S4:E79 🎙️LIVE with Coach Martin Houston (Multi Tracks Audio)

Hi, I'm John Maxwell. When the top companies in the world are Hi, I'm John Maxwell. When the top companies in the world are looking for trainers, speakers, and coaches, there's one name that stands above the rest, and that's Maxwell Leadership. Our certified team members have gotten proven results for companies all over the globe, and our reputation, I'm proud to say, is second to none. Some of our members have risen to the top of their profession, including the one you're going to meet today. I proudly introduce you to my friend, Bob Fabien Zinga.

Welcome to the Leadership and Success Podcast with your host, Coach BZ. If you need to develop into a better leader, this podcast is for you. If you want to achieve a greater level of success, this podcast is for you. His mentor, Dr. John C. Maxwell, said it best: everything rises and falls on leadership. We hope to inspire you today and provide you with an insight that has the potential to positively impact the trajectory of your life. Welcome to the Leadership and Success Podcast.

Hey, I'm Martin Houston with Empowerment Strategies and Solutions. We speak, we coach, and we train. Today I just got a really quick lesson I want to share with you. If you're an aspiring leader, uh, an emerging leader, new leader, or a leader that's just committed to growth, today I want to encourage you to act like a leader. Act like a leader. And the A is for acquiring knowledge. You know, John Wooden used to say that it's what you learn after you think you know it all that makes the difference. So if you want to be a leader that's continually growing, maturing, and maximizing your team's potential, then act like a leader. And that starts by a continual journey to acquire different, new, more knowledge. Knowledge and information that helps you be better at what you do. And of course, when it comes to leadership, it's nothing more than influence. So as you acquire more knowledge, the next step is commit to utilize that knowledge. It's great to acquire that knowledge, but you need to commit to applying that knowledge in your leadership. Journey. And as you do that, as you apply that knowledge, it's going to help you become more effective in your job, which increases your influence, which is part of your goal as a leader. But the last letter is T, and that is to teach that to others. So not only do you improve and increase your influence, you multiply it when you teach it to others, and you also increase their knowledge. So if you want to be a leader that's making a difference, that's impacting your organization, whether you're brand new, whether you're emerging, been there, uh, trying to get your feet on solid ground, solid foundation, or you're an established leader, uh, that just wants to take your game to the next level, then acting like a leader will make all the difference in the world. And once again, that is acquiring knowledge All right everyone, this is Coach Bizzy.

Thank you for joining us early this morning. It's about 6:00 AM here in California, so 9:00 AM on the East Coast. And I just showed you a short highlight of, uh, the guest who's going to be with us, uh, today. Moment of, uh, gratitude. So Every day we want to be grateful for one and one thing. And part of the reason why we do this is because about 21, 22 veterans commit suicide in America every single day. And you cannot be suicidal and be grateful at the same time. So let's take care of our mental health today. If you would, you know the drill, close your eyes, put yourself in your happy place, take a deep breath and Think about one thing that you are grateful for today. Today I am grateful about life. I really never take it for granted. Every day I wake up and I am— I have my right mind. It is really a blessing to be alive because as long as I'm alive, there is hope for me. I may not be where I want to be, but I'm not where I used to be, and tomorrow, I believe, belongs to me. Okay, so let us know what you are grateful for and type it in the comment. Let us know where you are joining us from, what city, what state, and also if you are outside of the US, what country. And if you have a question for my guest, please type it in the comment and we're going to be answering it live. So let me introduce our guest today really quick. You guys are really, really going to enjoy this. You absolutely do not want to miss it. So I'm gonna be introducing— I knew him as a pastor, Martin Houston. He's a coach as well. So this is a conversation you absolutely do not want to miss. He really went from the football— the town where I used to live for a very, very long time where I met my wife, Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It's a football town and he's a huge celebrity over, over there. So from football stadium to the boardroom to the pulpit. So Coach Houston is a national champion executive coach, master author, and builder of leaders. Today we're going to be unpacking how to lead with a championship mindset in life and in business. Lesson from Alabama 1992 national championship that apply to today's teams. Transforming setback into, uh, setup for growth, but also building winning cultures in churches, company, and community. So ladies and gentlemen, without further ado, please help me welcome Coach Martin Houston. All right, Coach Houston, thank you so much for being here. We've been talking about this podcast for at least a couple of months now, so I'm so glad that you are here. I guess to get started, what are you grateful for today, sir?

Wow, that's such a powerful, powerful question. So many things to be grateful for, uh, Coach BZ. Uh, But, you know, I would tell you, you can kind of find it in a kind of a grouping, you know, family, faith. And of course, in Tuscaloosa, you got to love football. But most importantly, I kind of piggyback off what you said, you know, the fact that I have breath in my body means that everything is still available to me. And the opportunity to impact this world, and to maximize it and live, live the most by it. But, uh, you know, faith, uh, family, football, uh, are kind of really, really critical, uh, to everything that I do.

That's wonderful. Yeah, the free F in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It was really a shock to me the first time I went to a football game when I was a student there. I'm like, what in the world is going on over here? People just went crazy and wild. I'm like, Wow, I've never seen anything like that in my life. It's like, wow, that is something. So what is something about you, Coach Houston, that most people may not know?

Well, you know, the business that I'm in, I can remember a time, Coach BZ, when I first came to Alabama. You know, you've been in the South and there's several different dialects even within the Southern dialect. And, you know, I I was made fun of for the way I talk. And I grew up with a slight speech impediment. In certain words, I couldn't enunciate and things like that. And, and so most people don't— because of that, I was kind of reserved and shy. And but it never came across that way. And it still doesn't to this day, because I'm kind of a big guy, I smile a lot, and I'm boisterous. So everybody comes up and talks to me. But I'm naturally a shy person. So it's an interesting dichotomy because of what I do. People like, there's no way you're shy, but put me in a new room and I kind of have to work my way through it. And then I can, as they say, own the room.

Wow.

So I'm connected there.

Because I remember when I first saw you, I mean, you are one of those fiery preachers. I mean, it's very difficult to think that you are shy, but I guess this is just the way life works. I guess what happened is when you do all of your speaking, you probably use a lot more energy than other people do in order to make the moment and kind of preach your message. But yeah, it's really powerful to see you in your element. There is nothing, nothing like it.

So real quick, real quick, to add to that, you know, that I know that faith is important to you as well. Yes, the Bible says that he takes— we can be made strong in our weakness, he can be made strong through our weaknesses. And that's a weakness that I had to literally go to him and say, I want to make a living with my mouth. By speaking, and you're gonna have to help me. And that's what you see manifested.

Wow.

When you see me on stage is, is him being strong through me.

Wow, that is powerful.

Yeah.

Actually, not many people know this about me. But when I was a kid, I used to stutter a lot. And today, if you pay attention, I still stutter, not, not as bad as I used to when I say I just did that. If you to pay attention. I can speak a lot more fluently now, but when I was a kid, I couldn't speak a word at all. So I used to be very, very shy. So maybe it's something when it's in your destiny, you are going to be maybe not even making a living, but taking a lot of people through your speaking. Maybe that's what happens to you when you're a kid, but it's something you can definitely overcome. I remember the very first time I spoke to a crowd, it was about maybe 500, 600 people. And I was so scared. I mean, I think I almost peed in my pants. But what I started doing is I didn't look at their faces. I looked above their head and I was just speaking to one person, the person I thought this message was for. And I was fine. And then when I did it again and again and again, then I kind of got used to it. But anyway, it's kind of cool. So going back to your story from center Alabama to national champion, So take us back to your early days. How did your upbringing shape your work ethic and faith? And what did it mean to earn a scholarship to the University of Alabama?

Roll Tide!

Yeah, well, first of all, you know, I tell people often that my work ethic came from my mom. I mean, I watched my mom get up every single day and take care of her responsibility. And my parents divorced when I was in second grade. My mom remarried not long after that, but it was her work ethic that gave me the work ethic. And it also kind of became a motivation to, to drive me to help take care of her. The other part of that is just being in a small country town. There wasn't a lot to do. And so you, you learn to work hard. I can remember the days of getting up in the summers. And the summer work was working in a field, you know, picking cucumbers and, and baling hay and all of that. So the type of work that was available to a young man in my community was that type of hard labor. Fortunately, God blessed me with a body that was conducive to football. At one point, I thought that— Bob, I thought it was going to be— I mean, Coach Beezy, I thought it was going to be basketball. I ended up 5'10", but I was 5'— just to give you an example, In the 7th grade, I was 5'9", right at 200 pounds. I mean, sorry, 5'7". 8th grade, I was 5'9.5", 220 pounds. The first time I played at Alabama, so I thought I was gonna be really tall. First time I played, I was 5'10", 215.

That's crazy.

Yeah, yeah. So football, you know, but, but for me, I was a reader early on. And everywhere I went, I used to carry books with me. Now I have my Kindle, but I used to carry books with me and I read and it exposed me to so much. So I knew I wanted to get out of that small community. And so the scholarship to Alabama, I knew that the way that I could afford college would be through athletics. And now I could have gotten some smaller scholarships academically as well. But I knew that to get the full ride, football would do that. And I had several options to choose from and chose the University of Alabama. And that's how it— that's what that, that meant to me was it opened up another whole pathway of life because of getting that degree.

That is really awesome.

Really awesome.

If you can take us through, uh, you going to Alabama, especially the national championship, and what you think were the secret of the success of the team, you becoming a national champion.

Oh wow. Uh, first, first of all, just going there was, uh, was a great honor. And as you mentioned, there's not anything quite like football in Alabama because the University of Alabama has had tremendous success And there's— there are no pro sports in the state in any level or any sport. So it's the highest level of achievement in sports within the state. And so getting a chance to come here, you know, I had the privilege of playing for Bill Curry and Coach Stallings. Bill Curry was the quote-unquote outsider, never accepted by the family. The fan base never bought into him. But he gave me my opportunity. And then Coach Stallings came in kind of gruff, old school, had coached for Coach Bryant, had coached for Tom Landry. And that— if I could make a leadership application to those two guys, I think it will help your, your audience. Bill Curry went— he won 8 games, 9 games, and 10 games as success. Which typically would have been considered successful. But he was an outsider. They didn't accept him. But what was interesting is his philosophy was he coached his coaches. Wow. He didn't really— he never really coached me. Like, he would coach my position coach to correct me and tell him to correct me. Oh, Stallings came in and man, he was hands-on. In the trenches. And I remember the first time he said something to me, I was like, whoa, what's going on? He was a, he was an in-the-trenches type of CEO. And those two, I, I've learned to use both of those types when I've led. Some people need you to be hands-on, some need you to give them space. And the University of Alabama was absolutely amazing. It gave me my degree. My wife and I got married my redshirt freshman year, so we were married for 3 and a half years while I was playing ball. We had our son 2 years after we were married, so he was part of the national championship. But we had some ups and downs in that time, Bob, and this is the greatest— this, this is a story I can tell people. We were 10-0, number 2 in the nation under Bill Curry.

Wow.

We lost to Auburn and then Auburn, Auburn, Auburn.

Yeah.

And then we lost to Miami and Bill Curry left. They hired Coach Stallings. Here's the thing. Everybody loved him, but we lost the first 3 games he came in. Like, we were really good. And then we were like 0-3. We lost 5 games his first year and got embarrassed in the bowl game. Then we came back the next year, won the first game, went down to Florida and got beat 35 to nothing. Wow. Okay, Steve Spurrier said we will beat this Alabama team by 35 points. That's what he said.

Wow.

And they beat us 35 to nothing. We came back, um, as a team and had a players-only meeting and said Here's the deal, guys. The two of the last three games we've been out there, we have embarrassed ourselves, this university, and our family in the Crimson Standard.

Yes.

I mean, we've been without the coaches and we said, here's the deal, we're going all in. You can, you can leave. But if you stay in this room right now, you're committing to do the work that it takes to be a champion.

Wow.

On our next 20 We won our next 28 games, uh, in a national championship en route to that. And let that sink in. We were 35 to nothing, embarrassed, and then went on, and nothing, nothing changed except for our commitment and our attitude.

Wow.

Commitment to success. This is, this is powerful. And also, you, you mentioned Auburn. I remember the Riverdawg between, you know, Alabama and Auburn. And actually, I remember when I was a student there, I believe in the '90s, somebody poisoned a tree, I believe in Auburn, if I remember correctly. This is crazy how football rivalry gets people to do crazy stuff like that. It's like, wow, people really get out of their mind when it comes to football in Tuscaloosa. My goodness.

Okay, it's their faith. It's unfortunately, it's too many people's God.

Yes, yes. I remember God, family, and football. Yeah, that's exactly what Tuscaloosa stands for. But because, I mean, I have seen grown men and women actually cry, like, cry like little babies because Alabama was losing the game. This is just unbelievable because I went to two games only in my life. One, Alabama won, and it was just ecstatic and crazy. And the second one, Alabama was losing. People knew they were losing. Half of the stadium emptied. Like, they went home. They didn't want to see the end. And crying like babies. I'm like, What in the world? This is just a completely different experience. But anyway, so what about, okay, after the growing national football champion, you went from winning the championship to signing with the Steelers, right?

Yes.

To experiencing a career-ending knee injury. What mindset helped you pivot from heartbreak to a new mission?

Yeah, and I'll do this really quick. It's my most presented topic through the years. And I actually developed this when I was in school, not knowing I was developing it, but I teach it now. I believe I call it the winning game plan. And number one is you set goals, and everybody does that. But most people don't do number two, you work to make those goals a reality. Then number three is that you actually have self-confidence, not cockiness, not boldness, not, not arrogance, but a confidence that I can do this, I can, I can, I can reach that goal that I have. If I put the work in, and I'm confident that I can do that, then number 3 is, I mean, number 4 is never quit. It doesn't matter what's going on, you just have to have this resilience mindset that you don't quit. A setback is an opportunity for— a setback is an opportunity for a comeback. So, and then the fifth standard, the fifth thing is have your own standard. Like, I had teammates who were first-rounders and they all went on to play, but when I got hurt, I knew that what my goals were, you know, and part of that was I was married and had a child So I graduated a year early. When I went up to the Steelers, I already had a job waiting on me if I didn't make it. The owner of a local business, he and I talked. I said, hey, I want to pursue this. If it doesn't work out, I want to come back and be able to take care of my family. So I already had a plan of action, a game plan. And, and it's just like anytime you call a play, you have the play you want to run. But if that play is not able to be executed, you audible to whatever the next best play was. And of course, the last piece of that is, is my faith. I believe Romans 8:28, all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose.. And I knew my purpose wasn't just to play football. It was my platform. Wow. And so, so when, when, when that moved, I just said, God, what's next? What? How do you want to use the experience of playing for Alabama and the, and the Steelers to be able to move forward? And I'll tell you a quick side note. Wow. Mindset, Coach B. BZ was— I was the first player that didn't make the team. I got injured and everything and was, you know, came back to Tuscaloosa, but they gave me a helmet. And the lady wrote a note, said, thank you so much for your impact and your influence. You're the first player that I know of that did not make the final roster because of injury or whatever that we gave a helmet to, but we felt your impact. So, wow. So I, I tell people I still have a Pittsburgh Steelers helmet to prove that I was there.

Wow, that is really powerful. Another thing that you say is, no, leadership is a full contact sport. What do you mean? And how do you coach, uh, your people with that mindset?

Yeah, leadership is a full contact sport. In football, you know, uh, you, you can stand on the sideline. I tell people, fans have it easy. They always say they don't do this, they don't do that.

They—

well, that— they're up in the stands, and what you see from the stands is not always a true reality of what's happening on the field.

Yes.

Uh, actually, when you watch football, they— television has ruined how we watch football. You actually should watch football from the end zone, okay? When when you watch it from the sideline, like we do television, everybody wants the 50-yard line. Well, you can see it going back and forth, but you can't really see the— what's happening. The end zone is actually the best seat because you see from behind the line of scrimmage and what's happening. Uh, and what I mean by that being full contact is you have to get out there in the trenches. So as leaders, if you are going to be a leader for First of all, you have to have the right angle and the right perspective. In other words, you can't sit in the, in the stands at the 50-yard line and just bark out orders and commands. You actually have to get, first of all, behind the line of scrimmage, and then you get in the trenches with your team so that you see what's going on. Because what you think is happening based on when you change the angle may not actually be happening and you're making leadership from the wrong angle. So I say it's in the faith world. I say, you know, as pastors and Christians, we need to smell like fish.

Yes.

We have to get in and make disciples and be fishers of men. So we should smell like fish, or another way, smell like sheep.

That is very powerful. Because this is another thing I really love about leadership. Those principles are universal, whether you are in sport, in business, in the military, or even in ministry. So translating sports lesson to life, what leadership principle from Coach Gene Starling and your Alabama days have guided you in business and ministry?

Well, I will tell you the biggest thing from, from him that I just shared this with my church on Sunday is the father that I am today is probably based on the leader that he was. He used to tell us, he used to tell us all the time, um, he said this was always one of the last messages we would hear before a weekend that we were off or a break or anything. He said, uh, man, you need to understand that you represent God, your family, this university, and yourself.

Mm, say that again, please.

You represent God, your family, this university, and yourself. Don't do anything to embarrass any of them. And, and so it was a— so I would say his, his desire for us to be accountable to all of those whom we have influence over. So leadership is influence, right? Leadership is influence. And so to me, the biggest lesson I took from him was that I am to be accountable to each of those areas that I influence— family, my job, my responsibility, and myself. And I always think when I think about that, you think about the Apostle Paul, Coach BZ, saying— I mean, King David, when he fell into sin with Bathsheba, It said what? That he stayed home in the springtime when kings go off to war. If he had been accountable to his men, he would have been on the front line and not on the roof looking at Bathsheba.

Wow, that is really, really, really powerful. Now, talking about building culture, I didn't realize that, uh, you actually play a pivotal role at Alabama One Credit Union. Uh, actually, I got my first car because of the loan that they gave me. I don't think I deserve that loan, but I was so good to pay them back in full every, every single month. But, uh, you actually helped transform Alabama One Credit Union from struggling to becoming a thriving organization. So what practical steps, uh, can leaders take to build championship-like cultures?

Well, I, I think that anytime, first and foremost, what leaders tend to do when they come into an organization. Alabama One Credit Union had been what they call conserved, taken over by the government. They had a lot of negativity, negative press, etc., that was happening out there at that time. And so the first thing leaders tend to do is come in and they just want to change everything before they learn what's going on. And what I always tell people, anytime you take over an organization, unless everybody is gone, there's some good people there. So don't, don't minimize them and exclude them and offend them by just coming in dogging everything that has happened. Take some time to learn the, these, and survey. Just sometimes it's just about listening, and observing, knowing that you have a clear vision, you have a clear vision of where you want to take it. But some of your parts may already be there. Then once you've done that, I think there's a 3-step— I call it the threefold chord of leadership. I think there's 3 things a leader has to do, no matter where he takes the organization from there. And our CEO was Amana Fay, that was there that brought me in to help him build the team as a consultant, and then he hired me on after that. But the— there's 3 things you have to do. Number 1 is you have to get buy-in. Okay, you have to get the people's buy-in. Then after you get buy-in, you have to build trust. And after you build trust, there has to be connection, you know, to you and each other. Now, here's the thing, I put those 1, 2, 3, Coach, but the reality of it is, whichever one you have, you can— it don't have to be in that order. If you have connection, you can build trust. And if you have trust, you can get buy-in. If you have buy-in, you can get connection. It doesn't matter which one. So if you have one of those, know that you need to get the other ones. But that's kind of the threefold cord. And you know, the scriptures say, a threefold cord is not easily broken. So an organization that has that type of, you know, buy-in, trust, and connection with the leadership and the frontline and everybody in between, they have the foundation to implement growth and whatever. A lot of times we try to start with the growth, lay the foundation.

That is really powerful. I think we all need encouragement from time to time. So you've written this best-selling book, The Encouragement Factor. Give me one more inch. What does that mean to you? And what is really the significance of that one more inch?

When it comes? Yeah, the book itself, I actually wrote a book that is a 5-step journey. It's called The Impact framework. And it's 5 steps. Number 1 is engage. I think this has to happen no matter which organization you're in. You engage people, you encourage them, you educate them, you equip them, and then you empower them. So I wrote the book with all 5 of those. I'm like, well, that's just way too much information. Which one of these one principles do I think the world needs the most right now. And so I pulled out the encouragement factor. I think it's an underutilized leadership tool. Because here's the reality of it. If someone's engaged, then, then you may not need as much encouragement in getting them engaged, but you need to encourage them to take their next step. If someone is struggling to be engaged, encouragement can engage them. And so when you think about encouragement, most people think praise. It's not praise. Encourage— praise is, is after someone has accomplished something. Encouragement, encouragement can help someone who has been successful, but also can be used at the exact same time with someone who's struggling. Someone has failed. Hey, listen, I believe in you. I know that, that we didn't do what we needed to do on this one. But how can we get better? So encouragement can be used along all levels, whether you're engaging, equipping, educating, empowering. Now the one more inch, you can relate to this, Coach. How often do you have people struggle with wanting to receive coaching or thinking, oh man, I've heard that. I know that. I don't really need a coach. I don't really need any additional leadership. We get that all the time, right? They don't think that what we do is valuable. So I have a little exercise. If you want, I can take your audience through it. Okay, please. If you're out there in the audience, raise your hands as high as you can, high as you can. Give them a second. High as you can, high as you can, high as you can. Both of them. Get both of them up. Both of them up. All right, all right, everybody ready? Now stretch one more inch, right? Okay, all right, now watch this. Now stand up, right?

Wow.

Okay, now get on your tiptoes. See, most of the time when I said give me— raise your hands as high as you can— everybody stayed seated. And that, but that's not as high as you can raise your hands.

Raising your hand.

And guess what? If we were, if I was in person, I could tell them and say, okay, somebody is. And what happens every time I do this, there's somebody who's standing in a chair, there's someone to jump on the table. I say, stop. Reality of it is, as the coach, if I know that they have the potential to reach the next level, I would already have a ladder in the room that allows them to climb the ladder and stand and put their hands up. In other words, think about— you always hear the story about the mom who, who had supernatural strength, right? Well, she didn't, she didn't go out and lift weights all of a sudden. Something external happened that motivated and pulled something that was in her out. So, so the external can help you release what's inside of you. And that's what the One More Inch does. And it's the encouragement factor. Leaders who understand that factor and can get that out of their team, guess what they do, Coach?

They—

their teams, their teams, if it's even, the coach who understands that One More Inch They beat the team. That's also how you see upsets that happen in sports. This team is clearly better. Well, how did this team beat them? Because that coach encouraged them to give a little bit more than what was resident. So that's the heart behind it.

That is really, really powerful. I remember when I joined the Navy, I used to be a couch potato and I started doing running and push-ups and so forth. And sometimes when you feel like you've given everything you've got, you know, My dress would say, one more push-up, just one more. And then before you know it, you do 3, 5, 10 more, and you're really surprised about your great face.

See that, that, that, that. And guess what? All of us, I think naturally, the way God created us is we actually leave something in reserve as a protective— I think it's a protective measure. But when you have effective coaches or leaders or influences in your life, they help you get more out of that, and they push you. And once you break that ceiling, that's what's so interesting. It's like, it's like running the marathon. It's like you feel like you're gonna die. But if you can just get past— now, I'm not gonna run one, but I've heard, I've heard this said, they say, they say, like, it's like you think you cannot take another step.. And you don't know when that moment is. But it's like somewhere, bam, they hit that next moment. And then they get a second wind. Well, leaders, effective coaches, they help people find their second wind.

Wow, that is really, really powerful. I've actually experienced that. Like I said, I used to be a couch potato. Once I joined the Navy, I started running and running. So for the first 10, 11, 12 years, I was running all the time until I started having issues with my knees and my ankle. But yeah, it's really a feeling that is different. And sometimes I would run just to get that feeling. But yeah, it's very powerful. Okay, we are done with the first segment. We're going to move over to the second segment of the show. I'm watching time there. And thanks so much for agreeing to be with us for the hour. But before I do, is there a question I should have asked you for the first segment that I haven't asked?

No, I think that you've hit it all and we'll hit it all as we Fantastic.

But again, everybody, please follow Coach Houston, and it's right there on your screen, linkedin.com, Martin Houston 35. I'm gonna guess that 35 was your jersey number. Yes, fantastic. So very, very easy, Martin Houston 35. Please, uh, follow. Okay, what is the greatest lesson you have ever learned?

Wow, greatest lesson. I have ever learned. I will tell you that I— principle I teach my kids is keep blocking. And I played fullback, and my number one responsibility was to block. But let— if people don't understand that sports analogy, I always tell them, keep blocking. The hole will eventually open. Greatness awaits, but it waits for no one. So you have to keep, keep going. Just remember that principle I said earlier, is if you ever quit, you lose. You know, winners never quit and quitters never win. I add to that, losers have a quitting spirit, and winners have a resilient spirit. So that's kind of the greatest lesson that I learned from that. And I'll tell you where that came from. My senior year, I played every— I was able to play in every game from the time I was a freshman up until my senior year. But there was a guy in front of me named Kevin Turner, God rest his soul. He passed away from ALS. But he and I We competed every day. And we were best friends, but we still competed. And I tell him every day, I'm gonna take your job, I'm gonna take your job. And he's like, bring it, baby. And so, but I was finally the starter, Coach, I was finally going to be the first team guy. And I was struggling so bad. And he was like, Martin, your responsibility is to block. You have to block. And I'm like, coaching, and I hated blocking. But that was the— that was what I was called to do. So I had to keep blocking. But here's the leadership lesson he taught me. In the meantime, he said, Martin, you're— only way you're gonna play is if you block. He said, if you learn to do the things you hate to do, that are essential to your job, if you learn to do those things well, the things you love to do will come easy. Okay, so I wanted to run the ball. I wanted to run the ball. I didn't want to block. But guess what he did? Let me show you how awesome a leader he was. He was telling me, Martin, if you don't block, you're not gonna play. You're not gonna get to run the ball. He went back to Coach Stallings and said, hey Coach, Martin's a really, really good blocker, but he wants to run the ball. Let him run the ball every once in a while. And he'll block better. And, and, and I ended up that year being, you know, running the ball 100 times my senior year. Ended up—

wow.

The crazy part is, Coach, remember, I hated blocking, didn't want to do it, wanted to quit. I ended the year, my senior year, as the number 1 rated blocking fullback in the entire country.

Wow, that is amazing.

So that's why I say keep blocking. I mean, sometimes what's in your hands that you struggle with may very well be the pathway to your blessing.

That is, that is really insightful. So what, what do you think then is the secret to your success?

The, the ability to get back up. Resilience isn't getting up once. Resilience and that keep blocking is getting up again and again and again and again. I mean, it's just, but I would love to say that that's something great within me. I really do believe Romans 8:28. When I was let go by Alabama One, I, I helped reach great success at the credit union. We grew We went from $500 million to $1.2 billion in assets. We went from losing a million to—

to—

to— was on track to make $7 million when I was let go. And we went from 11 locations to 27. And I was the chief growth officer. Sounds like pretty good growth. But they got rid of the CEO, the interim guy got rid of me on the way home, like literally No warning, nothing. I didn't even— when I was let go, I didn't know they had let the CEO go. That's how quick they let me go. But I was also being groomed to be a CEO. So, and I get it, that's fine. But instead of pouting on my way home, I said, God, what's next? Where do I go? I didn't go, why did you do that to me? Why did Why? Why? Because that was the, that was the most successful I had been in my professional career. I was the chief growth officer. And you saw how we grew.

Yeah.

So it should have been like, this is this, like, we need to keep this guy, but you have to get back up. And that wasn't the first time I'd gone through that. But, you know, and, and I just, I just say, because if you stop, I just can't say that enough. If you keep getting back up, yes, you have a chance. We talked about gratitude earlier. And I said, as long as I have breath and life, I still have opportunity.

Yeah.

So as long as I get back up and learn from— don't, don't— now you have to learn from it. I don't want anybody to hear me saying, keep getting back up. Because if you don't get— if you don't learn from it, you're doomed to repeat it. Yeah, so I'm like the old goat that was dropped in the hole that took the dirt. Every time they threw dirt on him, he patted it eventually, he got out. So I'm like the old goat that, that I just took those lessons and I said, okay, God, what do I do from here? How do I grow from here? And learn from that. And that's, that's what, that's how I got to this place. Why would we be having this conversation? I think about I just look and go, you know, you and I knew each other 20-something years ago.

Yeah.

Let that sink in. And because of that change, I'm now— you and I are now have a relationship. But now I also have an opportunity to encourage all of the people.

Yes.

That you, you lead. I have a— if I can share this, I have a personal— I have a personal mission statement. That I live by. And, and I, I wrote this mission statement about a month, 2 months after my wife and I first got married. And it was, if I meet someone, their life is better off having met me than it would be otherwise. And so that forces me to invest in every person that I see not based on what they give me, but based on what I have committed my life to give them. So yeah, so, and I've lived by that since I was 19. And wow, spry 55.

So many leadership lessons in everything you've said, you're really full of wisdom. I like what you said about getting back up again. I remember that song by Donnie McCracken we used to sing back in the '90s. Essence is a sinner who fell down but got back up again. And it really takes that courage to say, I'm going to try it one more time. And I love what you say about meeting people and adding value to them. Something I do. One, I value people. Two, I have great value. But two, I want to add value to the people I meet. And that's really powerful. Okay, what are you learning right now?

Wow. A couple of things. One is I have— I'm working on a curriculum, a framework called Friction Zone Leadership. Okay, so Friction Zone Leadership. And what we've been taught is to deal with conflict, conflict resolution, conflict resolution. Well, conflict resolution is reactive, meaning that it's already happened. What if, what if we could move the ball up and identify beforehand? So for instance, there's 3, I call them the big 3: people, process, and technology. I guarantee you that 80% or more of the issues and the challenges that you're facing come from people, process, or technology. It doesn't matter. You can look at it 100 different ways. Somehow that's going to be involved. And they're just like— think about it from this standpoint, Coach B, BZ, is if you took 5 countries and remove the borders but kept all of their differences. Okay, take China, Russia, US, Britain, Canada. And, and every time someone traveled from one country to the next, but they still have their own company values, their own company country language, their own country experiences, what's going to happen? You're gonna have friction. I don't— they won't understand each other. They won't value each other. They'll be all types. Well, when you take the workforce You have traditionalists, baby boomers, uh, uh, Gen Xers, millennials, and Gen Zers. They all speak different languages, have different values. So there's already gonna be what?

Conflict. If you—

there's friction and tension. But guess what? You can set up friction zone rules and guidelines and get ahead of the curve and be proactive knowing that the— I always tell you, you need to understand, if you have a baby boomer that's talking to a Gen Zer, and they're talking about, they're talking about remote work, and how to use technology.

Yes.

And what the process for, you know, calling in, it's gonna be— so you have to learn to manage that friction. And there's ways to get ahead of that through something I call friction zone mapping. And you just map out which areas are good, which department, or which demographics, or which processes, or which technology areas, like if you're rolling out technology, but not communicating, you're creating friction. So that's the biggest thing. It's, I'm writing it out and writing a book behind it. Not. That's about it. It's, I think it's a game changer. Coach, because it's proactive. It's proactive. You have to have, you have to have translators. Your leaders have to be translators to communicate between the different, you know, people groups, or, or when you think about when you as an executive, you ever said anything to a young person, a child or something, and you're plain as day on what you're saying. And they're looking at you like, what are you talking about? They don't have a clue. So you either have to translate it, or you have someone that can translate what you said for them to understand. Yes, that's what leaders need to do in the workplace. You also need to have bridge builders, people who build— what is the purpose of a bridge? To connect one side to the other, so that there can be dialogue back and forth.

Yes.

So, wow, that is powerful. It's, it's, it's a lot, uh, that— but that's the biggest thing I'm learning.

Once, once you publish that book, we definitely want you back here on the podcast. But people, process, technology is something we've, we've used in, in tech as well, and in cybersecurity in particular. So I guess it's kind of universal as well, because when I, when I go into a, a new company and I'm supposed to design the security program, I think about, you know, all of the governance, the processes, the standards, the policies, and all of that. And then I kind of come up with a technology that's going to enforce those. But most importantly is the people. You have to train them because you can have the best technology in the world, but if your people are not trained, it's going to be easy for any adversary to get through your people through social engineering or something and get into your your data. So it's very applicable.

Yeah. And when you think about what you just said, you can, you can wait and see what conflict is going to happen, because it's going to be some conflict. If you go into a company, and you roll out a new cybersecurity, you have people involved, you have processes involved, and you have technology involved, those three are going to collide, some group is not going to understand or not buy in. Somebody is— there's going to be a process that may need to be tweaked, or the technology— they just won't, they won't use the technology. But you know that. So before you implement it, you go, okay, you go ahead and try to think through what are going to be our resistance from the people, what's going to be the processes, you test them out and go, beforehand. Yes, you have to, instead of just rolling it out and waiting on the conflict, you go ahead and figure out and identify the friction zones, which is where those things are going to collide. They're gonna, it's gonna happen. You just use that.

That is, yes, that is really, really powerful. And it's also beautiful to see as that could actually apply in life, business, or whatever. So How has failure shaped your life? You've already mentioned a few points in your life where you were really down, but you came out of it. But just generally speaking, uh, what is— I guess, what is one lesson that you've learned from one of the times that you failed, and how did you come back?

Yeah, failure is not final. Um, you know, the failure only becomes final when you quit. Uh, so How it shaped my life is it's made me more compassionate, I think, to people. I would say having played football, Coach, sometimes in football, you work your butt off to get what you want. And most of the time, you get rewarded when you put in the work. Okay. And, and the coach is going to play you because his job's on the line by your performance. In the business world, I would say that, and I would say that when I first came into college, that if something wasn't going right, or say someone, I saw something happen to someone, or someone would come in on an interview and I was interviewing them, I used to always think, well, they got let go. Because they weren't doing right. They, they, they weren't adding up. So my mindset would be that maybe they're not as good as someone who hasn't been fired. But after going through it, where, where I was let go, and the— but the CEO was let go, who was my mentor, had nothing to do with my performance. So it changed my perspective and made me a little, little more compassionate leader and understanding. And the other part I would tell you is the church that I took over used to be 1,000 members. When I went there, it fell to 60-something people.

Wow.

And, and God showed me, he says, Martin, the core of what built this church is still there.

Mm-hmm.

So the world is saying it's failure. I'm telling you, you get a new start. And so, so, so failure has taught me that don't go in thinking that, that that's how you label the person. That's a situation. And, and then the other part is Don't— Nick Saban used to say this, and I so agree with it. He says, don't wait— don't waste a failure. Yeah, don't waste a failure. Okay, that was one of his big principles. And what that meant, Coach, was if we lose a game, what can we learn from that loss? What weakness or, or thing that they took advantage of that we need to turn into something positive? And in the football world, they'll tell you all the time, you learn more from a loss than you do from a win. A win, because it forces you to go back and self-evaluate and assess. And that, that, that would be what I would say that has helped me most is don't waste your failure and learn and grow from it and build on it. Don't, don't go back below that. Build on it instead of starting over.

Wow, reminding me to go back to the, uh, foundational, right? Uh, and, uh, really learn, learn from it, and then from, from there you can find— that is really, really, uh, powerful. So who are some of the people that you know that we should know, some thought leaders or mentors, people that you follow?

Well, well, uh, Craig Groeschel, um, is is one of the people, Craig Groeschel, pastor of Life.Church. He's also— most people don't know this— his church founded the YouVersion Bible app. That's, I think, is reaching billions of people. But what one of his great leadership principles— all his stuff comes from the Bible, much like Maxwell. And, and he's been able to balance that really, really well. Here's the other part I would say about that, though, is they give that Bible app away. Okay. And, and I never forget when he made the statement that he learned to give, and as they give, uh, God blessed them back. Uh, so, uh, Craig Groeschel is definitely definitely one of those, uh, he's always sowing seeds through his giving, and therefore he's always reaping a harvest. And, uh, and that's why they're the largest, you know, multi-campus church in the country, uh, in reaching millions and millions of people through the Bible app each and every day. He's one guy.

So, uh, without a doubt, that is really awesome. Now, we already talked about your book The Encouragement Factor. Is there another book you would recommend to the audience?

Yeah, you put it up there earlier, the Nick Saban, the Leadership Secrets of Nick Saban. I've studied him, like, like being here in Tuscaloosa. I've watched him. Unbelievable leader. I always tell people, he could lead any organization. He just happens to be a football coach. He is a CEO bonafide leader. He has something called The Process that he used to talk about. But the thing that I'm gravitating and just leaning in on in his current book is about how to build a team. And it's about recruiting and how— listen to what he did on the first day, his first staff meeting. He made everyone in the building not, not football, everyone that was at the football facility, janitors, secretaries, Pastor Byars, probably, but everybody had to be in the meeting. And he said, our lifeblood is recruiting. Hmm, we, the people we bring into this organization will determine the success of this organization. So he showed The John Maxwell thing. He saw value in himself, but he saw value in others and he wanted to add value. He told the janitor, he told the janitor, he said, if someone goes in the bathroom, they better see a spotless toilet because that reflects on all of us. He told the secretaries, you build a public image of who we are, so you better do it. And he did, and I'm probably gonna butcher the way he said it. But he said, pretty much, the facility is our showroom. And he said, this building at any moment, any given time, any season must be ready to show.

Wow, that is powerful.

And so I think that he, and he stayed on that. They said that he committed every single day Hmm. Every single day he said recruiting is the lifeblood, or it's the oxygen. He's— they said he recruited every single day.

That is amazing.

When he would go on a vacation, they would give him 100— they said they would have to prepare like 100 tapes. And no matter what happened, no matter what happened, if it meant that he had to stay up at 1 o'clock at night, he would still do recruiting. Think about— wow, if we had that same commitment to our faith every day, no matter what he saw, he said it removed— because it was the main thing. And the only thing he said, there was never an excuse to not do it.

Wow, that is, that is powerful. I know I've worked in the startup world since 2014, like 11 years now. And definitely sales and marketing, recruiting is definitely the lifeblood of any business.

It's the Jimmys and the Joes and not the Xs and Os. You can have all the right, you can have all the right, like processes and all of that. But if you don't have people who can execute them at a high level, I mean, the people with the best ideas are not the most successful. I mean, Sears Catalog was Amazon.

Yes.

Right. The Sears Catalog was Amazon. But they did not transition because they didn't have the Jimmys and Joes to make the transition. And Amazon did.

Yeah, yeah. Now nobody remember who they were. Actually, most Sears stores now are completely closed. Yeah, it's really—

that's right.

Amazing. So, uh, if you could choose 3 people to have dinner with, who would you choose and why? It could be alive, dead, or even mythical figures.

Well, well, first of all, Jesus would be one. I mean, you know, that's, that's an easy one for me. Uh, without a doubt, uh, Jesus would be on that list. Um, I would probably say, uh, Coach Saban would be one because of just that learning. Let me think of a third one. Who would be— wow.

Probably Pastor Greg Koschel, I'm guessing.

He would be interesting. But I don't know who that third one would have to be. Probably someone that has You know, Coach Wooden. Yeah, he would possibly be on that list.

Coach Wooden was one of the primary mentors of Dr. John C. Maxwell. It's really amazing how, again, talking about basketball, not football, but obviously, in principle, apply in life, business, and everything else.

Oh, absolutely. Yeah, sports is the greatest teacher of life. So I probably— I grew up a Dallas Cowboys fan. So I may do a fanboy thing. Tom Landry was the head coach there, who built the Dallas Cowboys from a startup franchise. And, and the reason I say that was I got to meet him at the end of my college career.

Wow.

Meet him right before I was drafted. I mean, went to the league. So I probably would love to pick his brain a little bit.

Amazing. Okay, we are running out of time, but I could talk to you for hours and hours. But let me ask you this. When you wake up in the morning, what is one problem you would like to solve?

Wow, I think it's the divisioning of our country. Yes. Every— I do a sports talk show. Every morning. Um, and this is what, this is what I say. It's a sports talk show, but I say the following: remember that this is a day that the Lord has made, so let's rejoice and be glad in it. Take some time today to notice someone, love someone, serve someone. And so that's kind of my mission statement. And so I hate how divided we are, and most of that division is lack of knowledge, lack of information, lack of interaction, not really differences. Yes, it is. It's perceived differences, perceived things versus reality. So I figure out how to make people have conversations. Uh, if I could remove— if I could remove something from the world, it's prejudice. And not prejudice in in terms of race only. But in the root of that word is prejudging. In other words, how often— let me give you— can I give a quick example? In, in, in the working at Alabama One at the credit union, you would see people come in and then they would ask you to get their account number., and you look at their account number and go, wow, because they came in and they look just like the average Joe that's working at the local retail store. Nothing flashy. They got their car barely pulled up to the thing, and then you open up their account and they'd have $1.5 million in their account. Multi-millionaire, right? Like, like, but look like the everyday person. Then you see someone come in dressed to the, to the, you know, to the T, to the nine, and, and looking the part. And then you open up their account and they're overdrawn, right?

Yes.

And I wonder how much of life do we miss because we prejudge people based on the outside package and we don't. So I, that's why I say take some time to Love someone, serve someone, notice someone. And if you do those things, then you get the opportunity to get all of the life lessons. I tell people all the time, some of the greatest things you'll learn is watching those who you think have nothing to offer you. So I would get rid of— I would solve the problem of prejudging and make us notice everybody, man. Disconnect.

That's— that is tough. We definitely need it now more than ever before, right? We're supposed to be the United States of America. You are more divided than I've ever seen us. Kind of take me back, you know, we just celebrated, uh, 9/11, the 24th anniversary. I remember 9/11 was a pretty tragic day. People from my generation will always remember that. But the day after, I didn't see— that's when I saw so much unity, people coming together, helping their neighbors. And no, that's part of the reason why I, I joined the Navy. Actually, I tried to join them They wouldn't allow me because I wasn't a US citizen yet. So I had to wait. But that feeling, what I saw, definitely had a huge, huge impact on me. So I know what America can be. We are not there anymore. But yeah, you are right. That's something we definitely need to make better. Okay. So what is— if you had one and only one day to live, what would you have liked your final contribution to be?

I would say that my final contribution would be a legacy that lives on long after I'm done. In other words, that, that, that my life mattered beyond my years. I would, I would like to think that starting with my family, my church family, my extended family, my community family, that, that I have influenced them in such a way that somewhere down the road, you know, 10, 15 years after I'm gone, that what I live for, stood for, and believed is still having impact. So You know, and to me, that's, that's what it's about. I look at the life of Jesus, and how, you know, it's still impacting him. Am I saying that I need to have that type of impact? No. But this is what I tell my church. And I tell people, I may not have the gift or the platform to change the entire world. But I can change my world, impact my world. And whatever size my world is, I want to maximize my impact in my world. So, and I think that that comes down to, you say, what would that change? I think it would be the fact that impacting my world, the way I would define impacting my world is that I love Jesus, love God, and love people. And then that love multiplies.

Wow, that is, that is very, very powerful. What legacy that is going to be. Alright, so we're coming at the end. So we went a little bit over, but you have so much wisdom in you. How can we add value back to you. Thanks so much for being so generous with your time today.

Well, thank you so much. First and foremost, thank you for this opportunity. And this is already one way that you've done that. Thank you for being willing to share me with your audience and let me share. I don't take that lightly, no different than I would someone coming to speak to my church. I guard that. And so I honor you and thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak to you, that adds value to me. Uh, that's number one. Number two is pray for me. Uh, um, literally, uh, pray that this business, even though, uh, I have a secular leadership business, um, I, I'll have some ministry components of it, but I still want to do Proverbs 16:3, is commit all of my work to the Lord so my plans will be successful. So I would ask that they pray that, that, that whatever I'm doing, wherever I'm speaking, wherever I'm going with that. And then, I mean, if you— if I shared something that is— you see is valuable, and you're in a position to hire me, book me, share me, tell somebody, share the message. And that's, that's how we do it. I would say that add value by telling people, hey, I heard this guy tall, good old country boy from, from Center, Alabama, that, that has some things that would help your company or your organization. So I would say the other way is to just share that information. Follow me on LinkedIn. And I post all the time, a lot of free content, subscribe to my newsletter, the Empowerment Manifesto. So that would be it. Like, follow, share, and share, share.

Fantastic. And I believe your, your main website is martinhouston.org, right?

Yes, just my name, martinhouston.org.

Fantastic. Making sure I follow you. Okay, so we are at the end. Let me ask you one last question. You go, probably the most impressive is, uh, if you could go back and give it to your 17-year-old self standing at the edge of this incredible career you've had in ministry, football, and everything else you've done, what would you say to 17-year-old Martin Houston?

Be courageous, strong and courageous. Uh, take that step out, uh, take that step just, just don't be afraid. Let me, let me share that in 1993— this is going to blow your mind— have you ever heard of Shipt? S-H-I-P-T. Uh, it's, it's, it's a concierge service, grocery shopping, etc., or, uh, the DoorDash model and all of that. In 1993— what's up, Danny Lowe? Uh, um, In 1993, God gave me a vision. I came home, I was exhausted. It was early '94. I'm sorry, I was exhausted. And I flopped over the couch, Coach BZ, and I said, man, I'm exhausted. And God said, so is everyone else. Why don't you start a business where you do the grocery shopping, pick up their dry cleaning, and help them with like lawn care and all of these types of things. Concierge service. In '93, I had the vision for what DoorDash and all of these things are, and I wrote out an entire business plan and I chickened out.

Wow.

I got scared. I said, no one's doing it, so could this— and I was only 23 years old, 20, about to be 24. And so that's what I would say is because what have I learned? If you fail, you build on it. You know, it's not failure unless you quit. You either— what is it? I think Maxwell has a book that says sometimes you win and sometimes you learn. Yeah. And so, so that would be— and I always ask this question, and this is a question I did not answer for myself for a long time. What would you do if you knew you wouldn't fail? Yes. Well, try it. And if you fail, learn from it. So be courageous. That's what I would tell my 17-year-old. Powerful.

And I guess you already said hi to Danny, Danny Lowe from Cherokee County. Thank you so much for being here with us, Danny. If you have a question for Coach Houston, you can still type it, but we are ending the show. Okay, so First, um, before I ask you the quick questions, is there anything else I should have asked you that I haven't asked? I know we are out of time, so sorry for that, but you have so much to teach us.

Oh yeah, my time is fine. I'm not— you don't have to worry about my time. I'm good. I'm good. You're not—

uh, I kind of left a 2-hour window, so any, any question we should have asked you that I haven't asked yet?

Not really. I mean, I think I've hit faith and family and football.

All right.

So let's, let's bring this, this plan down. When you were a kid, what did you want to be?

I wanted to play professional football with the Dallas Cowboys. When I was, when I was in the third grade, that was my goal. I'd never played football. So it was to play. And that drove me to I knew I had to go to college, uh, to play professional, uh, and this was a God thing. God dropped that in my spirit. I can, I can remember laying, and I can give you a visual. I was laying on my bed with my back on my back with my feet up against the wall, and I'd never played football. And I felt like God said, um, that, um, uh, you can play professional football. And I started watching the Dallas Cowboys And so really, really, and, and, and, but it drove so much of my life. It gave me discipline, it gave me hard work, and it also made me focus on my academics. And of course, that's amazing. Yep.

No, yeah, it gets with it at Alabama, but then again, you went to the Steelers, and then you also met with some special coach from the Dallas Cowboys, which, which is amazing. Actually, since you have a little time, uh, let me just show this to the the people there. I'm gonna share my screen, just one second. I want them to see your website again. We want them to go to, uh, uh, Martin— let me see, come on computer. Here we go. Okay, yeah, they should be able to see your website now, uh, martinhouston.org. Empowering better people, uh, stronger team, championship culture.. So they definitely need to hire you to be a keynote speaker and to coach them. And yeah, so this is, uh, uh, website available and just click on Book Now and, uh, you can have Coach Houston coming to your event. That is just, uh, wonderful and powerful. Okay, so, uh, what are 3 adjectives describing you as a child?

Do what now?

3 adjectives describing you as a child.

I would say I was big. I was 88 pounds in the first grade. So, so big. I would say curious would be one. And I have to share this, nerd. I was, I was my brother. My older brother who recently passed, he used to always tell me, you better thank the good Lord that he gave you the ability to play football, because you'd be America's biggest nerd.

Wow. What about as an adult? 3 adjectives.

I would say encouraging, encouraging and empowering kind of hand in hand. I would say consistent. I had the opportunity to run for mayor a couple years back. And, you know, they do the whole deep dive. And it was my team, my team, like, tried to dig up dirt on me. And, and they came back. And this is, this was probably, I don't know if I've ever shared this publicly. Coach BZ, they said, Martin, we've been doing this a long, long time. And we went back as far back as we could find people in your life and interviewed all the way up to today. And your life was consistent. The people we talked to, you, where you grew up, who knew you as a student, who knew you in your job, and who know you now, all had the same traits that they described you by. And so that— and then the other one, I would say, is a lover of God, man.

I—

my faith has been— and that's the reason I think that's the, that's the, that's the foundation of the consistency.

I don't—

it's not anything special about me. It's, it's that, that my faith. I want that to be the adjective. That's— he loves God. He loves God.

Alabama, uh, what— sorry, what do we use to correct that? That they have a lot of bars. Oh, come on, my mind is going blank.

The quad?

What do we call that? That's— yeah, no, no, not, not the quad, but the strip at the university. They had a lot of bars and restaurants.

University Boulevard, the strip. University Boulevard, the strip.

Yes. Okay, I, I guess, yeah, I remember you, you were the, the only church.

Yeah.

So from back then when I was student, 20 years ago, yeah, consistently test testify to that. Some pretty crazy, crazy time. Okay, so we are at the very end of the podcast now. Sorry, we went over by almost 30 minutes. Very sorry for that. But to end, the question I'm going to ask is, what is one word that comes to mind to represent the experience we've had on this podcast together?

I think inspiring, inspiring, empowering. I think is use our Maxwell terminology. I think it would be valuable to those who listen.

Okay, I can tell that you are a preacher. I said one word, you gave me a— To me, it would be just encouraging. It's really great to see an old friend. You were my Pastor, and I really love everything you are doing with coaching. And thank you so much for making the time to be on the show. What a great honor it is. Thank you so much. Take me back to T-town.

I'm glad we were able to connect. And anytime, man. This has been a blast. I love it. I pray blessings over you and tell your lovely wife that Cassandra and I both say hello. We pray multiplied blessings over you, your business, as well as hers.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Coach Martin Houston, everyone. Thank you. All right, everybody, I'm gonna be, uh, back here tomorrow. I think we are going to have an AI, um, 10-minute recap from the podcast I had with the one and only Marco. That's gonna be tomorrow. And then on Friday I'm going to have two podcasts. In the morning, we're going to be talking to the one and only Sharon Lechter. She is the co-founder of the Rich Dad Poor Dad. Everybody in the world knows that. And then in the afternoon, I'm going to be talking to my brother, my shipmate, Captain Select Desmond Walker. You really do not want to miss it. It's going to be a very, very powerful week. So I guess this is it for now. I don't see any question on YouTube or LinkedIn. Thanks again for being with us. Sorry, the podcast went a little bit longer, but with Coach Justin, I could be talking to him all day and all night. He has so much wisdom. So thanks again for being here. See you tomorrow.

Thank you for listening to the Leadership and Success Podcast with your host, Coach BZ. If you like what you heard, please subscribe to our channels and come back for more wisdom nuggets on how you may develop into a better leader and achieve greater levels of success. Leadership is the most critical skill. The world will always need leaders to lead others, deploy the next disruptive technology, or execute a business strategy. You may as well decide on counting yourself among the 21st century leaders. See you right here next time on the Leadership and Success Podcast with Coach BZ.