Exploring The Subconscious With Quantum Learning Network’s Bobbi DePorter

Welcome to the Conscious Pivot Podcast with international speaker, business mentor, best selling author of Pivot, and your host, Adam Markell. The Conscious Pivot shares the stories and wisdom of people who have successfully reinvented some area of their business and personal life. You'll gain powerful insights into how you can fully embrace new opportunities, increase your performance, and master the art and science of innovation and resilience. So please join Adam as he guides you on your Conscious Pivot.

Hey everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Conscious Pivot podcast. And I am, I'm in a great mood. I'm in a really happy mood. It's interesting because it's the sort of the end of the day. I've done a bunch of things today and had four podcasts and other business conversations and dotted in between were emails and all that kind of thing. And usually this sort of time of day. So it's getting near to sunset here in Southern California, obviously where you guys are. It could be morning, could be evening, could be dark, you know, could be palm trees in the, in the background swaying like it is here. Or it could be. Or it could be snow gently falling or any other number of things. I grew up in New York, so I've seen all the weather. I've seen all the weather and I confident in my preference for sun and warmth. But that's where I'm at in my life. Wherever you are at the moment, it's perfect. That much I know is true for you, for me, for all of us. And I do feel just great energy. I know it's because I've spent the day with great people. So all that I've been doing, I would normally be tired. I'd expect to be tired. I expect, I think that would be normal. But I'm not. And it's primarily because I've gotten to spend time with great people. So there's something there that's a takeaway for me and hopefully it means something to you as well, that often our energy is really a reflection of what we spend our time doing and being around great people and doing things that you love. These are energy enhancers, I would say. And when we do things that we dread or that we don't enjoy or we're on people that like to spend their time complaining or thinking and talking negatively, well, then that brings about a whole different energy. And I know that well because I spent 18 years in the practice of law and much of that time this time of day, so 3, 4, 5 o' clock in the afternoon, man, I need A shot of espresso. I needed coffee, I needed chocolate. I needed toothpicks to keep my eyes open. And I was pretty shot. And also didn't have a whole heck of a lot of patience either. So that is certainly not my mindset. Now. I am grateful that we get to spend this time together. I am grateful for this breath, especially knowing that as I'm receiving this breath, that you are also, as you're listening and watching, receiving a breath. And therefore, wherever you are, wherever we or we may, it may appear that we're separate. And yet we're very much connected. And if we follow the thread even further, I suppose it's not too distant a thought or belief that we are one. So I feel blessed to be in that space with you right now. And also to have this incredible guest, lovely lady, I mean, just this impeccable woman. That's a true class act. And I really. The word class is not a word that is used that frequently these days. I don't find it in entering my space that often. And it is a beautiful word. And what it means, I think is something that's not so much in rare supply. But I think it's just less prevalent these days that you find people that are truly elegant and graceful as they navigate the disruption that is all around us. Political disruption, disruption in relationships and business and health. And so many things do that elegantly. I think shows great class. So this lady will no doubt make an impression on you shortly. Her name is Bobbi Deporter. I'm going to read a little bit of her bio, share some things about her because she's done some incredible work in the world. Really phenomenal history of service. And then of course, then we'll get right to Bobby. So Bobby Deporter is the president. Is president of Quantum Learning Network, producing Super Camp summer enrichment programs now with 78,000 graduates. You heard that right, 78,000 graduates. And programs in 19 countries. And Quantum Learning education with programs for teachers, administrators, students and parents is really remarkable. In fact, Quantum Learning has trained more than 100,000 teachers. And through those programs also taught the eight keys of excellence, which is a movement that's impacted more than 20 million. More than 20 million students over the last 30 years. Bobby, I know there's a lot to say here about your history and what you've been up to and what you've been doing. And I've come to know you because I've attended the K's Community alliance for Youth Success meetings that you do on a monthly basis. And you Do a yearly event, a week long event, which is really remarkable right here near to where I live in Oceanside. You do that work alongside Stedn and Graham and others who've really committed to, at a deep level, to making a difference in kids lives and kids that may have more challenges than they need, certainly in their education, early education. So the bio is one thing I would love to know from your standpoint what's not written in this bio that you'd love for our community to know about you.

Well, my life is about youth and learning. And I feel very blessed that early in my life I really knew what my purpose was. And one opportunity or a step in action has led me down this path. And it's very true to who I am and what I'm about and feel as passionate today as I did 40 years ago. Starting down this path and still at it. So love what we do and we keep looking for what might be a critical mass and because committed to change in students for having them feel good about themselves and feel successful of who they are and what they want to contribute to the world. So you know, I had one student right at the beginning and I say everything I'm doing now, really I think about making a commitment to one student and I've been able to acknowledge them decades later and saying I'm doing this work in the world because of courage that you showed and stepped up and made an impact and said that's what I want to do with my life, is to make change for youth.

You've been doing this work a fairly long time. I mean, I know a lot of teachers and people who are committed to education that have been doing it for a while. I think you, if you, if you're going to, I suppose survive in that space, you've got to really love what you do because there's plenty of challenges, right? There's, there's not a whole lot of acknowledgement for teachers. I'm actually really blessed that next week I get to travel to Phoenix to do a keynote for a company called Success for All. And they have a beautiful program that they have in a number of schools around the country and things. And one of the things that the organizer said to me, the COO of the company, she said, you know, these teachers, they'll come in for this conference and they're in many ways they're beaten up. They feel, you know, very underappreciated and under acknowledged and underpaid and all the rest of it. It's a tough space. I remember that I was a teacher for two years. I mean, it's kind of funny to say that in the context of what your longevity in this space. Randy taught for 18 years in elementary ed as well. You really have to. Your level of commitment has to be really deep to deal with a lot of the administrative challenges and the lack of funding and even just the public's sometimes dismissal of how important educating kids really is. Has that been a challenge for you?

Well, you know, there's so many. This is what we found that teachers know what kind of result they want. You know, they picture in their mind, especially when they're right out of university, they picture that classroom and their passion and why they went, why they're going into it for all the right reasons. And they get in the classroom and we find so many of them, they have this picture in their head and they're not seeing that, you know, the students aren't engaging, they're not participating the way they had it pictured in their head. And through our training, we're teaching teachers, you know, how to create that very positive environment of joy and how to connect with students and have them love learning and participate and raise their hand because students aren't doing much learning if they're not participating. So, you know, that when teachers learn our skills, we hear it so many times that they say, that's what I thought I was going to learn in university. And didn't, you know, that's what the new teachers. Or we've had teachers that were ready to retire and say, I'm not going to retire now, because now I know how to get the result in the classroom. So when they learn that there's a lot of satisfaction when they're in their classroom and they can engage kids and get the result they want. And we've had teachers that have gone through the training and have gone back to their school and they just kind of shut the door and do their thing, you know, not worry so much about the rest of the world. They're in their classroom doing, you know, what they love to do in their classroom. And one of my favorite stories is a teacher that took our training in Florida, and her husband was transferred to Nashville, Tennessee. So she started teaching in a third grade, and it was in a low economic, very challenging. The students were at the very bottom at the state testing, and, you know, they weren't proficient in reading. And, you know, there was a lot of challenges in the school where she went into her classroom, shut the door and just did her thing. And, you know, all of a sudden These kids that were apathetic were all of a sudden engaged and learning and doing a lot. So the two third grade teachers next door came over and said, hey, what are you doing in there? So she taught them. And then the three third grade teachers were shutting their doors. And one of my favorite quotes is the principal told me this sometime later. She said, you know, I'm hearing all this noise and it looks a little chaotic, you know. And so she opened the door to and stuck her head into the classroom, and she said to the teacher, she said, is there any learning going on in here? Because it didn't look like her typical classroom. So she became a fan, and then it just spread out from there. But I always said we actually went statewide in Tennessee for quite a while. So it was like one third grade teacher and making a difference and how it can just spread and make a difference further.

Yeah, you know what I'd love to do, Bobby, is break down a bit of the science of what we're talking about. And it's an interesting backstory, at least for me. I hope it will be for you. I was a lawyer for 18 years, and part of this pivot, this reinvention for me was to become a trainer for a company and ultimately running that company. And part of the work it did was personal development and business development trainings. And the technology, as I used to call it, was something we refer to as accelerated learning or super learning. And it was based in the Socratic method. At least that was my. My experience of it. I came from the law background, and I remember in law school, professors would constantly be asking questions, so we couldn't sit there passively. If you tried to sit there passively, I mean, you were. You were. You were dead. I mean, you were toast. And it wasn't. It wasn't a pretty sight. And what that meant was that we were actively engaged. We had to particip, we had to be involved in. And I remember as I started to do these trainings as a trainer for this company, that I was hearing statistics about how the rate at which a person retains information, their ability to not only learn something, but to remember what it is that they've learned goes up by some really high number, maybe more than 80% or something, when they're involved, when they participate. And so they're confronted, in other words, in that space, with questions where they have to answer and participate. And then I came to understand where the origins of that may have been with Georgi Lazanov, and that this is somebody that Dr. Lazanoff was one of your mentors. That's somebody that you had studied with. And, and so that place for me was life. Where it was life changing for me was to see that kids. So I'd been a teacher, as I said, junior high school, hormones running crazy all over the place, and it was difficult to keep them in their seats, to keep them engaged. I was teaching English way back when and that kind of thing. And now I'm fast forward many years later, teaching in a space of personal development and business trainings.

And.

And I've got kids in the room. I mean, so the rooms that I was training were adults of varying ages as well as kids. We'd have young kids, we have teenagers. And I never had any discipline issues with those kids. They were fully engaged, they answered questions, they were intelligent, they spoke, they spoke like adults, even more articulate than many of the adults in that space. And I attributed that to this, to this process of learning, this super learning or accelerated learning, which I, you know, want to defer to you on what, what it's actually, if that's not the correct term to use, but this, this idea that people were participating and involved and, and there I became a believer that for people to learn faster, remember more of what they learn and have fun doing it, actually be engaged, that it was such a really important distinction and difference in the process of teaching. And that's what I got out of that. And this is what your company does. This is what you've committed probably more than 40 years at this point doing. Would you share some of that backstory on your mentor and just what it is that you do in the classroom and what you train teachers to do by the example you mentioned, that third grade teacher, how it is that those teachers are really changing the whole process of education.

Yes. I love what you said just about that. That was a pivotal moment and just inspiration of what you're doing and how important that was. Because that's what it was for me. Absolutely. It was in the late 70s I heard of Dr. Georgi Lozanoff, is how I say it, and heard about his work. And I was working with adults at the. And heard of him and brought him to the US and you can imagine in the late 70s and it was a communist behind the Iron Curtain country in that time and going through a lot of negotiation. He actually came to the U.S. we brought him and he was in my home for three weeks and. Oh my gosh, everything Bulgarian, right?

Yeah, Bulgarian. Did he speak English?

Yes, he did. He came with a bodyguard too. And it wasn't so much for his protection. It was so that the bodyguard made sure he came back to Bulgaria. There's a whole kind of intrigue story as well. They tattooed him as a flight risk and did a lot of intrigue to get him. So there he was in my home with a bodyguard for three weeks, teaching us accelerative learning. And he also came with his lead teacher, who was an opera singer. Well, so just her voice and what she brought to it. So he had been doing experiments in Bulgaria. He was a psychiatrist and medical doctor. And he got very curious about people and healing. And in one wing of the hospital, people were healing much faster. So he started to notice what was going on. It was more positive. He just could feel the more joy. The walls were colored, you know, in soft colors. There were plants, there were music playing. It was just an all over. The expectations were high. Just things that he noticed. So he wanted to experiment in teaching and learning. So he took a group of people and was teaching them a foreign language. And why he did that, it's very easy to measure. People either know it or don't know it, and it's easy to measure progress. So that's what he did. And he found that with his methods that he was creating, that they were learning a thousand words a day, high comprehension, enjoying it. The stress goes down. So this was written up and I did hear about this, and that's why we contacted him and went through this whole process to bring him to the US So when he was in my home, he taught us Italian. It wasn't to learn Italian. It was so he could demonstrate the methods that he had. And I, you know, the visual, auditory, kinesthetic types of learners. I my auditory so low and my visual and kinesthetic is so high that I thought, oh, all the way through high school, I just had stress going to language class. You know, I was like, it's mostly a straight A student, and I could hardly pass Spanish. So it was like, oh my gosh, he's coming and gonna try to teach us Italian. So my, you know, I was kind of like, oh, my beliefs. I was thinking, I'm never going to get this. But he was so he sets context. It's credibility, it's playfulness. It's like we all had a different name and story behind us that we made up. And it was so just the whole environment, you can imagine my home, I call it, you know, there's so much that goes into an accelerative learning environment. Well, I set up an accelerative learning environment in my home for Dr. Lizanov himself. You know, to think about it, you know, it's like paying attention to details. Yes, we did.

So I'm imagining it would be like setting up a kindergarten room the way you'd want five year olds to be so stimulated. Like you said, visual, auditory, kinesthetic, all this stimulus and you're sitting up.

Well, we actually took everything out to start over and made sure there was light coming in. And then we bought special chairs. So it was about the angle of the chairs and we had, you know, affirmations, things up on the wall, all of that going on, and lots of music that he orchestrated. But I was a couple of days into it and I'm thinking, oh my gosh, you know, it's like I'm hearing, but I'm not really getting much. And I always remember this because it was really profound for me. It's like he's asked, he had a beach ball and he was tossing it around and such, and he just all of a sudden looked at me and asked me a question in it and threw the ball at me. And the answer came out. It was like, where the heck did that come from? You know, it's like the subconscious. He calls his work suggestology, meaning that everything makes a suggestion. So accelerative learning is a term that came from others and here in the US and such that is a term for his work. He's the founder, considered the founder of accelerative learning. So that's where it came from. But when I look back now, I just, I didn't know the significance of the time when he was there with me. And when I look back, it's like, okay, when I paid more attention. But we took his methods and applied it to the adults we were working with. And adults were saying, learning was never like this for us. School is not like this. We had accountants attending the program, CPAs who said, I never experienced accounting this way. Now it's like a experiential experience when I'm learning. So that's where I started applying. And the adults were saying, you know, we're having so much fun learning, we need to do something for our kids. So that was 1982. I started the first super camp. That was 37 years ago. So we're into our 37th year and.

Super camp happens during the summer, is that correct?

It happens during the summer in the U.S. but we're in 19 countries now, so we have programs going on all year round because they have different vacations and we work with some schools in other countries. So. And, you know, our very first international program is interesting. It was 1990, and our very first one we went to was Moscow, which was still the Soviet Union and Singapore. And I keep thinking, why didn't we just go to Canada or someplace? But looking at the cultures and we thought, you know, this is going to be different. Will it apply in these other cultures? And we found students just jumped in. They participated at high levels, particularly in Moscow at that time, I think about we had so many teachers in the back watching. And at that time, there was a lot of suppression. You know, you weren't supposed to stand out over somebody else. And to have the students participate in the process program and talk about what they learned and how they're going to apply it, what are their dreams and what they're going to do in the world. I just watched the emotion from the adults in the world in the room that were just so moved by these students just finding their voice, expressing themselves, what they want to be learning, exciting about what they could do. That was really moving.

Beautiful. So I assume that you had some trainers that were fluent in Russian that were able to use the suggestology and this accelerative process, or did you?

We brought over our trainers and then we had Soviet teachers and we did have translation going on, but it was going on so fast. After a couple of days, you forgot about it. It was just back.

So even work. This is magical just to hear this. So it worked even with simultaneous translation?

Yes. A lot of the students did have some English, so they went to an English where they. A school that they taught English. But you know, that to really get the understanding, a lot of things need to be interpreted.

Sure, sure. I would like to just circle back to where you explained that suggestology is this concept that everything makes a suggestion. Would you say a little bit more about that?

Yes. Dr. Lozano said this just, I feel, is such a profound statement. And that is when you come from the mindset of there is no neutral. So think about that. Everything you say do has an impact that is negative or positive. And the responsibility of that, when you think about that way, you know, if you think it doesn't. Doesn't matter, doesn't make a difference. It does. It's either negative or positive. There is no neutral. And that's what he taught us to do. You know, when we set up our environments, it was. We'd set up everything we think we could do, and then we'd say, what else can we do? You know, we do everything we could do and then say, what else could we do? And you take it higher and higher and higher. You know that it was always a plus one, what we could do to make it, make it better. And just that mindset. Or on a break, oh, a couple of chairs are crooked or there's paper on the floor. It really doesn't matter. No, it matters. You know, it's just that beautiful, impeccable environment that everything is making a suggestion. It's coming into the subconscious, that we learn things on the subconscious as well as a conscious level. And he used paraconscious because there's. We're obviously not unconscious. So it's subconscious or paraconscious.

Yes. So this, this informed a lot of your work, clearly, that you sort of pivoted. I'm not wanting to tell your pivot story, but it sounds like that was a pivotal moment for you, big time. I know it was for me. And it clearly seems like that was the time when you're. You're the direction maybe of your business or the direction of where you.

Oh, my life.

Your energy.

Yeah, it was definitely the direction of my life because my work, my life, it just all comes together.

Sure. I mean, you get to see the people lit up. This was. That was my experience of it. And is to this day that when you use this process and the people light up, they light up in ways you can't even imagine. So it almost creates miracle space. It's sacred space, for sure. But there's also miracles that show up, and it would be great. I mean, I think one of the biggest disappointments of my own childhood was the fact that I wasn't fully engaged or nearly fully engaged in school. A lot of my teachers, I still have recollections of teachers reading paper, reading the paper, reading the newspaper, or teaching with their back to us the entire time. You know, just kind of rote memorization of things and very little engagement.

Feels like there's a lot of damage that's done out there.

Yeah, I think there is. I mean, I look at my, you know, the damage.

There's possibility so much more, you know, of just. Yes.

I mean, the possibility is. It is.

Well, I sat in classes where I wasn't getting it or not interested, and then I. I take it as it's all me. Of course, we teach students to take 100% responsibility for their learning, and we also teach teachers to take 100% responsible responsibility for their teaching. And it works really well when everyone's taking 100% responsibility. And one of the things we say if the students aren't learning, the teacher's not teaching.

Yeah, that's an interesting. So it's a chicken. It's sort of maybe not the chicken and the egg, but there is this, I think, difficulty in education when the paradigm hasn't changed, changed across the board, where they're still teaching teachers in a similar way. I mean, I know cooperative learning is much more prevalent today, and things have made. I think they've moved in the right direction. And yet still teachers aren't equipped for the most part with this. With this understanding.

Yeah, it's not much time spent on just how do you engage students? How do you connect them to the content, make associations, get them excited about learning?

It's harder work, for one thing, and.

It takes more work in the beginning, you know, and some people come. Teachers come to our training. Yes, they, you know, they get a lot of strategies, but it's not about the strategies. It's really understanding the system and how to orchestrate your classroom to get a result. So you have a tool belt with lots of strategies, but you need to know why for each strategy and use it for the right purpose, on purpose, at the right time to get a result. So it really is teaching them about masterful orchestration of their classroom. And it's all focused on your desired outcome and getting that desired outcome of engaged students.

Right. How big a role does context play? If you could, I'd love to have you spend a few moments, if you could, defining what context is in that context.

Yes. It's so important to set a context, which is your structure, shell or container about what you're doing. So when we teach our program, we have two sides and we look at how much time you're spending in each. One is culture and the other is cognition. And so we teach, first of all, you know, at the beginning of a program or the beginning of a school year or beginning of a business program, it's so important to engage and set the context. So you spend a lot on culture. You know, we have teachers that can spend the first week, three weeks on culture and other teachers saying, how can you do that when you have so much content to deliver? And we find the ones that really set a strong culture and context and foundation to their classroom, they'll get through the semester faster with the content than the teachers that didn't spend that time. So it is key, I mean, it is absolutely key to having successful learning. Then we also, on the cognition side, is that we do spend time on what we call a teaching cycle. That we don't expect that students just all of a sudden show up excited to learn. And, you know, we set the frame form of the why, the what's in it for them, the engaging questions to get them thinking. We then create an experience about something they already know, because we learn by connecting to something that we already know. And kids come from all different experiences and what they know. So when you create a common experience that then you can tap new learning into, it makes a big difference. So it is the culture, cognition, and orchestrating it all.

Sure. And it's not that the data doesn't matter, as it's sometimes been said, because it's important that you have content as well. But it's a bit like building a house on sand. If you don't start with a foundation, you don't spend enough time and effort in creating a strong foundation. Whatever you build on, it may not last or be sustainable anyway.

So true.

Okay, you mentioned culture, and this has triggered something for me, which is I want to follow this. This thread. Culture is mostly used these days in a business context. And I know you are a very savvy businesswoman and been running successful businesses for a long time. How does culture and context match up in a business, in the business arena, drawn any connections to me is that.

The context and the culture are interchangeable. And part of the culture here is that strong believers and strong vision, mission statements. We know our beliefs, our shared values. And my husband, Joe and I, we wrote a vision statement over 20 or 35 years ago, almost 40 years ago, and it drives us as strong today as then. And I really believe that we're here all these years later doing it and following that same vision because we were so clear on it, you know, in the beginning. So that is definitely directing us. And when anybody joins our company, you know, they could have their backstory, their history, their skills, their talents. What are they bringing? The very first thing I do when they sit down is I talk about our vision and just watch their face and their reaction and how they're talking back to me. But we only want people that are working here that share our vision because we hire more for who they are. And yes, it's important that they have the skills, etc. But the first part is really the culture and the context of what they'll be working in.

Yes, the context is the essence. It's the substance in some ways. So the vision. I would. Would you share the vision with us?

Yes. Yes.

Thank you.

Yes. It's to be an international model of excellence. Facilitating a shift in learning resulting in creative, educated, responsible people participating in a global community. So I say it's our way of changing the world because we work with people to shift how they learn, and then that through that they become more creative, educated, responsible, and that they participate in the global community, change the world. It's a big vision.

It is. And the statistics don't lie. You've made a lot of headway there.

I'm still at it.

Teaching teachers. Well, yeah, no kidding. Because there's so many teachers that are not aware of this, this methodology and these tools. Like you say, if you're in the classroom and you don't have as many resources as you could have, it's a waste on some level. I don't think there's anything worse than waste. The opportunity that those teachers could be accessing information and tools that would help them to connect at a deeper level and engage their students, get those students to be more involved and get more out of the education process. So if you could share a little bit about how is it that your company is now reaching more teachers or reaching. Is it the colleges that are teaching programs to teachers, to folks that are getting education degrees? Is that the front line? Is the front line in the schools themselves? I know. I'm opening up big, big can here with this thing.

I know. Well, it is really interested. So we think we should be in the teaching universities. That's where teachers want to learn what we're learning, and they think they should have learned it in there. We did do a semester class and a full semester at George Mason University Graduate School of Education, but it's hard when they have so much mandated content and things that they're doing to get into the universities. So we teach in districts, school districts and schools directly. Professional development that we provide. But I love how we got in there. You know, we started with super camp, our youth program, our learning life skill program. And early on, these students were going to super Camp. And of course they start school in the fall. And then we started to get teachers and administrators asking these students, saying, what happened to you over the summer? Because they were so changed. And that is literally how we started working with schools, is that they were noticing students coming back, asking them what happened to them, and then contacting us and saying, hey, would you come in and teach our. Our teachers? Now we're much more formalized, but that's how we began into the schools.

So there's a grassroots component of this, which is that you'll. You're working with and training Students themselves. So at Super Camp, children, young adults are getting access to this directly?

Yes, well, we hold super camp on university campuses in the U.S. we've been at Stanford University for over 25 years now. So we send staff there every summer who spend the summer there. And then parents send us their children for week long programs throughout the summer and learning how to be a more effective learner because, you know, it's assumed that people know how to be effective learners. And why we started this, because when I was working with adults, it was actually a business school for entrepreneurs, is that we found that the adults weren't great learners. So we started teaching the adults, you know, things like memory association, mind mapping, note taking, speed reading, those types of skills and finding, you know, the combination of that and then with Dr. Lozano, accelerated learning skills, that's kind of where it came. So with Super Camp, we teach them how to be effective readers, writers, thinkers, speakers, memorizers, note takers, you know, you name it on the learning skills side. And the students often say, why didn't you anybody teach this to me before? It makes so much sense. And then we teach the life skills we have our eight keys of excellence character program. And they learn how to find their voice and speak out. How many students feel they're not good enough or I don't know what my opinion is, and they just stay quiet versus Wow. I know who I am, I know what makes it my core. I know what I stand for, and I have the courage to speak. You know, students will stand different, they'll stand taller, their shoulders are down. You know, they'll look on their faces different. And I really see that kind of transformation happening with the students that come out. And now we've been doing it for so long that we have parents that attended Super Camp themselves and they're now sending their children. So, and we do it on university campuses in the US and then we're in 19 countries doing it. Do it in other languages as well.

Yeah, magnificent. I don't, I can't think of anything that's more important today than for us to model for, model for young people how to learn and apply what we learn. And I mean, the only constant, or say not the only, but a constant in the universe is change. It seems like it's a contradiction, but things are changing. And the pace of change, the pace of disruption is that much greater seemingly every day. So to be able to not just adapt to change, but also to be able to utilize change again, not to waste the opportunity that's there in that moment has a lot to do with how we learn, how readily and quickly we can take in new information, assimilate it, and connect dots to be able to see how it applies in our lives and also bigger picture the lives of others around us, and to see.

Opportunity and then have the confidence in yourself and knowing who you are to say yes to opportunity or make opportunity happen or take action. And there really is a shift in students. There's two students, you know, when they go through the program and get more discovery about who they are and what they're about, that's where you start seeing it on the outside.

Yes. So the Super Camp is designed for kids. Is there something you guys do that you're set up to help adults who also are listening to this primarily in our community, or adults that are pivoting in some way, transitioning in their lives, and they're typically between. I think I'd said to you earlier, 35 to 55 is the age range on average. And we have lots of younger folks and folks that are older than 55 and all that kind of thing. But for adults, what do you offer to help them to learn this way?

Well, we have done programs for adults. It's usually that they were parents of students that attended Super Camp is what encouraged them to bring us in. I've written several books. One of them is about is called Quantum Success, and it includes my story, because Quantum Success is really about fulfillment and who you are as a person, as an adult, and going through just discovery. So I do tell my story of, you know, when I was a youth and being very shy and not feeling good enough myself, and what that was like in Transitions and. And what it was to find that there was something inside of me that I wanted more in that path of just finding what is your purpose yourself and what you're doing. And then, you know, that that sense of fulfillment for most people, they get fulfilled when they're in service of others. And I always say, oh, this is very selfish of me to serve and make a difference for others, because ultimately I do it because I feel really good inside. You know, I feel passionate and joyous about doing the work and seeing shifts. It's what I'm about.

What's the name of the book?

Quantum Success.

Yes. Beautiful. And I know in the show notes we'll provide access to either a link to that or. Or to the website where folks can get a copy of the book, right?

Yes.

And obviously anyone that's listening either has children or knows somebody that has children. This is Really a blessing to be able to share that with folks.

That one of the things in the book that just part of my story and I think one of the pivotal points in my life was really a change. It was before I started this work. It was when I was younger, but I had been in business and it was quite very successful in the first few years, actually I have in this story where I wanted to go out to work and I had two children and was home and was happy doing what I was doing until all of a sudden there was something inside of me started to feel I wanted to do something else. So when I went into interview for the job, which were male partners, and going into interview, one of the things one of the partners said to the other, it's like, why did you bring in a housewife with no experience? And that would not go over very well today. And looking at benchmarks of what I was going to have to produce, and it was almost an intimidating way of, okay, you're not going to be here unless you produce these kind of results. And so I had a certain commission amount I had to make. And as it turns out, on my first day on the job, I made a deal that was worth the annual commission. So I made it on my first day, not the first year, but it was like going through that. And I made millions in a couple of years. It was really a heyday. It was real estate and investments and we were renovating Victorians in San Francisco. So it was a lot going on at that time and made a lot, but also got involved in, you know, I talk about the business school and the good work we're doing. And then it was like, okay, here's a way to make money. It was in stock options, but something I didn't know about and got involved in that we were making a return and putting all the money we were making back into the good work we were doing. But then it crashed very quickly. It was a three week period. I lost all my possessions, from buildings to my personal home, everything, you know, things were sold off. So it was a very devastating time. And I always think about when watching things, yeah, I kind of said, I'll be okay if I can just keep this. And it would go away or I'd be okay if I could just keep this. And it would go away. And really just left with my car. And that was about it seemed like everything was taken away. And one of the things I did was I stayed with a friend for a couple of months who had a little apartment and it was up on a hill in Los Angeles, actually, with abuse. So I was just there by myself in a lot of pain. I felt all my friends disappeared and all these things happening. And that was my biggest learning, you know, the failure. The biggest failures and the biggest learning. And to really get at such a deep level that nobody could take away who I am. And I got it at such a deep level because my values, my talents, what I want to do in the world, it's impossible unless I let somebody, you know, change my beliefs about who I am and what I'm about. But carrying that forward, some people say, oh, you must be really afraid of risk now because, you know, you can lose everything. And I feel like, no, it's like I feel start. I felt stronger because knowing that nobody can take away me and you don't really get that until something really strong or something happens that there's a shift. So when I talk about pivotal moments for myself, it was that moment of just knowing who I am and what I want to do in the world and then just keeping my commitment and my focus on my next steps and knowing what I'm. Who I am in the world, what I want to do, what I want to create. And that is in such alignment and just going forward with. With that, you know, but I still carry that, you know, no one can take away who I am.

Yes. Nothing that's real is ever threatened. I heard that some time ago, years, many years ago. And it's. It's very interesting and more than interesting, it brings peace, I find. It's. There's a piece when. When you realize that there is. There's a part of yourself that can never be taken. It's a. It's a question of whether you have access to it and how. How often you live with that, where you're accessing it. I had a beautiful conversation a couple of days ago with Alan Cohen. We had a podcast and. And he had said at a certain point, he didn't say, I'm done with self development. He said, but my transition, more recent pivot is away from self development towards self acceptance. That that's been more of a life journey is towards self acceptance and how it is really important that we are able to. At the same time that we're striving and wanting things and have these have goals and achievements we're looking to create, that we also let go, that there's this simultaneous talk about a paradox of sorts or one of these interesting things in the universe that as we're reaching, that we're Also, at the same time, letting go, the whole of life is a process of letting go in the end, isn't it?

It is. And I've heard Alan, and one of the things that I heard was that he talked about thinking about what you were criticized for as a child, because that really hit home for me because, you know, I was so shy and felt like I didn't have the courage to speak my voice or what do I really think. It felt like I was listening to others or sitting quiet while others spoke and not feeling good enough that there were other experts. Somebody else always knew more than me, you know, and so doing the work now, I mean, just so passionate when I see youth and they just, first of all, helping them really discover who they am and define what they stand for and who they are and how they want to express it, what do they think? And to see them do that, I know that their lives will be changed forever when they discover that. So wanting them to discover that early on.

Would you share? I mean, we've got a few minutes still to go. Bobby, I'd love to hear about the Community alliance for Youth Success K's and the work it's doing, because I think part of it is that you're creating a prototype of sorts that can be duplicated elsewhere in the US and outside of the US So would you share a little bit about that?

Community alliance for Youth Success is a program that I co created with STEM and Graham. I've known him for decades, I think, and he's always been involved with youth. And we always talked about doing something together. And then five years ago, we said, well, instead of us doing something together, because we haven't really gotten anything off the ground, why don't we do something with the community? So we had a first meeting where we invited the community in. I think that first meeting, we had probably three mayors. We had several school superintendents. You know, so we had a lot of the leadership. You know, the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce, we had Richard Dreyfuss showed up. He's local. So, you know, we had so many people in the room. And it was interesting because people looked around and said, how did you get us here? We never get together, you know, and it was because it was around you success. It's like people want to be involved. So businesses say, you know, I'm busy in my business. Yes, the youth, they're important, but I don't know how or how specifically could I support. So we've been meeting for five years now and looking at different Activities we can do to support youth. And it galvanizes a community to come together. People kind of come out of the woodwork, you know, and it's talking to each other. So the adults are finding that they know more about each other's programs and they can support each other more. It creates just awareness and activity in the community. And people keep showing up because they want to spend time with each other and hearing about that. And these are all busy people, as we all are. And then with the message that it sends for you, it's adult, you know, the communities coming together to support you. And that changes the mindset. So we do week that we call Youth Success Week once a year and that everybody that's involved volunteers their time. It's 100% volunteer. So we have people that get big fees and speak around the world and they just come in and give their time for a week to these youth and go right into the schools. We partner with the school system, school district so that we're right in their classrooms. Or we have assemblies, we do a festival at the end that we hold in a big theater and we have students perform and we have students talking about their successes and little TED style talks and videos that they do and perform and just a lot of interaction. So we're creating and writing it up as a national model to take to other communities.

Yeah, that's beautiful. I know, I've enjoyed it. And listen to Stedman talk about identity with the students, how much they got out of that. My dear friend Steve Farber, who also, I know donates his time and his energy to that cause. And so beautiful. Marcy Morrison. So many people that you've got that are part of it, and it's remarkable. So again, part of the show notes those of you that are curious about what the program is and when it is and all that. People that will have links and things to give you more information. So again, you can follow, find out about Super Camp, find out about Bobby's work and the work of the K's program as well. Bobby, we're gonna finish in just a second, but I'd love to know what rituals you have and just pick, maybe pick one. But a ritual that keeps you in that place where you are enjoying life. You're present with what's going on. In the midst of all the, you know, the doings, there's this being.

I love the mini moments. So one is that I. A reminder. Because when I drive, it always feels like. Not always. I don't want to say it that way. I get into a state too often than I should of not enough time, you know, rushing around. There's so much to do. And so when I'm going from point A to point B, I used to get irritated at red lights or, you know, not, you know, speed up a little bit so I can get through the signal because I don't like waiting. So I switch that around now to when I have a red light. It's like, oh good, a red light. It's my trigger or reminder that I sit and breathe and think beautiful thoughts, you know, be grateful for things. And I use the red lights as my time to create a time when I can just breathe and recenter myself. So that's one of them.

That's perfect. So this is like we create a frame around this. It's Zen practice at stoplights.

And, and the other one, I'll do one more because it's kind of related. It's in the car. I do a lot in the car. But when I leave the house before I get to the office, it's only a 10 minute drive from me. But I do check to see what is my attitude. Am I tired, am I happy? Where am I? So before I put my hand on the dorm doorknob to get into our building, that's my check. It's like, stop with the doorknob and check into myself. So sometimes I have to do an adjustment. So I have been known to between the home and the office and the car, you know, and sometimes it's just purposeful, you know, a happy song so that I'm changing a state if I feel a little tired or not as focused as I want.

Yes. It's a recalibration of sorts. It is, yes. And when we believe with, with Dr. Lasanov that state changes, that managing our states and being aware of our states is a of part. Part of that as well.

Absolutely. Being responsible for our state, being responsible for us. It's a choice. Absolutely a choice so we can take responsibility of. That's what I feel like between the office, home and the office. It is my responsibility to walk into this office with joy, with connection, with relationship. Because a big one for me is relationships. Internal, external. And you know, there was a time when I think, okay, we have to get down to our real business. We have so much work to do. So let's take a week. We're going to do everything on relationships. We'll do paired shares, we'll do affinity processes, we'll do all this and we'll get in really good relationship and then we'll go back to do our real work and all this work we have to do and it doesn't work that way.

So sort of like an off site, the classic corporate officer.

It's like, what are you doing when you come back? So I know that relationship needs to be a continual process. We have a. This has been going on for decades. At 10 o' clock in this office, we have music go on in the building. Everyone gets up from their desk and stands in a circle every single day at 10 o' clock. And it starts with burning chairs. You know, instead of somebody having something at home, you know, maybe their child was in the fire last night, whatever. Sometimes they go around and talk to everybody individually or it takes time or whatever, doesn't share. And now it's like at 10 o' clock every day, everybody's together. Everybody gets to acknowledge each other, you know, share what they want to share. And it's also a time for FYI, because so often I know the information so no one really needs to know it. We hold it close to us. No, like, what's happening? You know, somebody's coming in at this afternoon or this training's tomorrow, or we have reports from the field of where are our facilitators in the world? Where are they? We know, but when the whole office knows, it just creates better relationship and we stay tighter together.

It's more transparency and what a beautiful context. Every day at 10 o'. Clock. I'm so glad you shared that. That every day at 10 o' clock, the music comes on, you gather in a circle and they're burning shearers. There's things that you want to. Want to be able to say or want to be seen in that moment. Right. What a beautiful opportunity, Empowering opportunity. Bobby Deporter, thank you so much for being on our podcast. I thoroughly enjoyed everything you've shared. I know everybody that's listening in. Some folks that are actually watching as well on YouTube have gotten so much out of it. And I just want to thank you.

You're very welcome. It's really nice to be here with you, Adam.

Beautiful as we bring this to a close. As I said, your curiosity about Bobbi's work, her company, Super Camp, if you've got kids or know anybody that does, these are. These are musts. So please check out the show notes as well and support the community alliance for Youth Success. There's ways to do that. I want to end, as we always end these podcasts in the same way that we began. So this is our bookend and the context that we set for this program. First of all, by thanking you for being here and showing up wherever you are right now, you could be in the car consuming this. And I know if you are in the car listening, you're saying, oh man, does it have to end, right? I've got more. More. I've got more road ahead. It's like some of these podcasts that are going on two and three and four hours it can take. Take you on your entire journey. But. But all things, all things shall pass. And that's. That's a wonderful thing. So this is not the end of anything. It's the beginning. And we will. We will conclude this piece of it as we began with gratitude. So I am very grateful for you. I'm grateful for Bobby. I'm grateful for the space that we've created as well as all the amazing things that are happening in the world. I know we hear so much about what is wrong and what's negative and the conflict that seems to be around, and yet there's a creative opportunity in all of it. It's just for us. It is our personal responsibility to see that, to be able to access what is working and what is right in the world and be able to put it together in some way in a bigger context, a bigger picture, so that we are manifesting more peace and more joy, more love by our very being. And it's. At least, it's my personal opinion and it's the philosophy of our company that as we create that for ourselves, as we create peace, it becomes our offering. So it starts with us that our self love becomes the love that we can share in the world, and our peace that we receive becomes the peace that we offer. It won't be long before when enough of us are even selfishly working on creating our inner peace and. And working to actualize ourselves that our world, that we get to a tipping point where there's just more people interested in their peace than not. And then some light goes off. I suppose maybe it's like the northern lights, and we realize we're living in a peaceful place. I certainly see that happening soon as we breathe. Now, I. I want to wish for you. I get to do this. And it's a joy for me to wave the magic wand. And my wish is that you will wake up tomorrow. That you, Bobby. That you will wake up. That I will wake up. All of you will wake up. And that means physically, of course, but also mentally, emotionally, spiritually, even. It will be just a bit More conscious tomorrow than we are today, even. And that means we're on a good trajectory. And one practice, as Bobbi shared her practices, some of them which are so beautiful, I'll share my practice, which is that when we do wake up tomorrow and we take that first breath, that first conscious breath, that we realize in that moment that there are people who will be taking their very last breath in that moment. Also, babies being born were taking their first breath. And so it is a sacred moment. It is even holy. And in that moment, that sacred moment, there's something to be grateful for. So we wake up, we have something to be grateful for right out of the gate. What a beautiful seed to plant in the garden of our minds in that moment, how grateful we are. And if you're inclined to see stand up, say these words out loud, declare them from your bed or on your way to the rest, you know, to the bathroom, so be it. The words are, I love my life. I love my life. I love my life. I wish you all a beautiful and a blessed evening. Morning, wherever you are. Remember that your reviews of this podcast are really important to us. So if you could review on itunes the podcast, that would be fantastic. Of course. And I love it when the phone rings, Right?

I thought the DMV was on.

No, it's so perfect. It's like there's the first review right there. We've loved it so much. Please do leave the review. Of course. And our community on Facebook is growing, and it's just magnificent how vulnerable and authentic people are being in this space. So if you'd like to join the community, you can find us on Facebook at Start My Pivot Community and you can get there. The shortcut to that is pivotfb.com you can go to pivotfb.com and join the community there. So, again, wishing you all so many blessings. Again, love. It's like angel, you know, like the bell's ringing and something magical is happening.

An anchor.

It's a perfect anchor. Exactly. And with that, I will. I will say bye. Bye, everybody. Ciao for now. We'll see you soon. Bye. Bye.

Thanks for listening, everyone. We hope you now have the tools and greater insights to navigate your own Pivot. Help us inspire others by sharing this episode and leaving your comments over@adammarkel.com podcasts for more tips, strategies, and support as you consciously pivot into a new business and lifestyle you love, join our Pivot community on facebook@pivotfb.com.