustodeshnow dot com if you are

608
00:36:40.320 --> 00:36:42.039
just joining us. My guest is Jim Keyes. You s

609
00:36:42.079 --> 00:36:44.480
the author of education is freedom. The future is in

610
00:36:44.519 --> 00:36:46.440
your hands. So just what we be talking about today.

611
00:36:46.960 --> 00:36:49.360
So before we go on to the last one character,

612
00:36:49.400 --> 00:36:51.159
one of the things I just wanted to really echo

613
00:36:51.199 --> 00:36:54.480
and emphasize about the cultural literacy for me, Jim, was

614
00:36:54.920 --> 00:36:57.440
you know, as you know, when I read your book,

615
00:36:57.480 --> 00:37:00.679
I've notated certain things that really lined for me, and

616
00:37:00.719 --> 00:37:03.400
I want to read what you said here. You said,

617
00:37:03.440 --> 00:37:06.000
if you surround yourself with only those who look, act

618
00:37:06.039 --> 00:37:08.679
and think like you, then you will become a reflection

619
00:37:08.880 --> 00:37:12.280
of that narrow subset. If instead, you seek to surround

620
00:37:12.320 --> 00:37:15.239
yourself with those of other cultures and backgrounds, then you

621
00:37:15.320 --> 00:37:17.760
too will develop the breadth of experience that reflects the

622
00:37:17.840 --> 00:37:21.440
cumulative strengths of each other. All of that represents the

623
00:37:21.480 --> 00:37:24.320
cultural currency that can grow over time as you gain

624
00:37:24.440 --> 00:37:26.679
exposure to new and different cultures.

625
00:37:27.239 --> 00:37:28.039
So to me, what that.

626
00:37:28.000 --> 00:37:30.599
Really speaks to is that when you align yourself with

627
00:37:30.639 --> 00:37:32.800
people from different cultures, you literally what you're doing is

628
00:37:32.840 --> 00:37:34.480
you're enlarging yourself.

629
00:37:34.920 --> 00:37:40.159
Exactly exactly you're learning, You're learning from them. And I

630
00:37:40.199 --> 00:37:42.559
love that. I don't I don't know whoever said this

631
00:37:43.079 --> 00:37:45.880
or where I learned it, but I love the idea

632
00:37:45.960 --> 00:37:49.280
that I can take a little bit of everyone that

633
00:37:49.320 --> 00:37:51.599
I meet with throughout my life. I can take a

634
00:37:51.639 --> 00:37:55.199
little bit of them with me, Yes, And that creates

635
00:37:55.239 --> 00:37:59.000
inside of me a patchwork quilt, And the more different

636
00:37:59.159 --> 00:38:02.559
they are from me, the more colorful and rich that

637
00:38:02.599 --> 00:38:04.280
patchwork quilte will become.

638
00:38:05.119 --> 00:38:08.000
Yes. Yes, Well, like you, I grew up in a

639
00:38:08.199 --> 00:38:14.599
very homodiously white town and was northeastern Oregon. We were

640
00:38:14.719 --> 00:38:18.320
largely white, Hispanics had some representation, they were very much

641
00:38:18.320 --> 00:38:20.679
the minority. I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

642
00:38:20.760 --> 00:38:24.679
For some reason, I inherently had an interest in difference

643
00:38:24.760 --> 00:38:28.079
in other people, and like you, when when I went

644
00:38:28.119 --> 00:38:31.079
to London, I also found the Indian community, and they

645
00:38:31.119 --> 00:38:33.559
were very warm and embracing to me too, who probably

646
00:38:33.719 --> 00:38:36.079
might have been about the same time. But yes, so

647
00:38:36.119 --> 00:38:39.280
I just really wanted to echo this notion of how

648
00:38:39.639 --> 00:38:42.239
being around other cultures is enlarging. So many people are

649
00:38:42.280 --> 00:38:45.400
afraid to talk with or approach people that look different

650
00:38:45.400 --> 00:38:48.239
than them, and I just want to encourage that curiosity.

651
00:38:48.360 --> 00:38:52.159
And again back on why education, why are we going

652
00:38:52.199 --> 00:38:56.360
about this. The world desperately needs to be united, not fragmented.

653
00:38:57.480 --> 00:39:00.480
It's true, and to your point, the world is a

654
00:39:00.559 --> 00:39:07.800
shrinking place with technology and with the ability of transportation

655
00:39:08.840 --> 00:39:11.480
making it possible for people to be everywhere in the world.

656
00:39:12.199 --> 00:39:16.760
Have a great sort of subset to that story about

657
00:39:16.920 --> 00:39:21.840
learning from Indians and Pakistanis in London. Little would I

658
00:39:21.960 --> 00:39:26.960
realize dial forward twenty years later. This was the conversation

659
00:39:27.079 --> 00:39:30.280
with my friend mushdak Malik a couple of weeks ago

660
00:39:30.320 --> 00:39:35.880
in Monaco. Little did I realize that twenty or thirty

661
00:39:35.960 --> 00:39:39.599
years later, less than twenty years later, I would be

662
00:39:40.199 --> 00:39:44.760
CEO of seven to eleven and my largest franchise community

663
00:39:44.800 --> 00:39:50.440
would be comprised of Indians and Pakistanis, and my ability

664
00:39:50.519 --> 00:39:56.199
to learn from my friends their culture and understand it,

665
00:39:56.360 --> 00:39:59.920
not be intimidated by it, not be misled by per

666
00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:03.840
perceptions of it. But to embrace that culture was a

667
00:40:04.000 --> 00:40:05.599
huge career boost for me.

668
00:40:06.239 --> 00:40:09.960
Absolutely, absolutely, And I love the story you told about.

669
00:40:10.280 --> 00:40:13.159
I forget what was the surrounding it, But when your

670
00:40:13.280 --> 00:40:16.280
franchise franchises were getting rocks thrown through their windows and

671
00:40:16.280 --> 00:40:18.159
you're like, what's going on here? Why are they targeting

672
00:40:18.239 --> 00:40:21.079
these people? This is not right. I understand them to be.

673
00:40:21.079 --> 00:40:26.320
About right, right, right, But I had that a perspective

674
00:40:26.400 --> 00:40:29.559
that was very different than I would have had had

675
00:40:29.559 --> 00:40:31.960
I not had that experience, and I was I'll be

676
00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:38.159
forever grateful. I literally was thanking my friend for unwittingly,

677
00:40:38.760 --> 00:40:42.519
you know, helping me be a better business person because

678
00:40:43.079 --> 00:40:46.920
he gave me this help to stimulate this culture literacy

679
00:40:47.440 --> 00:40:50.280
that ended up being an important element in my career.

680
00:40:50.519 --> 00:40:53.800
And I can't emphasize how much more important it is

681
00:40:53.840 --> 00:40:57.800
today for everyone everyone listening, if you have children or

682
00:40:57.840 --> 00:41:01.679
if you're young yourself. In thirty years, this world is

683
00:41:01.719 --> 00:41:04.559
going to be such a smaller place, and the need

684
00:41:04.639 --> 00:41:07.480
to be able to interact with cultures from all over

685
00:41:07.519 --> 00:41:10.000
the planet will be critically important.

686
00:41:10.239 --> 00:41:13.519
Yes, I agreed, and it's so beautiful. Okay, So there's

687
00:41:13.519 --> 00:41:14.960
two more things I want to cover before I let

688
00:41:15.039 --> 00:41:16.840
you go this time, and one of them is the

689
00:41:16.960 --> 00:41:19.199
three C for why I learn, which is character.

690
00:41:22.039 --> 00:41:27.960
Yeah. I included that as the last and possibly the

691
00:41:28.000 --> 00:41:33.519
most powerful. See because we can learn from books, and

692
00:41:33.599 --> 00:41:37.519
we can learn any topic at all from the internet,

693
00:41:37.599 --> 00:41:41.920
from books, from classrooms. But the hardest thing to learn

694
00:41:42.480 --> 00:41:50.079
is that our character ends up being our brand. So

695
00:41:50.360 --> 00:41:52.960
if you may have seen me take a sip of

696
00:41:53.079 --> 00:41:56.480
a soft drink and my friends from PEPSI will be

697
00:41:56.480 --> 00:41:58.760
an upset if I use this example. But I'm going

698
00:41:58.800 --> 00:42:02.199
to use Coca Cola as example. This is a brand,

699
00:42:02.320 --> 00:42:06.079
and when I am looking for a cola beverage, I

700
00:42:06.119 --> 00:42:10.039
will turn to either Coke or Pepsi because I know

701
00:42:10.079 --> 00:42:16.199
what's inside, and that brand has a look on the outside,

702
00:42:16.199 --> 00:42:20.360
it has packaging, it has appearance, and then I know

703
00:42:20.400 --> 00:42:26.480
what's inside. I have the confidence and trust in that product. Now,

704
00:42:26.559 --> 00:42:31.559
people forget that each of us has a brand and

705
00:42:31.599 --> 00:42:34.840
it's a combination of what we look like on the outside.

706
00:42:34.840 --> 00:42:40.000
So yes, appearance is important, and more important than the

707
00:42:40.119 --> 00:42:44.760
external appearance is who we are on the inside. So

708
00:42:45.159 --> 00:42:48.679
just like that, can of Coca Cola when I pick

709
00:42:48.719 --> 00:42:53.079
it up, I have the confidence, the trust in that product.

710
00:42:53.599 --> 00:43:00.880
So our integrity, our gratitude, our compassion, our humility, all

711
00:43:00.960 --> 00:43:05.000
of those elements that make us who we are are

712
00:43:05.119 --> 00:43:09.800
our brand. And you know, let's face it, people have

713
00:43:09.920 --> 00:43:13.119
choices with who they work with, who they associate with,

714
00:43:13.440 --> 00:43:17.840
who they want to invest in, And all of these

715
00:43:17.960 --> 00:43:22.000
choices come down to what do people see and feel

716
00:43:22.159 --> 00:43:26.880
when they interact with you. It's your character so critically important.

717
00:43:27.159 --> 00:43:29.119
M Yeah, and if they also decided if they want

718
00:43:29.119 --> 00:43:33.400
to follow you or not too exactly right, all right,

719
00:43:33.440 --> 00:43:36.000
so we've done it. If we've now then now covered

720
00:43:36.039 --> 00:43:38.280
the why we're learning here? That was and that was

721
00:43:38.320 --> 00:43:39.960
exactly what I wanted you and I wanted to get

722
00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:42.239
in there and chew on that. That part of your

723
00:43:42.280 --> 00:43:44.159
book is we didn't get to it last time. The

724
00:43:44.239 --> 00:43:45.920
last thing that I want to cover, which I thought

725
00:43:45.960 --> 00:43:49.519
was a really really fresh idea, is your notion of

726
00:43:49.639 --> 00:43:51.320
what's RX for humanity.

727
00:43:53.119 --> 00:43:56.440
Yeah. I, as I wrote the book, I intended it

728
00:43:56.480 --> 00:43:59.639
originally for young people. Let's let me let me help

729
00:44:00.119 --> 00:44:03.920
other students find the path to success that I was

730
00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:06.079
fortunate to find. And I'm gonna I'm going to wrap

731
00:44:06.119 --> 00:44:08.280
it in what to learn, how to learn, and why

732
00:44:08.360 --> 00:44:11.440
to learn? And then as I began to work on

733
00:44:11.519 --> 00:44:14.840
the book and research things like, well, what are the obstacles,

734
00:44:15.159 --> 00:44:18.840
what are the obstacles to collaboration, what are the obstacles

735
00:44:18.880 --> 00:44:23.039
to critical thinking? And what are the obstacles to people

736
00:44:23.119 --> 00:44:27.599
embracing change? I came with a up to with a

737
00:44:27.800 --> 00:44:32.440
constant theme that I discovered and it's the same thing

738
00:44:32.480 --> 00:44:35.039
I discovered in the business world. It's the same thing

739
00:44:35.079 --> 00:44:38.280
I discovered in the academic world, and that is fear

740
00:44:40.320 --> 00:44:44.440
that what is it that causes I'm going to take

741
00:44:44.480 --> 00:44:47.280
you all the way back to grade school. Remember in

742
00:44:47.320 --> 00:44:50.760
grade school when I was that kid that said I know,

743
00:44:50.960 --> 00:44:55.000
I know, and I was ridiculed for it. You probably

744
00:44:55.119 --> 00:45:00.199
were too, And that's had nothing to do with me me.

745
00:45:01.079 --> 00:45:03.400
It had everything to do with them that they were

746
00:45:03.519 --> 00:45:07.159
afraid that I was going to show them up, that

747
00:45:07.199 --> 00:45:09.599
they were going to get left behind, that the teacher

748
00:45:09.679 --> 00:45:11.920
was going to like me better than them. It was

749
00:45:12.000 --> 00:45:16.679
fear right, and so dial that forward. And then I

750
00:45:16.800 --> 00:45:20.480
entered the workforce and I discovered, wait a minute, it's

751
00:45:20.519 --> 00:45:23.320
the same thing. It's first I discovered it in a

752
00:45:23.360 --> 00:45:25.920
blue collar world in a factory where I was working

753
00:45:25.960 --> 00:45:29.719
too hard and people were criticizing me to the point

754
00:45:29.760 --> 00:45:32.320
of wanting to fight with me over.

755
00:45:32.480 --> 00:45:35.280
You were a rapebuster. Yes, I know, I remember that story.

756
00:45:35.480 --> 00:45:38.519
Yeah, yeah, it's terrible. And what what was that? It

757
00:45:38.599 --> 00:45:40.639
was fear. They didn't want to lose their job, they

758
00:45:40.679 --> 00:45:43.039
didn't want to look bad. And then dial it to

759
00:45:43.079 --> 00:45:45.920
the white collar world, same thing. And then I and

760
00:45:45.960 --> 00:45:49.480
then I realized, you know what, this isn't just academic fear.

761
00:45:49.800 --> 00:45:53.280
It's not just corporate fear. Although in corporations it's a

762
00:45:53.440 --> 00:45:57.440
killer of careers and it's a killer of corporations. It

763
00:45:57.480 --> 00:46:01.639
is they stop innovating. Why because the they just get stuck.

764
00:46:02.400 --> 00:46:04.239
But then I looked at society and I said, oh

765
00:46:04.239 --> 00:46:07.679
my gosh, this is the same thing that's tearing us apart.

766
00:46:07.800 --> 00:46:11.960
It's creating the polarization. And I see people all the

767
00:46:12.039 --> 00:46:18.440
time that are going against their values, completely against their values,

768
00:46:18.519 --> 00:46:24.119
supporting issues causes leaders whatever you want, and fighting to

769
00:46:24.159 --> 00:46:28.920
the death over it when it makes no sense because

770
00:46:28.960 --> 00:46:31.119
it's so inconsistent with who they are and what their

771
00:46:31.239 --> 00:46:33.840
values are. But then you look inside of it and

772
00:46:33.880 --> 00:46:38.639
you go, ah, it is almost tribal behavior caused by fear.

773
00:46:39.000 --> 00:46:42.440
Someone's convinced them someone's going to take something from you,

774
00:46:42.639 --> 00:46:45.840
do something to you, get something that you're not going

775
00:46:45.920 --> 00:46:51.480
to get, and it creates this tendency to then tribal,

776
00:46:51.760 --> 00:46:55.119
be tribal, and be with those people that think like you,

777
00:46:55.280 --> 00:47:00.119
even if their values don't match, but you're convinced that

778
00:47:00.360 --> 00:47:04.079
they are right, that those other people are the enemy.

779
00:47:04.159 --> 00:47:08.519
And it's totally fear based. So in the course of

780
00:47:08.719 --> 00:47:14.000
identifying this fear based issue, I thought, well, what I'm

781
00:47:14.000 --> 00:47:15.360
I gonna do about this. I've got to come up

782
00:47:15.400 --> 00:47:17.360
with a solution. How do I come up with a solution?

783
00:47:19.639 --> 00:47:30.239
So I researched, I employed my critical thinking. I have

784
00:47:30.280 --> 00:47:34.639
a hypothesis that this fear is irrational and can be solved.

785
00:47:34.679 --> 00:47:37.199
How do you solve it? And then let me put

786
00:47:37.239 --> 00:47:40.400
that process in place, collect data, and then go back

787
00:47:40.440 --> 00:47:43.400
and adjust my hypothesis. So here's what I came up with.

788
00:47:44.760 --> 00:47:51.599
I went back to the ancient philosopher's Aristotle, Socrates, a

789
00:47:51.639 --> 00:48:02.280
guy named Rusht, an Andalusian philosopher who was also quoted

790
00:48:02.320 --> 00:48:06.119
in Star Wars, not an exact quote, but pretty much

791
00:48:06.199 --> 00:48:17.760
by Yoda. And the quote was that ignorance leads to anger,

792
00:48:19.639 --> 00:48:24.079
and well, ignorance leads to fear. Ignorance is what causes fear.

793
00:48:24.400 --> 00:48:26.039
And this is so true. If you're a kid and

794
00:48:26.079 --> 00:48:28.320
you're afraid of the dark, you turn on the light.

795
00:48:29.039 --> 00:48:31.079
Well, that's not about one minute left him, so I

796
00:48:31.079 --> 00:48:32.280
want to make sure you get through the whole thing.

797
00:48:32.760 --> 00:48:36.599
So ignorance leads to fear, and fear leads to anger.

798
00:48:36.840 --> 00:48:40.400
Anger leads to violence. Right, anger leads to hate. Hate

799
00:48:40.480 --> 00:48:43.559
leads to violence. So what's the antidote to that? Well,

800
00:48:43.559 --> 00:48:46.960
that's what Yoda said to young Luke, that that knowledge

801
00:48:47.960 --> 00:48:52.360
is the antidote to ignorance, and knowledge can lead to understanding.

802
00:48:52.480 --> 00:48:56.039
Understanding leads to hope. Hope leads to peace. And if

803
00:48:56.079 --> 00:48:59.559
you can take this negative cycle of fear and replace

804
00:48:59.599 --> 00:49:02.360
it with knowledge, and by the way, I'll add a

805
00:49:02.360 --> 00:49:05.280
little faith, because that's what Yoda was saying with the force, right,

806
00:49:05.360 --> 00:49:08.480
doesn't matter what religion, if you have faith. So the

807
00:49:08.639 --> 00:49:12.320
combination of knowledge and faith can reverse this cycle of

808
00:49:12.400 --> 00:49:15.800
fear that society is in today and reverse it by

809
00:49:15.880 --> 00:49:20.519
using knowledge and faith to have hope and hope leads

810
00:49:20.559 --> 00:49:26.000
to understanding and peace, And what a better world to live?

811
00:49:26.039 --> 00:49:30.800
In so that's literally why I said that the book

812
00:49:30.920 --> 00:49:33.920
Education is Freedom. I said, the future is in your

813
00:49:33.960 --> 00:49:36.440
hands because it's up to each and every one of

814
00:49:36.519 --> 00:49:43.239
us individually to counter to conquer fear through knowledge and

815
00:49:43.280 --> 00:49:46.639
to replace that cycle of fear with a cycle of hope.

816
00:49:47.519 --> 00:49:50.639
And that I believe makes this book a self help

817
00:49:50.679 --> 00:49:53.559
guide for humanity if people will look at it in

818
00:49:53.599 --> 00:49:54.679
that fashion.

819
00:49:54.599 --> 00:49:56.559
Which is why I wanted to have you back on Jim.

820
00:49:56.599 --> 00:49:58.920
Thank you so much for coming back. You are a

821
00:49:58.960 --> 00:50:01.519
gift and so glad to know. I know you listeners

822
00:50:01.519 --> 00:50:03.039
and viewers, you are going to want to learn more

823
00:50:03.079 --> 00:50:05.599
about this man and his life and what he's created.

824
00:50:05.639 --> 00:50:08.000
You can find him at a couple sites. Education is

825
00:50:08.039 --> 00:50:11.760
freedombook dot com or his personal site, James W. Keys

826
00:50:11.840 --> 00:50:15.719
dot com. We'll catch you next week for another titillating

827
00:50:15.840 --> 00:50:18.119
version of Working on Purpose. This is something that is

828
00:50:18.199 --> 00:50:20.119
my pride and passion. I bring it to you with

829
00:50:20.320 --> 00:50:22.599
conviction and I hope you'll see I'll see you next week.

830
00:50:22.679 --> 00:50:27.639
Thanks again, Jim, thank you.

831
00:50:28.199 --> 00:50:30.840
We hope you've enjoyed this week's program. Be sure to

832
00:50:30.880 --> 00:50:34.519
tune into Working on Purpose featuring your host, doctor Elise Cortes,

833
00:50:34.639 --> 00:50:37.960
each week on W four CY. Together, we'll create a

834
00:50:38.000 --> 00:50:42.599
world where business operates conscientiously. Leadership inspires and passion performance

835
00:50:42.719 --> 00:50:45.480
and employees are fulfilled in work that provides the meaning

836
00:50:45.519 --> 00:50:46.559
and purpose they crave.

837
00:50:47.000 --> 00:50:47.639
See you there.

838
00:50:47.920 --> 00:50:49.320
Let's work on purpose.