The Law Of Growth And How To Lead Others Effectively With Dennis Shaver

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. I am so grateful to be here in this moment, to be alive. Frankly, I feel just blessed in so many ways to be with you now and to be able to do what it is that I'm doing, which is to speak about things that are on my heart and be around people that want to do good things in the world. We talk about Pivoting. It's a lot of things. In different contexts. It can mean many things. Sometimes it's about the mind and how it is that we think differently, and sometimes it's what we do with our bodies, and sometimes it's what's going on on a spiritual level for us or on an emotional level. So wherever I'm meeting you in this moment, whatever you happen to be doing in this moment, I want to just acknowledge you for being here, for listening, for participating in the way that you do, and really for getting some value, extracting something important from whatever it is we're talking about today and putting that to use in your life. Because that really is the greatest way that we make a difference, is by taking something we learn and modeling it in the world in a good way, in the best way we, we know how, and then impacting other people who might just do the same. And then longer term, we see things changing in ways that we can't even imagine that are really beautiful. So wherever I'm meeting you right now, I'm meeting you in gratitude and appreciation. I'm really blessed to also have a guest on our show today. His name is Dennis Shaver, and I'm going to share a little bit about Dennis in just a moment. And then of course, as is always the case, leave space for Dennis to fill in the blanks. I try not to spend too much time in the whole introduction thing, but it is important that you hear a little bit about this gentleman and then you'll hear from him, which I think is much more important in the moment. Dennis Shaver is an American entrepreneur, an Amazon international best selling author, and a former Fortune 500 leader. Dennis specializes in empowering entrepreneurial leadership in corporations, education, established businesses, startups, and aspiring entrepreneurs. Dennis began his career as an hourly manufacturing employee at General Motors Corp. After receiving his first BS Degree in business, Dennis was promoted to several GM divisions in various management capacities. Dennis also held key leadership positions at PepsiCo, Frito Lay, the Clorox Corporation, and he did a number of other things. I mean, it's a long CV or resume, as you can, as it's sometimes called as well. Dennis, you've been in business a really long time. I could spend the next five minutes sort of detailing the companies that you've worked for, provided services for, consulting, et cetera. But share with me what you really, what's missing from that sort of bio that you want people to know about you and share a little bit about what you're passionate about in this moment, this season in your life. Dennis and welcome, by the way, welcome to the show today.

Well, thank you very much. And I sit here and listen to you talk, and I'm like grinning ear to ear. And now I know I have crow's feet. It's because I'm always smiling all the time. But, yeah, I was born and raised. What's missing on this is I was born and raised in a big dairy farm in New York, Michigan. And there's seven brothers in our family, and I'm the middle child. So I have three older brothers and three younger, and all seven of us boys were born in nine years. Sometimes I wonder if my father decided, rather than buying another tractor, maybe just have another son.

I'm not sure. I'm trying to figure out the math on that, whether it was more or less expensive to the tractor versus the kid.

Yeah. But, you know, big hands, okay. And this we learned how to work hard. And we started at age 5 to be an entrepreneur in the dairy farm. And my first job in the dairy farm at age five was to take care of the baby calves. And what I appreciated most, what excites me about life now as well, is possibility. Because back then when you stayed in the kitchen while all the other brothers are at milk and cows, and finally, it's your chance to go out, work in the barn and be an entrepreneur. It's so exciting because to see the baby calves growing, see them born, see them growing, help them grow and see the cycle of life and then also learn about the cycle of life on the dairy farm was absolutely amazing. We had the four seasons, we had wintertime, where you're taking the time to focus on contemplation of this past year, what we could have done better. And then plan out the new year for a great harvest next year, then the springtime. We learned how to till the soil and prepare the land. And then once we prepare the land and till the soil, then you plant a seed. And when you plant a seed, you nurture the seed. There's a gestation period. And eventually you see this little sprout growing up throughout a thousand acres of land. Little green sprouts growing up, and the magic of a seed from a seed. This gives me goosebumps to see the magic of a seed. And after a couple of weeks, all of a sudden you see green sprouts coming up. It's so exciting to see that. And many times you want to harvest right away, but there's a gestation period for about 80 some days before that crop grows up. Well, during that time, if you have fertile ground, chances are you're going to have weeds. You don't want to water your weeds. You have to learn how to pull the weeds and then eventually get to the harvest. My point is, as fast forward into life now is as I take those wonderful values and lessons of working hard in a dairy farm into life and business. For example, this seed is a thought, and the gestation period is having faith and believing it's possible. The fertile ground is possibilities within our mindset. And then most importantly is when we water our weeds, we're thinking bad thoughts. So we don't want to be thinking bad thoughts. We need to let go of those bad thoughts. Eventually we get to the harvest and that's the outcome. And it's really about the journey of nurturing that. And that's where we learn and grow.

Beautiful. What's really amazing is in just a couple of moments, you were able to take childhood memory, and not just memory, because you work. You worked hard as a kid. I mean, you were, you were, you were put to the. You were put to work and got to learn from natural surrounding. I mean, you get to learn from nature, right?

About.

Not just about life itself, but really about what's the energetic force that creates things in life. Because you didn't say it, but I'm assuming what you mean is that thoughts are creative. There's a force, an energy to thoughts, and they ultimately produce things. I mean, it's the law of attraction. Everybody, I would think, at this point has heard of that, but you put it into a natural context as a dairy farmer, as being on that farm and growing up. When did you know that? When did that become a Knowing for you what you just explained.

What I just explained. Well, that's a big story. But maybe I can take you to another quick story. When I left the dairy farm, I wanted to be a businessman. Even though I love the dairy farm, being a middle child, everybody's going, why would you leave? I mean, this is a big business as our family farm. Well, I wanted to reach out and rise above and become a businessman. So I had a bag of clothes, grocery bag of clothes, $87. And I baler. Twined that to an old bicycle, handlebars. And I rode to the city from the country, from the rural farm area to the city and Baylor.

I'm going to just. I want to just pause for a second. Baler Twine. That's the name of the twine. Is that correct?

Yeah, it is. It's just like, it looks like a thin rope and you. It wraps hay bales together. And we used it quite often to not only wrap bales of hay, to fix things as well, to MacGyver things.

Ah, there it is.

Right.

And you're in Michigan right now. It's wintertime. As we record this podcast. It's wintertime, and you're in Michigan here.

And it says, it just snowed out yesterday. And I like being back here and the time being, because it's a time of reflection and I can get a lot of work done and getting prepared for the new year, for all the traveling, especially Singapore next month or speaking event. But, yeah, so the thing is going back to leaving the city is that one of my first jobs was to apply at General Motors, because back then, to get a job at General Motors. Wow. To make that kind of money. And I was so excited. So I went in, I interviewed at gm. They hired me in five minutes. And I'm like, why did. I said, can I ask why you hired me so quickly? And he says, well, young man, he said, I'm glad you asked. He said, first of all, you were raised in a farm, right? And I said, yes, sir, I was. And he said, well, forgive my French, but farm boys work their ass off. They've never been paid before. We know you're going to be committed because you work until the job is done. I said, yes, sir, you're right. So that was my first job. Then the third day on the job, I'm loving my job, thinking I get to go to college and make this money, and it's all exciting. And all of a sudden, somebody yells over to me, and I'm welding on a truck, and the guy Says, excuse me, young man. I said, yes, sir. So I stopped working. I ran over to him. I said, what can I do for you? Guy has bifocals and a time watch and a clipboard. And he looks at me through his bifocals. He says, son, you're working way too hard. You need to slow down. I said, why? My boss has told me to get my butt working out there. He said, well, you're going to take jobs away. I'm the union guy. And I thought to myself, wait a minute, Are you the guys who are taking the money out of my. Out of my check every week? Why do we have a union here? I had no idea what all this is all about.

You could have gotten yourself killed there.

Or beat up at least, right? So that. One of the things that my father taught us boys in a dairy farm was action. It was all about getting things done. In fact, one day, it was a hot summer day in Michigan, and I'm out doing what we do best, and that is getting rid of one of our key resources, cow manure, out of the barn. And I'm pitching the manure, and all of a sudden I'm taking a breath and I'm wiping the sweat off my forehead, and all of a sudden my daddy walks in. You don't want to be standing around when your father walks in. But I was standing there, and all of a sudden he says, well, son, how you doing there? I says, well, Daddy, I hope. I'm hoping and praying get this barn clean by chore time. He takes a puff of his Marlboro and he says, son, you can hope and pray all you want, but it's not. Taking your hands in that shovel and start pitching is when the barn is going to get cleaned. So that was the way I lived my life when I left home. And also then when I went into the corporate world, I realized that not everybody is that action oriented. There's other ways of working with people to empower them. So that was one of the big lessons I learned, is I changed that formula from action to ready, aim, action.

Yeah. Dennis, you've been a leader in business for some time. How did you.

Curious.

That was your programming. That was the modeling. Right. And it was a hard. It's a work ethic model that your dad was instilling in you when you became a leader in business, was that the ethic that you instilled in people? Was that your leadership style is really what I'm asking you. And if it was or wasn't, was there a Pivot there. Did you learn something, or has that been your. Been your teaching to others since that time?

Okay, I appreciate that you asking the question. And what they would say to me is that especially when I helped start up the Saturn plant for General Motors as I was a very young guy back then. But they said, dennis, you come to us with a different perspective. You just have this can do attitude, and you always seem inspired and excited and ready to get things done. And I said, well, that's kind of how we were raised, you know, I mean, if you want something in life, get up, make it happen. You can't hope and pray for something to happen. It's like, you've got to get out there and plant the seed and till the soil and make it happen. So I'm ready to jump in and make things happen. So that philosophy. Well, as a can do attitude and most importantly, as a team, because with seven brothers in our family, we worked as a team. It wasn't. There's no I in team. We were always working together. So that came natural. And that worked in companies like General Motors, PepsiCo, Clorox, and even business startups as well. Just came naturally in terms of that methodology, that thinking, that empowering people, that you can do it, and finding the best in people, which I think a lot of leaders. There's an opportunity for a lot of leaders in our. In our large corporations is that realizing that to be a great leader is to effectively lead others to effectively lead themselves.

Say that again, Dennis. I want people to hear that again.

Effectively. To be a great leader is to effectively lead others to effectively lead themselves. It's empowerment.

It is. And I would say that some of the things that, in my experience have been impediments or have gotten in the way of that have been when things get tough. You know, it's having a good, positive attitude is one thing. It means something else when you're tested by adversity. And when we talk about pivots, a lot of times, the pivot is a way to describe a change in direction because something went wrong or it didn't go as planned and all that type of thing. So I know that there have been challenges in your life, and we all have those stories, and I'd love it if you'd share one of those challenges or one of those pivotal moments and what it was that you learned in the process of pivoting or making a change in your direction and how it leads you to where you are today and what it is that you share with people today.

Well, I appreciate you asking that. In fact, I recall many years ago, first of all, I was married to Georgia Lynn, a wonderful lady. We were so connected. And one day in the fall time in Michigan, it was a different type of day. In fact, I was laying in the same bed with her, and it was a hospital bed, and it was. They had just pulled the tubes out of her to help her breathe. And she had a unique form of leukemia, and we had just lost our infant, which would have been a daughter. And because of this journey she was going through, she had leukemia. And so I'm laying in the hospital bed with her with all the wires hooked up to her, and we're embracing each other with the family around. And all we could say in those moments is how much we cared for each other. Nothing else mattered about challenges you might have had in life. It was all about to be here right now, to be completely in the moment. And then when that moment came, where she stopped breathing and I had to get out of the hospital bed, I'm walking away from the bed, and I'm feeling so lonesome. So it was a loneliest walk I've ever taken, the loneliest walk where nothing mattered, nothing interested me. I just wanted to be with her. But she wasn't there. She was gone. Her body was there, but she was gone. And her light was so bright, but it was gone. And so as I walked away and as the time started passing, it was very, very challenging for me to find a way to see the light, because I was expecting light to come from what we had together. But I couldn't have that. All I could have the light from her was the smell of her perfume bottles or, you know, the beautiful dresses in the closet to just things that trinkets we had around our place. And so there was a time where I finally had to get to the point. Not had to. I wanted to get to a point to realize that, hey, what matters most in this moment is from this moment forward. And that is to appreciate and embrace what was so awesome and magical with Georgia Lynn and I years ago. Then to embrace that and then have that as the light moving forward that's within me all the time. So that was the pivoting point, is when I realized that it was these words I came up with. If it is to be, it really starts with me. And those words alone just really allowed me to take a deep breath and to adjust, to adjust myself internally. I mean, breath is amazing when we don't know the answers to anything. I know. First of all, I love my life. I love life. I love the opportunity to be here. And I saw it happen to somebody I love so much, and she's gone. So the lesson for me, the opportunity for me is to step up, stand up, and be grateful for what is. And evolve, move onward and upward. So those words, if it is to be, it really starts with me, has been my blueprint, my formula, my roadmap, my. Oh, my God, I love these words. And it makes me appreciate. Want to appreciate life so much, because whatever happens in my life is all based on how I respond or react to it.

So when you say it starts with you. What's the next. What's the next thing that occurs? Is there something that occurs after you say that? Is it. What does it mean to you to start with you?

Okay, so, for example, two days ago, I'm driving to Oakland University here in Auburn Hills, Michigan, and I'm stopped in the middle of the road because there's a lady ahead of me that stopped. And all of a sudden, she puts in reverse and starts driving backward and drives right into me, smashes into me. And in that moment, this, if it is to be, it really starts with me, popped in my mind, okay? And I thought, all right, what thoughts are right now? What's happening right now? Because everything that happens, no matter what's happening, even though it wasn't my fault and my ego was jumping up as well, I knew there was my opportunity to say something. So as I opened the door, I'm thinking, okay, Dennis, be cool, be calm. You know, don't go throwing it at her that it's her fault, that type of stuff. Just say, are you okay? Are you okay? She says, oh, my God, thank you so much. I thought you'd be so pissed at me. And I'm like, I can't start that way.

Exactly. Where do we go from where. Where does it go from there?

Exactly. Let's be problem solvers, not problem makers here, okay? Let's be this. What's the solution? What's. What's possible here? So. So it's. It's those type of things. So it's thoughts. It's the thought that I choose. From this moment forward, I can't change the past. What I can do is create and be part of cultivating what is possible.

We would define that. Go ahead. I'm sorry. Please continue.

So what is possible is that in a scenario like that, is that I wanted to cultivate. Dennis, think higher thoughts here. Be the example. Like Gandhi says, be the change you wish to See, if I add gasoline to a fire, the fire gets bigger. Depends on what fire you have. If it's a fire of passion for somebody, that's one thing. If it's a fire of pissed off at somebody for running into you and you're adding to that fire, that's not helping the situation. Yeah, so. So I look at life that way. Is that how am I contributing?

Yeah, this is. It's so profound, what you're sharing, because I truly believe that the most important pivots that we make are pivots in our thoughts. We think about the things we do. What's our, you know, our choice of livelihood. And there's so many decisions. We're making decisions all the time. Consciously or unconsciously, we're making decisions each and every day, and almost every minute of every day, we get to choose how we make those decisions. Do we make those decisions with love? Do we make those decisions with fear? That choice is a pivot. That mindset is a pivot. And you got to make a choice. Somebody backs up out of the clear blue and bangs into your car and. Yeah, I mean, there's a reason to be upset, for sure. I mean, I don't know that anybody would be sort of, you know, would be okay themselves if they weren't upset in that moment, in. On some level. And yet the pivotal question you asked yourself was, how do I want to start this discourse? How do I want to. Do I want to react or do I want to respond? And that consciousness allowed you to pivot your thought to one of, you know what? We'll get to the insurance. We'll get to the. All that stuff soon enough. I want to check in and see if this lady's okay.

Right.

And she responded accordingly. She met you, so you. You showed up with love, or you expressed something that I think was of a loving nature, and she responded accordingly with love.

Right, right. You know, being a. Being a. I'll just say being a man in business. I remember being raised with a bunch of boys, and we would talk, guy talk and all that type of stuff. And the thing is that as we evolve in life, I appreciate the word you're sharing about love, because I believe there are two emotions. You probably heard this from other people. There's love or fear. And the more we focus on what it is we desire versus what we don't desire, the more we get of what we desire. I've written a quote recently. It goes like this. It's like whatever you focus on most shows up most often. And the More I focus on what it is to be of service, to help others help themselves. That good karma, that goodness, comes back to me as well, and it just spreads. It becomes viral. And that's where I choose to be is. Even in leadership roles and companies, that type of thing is to. Is to be an example. And of course, we're going to trip and fall. We're human. That happens. But to know how to evolve forward from there, you can catapult forward versus being stuck in the muck because it's easy to blame and judge others and ourselves and be stuck.

It is, for sure. Well, you know what, Dennis? This great opportunity, is there anything else that you want to share in the way of a pivotal moment or a pivotal experience that you think would inform our listeners and the folks that are even watching on YouTube right now in the area of either entrepreneurship or business? You've gained a great deal of wisdom from the time you're a young, young boy to the point where I think you. You've got this incredible credibility as a leader. I love much of what you say. Really resonates at a deep level with me and loved having you at our house. We did an interview out in the backyard, which was a ton of fun. Yeah. So is there another pivotal moment or experience you want to share with our folks?

Absolutely, and thanks for asking. And one particular situation is that I have worked with some large companies, and also when I had, I started several small businesses. Nurse. There's one business that was a product development company. Company. And we did a lot of work for large companies in terms of designing products for them and making prototypes and going into manufacturing. Okay. Well, eventually, a lot of what I'll call aspiring inventors would show up at my door and say, I got this great idea. It's a million dollar idea, Dennis. Can you help me with it? You have a manufacturing plant. We could go into business together. It's a million dollar idea. And then I could retire. We'd hear this often. Well, the stories that I heard, though, were pretty profound. One particular day, I got a call from a gentleman. I'll just call him Mike. And he comes to me and he walks in my office. He says, dennis, the patent attorney loves you guys and suggests I go to you to get manufacturing costs for my new invention. I said, sure, come in. He sits in my office, hands me this thick patent. And he said, I just spent $10,000 on this patent. I just got the patent. I'm so excited. Then he tells me a story. He just got divorced. He's got Two little kids. He doesn't have much money left in his account, but he wants to get his manufacturing costs. So I read his patent and I get to the patent and all of a sudden I look at this, I'm thinking in my mind, oh my gosh, how do I tell this guy the bad news? Have you ever been in a situation where you felt yourself in a pickle but not sure how to get from the bad news to the good news quickly? Like, how do you turn in the good news? That's where I was with this guy, after all. He was sitting on the chair, on the edge of his chair, excited. This is his million dollar idea. And I said, mike, I love your idea, it's fantastic. But you said you spent $10,000 on this patent. Do you know that you can go to the US Patent Office and only cost $130 to get a basic patent? 2 Is this, this isn't even manufacturable. He said, but here's the design. I said, that is is basically an illustration. So this guy, this big grown man sitting in my office, has tears coming down his eyes and the door is closed. I know he felt really embarrassed, like he made this big mistake. And so many people have come to me that way where they've been stuck in the muck with a great idea. Bottom line here is I helped turn that guy around and we got him on track. And he turned a several hundred thousand dollars mistake of going the wrong way into a multimillion doll, only because he found a way to ready himself first with the right mindset and then aim himself in the right direction with the right skill set by identifying resources that can help him to get the traction to take the most effective action. That formula I call Ready Aim Action formula. That is what has worked really well in helping people get unstuck from the muck and or get on track with a great idea to get it from their mind to the market to profit.

Is that what you do these days? Do you work with mostly entrepreneurs or aspiring entrepreneurs? Is that your market today?

That's my market. But then also I'm asked to give a lot of public speaking events, especially the one in Singapore next month called Think, Act Prosper. And that is all about helping aspiring entrepreneurs take the most effective action and get on the right track to evolve their idea forward. Because the future of entrepreneurship is getting bigger and bigger and jobs are getting less and less in the future. So people need to find a way to identify their true north. What I call it true north. And from there then they're stepping into their genius and then take action on that genius and turn it into a profitable journey for themselves.

Exactly. Well, I want to ask you just one final question and we'll see where it goes. I really believe in the power of rituals, conscious habits, in other words, things we do intentionally to create some new results. So it could be for folks that are listening watching this right now, you know what? I have a lot of negative thoughts. And frankly, I've had them since I was pretty young. My mom had them or my dad had them. And I just can't kind of break the habit of thinking about things in a negative way or seeing the classic glasses half empty, or I get angered pretty easily and stuff can kind of take me. I can go sideways in my thoughts pretty quickly. Even when I'm feeling good or it's a good day. I can come of get. Get sideways pretty fast. What do you say? Well, I don't less than what you say. What are some of the things that you've done by way of creating a new habit? Which I'll say these conscious habits are rituals. Do you have rituals that cultivate better thoughts for yourself or cultivate some other area of your life where it's been. Where you've been weak? Because it sounds even like early on your mindset of if it is to be. It really starts with me. I don't know exactly when that became your mantra. Maybe it was early on, maybe it wasn't. But what's a ritual or something that you do on a regular basis to help you to think better or behave better?

Okay, well, there's many rituals. There's one that rings true for me, and that's the first one when I wake up in the morning and I turn sideways and put my feet on the floor as I say thank you, thank you, thank you. And I am so grateful to be here. And this is the way I walk. Life is just with a complete gratitude because you can't spell gratitude without you. And so I look at life that way. And then the other thing is I always sort of hum a tune, an affirmation, and it goes something like this. I am happy, healthy, wealthy, loving and successful. I am happy, healthy, wealthy, loving and successful. I am happy, healthy, wealthy, loving and successful. And I just keep repeating that because I deserve it, because I am more than deserving. So I say these things in the thick of challenges. When things are happening, it's like I'm so grateful to be here and this is an opportunity for me. So I'm always reminding Myself of more rising above type of thoughts that helped me, and that affirmation helps me tremendously. The other thing is every morning getting up and going to the gym at five in the morning and having that green drink. Oh, my God, the green drink is so fabulous. Oh, yeah, you got it. Oh, geez. Every day. Health is wealth. And that habit alone, that realizing that what is sitting in this chair is a gift for me to be and do whatever is possible for me to be and do. So hopefully I'm choosing to steer it in the right direction. One of those is thinking good thoughts, because thoughts become things. The other thing is taking the actions that are doing good things for self and others. And the other thing is to be a living example of what other people would like to rise above to, including myself. So. So it's always about finding ways to think higher thoughts, not from ego, think higher thoughts about rising above and not succumbing to what most people say. Well, that's just the way it is, Dennis.

Yeah, it's. I think what you've said there is really, really important that you're underscoring that, Dennis, that our thoughts are. It's the law of growth. And the law of growth is that what we. We think about grows. So, you know, it's just a question of what it is that you want to cultivate. You started off in our conversation with an example of what it looks like for a seed to germinate and grow into something. And I think that's the best example that I've found that I've heard anybody else talk about, is that the examples that are in nature and. And our thoughts are certainly seeds. So we plant them in the garden, and the ones that we cultivate will grow. And if we cultivate weeds, we'll get weeds. And if we pull weeds and cultivate more, more things that were things that we prefer more, which could be flowers, they could be fruits, or whatever they are. You know, we're doing that. We're doing that consciously, and there's a conscious. There's a result that. That comes from that conscious cultivation. So, Dennis, been a pleasure to have you on the show today. There'll be full show notes with links to things that give folks an opportunity to learn more about what you're up to and your business and where it is that they can participate in some of the programs and things that you're providing for folks. I know we've got a show that's going to be coming out pretty soon, you and I. I was invited. Yeah. So it's exciting for us as well. And I would say to just remind myself of something we were talking about earlier today. All is for the highest good. I want to just speak that out loud again, that all is for the highest good. And that's a new thought, a new way to express something that I am. I'm testing myself. So I think what you said as part of your rituals is that you create a mantra or a thought, a statement, something that you sing, that you remind yourself of. Because we need reminders. I know I need them all the time. And it could be that we've got a cloudy moment, there's a cloudy day, there's a cold day, versus something that might feel warmer to us. And in those cold moments or those cloudy moments or those moments where you get backed up into, you know, somebody backs their car up, literally, and, you know, dings your front grill unexpectedly, we have a choice. We get to make those choices. So you've really pointed us, I think, in a wonderful direction in terms of taking a breath and being able to cultivate a conscious response as opposed to a unconscious reaction. So, Dennis, what a blessing. Any thoughts or things you want to share as we, as we wrap up today?

Yes. I love your book. I read it. It's like, oh, my God, there's so many great things in it. And I have. I can relate to a lot of things you talk about. And the title of your book called Pivot is just like, it's so realistic. And I just want to thank you. I mean, it was such a pleasure meeting you out in California and talk with you. And you're like a brother from a different mother. And I'm so grateful for what you're doing to pave the path, to help others help themselves. And so honored to be with you here today and also on behalf of listeners to share what we're sharing and whatever I can do to help you cultivate what you're doing, reach out to me.

Okay, Dennis, thank you. What a pleasure for everybody out there. Hope you're having absolutely just a beautiful day, whatever, or evening, for that matter. I mean, we're all consuming content at different times. Wherever. We're meeting you right now, want to meet you with love and gratitude, appreciation for you. I hope that more than anything, that you truly appreciate yourself. And I will leave you, as always, with the ritual for tomorrow, because with great good fortune, we will all be around tomorrow. And that is what I wish for you, that tomorrow morning you wake up, that I get to wake up, Dennis gets to wake up and Our families and friends and all of our brothers and sisters, we wake up tomorrow. And that is a special moment because as we take that first breath of the day, that first conscious breath, where we realize, yep, I got another day here. And it could be that you, you wake up feeling tired or feeling the pressure from something going on in your life, something that you'd like to be different. Perhaps you can still feel grateful in that moment because that breath is really sacred. People will be taking their last breath. As you have that thought, that becomes part of your awareness. There will be people everywhere taking their very last breath. And there will also be people being that are taking their very first breath. So that is a significant moment. Wake up, take a deep breath and be grateful. And if you do want to and would like to even begin that mantra of declaring out loud, I love my life, I love my life. I love my life, you get to experiment with that and see how that intention reflects back some results in your life. Some new, new, new things show up as a result of planting that seed in the fertile soil of your mind at the beginning of the day. Dennis, thank you so much for the analogies and your experience and what you shared about growing up in Michigan on a dairy farm and stories about your dad and your role as a leader. Really appreciated all of that today. And for all of you out there, have a blessed evening or morning or whatever time it is for you. And of course, if you've not yet subscribed to the podcast, hope you really love it enough to want to subscribe. I know folks are listening, some are binge listening and some just every once in a while listening to an episode here or there. But you can get to the episodes obviously on itunes. Please leave a review. We love those five star reviews, but whatever your review is, we love it as well because it's great feedback for us. You can get to it through AdamMarkel.com as well. And if you've not yet joined our Facebook group, the conscious pivoting that is happening on that group, the stories people are sharing, the vulnerability, the authenticity is so profound. So you can go to the StartMyPivot Facebook community, StartMyPivot community on Facebook, or you can go get there by going to pivotfb.com and just jump right in, introduce yourself to the community and have a lot of fun and we'll see you soon. Ciao for now, everybody.

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.