WEBVTT - Apolo Ohno & Lisa Leslie: How to Be An Olympian 0:00:03.560 --> 0:00:05.800 Like millions of people around the world, Hilly and I 0:00:05.800 --> 0:00:07.680 spent a lot of time in the last couple of 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:11.480 weeks tuning into the Winter Olympics. As we cheered on 0:00:11.560 --> 0:00:15.640 Team USA and marveled at the almost superhuman athleticism on display, 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:19.000 I was reminded why I love the Olympics so much. 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:21.720 If you've listened to this podcast at all, you know 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:24.280 I'm a big fan of sports and athletes of all kinds. 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:28.760 I admire their dedication, determination, hard work, and raw talent, 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:32.920 and they embody what so many people aspire to be 0:00:33.040 --> 0:00:36.559 in their own lives. The Olympics puts that on display 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:40.320 on a global scale. As President, I had the opportunity 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:43.320 to celebrate many triumphs by Team USA and meet hundreds 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:47.240 of athletes who represented our country so well. It was 0:00:47.280 --> 0:00:49.760 a special honor to be president when the United States 0:00:49.760 --> 0:00:53.720 hosted the Games in Atlanta, and I'll never forget the 0:00:53.800 --> 0:00:58.040 experiences giving the Olympic Torch a ceremonial sendal from the 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:01.080 White House as it began its journey to Olympic Village, 0:01:01.720 --> 0:01:05.080 attending the opening ceremony with Hillary, where Muhammad Ali lift 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:08.679 the flame, visiting with athletes in the US, and several 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:11.120 other nations while we were there was in some ways 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:14.760 the most interesting thing of all. So why am I 0:01:14.840 --> 0:01:20.080 telling you this? Because at their best, the Olympics symbolize 0:01:20.360 --> 0:01:24.959 our world's potential for cooperation, for bringing people together, for 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:29.399 honoring the common humanity that unitess across old divisions of gender, race, 0:01:29.560 --> 0:01:35.119 geographical borders. No one knows more about the Olympic experience, 0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:38.679 of course, than the athletes themselves, and today I'm honored 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:41.560 to have two iconic gold medalists with me to offer 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:44.760 their insights on the Olympics, on the years of training 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:47.840 to go into qualifying, all the rigors of competing in 0:01:47.840 --> 0:01:50.840 the Olympics, the ups and downs at all athletes faced, 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:56.160 and finding residience to keep going. Apollo On won eight 0:01:56.200 --> 0:01:59.480 medals and short track speed skating across three Olympics from 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:03.320 two thou and two two thousand ten, America's all time 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:07.560 most decorated Winter Olympian in the process, becoming the face 0:02:07.560 --> 0:02:11.040 of his sport and one of America's most iconic athletes. 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:17.840 Since retiring from competition, he's transitioned successfully into business, philanthropy, broadcasting, 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:23.000 and book rotting. His latest book, Hard Pivot, is out 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:27.000 this month. It takes us through this transition and offers 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:31.520 guidance for anyone facing big life changes, a subject especially 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:34.920 useful in these times, as so many of us navigate 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:40.440 uncharted waters. I've loved watching him throughout the years. I'm 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:42.600 glad I got the chance to meet him twenty years ago, 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:45.840 and I'm very grateful for the chance to speak with 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:50.679 him now. Apollo. Thanks for joining us, Mr President. It's 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:54.840 wonderful to see you again. Twenty years later. I was 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:57.760 thinking about you know, we have in our home that 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:03.320 picture of you and our family together in the Dominican Republic. 0:03:03.320 --> 0:03:06.280 It was great. I remember that very very well. It 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:08.560 was it was an honor. I've been really impressed by 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:11.720 what you're trying to do and helping people manage transitions 0:03:11.720 --> 0:03:14.600 in their lives and also supporting these athletes that are 0:03:14.680 --> 0:03:17.480 under so much stress. I think it's I think it's 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:21.880 really good. The average person has no idea how much 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:25.040 mental stress of companies, the efforts you have to make 0:03:25.120 --> 0:03:27.280 to be the best in the world, and anything I 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:30.639 agree and I do is overlaw of support. Yeah, it's 0:03:31.080 --> 0:03:32.960 I think that that's that's why we all fall in 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:35.600 love with with the Olympics. Every time they come because 0:03:36.320 --> 0:03:40.800 of the the kind of only limited three podium spots 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:43.880 that are available, but the thousands of athletes that have 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:47.480 dedicated a ten year or sometimes even a twenty year 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:52.040 UM path towards being their best, and we tend to 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:55.080 only celebrate champions the ones that they are standing typically 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:57.240 on top of the podium or receiving a medal in 0:03:57.280 --> 0:04:00.280 some capacity UM. But it's not to say that those 0:04:00.280 --> 0:04:02.560 other those others haven't done the work, they haven't put 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:04.960 in the time and the energy and that sacrifice and dedication. 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:08.720 And so what's interesting I think in today, at least 0:04:08.800 --> 0:04:12.840 from my purview, is this transformation I think all of 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:16.839 us are are having around this transparency of talking about 0:04:16.880 --> 0:04:20.560 the pressures associated with such high levels of performance, whether 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:23.600 that is in the Olympics for the athletes specifically, and 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:25.800 the other side of the coin of what's happening behind 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:28.479 the curtain, right what's happening between our own two ears. 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:30.799 And I think at the end of the day, although 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:34.400 we hoist many people up on pedestals because we aspire 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:37.520 and are inspired by them to to to be something 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:39.920 that semblance a little more like them, I think at 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:42.560 least what I've seen is Um, this ability to say, well, 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:44.960 that person is also human and he or she has 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:47.760 the same thoughts and the same struggles and the same 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:51.120 insecurities and self doubts. You know that I do. And uh, 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:55.400 just trying to help people manage that the best way possible. 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:58.320 You wrote this book that I think it's coming at 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:02.680 a very important time because everybody has undergone some chance 0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:06.120 in their lives lately as a result of COVID, and 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:09.039 COVID has taken a pretty terrible tone, not only in 0:05:09.520 --> 0:05:11.719 the lives we have lost and the people who have 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:16.719 been permanently impaired, but the fights were having over the 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:21.520 vaccine and masks and just the anxiety that people have. 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:26.000 It's it's it's unnatural to worry about going outside, walking 0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:30.000 down the street, being with your friends, doing all these things. 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:32.760 So this book of yours is coming in an important time, 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:35.800 and uh, I'd like to talk about it a little 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:38.479 bit and why you think it's just as important for 0:05:38.880 --> 0:05:43.880 people who aren't Olympic level athletes to read is for 0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:46.880 people who are in high level competitions. Yeah, and and 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:49.600 you know this is the book it's called hard Pivot, 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:53.880 Embrace change, fine purpose and show up fully it's a 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:58.120 short book, it's a it's an easy read. And when 0:05:58.120 --> 0:06:00.480 I started writing this book two and a half years ago, 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:04.279 it was actually and deeply rooted in kind of my 0:06:04.360 --> 0:06:09.719 own struggles and tribulations around my reinvention or my transition 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:12.680 from this one identity that I had been married to 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:17.080 my entire life, which was Apollo oh no, Olympic champion 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:21.719 speed skater um, you know, fifteen years in the Olympic 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:24.360 path in space, and so I had. I had only 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:27.320 thought that that's what I was. I had no idea 0:06:27.480 --> 0:06:31.400 other facets my personality. I was naturally curious. I was 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:34.960 interested in exploring different parts of business in the world, 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:39.080 but I still carried that business card with me. It's 0:06:39.160 --> 0:06:42.000 really hard for me to figure out when I decided 0:06:42.040 --> 0:06:45.440 to retire, what's next, Like what am I good at? 0:06:45.600 --> 0:06:48.279 What am I passionate about? And will I ever be 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:52.320 able to replace the feeling that I once had representing 0:06:52.320 --> 0:06:55.279 our country and competing in the Olympic Games and having 0:06:55.320 --> 0:06:58.640 thousands and millions of people around this country cheer for me. 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:02.919 I had realized quite quickly that we always see things 0:07:02.960 --> 0:07:04.920 for what they are in the moment. We stay so 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:07.560 zoomed in and we believe that this moment is the 0:07:07.600 --> 0:07:10.320 defining moment, this is what's going to have the rest 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:12.480 of my legacy and chapter for the rest of my life. 0:07:12.840 --> 0:07:14.800 And I think we failed to realize that it's just 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:19.000 one chapter. It's a part of all these different experiences 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:22.240 that make up the entire book. And so there was 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:24.800 this deep psychological process that I had to go through 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:28.679 in terms of who am I? What is important? My father, 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:32.440 who has been a huge um just just advocate and 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:35.920 support of my life, but also his philosophy on kind 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:38.960 of always prompting me to ask the internal questions, and 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:42.360 you talk about like how am I keeping score of 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:46.280 a life well lived regardless of what the external circumstances 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:49.520 are telling me as and and this book reminds me 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:53.200 to kind of ask life, right, what does Apollo want 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:57.240 from life? And what do I believe life wants from Apollo? 0:07:57.720 --> 0:08:02.560 How can I engage in this path um knowing full 0:08:02.560 --> 0:08:05.560 well that I'm gonna have failures, I will have multiple mistakes, 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:08.480 i will have missteps, but also making sure that I 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:11.160 am aligned with that true north so that I can 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:14.520 zoom out and also remain committed on that path. And 0:08:14.560 --> 0:08:18.559 so the book is dedicated towards people who either during 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:21.240 COVID they were laid off, they decided they didn'ty don't 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:23.280 no longer want to pursue this career that they spent 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:26.280 twenty or thirty years in, and now they're stuck with 0:08:26.320 --> 0:08:29.840 the same question of how do I do my best 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:32.360 in life to find my true north? How do I 0:08:32.440 --> 0:08:36.560 keep score? And actually understand that the scorecard maybe was 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:39.360 the wrong scorecard from the beginning. Maybe I was living 0:08:39.840 --> 0:08:43.240 a life in fear of other people's opinions versus what 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:46.760 I fundamentally believe is the most important thing for me, 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:50.360 my family and my community, etcetera. And I hope it 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:53.400 will help improve and change at least light the fire 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:58.160 within a lot of people. I remember, sometime around the 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:00.480 time I left the White Else might be a yours later. 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:02.880 I had given a lot of thought to what I 0:09:02.920 --> 0:09:06.000 would do in the rest of my life, but I 0:09:06.080 --> 0:09:09.360 knew just vaguely how I wanted to do it. I 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:13.160 didn't I couldn't answer the how question. So first you 0:09:13.200 --> 0:09:15.000 have to say what, then you have to say how. 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:18.520 And Uh. I read a little book by a man 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:24.719 named Spencer Johnson called Who Moved My Cheese? And It 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:28.640 was from a story about mice being trained in laboratory 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:32.680 experiments to navigate fairly complicated mazes to get to the 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:35.400 cheese once they found the cheese, and they had a 0:09:35.520 --> 0:09:42.079 surprising capacity to remember complex roots until somebody moved the cheese. 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:47.360 And you know, you stopped speed skating and somebody moved 0:09:47.360 --> 0:09:51.800 your cheese. You biology moved your cheese. All kinds of things. 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:56.040 You had to make that decision. And I think you're 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:59.120 still young enough that a lot of people much younger 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:03.360 than you know about you remember with great pride and 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:08.360 excitement what you accomplished, but are out there asking these 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:11.400 questions of themselves now because this is happening to people 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:14.960 at all ages. I have a lot of young friends 0:10:15.000 --> 0:10:19.559 that I just see them asking these questions now, probably 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:22.760 twenty thirty years before they would have asked had it 0:10:22.840 --> 0:10:25.920 out been for this total disruption of our lives in 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:29.080 in two thousand two, before the first Olympic Games that 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:32.760 I had competed in just six months prior was the 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:37.360 September eleven, two thousand one, um devastating attacks on on 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:42.160 this country. And you know, during that time, I was, 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:44.600 you know, I was eighteen going on fifteen I always 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:49.280 joke and uh, and I remember walking into the opening ceremonies, 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:51.160 you know, just a year six months after, you know, 0:10:51.160 --> 0:10:54.120 the country was very uncertain in terms of travel. We 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:57.559 weren't we weren't entirely sure if we should be hosting 0:10:57.600 --> 0:11:00.839 a global event on home soil. We didn't know if 0:11:00.880 --> 0:11:04.680 it was an invitation to replicate what had just happened, 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:08.760 and so there was this uneasiness that existed, this uncertainty, 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:12.520 a lot of misinformation and disinformation that existed, and um, 0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:15.400 people were unsure. For the first time in a long time. 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:17.839 We I think we as a country had been brought 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:20.200 to a niece, so to speak. And it was hard 0:11:20.240 --> 0:11:22.679 to believe that, right. I think that the ethos of 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:26.600 being American was kind of always brashedly, always saying like 0:11:26.600 --> 0:11:29.760 we're the best, We're number one, you know, uh, nothing 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:32.760 can can can take us down. And and it was 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:35.040 it was this time where I remember walking to the 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:39.400 opening ceremonies and you know, seeing the the you know, 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:42.560 the security and the Special Forces people were on top 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:45.960 of rooftops and they had their night vision goggles and 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:49.800 walking into the actual arena. And then at that point 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:53.280 in time, you know, this like reverberance of energy that 0:11:53.440 --> 0:11:57.000 was like unified. They had walked in this flag that 0:11:57.080 --> 0:11:59.640 was flown at the World Trade Center from New York. 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:02.200 One of my very close friends and teammates was a 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:05.400 part of that contingency that walked in the flag and 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:09.000 there wasn't a dry eye in the entire arena. But really, 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:12.960 and most importantly, um, there was this sense of community. 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:16.840 And you know, the Olympics was really powerful. It showed 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:20.280 that hey, we're going to persevere, we are going to continue. 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:24.640 Is there uncertainty, yes, is there going to be risk here, yes, 0:12:24.679 --> 0:12:28.000 but we have to continue and pick ourselves back up again. 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:31.680 And that was at the moment for me in which 0:12:31.679 --> 0:12:33.840 I felt like, Wow, this is this is way bigger 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:36.320 than this little sport of speed skating that I do. 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:40.599 This is something that is very representative regardless of outcome. 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:45.480 Here's an incredible opportunity in a chance to have unification, 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:49.560 to have common belief, to have Team USA and a 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:53.080 global arena for people to compete their absolute best and 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:57.040 showcase the utmost of the human spirit. And my very 0:12:57.080 --> 0:13:01.440 first race, it was the two thousand two um Win Olympics. 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:04.400 It was a one thousand meters in Salt Lake City. UM. 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:06.280 I was favored to win the race. I was like 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:09.840 on all these magazines and um a mirror. Moments before 0:13:09.880 --> 0:13:11.760 the finish line and I was in first place. At 0:13:11.800 --> 0:13:14.800 the snap of the finger, another athlete crashed into me 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:18.640 and then all of us went spiraling into the paths 0:13:19.360 --> 0:13:22.240 UM and my Olympic dreams of winning gold in that 0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:25.760 race were almost over. And I scrambled to my feet, 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:29.120 falling again. But I thrust my skates across the finish 0:13:29.200 --> 0:13:32.240 line in this like wild craze of just trying to 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:35.840 finish the race. That was my instinctual habit. I didn't 0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:38.679 know what happened. I rush off of the ice. Um 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:42.319 I had just one silver. Uh, and I was confused. 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:44.800 I didn't know what happened. And and for for a second, 0:13:45.040 --> 0:13:47.520 you know, like many others, I felt like, hey, this 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:50.480 was taken from me. I was deserving of that gold. 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:53.760 It was mine, it was someone else's faults. Those are 0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:58.640 my natural human reactions and responses. And then in incomes in. Uh, 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:01.000 this this friend of mine who also our physio and 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:03.600 kind of slash doctor. He's got this crazy look in 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:04.840 his eye, and he looks at me and he says 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:07.800 Apollo that was the most incredible race in the world. 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:10.040 At the time, I had this huge gash in my leg. 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:12.760 I just cut myself and it's at that moment that 0:14:12.800 --> 0:14:16.559 I realized it, Wow, this this was a gift. I 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:18.800 didn't get the color of the metal that I wanted, 0:14:18.840 --> 0:14:21.520 but representative of that was this ability to get back 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:25.160 up and win that silver. And so I told myself 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:27.040 as I went out to receive the medals in the 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:30.200 in the metal ceremony, that I was going to celebrate 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:33.440 this silver as if it was the gold, because it 0:14:33.520 --> 0:14:37.200 represented so much more than just the race itself. It 0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:39.880 was We're going to get back, We're going to get 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:43.080 knocked down, and during those times is a defining component 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:47.280 of how do you get yourself back up, recalibrate and 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:51.760 continue on. And it's never easy, and oftentimes life doesn't 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:53.880 give us the entire result that we would like if 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:56.960 we were the ones holding the playbook and writing the script, 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:00.480 so to speak. But I think it's how we react 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:03.640 and respond to those life challenges that are at the 0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:07.280 time are seemingly crushing and they can paralyze you in 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:10.400 a capacity that doesn't allow you be your best self. 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:12.600 But then later on life. We realize that that was 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:15.560 the most incredible blessing of all and that to this day, 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:18.400 out of the eight medals that I've won, was the 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:21.720 most significant, the most important, and the one that I 0:15:21.760 --> 0:15:23.960 think is my favorite because of the life lessons that 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:25.720 I carry with me today, not because of the color 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:29.480 of the metal. I was watching that, right, I remember 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:33.560 the crash, and I remember being so proud that somehow 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:39.320 you got up and finished in you tried out for 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:42.160 the one or Olympics and you didn't qualify this right, 0:15:42.680 --> 0:15:44.720 what happened? Then? How did you react? Did you ever 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:51.680 think for a moment about quitting? I did? I was confused. So, 0:15:51.920 --> 0:15:54.720 you know, in the Olympic Games are going to be 0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:58.360 held in not going to Japan, which is near where 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:01.240 my grandparents are actually from. And so my father was 0:16:01.280 --> 0:16:04.280 a Japanese immigrant who came to the US um no 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:07.320 money in his pocket, you know, like incredible immigrant story 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:09.760 that just kind of fought tooth and nail and survived 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:12.080 to live the American dream, which was to pursue his 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:14.960 passion in this country. And when I was born, everything 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:18.640 changed and so you know, for his entire, my entire 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:20.400 life at that point, my father wanted me to do 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:23.040 something special, and here was the moment in which we 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:25.320 were going to come back to Japan. My dad was 0:16:25.320 --> 0:16:29.040 gonna say, see, it wasn't for nothing. Look at we produced. 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:32.640 We produced this. You know, our our son, our family 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:35.800 is going to compete on Japanese home soil, compete for 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:38.800 the US. This is like the perfect story book. I 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:42.600 was fifteen years old. One year prior to that trials, 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:45.120 I was actually number one in the US. I was 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:46.560 ranked number one in the U S. I had this 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:50.720 incredible rise to um being technically the captain of the team, 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:53.200 so to speak, by performance, not by not by age, 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:56.480 of course, and uh in less than a year at 0:16:56.520 --> 0:17:00.000 those Olympic trials, I finished dead last, sixteenth place. Actually, 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:03.640 I was kind of mentally defeated that year. I had 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:07.399 not gone um to the levels that are required to 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:10.359 be your absolute best. I went through the motions, and 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:14.760 my father saw this pattern that was starting to show 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:18.040 habits um in the way that I trained and approached 0:17:18.080 --> 0:17:20.680 the sport. And so after I did not make that team, 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:24.000 was I defeated? Yes? And so my father took me 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:27.040 and we flew back to the Seattle area where I 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:29.520 where I grew up and I'm from and he drove 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:33.120 me about three and a half hours southwest of downtown Seattle, 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:37.080 and this area on the Pacific Ocean called the Palace Beach. 0:17:37.119 --> 0:17:38.639 And at the time, you know, we didn't grow up 0:17:38.680 --> 0:17:40.040 with a lot of money, and so whenever we had 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:43.240 the chance, my father would drive me to these nature 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:46.960 esque places um that we're somewhat nearby, and we would 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:49.159 we would we would sketch, and we would walk, and 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:50.760 he would talk to me about life and give me 0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:53.040 lessons and and all these things. And so this was 0:17:53.080 --> 0:17:55.320 the place that we had been many times. And there 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:58.199 was an old cabin there that was a part of 0:17:58.200 --> 0:18:02.560 this um area. It was called Iron Springs Resort. Now 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:06.679 at the time it was very old, very run down 0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:09.080 um and it was like a log cabin that someone 0:18:09.119 --> 0:18:13.119 had built um in these woods that that that are 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:14.960 a part of the ocean. And my father drops me 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:18.800 off at this location and he says to alone, and 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:22.399 he says, you're not listening to anything that I've been 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:26.280 saying for the past year. You've thrown away an incredible opportunity. 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:29.400 And I'm not upset that you didn't make the team. 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:32.560 What is concerning to me is that you are throwing 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:35.800 away an opportunity to be your best and you have 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:40.800 second guests, and and told yourself subconsciously that, well, maybe 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:43.439 if I would have tried harder, I probably would have 0:18:43.480 --> 0:18:47.000 made the team or committed or been more dedicated. And 0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:49.720 these can potentially haunt you for the rest of your life, 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:52.639 this feeling of regret, this feeling of maybe I'll just 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:55.760 quit and and do something else. And so he says, 0:18:55.800 --> 0:18:58.720 You're going to stay here for as long as it 0:18:58.760 --> 0:19:01.960 takes for you you to understand and realize, like which 0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:05.080 direction on life that you want to go and how 0:19:05.080 --> 0:19:08.600 are you going to pursue that. So I'm fifteen years old, right, 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:10.840 So this is the time. I can articulate much better 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:12.800 today than I could back then. Back then, I was 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:15.440 very confused and angry at my father all these things. 0:19:15.480 --> 0:19:17.199 I just I didn't want to be there. I was 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:19.040 I didn't understand why. I just want to hang out 0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:22.159 with my friends in Seattle, Like I have no video games, 0:19:22.200 --> 0:19:24.119 there's no cell phone, there's no social media, there's no 0:19:24.119 --> 0:19:26.320 way to entertain myself. And so I'm just kind of 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:28.680 trying to figure out and I'm journaling every single day 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:32.399 and I come to this conclusion that I'm willing to 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:36.640 take the risk and take the gamble one more time, uh, 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:41.760 and pursue this wild, crazy sport of speed skating and 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:44.520 try to make the next Olympic team, which be four 0:19:44.640 --> 0:19:47.800 years later, which in my sport is a very uncertain, 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:51.440 vaulatile environment. So I called my father. I let him 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:53.160 know the decision that I've made. He doesn't know which 0:19:53.160 --> 0:19:55.040 decision it was. I just told me, I've made a decision. 0:19:55.240 --> 0:19:57.159 He comes and picks me up. On the three and 0:19:57.200 --> 0:19:58.960 a half hour drive home, I explained to him that 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:01.800 I'm willing to try us one more time. He's ecstatic 0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:03.639 a because he wants to see me and he believes 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:06.919 that I have the talent skill to continue on. But 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:10.000 also um, he was happy that I actually came to 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:14.320 a conclusion that throughout this hardship, this tough love, was 0:20:14.359 --> 0:20:18.240 this underlying light switch that was turned on for some reason, 0:20:18.760 --> 0:20:23.200 and from that moment on, I harnessed the and leverage 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:27.920 the emotional trauma that occurred of not making that team 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:30.919 and the way that it made me feel, the chatter 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:34.560 that I heard in the other parents and coaches years. Oh, 0:20:34.680 --> 0:20:37.280 he's just a low statistic. He can't handle the pressure. 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:41.080 He's going to crack under pressure. Those things were deeply 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:44.280 emotionally scarring, but they also were important to me to 0:20:44.320 --> 0:20:48.600 harness the power of And that's how my career took 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:51.639 a real turn was when I decided to say, you 0:20:51.680 --> 0:20:55.639 know what, the work is the shortcut. I want to 0:20:55.680 --> 0:20:58.560 go somewhere and be there in four years, and the 0:20:58.600 --> 0:21:01.480 only way through was by doing the things necessary on 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:05.000 a day to day basis that compound over time and 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:07.280 aligned with what I felt at that time was was 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:09.720 my purpose. I know that you have had spent some 0:21:09.840 --> 0:21:14.880 time with other athletes having doubts, and only they can 0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:18.960 decide what they want in their lives. And I think 0:21:19.000 --> 0:21:20.960 you know one of the things your book will do 0:21:21.160 --> 0:21:25.840 for people who are high achievers but at some tipping 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:30.480 point is to convince them not to make the decision 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:33.880 for anyone else, but not to make it out of fear, 0:21:35.200 --> 0:21:40.320 because there is some dignity in the decision. Just to 0:21:40.400 --> 0:21:45.600 keep trying. Handling these changes is a very big deal. 0:21:46.000 --> 0:21:51.800 In handling setbacks is a very big deal. We'll be 0:21:51.920 --> 0:22:04.600 right back. What do you think we could do to 0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:09.439 pay more positive attention to the the enormous mental and 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:13.840 emotional and psychological challenges and pressures. A lot of athletes 0:22:13.880 --> 0:22:18.920 are under and still continue to value competitive excellence and 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:24.080 recognize momentary victories. How can we strike the write balance? 0:22:25.560 --> 0:22:28.919 I thought about this often. I think, Um, you know, 0:22:28.960 --> 0:22:32.000 my own conditioning around how I can be my own 0:22:32.119 --> 0:22:37.280 version of a warrior has probably also transformed over the 0:22:37.320 --> 0:22:43.000 past decade. And as we enter into an era where um, 0:22:43.119 --> 0:22:46.000 we're being much more communicative around what happens between our 0:22:46.000 --> 0:22:49.959 own two years and this connection and engagement that we 0:22:50.000 --> 0:22:54.280 can create with our communities through social or wherever. The 0:22:54.359 --> 0:22:56.840 good side is that we can actually show the human side. 0:22:57.119 --> 0:23:01.359 You can show that side that that makes us more awesome. Um, 0:23:01.400 --> 0:23:04.520 we can also exude the same type of qualities that 0:23:04.600 --> 0:23:08.240 we want to see in Olympic athletes and in those 0:23:08.280 --> 0:23:11.359 that we believe when we define the words strong. But 0:23:11.400 --> 0:23:16.360 I think the words strong now is encompassing and has texture, 0:23:17.240 --> 0:23:22.200 and that texture is associated with realizing and recognizing that 0:23:22.359 --> 0:23:27.479 you must have empathy, the vulnerability associated with seeking one's 0:23:27.560 --> 0:23:32.960 authentic truth. It's actually incredibly strong. And so you know 0:23:33.000 --> 0:23:36.199 my first reaction when I saw Simone Biles say that 0:23:36.240 --> 0:23:38.960 she was not going to continue and compete in those 0:23:38.960 --> 0:23:42.080 games might because of my own conditioning. I said, hey, 0:23:42.080 --> 0:23:44.639 that that doesn't seem fair. That seems like she's quitting. 0:23:45.760 --> 0:23:47.879 I think she's failing at what she's doing. That was 0:23:47.920 --> 0:23:51.360 my first natural response, and then I said, wait a second, Apollo, 0:23:52.200 --> 0:23:54.760 you don't know this person. Number one, You have no 0:23:54.840 --> 0:23:57.119 idea what this person has gone through or what is 0:23:57.160 --> 0:24:01.359 feeling and seeing right now and an actual reality. To 0:24:01.480 --> 0:24:04.280 say yes and continue on the same path that she 0:24:04.359 --> 0:24:07.720 had been on many many times before was actually the 0:24:07.800 --> 0:24:11.960 easy road. That was the road that was expected, and 0:24:12.000 --> 0:24:14.240 that was the road that she was conditioned to do, 0:24:14.480 --> 0:24:17.800 regardless of how she feels and or what has happened, 0:24:18.240 --> 0:24:21.479 or making a stand in some capacity, even if it 0:24:21.520 --> 0:24:23.440 meant that she was not going to get a medal. 0:24:24.160 --> 0:24:26.440 That's really hard to do. I'm not sure that I 0:24:26.480 --> 0:24:30.080 would be able to do that in full transparency. And 0:24:30.160 --> 0:24:33.160 on the flip side, to go against the grain, against 0:24:33.160 --> 0:24:39.280 what anyone else thought was acceptable and or um what 0:24:39.320 --> 0:24:41.679 we wanted to see happen. She said, I'm not going 0:24:41.680 --> 0:24:45.960 to compete because I'm not okay that has taken That 0:24:46.200 --> 0:24:51.000 takes so much strength to go against what what you know. 0:24:51.080 --> 0:24:53.760 Potentially I don't know a hundred million people in this 0:24:53.800 --> 0:24:58.520 country would say that's not the right answer, um, And 0:24:58.560 --> 0:25:01.080 so I commend her for doing that. And I'm sure 0:25:01.119 --> 0:25:04.440 that that has not been easy. UM. I think that 0:25:05.040 --> 0:25:07.800 as we entered this era where yes, there's a lot 0:25:07.800 --> 0:25:11.200 of challenges this country has. Yes, there's a lot of conflict. Yes, 0:25:11.240 --> 0:25:14.680 there's all these things that sometimes we ask ourselves, I'm 0:25:14.720 --> 0:25:17.600 not sure if we're going to make it, um. And 0:25:17.640 --> 0:25:21.040 I think the strength and the determination that exists when 0:25:21.080 --> 0:25:24.720 we define those words can live in the Olympic space, 0:25:24.720 --> 0:25:27.479 and so what can we do? I think we need 0:25:27.560 --> 0:25:30.320 to talk about it. We have to have the open 0:25:30.359 --> 0:25:34.359 lines of communication to still hold to our truth of 0:25:34.680 --> 0:25:38.320 you can be incredibly strong, you can persevere and overcome 0:25:38.400 --> 0:25:43.080 the most devastating of situations circumstances, and uh, you can 0:25:43.160 --> 0:25:47.280 come out the other side incredibly strong, calloused in a way, right, 0:25:47.320 --> 0:25:50.480 Douglas Douglas Mallock. Right, good timber does not grow with ease. 0:25:50.560 --> 0:25:55.160 The stronger wind, the stronger trees. That is the experience 0:25:55.200 --> 0:25:57.439 that we can live up to. And then realizing the 0:25:57.520 --> 0:26:00.200 scars that we have in our life, the things that 0:26:00.240 --> 0:26:03.480 have happened are what makes us who we are today. 0:26:03.520 --> 0:26:06.439 But people don't know about those unless you are communicating 0:26:06.480 --> 0:26:09.520 about them. And only through communication can we actually help 0:26:09.600 --> 0:26:13.960 those athletes proceed to be more wholesome, and I believe 0:26:13.960 --> 0:26:17.320 actually stronger, because then they own those things. They are 0:26:17.359 --> 0:26:22.119 no longer held in this mental prison, being handcuffed to 0:26:22.160 --> 0:26:24.320 this idea that I will have to do what everyone 0:26:24.359 --> 0:26:27.560 expects me to do versus knowing what is right and 0:26:27.600 --> 0:26:30.880 what I need to do. Uh, And that's available. So 0:26:30.920 --> 0:26:32.640 I think that I think we're on the right path. 0:26:32.800 --> 0:26:36.520 I think the communication has to continue UM and then 0:26:36.520 --> 0:26:40.399 for people who suffer UM on a chemical level, I 0:26:40.440 --> 0:26:42.800 think that we're understanding so much more about the brain, 0:26:43.200 --> 0:26:46.840 and there are treatments and people and professionals that we 0:26:46.880 --> 0:26:50.399 can seek to help us navigate through life's most challenging times. 0:26:51.480 --> 0:26:56.240 Thank you, Thank you for not quitting when you've got 0:26:56.240 --> 0:26:59.680 off the drink. I'll be honest, I've never really put 0:26:59.720 --> 0:27:04.120 a nickel's worth of attention two speech skating and those 0:27:04.119 --> 0:27:10.240 smaller rinks until you came along, and slowly I saw 0:27:10.880 --> 0:27:14.240 first what skill it took, the second, what courage it took, 0:27:14.520 --> 0:27:19.320 third how it could be dangerous, and fourth how a 0:27:19.359 --> 0:27:22.200 lot of Olympic sports are like this, but how often 0:27:22.359 --> 0:27:25.800 in that sport you wind up being at the mercy 0:27:25.800 --> 0:27:29.720 of who bumped who first and what happens and you 0:27:29.920 --> 0:27:34.040 just seemed to lift yourself above it all Your head 0:27:34.119 --> 0:27:38.600 was in a good place. Life is a complicated piece 0:27:38.640 --> 0:27:41.560 of work. But I think the one thing that it's 0:27:41.560 --> 0:27:46.359 almost impossible to make people appreciate when they're young, it 0:27:46.480 --> 0:27:51.080 is how fast it happens mhm, you know, and how 0:27:52.520 --> 0:27:55.600 you you want to enjoy every phase of your life 0:27:55.640 --> 0:27:58.920 and you want something you've given back, And I think 0:27:59.320 --> 0:28:04.439 that's really hard to think about when you're young. My 0:28:04.560 --> 0:28:07.800 father died before I was born, so I always was 0:28:07.920 --> 0:28:11.440 more aware of my mortality than most people. And one 0:28:11.440 --> 0:28:14.720 of my great goals in life, when Helen I got married, 0:28:15.560 --> 0:28:17.399 I said, you know one thing I hope will happens. 0:28:17.480 --> 0:28:20.280 That will be old people one day sitting on a 0:28:20.359 --> 0:28:23.800 park bench and the young people will walk by, holding 0:28:23.840 --> 0:28:27.560 hands and laughing, and we will have no resentments and 0:28:27.600 --> 0:28:32.640 no regrets, just gratitude. But it's one thing to say 0:28:33.160 --> 0:28:38.200 and another to live. That's what that wag said. When 0:28:38.240 --> 0:28:41.360 all is said and done, more is said than done. 0:28:43.800 --> 0:28:45.440 You know what's you're like? To be that way you 0:28:45.480 --> 0:28:48.240 want to be, and I think you've got a chance 0:28:48.280 --> 0:28:51.880 here to have a really profound positive impact on people. 0:28:52.640 --> 0:28:55.560 Thank you, Thank you. This is this has been This 0:28:55.600 --> 0:28:58.080 has been amazing. I have a lot of life lessons here. 0:29:00.760 --> 0:29:04.640 My next guest is a former professional basketball player, four 0:29:04.640 --> 0:29:08.080 time Olympic gold medalists, three time w n B A 0:29:08.480 --> 0:29:12.800 m VP, and Hall of Famer. Lisa Leslie is currently 0:29:12.960 --> 0:29:16.240 the coach of the Triplets in the Big Three Basketball League. 0:29:16.720 --> 0:29:19.920 She led to the inaugural Big Three championship in twenty nineteen. 0:29:20.680 --> 0:29:24.920 In addition to her pioneering basketball career, which includes being 0:29:25.000 --> 0:29:27.360 the first woman to dunk w n B a game, 0:29:27.840 --> 0:29:32.800 Lisa's resume includes fashion, modeling, acting, sports commentary, and now 0:29:32.880 --> 0:29:35.840 real estate. I had the honor to meet her when 0:29:35.840 --> 0:29:37.400 I was president and she was a member of the 0:29:37.440 --> 0:29:41.080 women's national basketball team when they won those gold medals 0:29:41.080 --> 0:29:45.320 in and in two thousand. I've been a big fan 0:29:45.400 --> 0:29:48.280 ever since, and I'm so glad to be speaking with 0:29:48.280 --> 0:29:51.600 her today. Lisa, thank you for joining us. Yes, thank 0:29:51.600 --> 0:29:55.000 you for having me, Mr President. I'm so excited. It's 0:29:55.000 --> 0:29:57.479 a great one to see you. To hear your voice 0:29:58.200 --> 0:30:02.400 always warms my heart. I remember, UH, just me really 0:30:02.480 --> 0:30:06.400 getting into voting and focusing more on our country and 0:30:06.400 --> 0:30:09.480 our needs. UM, after having the pleasure of meeting you 0:30:09.640 --> 0:30:14.200 and Miss Hillary and UM meeting you also on Beverly 0:30:14.280 --> 0:30:16.520 Hills at Rock the Vote. I don't know if you 0:30:16.640 --> 0:30:20.320 remember that. UM, thank you so much. It's always been 0:30:20.360 --> 0:30:22.400 a pleasure and I'm so happy to be on your podcast. 0:30:22.840 --> 0:30:27.280 So tell us just a little about winning. How you 0:30:27.320 --> 0:30:30.560 grew up, and how you became interested in basketball. I 0:30:30.600 --> 0:30:33.479 grew up in Compton, California, which is the inner city 0:30:33.520 --> 0:30:37.440 of southern California. UM. I was raised by my mom, 0:30:37.520 --> 0:30:41.200 who's a single mom with two sisters, an older sister 0:30:41.240 --> 0:30:43.480 and a younger sister. I'm the middle child, therefore the 0:30:43.520 --> 0:30:47.280 best child, who's most flexible, who gets along with everybody 0:30:47.320 --> 0:30:50.000 because I'm used to being told what to do. But 0:30:50.040 --> 0:30:52.680 I'm also used to leading and telling my younger sister 0:30:52.720 --> 0:30:55.440 what to do. So UM, I'd argue that the middle 0:30:55.480 --> 0:30:58.440 child's the best. Of course, my sisters would argue something different, 0:30:58.480 --> 0:31:00.680 but UM, you know, we just screw up. I come 0:31:00.720 --> 0:31:04.720 from very humble beginnings. UM had so much love and 0:31:04.840 --> 0:31:08.320 just positive affirmations from my mom for my sisters and 0:31:08.360 --> 0:31:10.680 I to, you know, take on the world and do 0:31:10.720 --> 0:31:12.640 the best that we can do, be our best, and 0:31:12.680 --> 0:31:15.520 do it with a lot of love and heart and integrity. 0:31:15.560 --> 0:31:17.560 But I gotta tell you, I didn't start playing basketball 0:31:17.600 --> 0:31:19.880 until I was twelve years old, which is really late 0:31:20.000 --> 0:31:22.600 considering all the success that I've had in this sport. 0:31:23.520 --> 0:31:28.240 But basketball, for me, really was about an opportunity to 0:31:28.280 --> 0:31:31.960 create change for our lives and for me to be 0:31:32.000 --> 0:31:35.400 able to go to college. That was the whole reason 0:31:35.400 --> 0:31:38.200 why I picked up a basketball because I recognize that 0:31:38.200 --> 0:31:41.600 that was the one sport that because obviously I was 0:31:41.640 --> 0:31:43.760 so tall. I was six ft in the sixth grade, 0:31:45.880 --> 0:31:50.120 so crazy, right. I remember telling my mom that people 0:31:50.200 --> 0:31:53.720 keep asking me if I play basketball, and she's like, oh, well, 0:31:53.760 --> 0:31:56.200 because you're tall. To be heard, you know, they associate 0:31:56.280 --> 0:31:59.560 sports with people who were tall. And I was like, well, 0:31:59.600 --> 0:32:01.120 I don't want to play that, and she was like, oh, 0:32:01.160 --> 0:32:06.080 you don't have to. So funny. Um, But I went 0:32:06.120 --> 0:32:08.200 to middle school and there was a girl named Shay. 0:32:08.360 --> 0:32:10.480 They called her she and everybody's like Shay and she's 0:32:10.520 --> 0:32:13.600 so popular, and I'm like, why is everybody know her name? 0:32:13.760 --> 0:32:16.560 And they said, well, she's on the basketball team, and 0:32:16.640 --> 0:32:19.120 so I think God just had that happen for me 0:32:19.160 --> 0:32:21.680 so I can go, well, I want everybody to know 0:32:21.760 --> 0:32:24.240 my name. So I tried out for the basketball team. 0:32:25.160 --> 0:32:27.560 I guess the rest is history. It's amazing, that's how 0:32:27.600 --> 0:32:30.680 I started playing basketball. That's a great story. It's a 0:32:30.680 --> 0:32:34.360 great sport. Yes, it's It's changed my life and it's 0:32:34.480 --> 0:32:36.800 enhanced my life in ways that I would have never known. 0:32:37.800 --> 0:32:40.000 Through all the hard work and dedication of picking up 0:32:40.040 --> 0:32:43.480 that one basketball. In addition to your Olympic career, you 0:32:43.560 --> 0:32:46.920 made a huge contribution, I think to building the w 0:32:47.040 --> 0:32:50.040 n b A into what it is today. Talk about 0:32:50.080 --> 0:32:53.560 what that was like starting the league, expanding it. I 0:32:53.680 --> 0:32:57.480 know that Kobe Bryant did so much for the n 0:32:57.560 --> 0:33:01.840 b A. He supported it all much. A little about that, Yeah, 0:33:01.920 --> 0:33:05.320 I kind of think back first, even going to high 0:33:05.360 --> 0:33:09.360 school and Title nine, Right, So Title nine played such 0:33:09.400 --> 0:33:13.400 a huge part and the opportunities that I've had even 0:33:13.440 --> 0:33:16.000 getting to the w n b A. Um, when I 0:33:16.040 --> 0:33:18.640 look at Title nine and I remember learning about it 0:33:18.680 --> 0:33:20.600 in high school in the ninth grade and just having 0:33:20.640 --> 0:33:22.760 the opportunity to be able as a female, to be 0:33:22.760 --> 0:33:26.000 able to play sports, and recognizing that Hey, this is 0:33:26.040 --> 0:33:29.960 an opportunity that although it's a bill and a law 0:33:30.160 --> 0:33:32.520 that can go away at any time. And so I 0:33:32.560 --> 0:33:35.720 think it was that understanding of the opportunity and the 0:33:35.840 --> 0:33:37.880 urgency to play sports and not knowing if it was 0:33:37.920 --> 0:33:41.479 gonna last that really motivated me to want to to 0:33:41.560 --> 0:33:43.960 be my best and to get after it. So I 0:33:44.040 --> 0:33:46.560 never took playing for granted. I went to Morningside High 0:33:46.600 --> 0:33:49.120 in Inglewood, California, and then I went on to USC 0:33:49.800 --> 0:33:52.360 and at USC, I played for a coach name Mary 0:33:52.360 --> 0:33:54.840 Anne Stanley, and it was coach Stanley who gave me 0:33:54.920 --> 0:34:00.240 that idea about, you know, representing our country and you know, 0:34:00.320 --> 0:34:05.800 understanding that there's basketball overseas. And from there, I have 0:34:05.960 --> 0:34:09.000 to say that making my first USA basketball team in 0:34:09.000 --> 0:34:13.520 the eleventh grade was my first opportunity to travel the world. 0:34:13.960 --> 0:34:16.040 And so what happens is sometimes we have kids that 0:34:16.080 --> 0:34:18.360 play these sports, but you never get an opportunity or 0:34:18.400 --> 0:34:21.080 you don't see the big picture. By making my first 0:34:21.200 --> 0:34:23.680 USA team and going to Spain out of the country, 0:34:23.760 --> 0:34:26.040 first time out of the country ever, my first passport, 0:34:27.080 --> 0:34:29.560 that was really what opened and brought in my my 0:34:29.680 --> 0:34:32.240 horizons to the fact that other women in other countries 0:34:32.239 --> 0:34:36.759 play basketball professionally, like there are more opportunities outside of 0:34:36.760 --> 0:34:38.560 our state. And then I would come back to our 0:34:38.600 --> 0:34:42.320 country and go, well, why don't we recognize or celebrate 0:34:42.719 --> 0:34:45.160 women's sports as much as we do men? And so 0:34:45.280 --> 0:34:48.960 I knew that I had really um one of voice 0:34:49.200 --> 0:34:51.520 and a purpose, and my purpose was to try to 0:34:51.520 --> 0:34:55.040 spend spread the word about women's sports and us playing 0:34:55.080 --> 0:34:58.000 at this next level and us being even better. So 0:34:58.000 --> 0:35:00.920 when you look at what we did in six it 0:35:01.000 --> 0:35:04.600 really started in when the USA team traveled the world, 0:35:04.719 --> 0:35:07.600 playing everybody in their country and beating them. By the 0:35:07.640 --> 0:35:10.120 time we got that gold medal placed around our next 0:35:10.560 --> 0:35:14.120 we were sixty and oh and so that's sixty and 0:35:14.160 --> 0:35:18.319 oh is really what elevated the idea that women can 0:35:18.400 --> 0:35:22.160 play professional basketball in our country. And so the w 0:35:22.280 --> 0:35:26.000 b A was then launched in um. I was assigned 0:35:26.000 --> 0:35:30.440 to Los Angeles and the w b A again a platform, 0:35:30.480 --> 0:35:32.719 an opportunity to be a role model for so many 0:35:32.800 --> 0:35:37.040 young kids, boys and girls, signing autographs, taking pictures, um 0:35:37.080 --> 0:35:41.200 doing community service because I knew we had to invest 0:35:41.360 --> 0:35:44.520 in our fans and try to grow our basketball in 0:35:44.600 --> 0:35:48.920 our country. And so that really was the pivotal moment 0:35:49.000 --> 0:35:53.040 for me was just understanding the platform, understanding the importance 0:35:53.080 --> 0:35:56.400 of networking, understanding the importance of you know, my appearance, 0:35:56.480 --> 0:35:59.120 and you know I love being feminine and I love fashion. 0:35:59.239 --> 0:36:01.080 So that for me was like, Hey, but I'm gonna 0:36:01.080 --> 0:36:03.359 play basketball and they're gonna play as hard as I can. 0:36:04.239 --> 0:36:07.400 I loved having those opportunities. And I would say that 0:36:07.440 --> 0:36:12.279 our NBA counter parts, our guys, were our biggest supporters. 0:36:12.360 --> 0:36:17.400 And yes, Kobe Bryant was probably had done more for 0:36:17.440 --> 0:36:20.680 women's basketball and our awareness and a very short period 0:36:20.719 --> 0:36:23.480 of time than anybody else in history when it comes 0:36:23.520 --> 0:36:26.440 to a man that really loved what we were doing, 0:36:26.560 --> 0:36:30.600 aside from David Stern himself and the late doctor Bus. 0:36:31.120 --> 0:36:34.200 Tell the people who are listening, how long you played well? 0:36:34.239 --> 0:36:37.920 I played professionally for UM. I'd say eleven years in 0:36:38.000 --> 0:36:40.960 the w n B A UM, because I stopped and 0:36:41.040 --> 0:36:43.000 I had my daughter, and I went back and played 0:36:43.040 --> 0:36:46.000 and played in my last Olympics. UM, but I've been 0:36:46.000 --> 0:36:50.480 playing basketball for over twenty five years. UM. I played overseaves, 0:36:50.560 --> 0:36:54.040 I lived in Italy, I lived in Russia. UM got 0:36:54.040 --> 0:36:56.560 a chance to eat some amazing food and learned to 0:36:56.560 --> 0:37:01.040 speak another language. Um, and bath sketball. Like I said, 0:37:01.080 --> 0:37:05.200 picking up that ball in seventh grade changed my life forever. 0:37:05.480 --> 0:37:07.360 I always say, you know, it was one thing for 0:37:07.400 --> 0:37:09.680 me to represent my city and even my state and 0:37:09.760 --> 0:37:12.920 winning state championships in high school, but it's been the 0:37:12.960 --> 0:37:15.800 biggest honor of my life to represent our country playing 0:37:15.800 --> 0:37:19.200 for Team USA. At first, that's a beautiful sentiment and 0:37:19.239 --> 0:37:22.799 I'm glad you feel that way still. So you won 0:37:23.120 --> 0:37:26.080 gold medals in two thousand, two thousand four, and two 0:37:26.120 --> 0:37:30.560 thousand night, anyone in particular stand out for you? Oh? Yes, 0:37:30.719 --> 0:37:34.759 Mr President, it will always be for me. Um. If 0:37:34.800 --> 0:37:39.040 you remember that, Um, which is not to put a 0:37:39.080 --> 0:37:40.719 damper on it, but there was a bomb that went 0:37:40.760 --> 0:37:46.879 off in at the in Atlanta at the Olympic, and 0:37:46.960 --> 0:37:50.759 so um our men and women's team stayed across the 0:37:50.800 --> 0:37:54.320 street from that Centennial Park. That bomb went off outside 0:37:54.320 --> 0:37:59.359 of my balcony window, and UM, that moment was sort 0:37:59.400 --> 0:38:02.040 of surreal because you know, things you saw on television, 0:38:02.040 --> 0:38:03.920 but to be on our US soil and for that 0:38:03.960 --> 0:38:06.839 to happen. In that moment, I think we were all 0:38:06.880 --> 0:38:09.239 faced with the challenge of like, are we gonna move 0:38:09.280 --> 0:38:11.799 in fear? Or are we gonna fight, And it was 0:38:11.840 --> 0:38:16.360 a symbolism to me that you know, our country, our security, 0:38:16.400 --> 0:38:19.240 everything stepped up right. We were aware and we were 0:38:19.280 --> 0:38:22.600 prepared for anything. And that's the same thing we were 0:38:22.600 --> 0:38:25.120 as a team Team USA. We had a talk and 0:38:25.160 --> 0:38:28.040 we were you know, shaken by that, but also it 0:38:28.160 --> 0:38:30.200 was like, this is the point we have on this 0:38:30.320 --> 0:38:33.000 USA uniform. We are fighters, we work hard, we don't 0:38:33.000 --> 0:38:37.239 give up. And that moment, for me, it was just 0:38:37.400 --> 0:38:40.799 very symbolic because we had an opportunity to sort of 0:38:40.840 --> 0:38:43.360 power away or be like, you know, we're afraid, we 0:38:43.400 --> 0:38:45.480 don't want to go on with the Olympics or whatever, 0:38:45.920 --> 0:38:47.640 and it was just like, you know, a second that 0:38:47.640 --> 0:38:49.880 that comes in, it's like, no, we are we are USA, 0:38:50.120 --> 0:38:53.880 and no one's going to you know, stop us from 0:38:53.880 --> 0:38:57.399 fighting for our country. And although again I love and 0:38:57.680 --> 0:39:01.440 respect our military. My husband flew um, he went to 0:39:01.600 --> 0:39:04.480 the Air Force Academy, he flew in Desert Storm and 0:39:04.520 --> 0:39:07.760 Desert Shield, um as well as my you know, my father, 0:39:08.320 --> 0:39:11.319 my grandfather, and my uncle's my father in law. So 0:39:11.440 --> 0:39:15.040 our military means so much to me that I understand 0:39:15.040 --> 0:39:17.160 that they fight and protect us in such a way, 0:39:17.239 --> 0:39:20.560 but that for me was just like I thought about 0:39:20.560 --> 0:39:23.399 our our military and that you know, even though I'm 0:39:23.440 --> 0:39:26.440 just an athlete in this USA uniform, we have an 0:39:26.440 --> 0:39:28.799 opportunity to fight for our country and to still go 0:39:28.920 --> 0:39:32.800 out there. And so the nineties Olympics um will always 0:39:32.880 --> 0:39:36.480 be my favorite just because we were on us soil 0:39:36.920 --> 0:39:40.239 fighting for our country. Yep, it's a wonderful memory. Yes, 0:39:40.719 --> 0:39:43.600 let me ask you a little bit about what you're 0:39:43.640 --> 0:39:47.840 doing now and we'll come back to the Olympics. Not 0:39:48.000 --> 0:39:51.680 all of our listeners know about Big three basketball, and 0:39:51.719 --> 0:39:54.360 you're a coach of a team and you've got some 0:39:54.440 --> 0:39:57.879 pretty outstanding players. So tell people about just a little 0:39:57.880 --> 0:40:00.160 bit about Big three basketball, how to get store the 0:40:01.120 --> 0:40:04.520 who's behind it, and how did you get involved. Yeah. So, 0:40:04.640 --> 0:40:06.839 first off, President Clinton, we have to have you at 0:40:06.840 --> 0:40:09.000 a Big three game. You have a personal invitation in 0:40:09.040 --> 0:40:11.480 a court side seat because we would love to have you. 0:40:11.960 --> 0:40:16.640 And this amazing league was started by ice Cube, Jeff Quasnet, 0:40:17.239 --> 0:40:22.200 and Amy Trash, three amazing, brilliant people who came together 0:40:22.400 --> 0:40:25.440 to start this league. And you know, ice Cube is 0:40:25.480 --> 0:40:28.640 just he's really a genius in our time and so 0:40:29.120 --> 0:40:31.600 amazing that he would think of three on three for 0:40:31.680 --> 0:40:33.840 players who still have a lot in their tank, but 0:40:33.920 --> 0:40:36.319 maybe you know, just they don't have a spot on 0:40:36.360 --> 0:40:38.760 the NBA team anymore. Although a lot of our players 0:40:38.800 --> 0:40:41.480 have been picked backed up by NBA team, So three 0:40:41.520 --> 0:40:46.360 on three or NBA men who um left the NBA 0:40:46.480 --> 0:40:49.040 or retired and have an opportunity to play three on 0:40:49.120 --> 0:40:52.080 three half court. We have an amazing game. That's the 0:40:52.120 --> 0:40:55.239 first team the fifty. You gotta win by two. We 0:40:55.360 --> 0:40:58.759 have three point shots, four point shots, uh, you name it. 0:40:58.840 --> 0:41:01.239 We also have something called fireball that was at it 0:41:01.360 --> 0:41:04.520 last year, which is also brilliant. So ice Cube decided 0:41:04.600 --> 0:41:08.520 that if you want to challenge, you know, a foul call, 0:41:09.120 --> 0:41:11.600 unless it was an offensive foul, you can challenge that 0:41:11.680 --> 0:41:13.960 call and then go one on one. So we call 0:41:14.040 --> 0:41:18.319 that fireball, which is also so exciting. And we were 0:41:18.320 --> 0:41:20.719 talking a little before the program started about real essite, 0:41:20.760 --> 0:41:22.560 how did you get into the lap Yeah, well, you know, 0:41:23.560 --> 0:41:26.160 Mr President, having the opportunity to play in the w 0:41:26.200 --> 0:41:28.440 n b A was really the first time that I 0:41:28.480 --> 0:41:30.799 was able to make money, you know, and I have 0:41:31.400 --> 0:41:34.440 also endorsement deals and so once I got there, I 0:41:34.480 --> 0:41:37.560 was very lucky and blessed to have an uncle, two 0:41:37.640 --> 0:41:42.480 uncles who aren't both um, they are both accountants, and 0:41:42.520 --> 0:41:45.080 so having them, I went directly to my uncle, who 0:41:45.160 --> 0:41:47.120 you know, obviously was very well off, and I was like, 0:41:47.160 --> 0:41:49.800 how do I keep my money? What do I do? 0:41:50.200 --> 0:41:51.799 You know? And he was like, well, the first thing 0:41:51.800 --> 0:41:53.799 we need to do is, you know, open up your 0:41:53.880 --> 0:41:56.400 corporation and you need to go and get some real estate. 0:41:56.680 --> 0:41:59.880 So it really started in and having that advice, I 0:42:00.000 --> 0:42:02.440 started to buy homes. I bought myself a home, then 0:42:02.480 --> 0:42:04.239 I bought my mom a home, which I kept in 0:42:04.280 --> 0:42:07.080 my name, and I started out like that really slowly, 0:42:07.480 --> 0:42:11.160 and I'm about to launch the first national Black um 0:42:11.320 --> 0:42:14.600 real estate agency across our country. We've never had one. 0:42:15.080 --> 0:42:18.400 It's called Aston Rose. And the beauty of that is 0:42:18.440 --> 0:42:22.640 that it's gonna be an opportunity for all of us 0:42:22.920 --> 0:42:27.320 to be very inclusive with investing in athletes as well 0:42:27.360 --> 0:42:30.480 as entertainers and trying to not just help them with 0:42:30.560 --> 0:42:34.000 their real estate, but also to educate them because sometimes 0:42:34.000 --> 0:42:36.759 in the African American community, we we miss out on 0:42:37.480 --> 0:42:40.960 that educational opportunity of understanding how to keep your money. 0:42:41.239 --> 0:42:43.719 And we know of so many athletes and people in 0:42:43.760 --> 0:42:48.400 the past who had millions of dollars and have nothing 0:42:48.400 --> 0:42:50.919 to show for it, whether after they retired in five 0:42:51.000 --> 0:42:53.319 years they have no money left or if they blew 0:42:53.360 --> 0:42:56.560 it all um just on things that really didn't appreciate. 0:42:56.680 --> 0:42:59.000 And so it's it's time. It's time for us to 0:42:59.080 --> 0:43:02.239 make that change. And I think for all of the 0:43:02.320 --> 0:43:05.160 things that happened with the pandemic and the social unrest 0:43:05.719 --> 0:43:09.200 really also gave us all clarity on the change that 0:43:09.280 --> 0:43:11.719 needed to happen in our country. And so you can 0:43:11.719 --> 0:43:13.480 either talk about the change or you can be a 0:43:13.520 --> 0:43:15.799 part of the change. And so for me, I felt like, 0:43:16.040 --> 0:43:18.600 how can I be a part of the chain understanding 0:43:18.680 --> 0:43:22.640 that you know, we've been in situations where minorities were 0:43:22.640 --> 0:43:24.840 not allowed to live in certain areas or even have 0:43:24.960 --> 0:43:27.960 access to certain schools, and so we have to change 0:43:28.000 --> 0:43:30.760 that by how we invest and how we can create 0:43:30.800 --> 0:43:34.279 generational wealth. That's not something that happens by accident. Is 0:43:34.280 --> 0:43:36.399 something that we have to educate. We have to come 0:43:36.440 --> 0:43:39.200 together as a community to do that. The thing that 0:43:39.560 --> 0:43:43.719 I found interesting is that there are we're really there 0:43:43.719 --> 0:43:46.879 are two different issues. One is you want to make 0:43:46.880 --> 0:43:51.359 sure that all athletes are fairly paid. The second, once 0:43:51.400 --> 0:43:55.680 they get paid that they you manage what they've earned 0:43:55.760 --> 0:43:58.719 so it can be valuable to them over a lifetime, 0:43:58.760 --> 0:44:02.040 long after they stop playing sports. And those are two 0:44:02.120 --> 0:44:06.000 distinct problems, both worthy of pushing. I think so, Mr President, 0:44:06.040 --> 0:44:10.920 I think it's it's important to recognize that we don't 0:44:10.920 --> 0:44:15.080 have that education and not that it's hard to have 0:44:15.120 --> 0:44:17.399 the education about money when you don't have money. Let's 0:44:17.440 --> 0:44:19.439 just say that. And when you come from the inner 0:44:19.440 --> 0:44:21.400 city in the way most of us do, and a 0:44:21.400 --> 0:44:25.000 lot of the athletes and entertainers, Um, we've worked hard 0:44:25.080 --> 0:44:27.080 for where we are, Like, we're working as hard as 0:44:27.120 --> 0:44:29.680 we can. But where were you going to get this 0:44:29.840 --> 0:44:32.800 education about financing? I mean, I went back to school 0:44:32.840 --> 0:44:36.120 to get my master's in business and that was probably, um, 0:44:36.160 --> 0:44:40.080 the first understanding and infrastructure of just like economics, you know, 0:44:40.120 --> 0:44:42.160 in general on a micro level, on a macro level, 0:44:42.200 --> 0:44:45.040 just understanding like oh wow, and things that are depreciating 0:44:45.160 --> 0:44:47.919 or understanding the stock market. That's a whole another level 0:44:47.960 --> 0:44:51.879 of education that is not necessarily provided. So where would 0:44:51.880 --> 0:44:54.880 they know how would they know? You know, they don't, 0:44:55.160 --> 0:44:57.520 but they know that they're hard work and their talents 0:44:58.040 --> 0:45:00.480 is getting them a check. But now what do you 0:45:00.520 --> 0:45:02.759 do with that? And so there's uh. You know, we've 0:45:02.760 --> 0:45:05.680 been able to see some athletes do amazing things and 0:45:05.760 --> 0:45:08.640 be able to reinvest and get smarter about their money, 0:45:08.680 --> 0:45:11.279 but we've seen a lot who have no idea what 0:45:11.320 --> 0:45:15.200 they're doing, and after that retirement, within five years, statistically 0:45:15.520 --> 0:45:18.480 they're broke. We have to change that. I agree with that. 0:45:19.400 --> 0:45:22.879 I think the goal of almost all social policy and 0:45:23.600 --> 0:45:28.080 economic policy should be empowerment. Yes, we should be. We 0:45:28.120 --> 0:45:31.839 should empower other people to live their best lives so 0:45:31.920 --> 0:45:34.480 that it may not be what you would do, it 0:45:34.600 --> 0:45:38.120 doesn't shouldn't be. We have a more interesting society if 0:45:38.160 --> 0:45:40.799 we don't make our own decisions, but you have to 0:45:40.800 --> 0:45:43.799 be empowered to make them. And I really appreciate what 0:45:43.840 --> 0:45:46.960 you've done on that. I think it's important that we 0:45:47.960 --> 0:45:51.440 as African Americans in our country, our system had been 0:45:51.480 --> 0:45:54.360 so broken for us to be broken and separated apart, 0:45:54.840 --> 0:45:57.200 that we have to learn to come back together and 0:45:57.200 --> 0:45:59.080 we have to learn to invest in each other, and 0:45:59.120 --> 0:46:02.200 we have to be edgy catd um and educate each other. 0:46:02.239 --> 0:46:04.360 And so that's a part of the change that I 0:46:04.360 --> 0:46:07.400 want to be a part of. That's my new endeavor 0:46:07.520 --> 0:46:21.360 for sure. More after this, if you ask any casual 0:46:21.520 --> 0:46:24.960 sports fan, what are some of the main storylines and 0:46:25.080 --> 0:46:28.200 all kinds of athletics over the last year or two, 0:46:28.640 --> 0:46:31.800 one of them would certainly have to be the freedom 0:46:31.840 --> 0:46:35.719 with which athletes have become to discuss the mental and 0:46:35.800 --> 0:46:40.160 emotional tensions and stress they feel, particularly those who are 0:46:40.200 --> 0:46:45.280 in dangerous sports. But we've seen that from Simone Bile 0:46:45.440 --> 0:46:50.759 through Naomi Osaka, Jamie Anderson that games, and and of 0:46:50.800 --> 0:46:55.720 course MICHAELA. Schiffern has been unusually and I think appealingly 0:46:56.040 --> 0:46:59.400 straightforward about how she just sort of blocked out on 0:46:59.480 --> 0:47:03.520 her first events. And the thing I really liked about 0:47:03.520 --> 0:47:06.439 her is she said, I feel that I still feel 0:47:06.480 --> 0:47:08.799 like I failed, and I'm so touched that people are 0:47:08.840 --> 0:47:10.400 so nice to me, but I don't feel like I 0:47:10.400 --> 0:47:13.560 earned it. I mean that she's sort of caught in 0:47:13.760 --> 0:47:18.799 mid term with the challenges all people involved in great 0:47:18.880 --> 0:47:24.200 endeavor's face. But almost all great contests are at bottom 0:47:24.719 --> 0:47:27.640 head game that is. I mean, you know, you had 0:47:27.640 --> 0:47:30.600 certain advantages playing basketball, you were taller than most people, 0:47:30.920 --> 0:47:32.880 but there was some other people who were pretty tall. 0:47:33.400 --> 0:47:38.080 I mean, if if given a fair distribution of effort 0:47:38.239 --> 0:47:45.399 and ability contests are mental battles, I think, So, what's 0:47:45.400 --> 0:47:47.480 your take on it. Is it a positive thing that 0:47:47.520 --> 0:47:51.319 we're getting more open about mental health? And how do 0:47:51.400 --> 0:47:55.360 you talk about these things in a way that doesn't 0:47:55.360 --> 0:47:59.840 necessarily make the paralysis worse. I believe it's it's a 0:48:00.040 --> 0:48:05.480 real topic that people who feel that they need help 0:48:05.719 --> 0:48:09.200 should have access to that and not be looked at negatively. 0:48:10.080 --> 0:48:12.360 I do believe that there are things in life that 0:48:12.440 --> 0:48:15.200 we can do to even help with mental health, and 0:48:15.239 --> 0:48:17.680 that is giving people the tools to deal with it. 0:48:18.400 --> 0:48:21.720 I remember a long time ago, I used to work 0:48:21.960 --> 0:48:25.400 with volunteers, probably the better work because I didn't get paid, 0:48:25.440 --> 0:48:31.400 but I worked with or volunteered to help UM Foster Boys, 0:48:31.880 --> 0:48:34.279 and I was working with the boys a lot, and 0:48:34.320 --> 0:48:38.319 I found that one on one UM talking to the 0:48:38.360 --> 0:48:41.960 boys and creating that relationship was amazing, Like I loved 0:48:42.000 --> 0:48:44.760 each of them and just had so much fun hanging 0:48:44.800 --> 0:48:47.279 out with them. But I also realized when we got 0:48:47.320 --> 0:48:52.120 together there were times where if you date one was antagonized, 0:48:52.200 --> 0:48:55.359 or if they were challenged, they would become very aggressive, 0:48:55.520 --> 0:48:58.560 possibly fight. Like it was just a change, and I 0:48:58.640 --> 0:49:02.520 was interested to understand, like the chemical imbalance at times 0:49:02.560 --> 0:49:08.200 that would happen, it's because they didn't really understand how 0:49:08.320 --> 0:49:11.759 to deal with their emotions. And so I believe that 0:49:11.760 --> 0:49:13.799 that's a real thing and things maybe we need to 0:49:13.800 --> 0:49:18.520 look for in children younger that may have behavioral issues 0:49:18.560 --> 0:49:22.960 sometimes or maybe seem sad more than others. Are paying 0:49:22.960 --> 0:49:25.760 a little bit more attention to the emotions of children 0:49:26.080 --> 0:49:28.920 and then finding ways to get them help. Now as 0:49:28.960 --> 0:49:32.799 we move more into the teens and the you know, 0:49:32.960 --> 0:49:36.160 young adults, yeah, I believe. I believe it's real. Listen, 0:49:36.239 --> 0:49:39.960 we are older looking at them go through social media 0:49:40.400 --> 0:49:45.960 and you know, cyber bullying and a pandemic, and problems 0:49:46.000 --> 0:49:50.160 being canceled in college, opportunities being canceled. Like, they are 0:49:50.280 --> 0:49:53.359 going through a lot. It's very heavy for them, and 0:49:53.400 --> 0:49:55.840 no one could have prepared them for all of these 0:49:56.440 --> 0:49:59.400 negative things that are happening to them all at one time. 0:49:59.560 --> 0:50:02.800 Then you add on that the possibility of not being 0:50:02.840 --> 0:50:05.600 financially secure or even knowing where your next meal is 0:50:05.640 --> 0:50:09.320 going to come from. I'm not sure you can't afford 0:50:09.360 --> 0:50:12.239 to have certain clothes or you know, there's a lot 0:50:12.320 --> 0:50:16.080 of elements that these young people are dealing with, um 0:50:16.080 --> 0:50:18.880 that maybe some of us are we passed that threshold 0:50:18.880 --> 0:50:20.839 where we're not even thinking about that. But if I 0:50:20.880 --> 0:50:24.640 take myself back to my nineteen year old self and 0:50:24.719 --> 0:50:28.240 not knowing, you know, having five dollars to buy a burrito, 0:50:28.400 --> 0:50:30.600 and half my burrito I ate in the morning, and 0:50:30.600 --> 0:50:33.280 then my other half I ate, you know, before practice, 0:50:34.160 --> 0:50:36.799 just to have enough food. I remember those days. I 0:50:36.800 --> 0:50:40.279 couldn't imagine you adding me trying to figure out how 0:50:40.320 --> 0:50:42.120 to where I'm gonna find my mill while I was 0:50:42.160 --> 0:50:47.239 at college or in high school, and a pandemic, you know, 0:50:47.400 --> 0:50:51.640 and some people in some close quarters dealing with COVID nineteen. 0:50:51.760 --> 0:50:54.920 So I could think that there are a million things 0:50:55.000 --> 0:50:57.160 right now that young people are dealing with that they 0:50:57.200 --> 0:51:00.440 cannot process the way we as adults can step back 0:51:00.480 --> 0:51:03.120 and go, well, listen, we have to be thankful that 0:51:03.160 --> 0:51:05.000 we we can afford to be here. We have to 0:51:05.040 --> 0:51:07.000 be thankful that we have a house in the space. 0:51:07.040 --> 0:51:08.960 You know. There's so many things that we look at 0:51:09.320 --> 0:51:11.080 and we're just like, well, you've got to be thankful. 0:51:11.560 --> 0:51:14.320 But it's tougher for them. And I think it's important 0:51:14.360 --> 0:51:19.400 for us to have the conversations. It's more real again, 0:51:20.960 --> 0:51:25.359 giving us clarity in so many areas. Mental health is 0:51:26.480 --> 0:51:28.480 something that we have to be aware of and we 0:51:28.520 --> 0:51:30.880 have to check in on people and see how they're doing. 0:51:31.520 --> 0:51:35.400 We are also a country that we believe in being first, 0:51:36.239 --> 0:51:38.280 you know, we we are a country that drives people. 0:51:38.360 --> 0:51:41.040 We were it's like second place is not acceptable. And 0:51:41.080 --> 0:51:44.359 we have that mentality in our workplace. We have that 0:51:44.400 --> 0:51:47.839 mentality in our sports, we have that mentality. You know, 0:51:47.960 --> 0:51:51.760 even you and country, our country as a leadership that 0:51:52.080 --> 0:51:57.000 you know, we will not be second place. That's tough 0:51:57.080 --> 0:51:59.600 to live up to. That's a lot of pressure. And 0:51:59.640 --> 0:52:03.040 then let me just add social media. Social media for 0:52:03.120 --> 0:52:05.319 what it does to these young people and what they 0:52:05.360 --> 0:52:07.719 see and all of these again material things and how 0:52:07.760 --> 0:52:10.920 people are living makes them feel less than because they 0:52:10.920 --> 0:52:13.239 don't have it and they don't have the access to it. 0:52:14.000 --> 0:52:18.560 So I believe it is real. It's just more to 0:52:18.640 --> 0:52:22.680 the forefront because this millennial generation, if you will, and 0:52:22.719 --> 0:52:27.279 even this younger generation, they are dealing with things that 0:52:27.480 --> 0:52:29.640 we did not have to deal with and they are 0:52:29.760 --> 0:52:33.799 not capable all the time of being able to process 0:52:33.840 --> 0:52:38.320 it and then go, hey, let me take a moment 0:52:38.400 --> 0:52:43.080 to meditate, let me be happy with myself, let me 0:52:43.239 --> 0:52:47.120 stop and learn to love myself. Let me be thankful 0:52:47.200 --> 0:52:52.560 for the blessings I have you. You have become a 0:52:52.600 --> 0:52:55.200 wise woman. Thank you wisdom. I pray for wisdom. You 0:52:55.360 --> 0:52:57.920 probably always were now, but I always pray for wisdom 0:52:57.920 --> 0:53:00.759 and discernment, you know, to just to to be able 0:53:00.800 --> 0:53:03.360 to understand. I think my spiritual gift is my ability 0:53:03.360 --> 0:53:06.400 to speak. That's what God's blessed me with. Maybe someday 0:53:06.440 --> 0:53:10.480 you'll coach the Olympic team. All right, Mr President, I 0:53:10.800 --> 0:53:13.400 really thank you for having me. It's an honor again 0:53:13.520 --> 0:53:16.319 to you know, be in your presence to talk to 0:53:16.360 --> 0:53:19.040 you than you and I know that it's you probably 0:53:19.080 --> 0:53:22.200 hear this all the time, but some of you presidents 0:53:22.239 --> 0:53:26.960 have such a voice that rings in our minds and 0:53:27.000 --> 0:53:32.000 our hearts, that gives us hope and stability and calm 0:53:32.040 --> 0:53:35.000 even during the storm. So it's great to hear your voice. 0:53:35.920 --> 0:53:38.480 God bless you. Tell ms Hillary, I said, hello, and 0:53:38.560 --> 0:53:43.640 thank you please as well. Thanks. Why am I telling you? 0:53:43.680 --> 0:53:46.400 This is a production of our Heart Radio, the Clinton 0:53:46.440 --> 0:53:50.520 Foundation and at Will Medium. Our executive producers are Craigmanascian 0:53:50.600 --> 0:53:55.920 and Will Malnadi. Our production team includes Mitch Bluestein, Jamison Katsufas, 0:53:56.040 --> 0:53:59.880 Tom Galton, Sir Harrowitz, and Jake Young, with production support 0:54:00.120 --> 0:54:04.680 from Liz Raftoree and Josh Farnham. Original music by What White. 0:54:05.520 --> 0:54:08.840 Special thanks to John Sykes, John Davidson on hell Orina, 0:54:09.080 --> 0:54:13.280 Corey Ganstley, Kevin Thurm, Oscar Flores, and all our dedicated 0:54:13.360 --> 0:54:21.120 staff and partners at the Clinton Foundation. Hi, this is 0:54:21.160 --> 0:54:24.600 Bill Clinton. I hope you're enjoying whin I telling you this. 0:54:25.360 --> 0:54:28.240 I started the Clinton Foundation on the belief that everyone 0:54:28.280 --> 0:54:32.560 deserves a chance to succeed, Everyone has a responsibility to act, 0:54:33.280 --> 0:54:36.759 and we all do better when we work together. In 0:54:36.800 --> 0:54:39.600 the more than twenty years since the Foundation first opened 0:54:39.600 --> 0:54:43.160 its doors in Harlem, we've brought people together across traditional 0:54:43.239 --> 0:54:46.360 divides to address some of the most complex and pressing 0:54:46.440 --> 0:54:50.919 challenges of our time. The need for cooperation has never 0:54:50.960 --> 0:54:54.480 been more urgent than it is now. The COVID nineteen 0:54:54.480 --> 0:54:57.360 pandemic has ripped the cover off long standing in equities 0:54:57.360 --> 0:55:01.359 and vulnerabilities across our global community and here at home. 0:55:02.080 --> 0:55:05.719 The existential threat of climate change grows every day and 0:55:05.920 --> 0:55:09.000 all around the world. The forces of division are tugging 0:55:09.040 --> 0:55:13.279 at the fabric of our common humanity. That's why this 0:55:13.360 --> 0:55:16.840 year we're relaunching the Clinton Global Initiatives Annual Meeting in 0:55:16.880 --> 0:55:20.480 New York in September, bringing together heads of state and 0:55:20.480 --> 0:55:25.920 other government officials, leaders of NGOs and philanthropic organizations, prominent 0:55:26.000 --> 0:55:29.440 voices and business, labor and finance and youth leaders, and 0:55:29.480 --> 0:55:34.560 grassroots activists to drive progress on inclusive economic growth and recovery, 0:55:34.840 --> 0:55:39.120 climate resilience, and health equity. While the challenges we face 0:55:39.200 --> 0:55:42.360 our steep, our work has always been about what we 0:55:42.480 --> 0:55:45.800 can do, not what we can't do, and by bringing 0:55:45.840 --> 0:55:49.120 diverse partners together to take action and achieve real results, 0:55:49.760 --> 0:55:52.680 we can create a culture of possibility in a world 0:55:52.800 --> 0:55:56.400 hungary for hope. I hope you will take a moment 0:55:56.440 --> 0:55:58.560 to share your thoughts and ideas with us and learn 0:55:58.600 --> 0:56:01.480 more about our work by is a ning www dot 0:56:01.480 --> 0:56:09.880 Clinton Foundation dot org, slash podcast. Thank you, m HM.