The WHY Of Contribute: Discover How To Live Your WHY With Miracle On The Hudson Survivor, Dave Sanderson

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Welcome to beyond you'd why podcast, where we go beyond just talking about your why and actually help you discover and then live your why. You see, we believe that knowing your why, that driving force behind every decision you make and every action you take, is the essential first step to really knowing yourself. It allows you to move forward faster and have a bigger impact. If you're already a fan of the show, then you know that every week we talk about one of the nine whys, and then we introduce you to somebody with that why so you can see how their why has played out in their life. This show will be more powerful for you if you've already discovered your why. If you still need to do that, head over to whyinstitute.com and discover your why today. It'll only take you about five minutes. Now, let's meet today's guest.

Wow. In today's episode, you're going to meet Dave Sanderson. Dave was on US Airways Flight 1549, the one that's called the Miracle on the Hudson. He was the last person to get off the plane, and his story is fascinating on how the water came in and what he did to jump over the seats to get to the back to help everybody else out, and how he had to survive and save himself at the end when there was no more room for him on the plane or in the little boats. So it's a great story of how he helped others and how he finally had to help himself. So I think you're going to find it fascinating. I can't wait to share it with you. And so this week we're going to be talking about the why of contribute to contribute to a greater cause, add value, have an impact in the lives of others. So if this is your why, then you want to be part of a greater cause, something that is bigger than yourself. You don't necessarily want to be the face of the cause, but you want to contribute to it in a meaningful way. You love to support others and you relish successes that continue to the greater good of the team. You see group victories as personal victories. You are often behind the scenes looking for ways to make the world better. You make a reliable and committed teammate, and you often act as the glue that holds everyone else together. You use your time, money, energy, resources and connections to add value to other people and organizations. And so today, I have a fascinating guest for you. When US Airways Flight 1549 or the Miracle on Hudson ditched into the Hudson river on January 15, 2009, Dave Sanderson knew he was exactly where he was supposed to be. As the last passenger off the plane on that fateful day, he was able to use the skills and resources he learned throughout his life to not only survive, but help others. He emerged from the wreckage that day with a new mission to encourage others to do the right thing when faced with a life changing decision. This profound experience changed his life. Today he travels the globe sharing his inspirational and motivational leadership message to help people make a difference in how they do business and live their lives. Named one of Inc.com's top 100 leadership speakers, Dave travels the world to share his inspirational leadership lessons, raising over 14.8 million for the American Red Cross. Dave, welcome to the podcast.

Gary, thank you for having me today. I'm honored to be with you today.

This is going to be interesting, I'm sure, and your intro told a lot about your story and I really want to dive into that. But before we do that, Dave, can we go back a little bit in your life and let's learn a little bit more about you before that day?

Sure. I'd love to share a little bit more about how I got to that point. I think all these moments in your life matter and they all make up that one defining moment. So let's talk about it.

So let's go back. Where did you grow up and what were you like in high school?

In high school, I grew up in a place called Winchester, Virginia. You know, Winchester's at the point, northernmost point of the south. And I was there and I was an athlete. I played all sports. I was one of those athletes, Gary, that was good at everything but not great at pretty much anything. I could compete, but I wasn't standing out between that. And I was also the first president of our Key Club. And only reason I bring that up is something very significant happened during that time that set me on this pathway of where I'm at today.

So tell us what happened at the Key Club.

I was asked to be the president of the Key Club. And the only reason I was really asked initially because I tore my knee ligaments up and the third football game of the year, I was pretty much out the rest of the year. So I, the gentleman who was starting up came to me because he needed a leader and asked me if I'd do it. And so I did it. We started with nothing. But one of the things that he did for me is he introduced me to people around the city of significance. And one of those people happened to be our U.S. senator who was out of Winchester. His Name was Harry Byrd Jr. And I got the opportunity to meet a senator when I was in junior high school, which was very significant because I have to see what leadership was like at that level. But what that opened up for me, Gary, is a couple of different things. Number one, since I was president of the Key Club and I got that opportunity, Senator Burr was holding a fundraiser in Northern Virginia and one of the people he invited was one of my heroes. It was Senator John Glenn, the first astronaut to orbit the Earth. And that was like nirvana for me. That was like the icing on the cake. I got to meet not only a senator, but somebody who was not only historic, but just something that nobody had ever done before. Which really gave me an eye opening experience to anything's possible. As you know, his story started at NASA when NASA was starting nothing with nothing. Right. He was the third one up. And so I was. That gave me the perspective of, you can touch people, you can get hold of people if you do the right thing and work with people to do that. And so I. I've never been afraid to talk to people. And I've had opportunities to meet all these great people because I opened my eyes and was never afraid to approach people.

Wow, so you graduate from high school and then what happens to you? Where'd you end up?

I went to college at James Madison University and I wanted to play football, but second practice in, I was a walk on, so I was pretty much nobody. I hurt my knee again. And my dad had that what I call a come to Jesus talk with me and say, hey, you're not gonna play football, you're not gonna be a pro like you dreamt, you better get an education. So I was in actually the first international business major class at Madison Offer. So as a freshman, they started the international business discipline. I was one of the first people to graduate out of that at James Madison.

Awesome. Okay, so you graduate with international business and what do you go into that's exciting?

Because my goal was to get an international business. And this was during the recession in the early 80s and there's no jobs in that area. So I went home and my dad gave me 30 days to get a job and be out of the house. And one thing I tell people, one thing that great things I learned from my dad is he was a man of his word when he said something, his promise meant something. In 30 days, Gary, I didn't have a job. So what he did is he helped me get my first job and that was being a second assistant restaurant manager, a Place called Howard Johnson. I knew nothing about hotel restaurants, but I was out of the house. And he lived up and I lived up to that commitment.

Wow. So what was it like being a second assistant at a Johnson's?

Well, you know, all of a sudden, you come out of college, you're feeling pretty good about life, right? You got this great education, and now you're working second and third shift, you know, learning skills that you never think about learning. But that turned out, the third stop is where I ended up, here in Charlotte, North Carolina. That's how I got here. If I didn't have that opportunity, if my dad didn't make me do that, my whole destiny would have been changed. Because what happened for me is I was here and I was working second, third shift, right? I was a low man on the totem pole. I was, you know, we didn't lock up, as you know, remember, Howard Johnson was a 24 hour gig, right? So, yeah. Well, I was. I was there pretty much into the middle of the night. But there was a gentleman. A lady would come in every night. Gary. His name was Bill, her name was Bonnie. They would come in. He drove a pickup truck and he always wore a flannel shirt. But what I found out about Bill, we come and talk. He come in and have his coffee and, you know, we have his ice cream and we talk. He actually owned over 80 movie theaters and restaurants in north of South Carolina. He was a multimillionaire back in the early 80s. And his nickname around Charlotte was the Sam Walton of Charlotte. He was one of those guys that you never know, but he took me under his wing. And it happened to be on December 24, 1984, is when everything changed. And what happened was, is he came to the restaurant early that day. He said, I want to show you what I got my wife for Christmas. It was a brand new blue Corvette. Now, I'd never seen a Corvette, could spell Corvette, never smelled a Corvette, but it was cool. And he threw me the key, said, hey, let's take a ride. I'm like, what? So let's take a ride up and down Woodlawn Road. So we got in the car and we went up and back. I said, bill, Bonnie's going to dig this, man. She's going to love it. You need one of these. I said, bill, I'm making $13,000 a year. I'm working second shift, right? He goes, that's your problem. It's your mindset. He said, you mind if I coach you on how to have a mindset? Of success, and I had nothing to lose. But the next 13 years, get Gary. He took me under his wing and was teaching me the mindset of success, how he became what he became. He was taking me to places. I was meeting the CEO of Bank of America, which then was in CMB bank and First Union, and all the people he was running with. I was on the edge of this, watching this, on how he did it. So fast forward to May of 1997, and he called me to his office. He said, I want to share a couple of things with you. He said, number one, I. I've got lung cancer now. Bill smoked a couple packs of unfiltered Camels a day. All right, this started back in the 20s, so wasn't shocking, but it was like, okay. But then he walked over to his desk. He pulled out some papers. He sat down next to me, put them on my lap. I'm like, what's going on? He goes, this is what I wrote down in 1920. These are the lessons. This is what I wrote when I got these lessons back in the 20s. In fact, 1929. I said, I want to give this to you, but you got to promise me something. Said what? He goes, do not let it die with you. And Bill passed away in September of 1997. But he gave me these notes that he wrote in 1929, sort of the mindset of what you have to have, what he learned during the roaring 20s. And so if my dad hadn't lived that promise, I never would have got to that opportunity. And now I made a promise. Wow. And I had to fulfill that promise.

So what were in those notes? Give us some insight into what was written there?

Yeah, he had. He wrote all these lessons down, and he's like. One of the lessons I always remember is like, I have an alternative vision for the future. And what does that mean? He. What he. What he shared with me about that and what he wrote in his notes is he took notes when he met Franklin Roosevelt in 1938. He idolized Roosevelt. One of the things he told me and he wrote down is Roosevelt was always positive. He always had a vision for a bigger America, how America should be right. And that's why leaders come at the right time in comfort countries. He wrote about time. He met Ronald Reagan in the early 80s. He had the same situation with Ryan Reagan. Reagan was always talking about that shining sitting on the hill. He always had. He was always positive. So one of the things he taught me and one of the lessons was, you got to have an alternative Vision, you got to look at bigger picture of how your life could be, what you could do with your life, instead of going down a pathway that other people want you to take. One of the great lessons, I mean, it was a tremendous lesson, tremendous lesson about faith because, you know, one of the things that he shared with me, because I lost. We lost a child, a seven month old, back in 1990, and I was sort of messed up a little bit. I wasn't producing as much as I probably could have. And he shared. What happened to him is he had a son back in the 30s that he had and he got. Got drafted to go to Korea. And he could have. He said, I could have stopped it. I had the money to do it. Everybody's got their responsibility. And his son died in the army in Korea. He said he felt guilt for a long time, but then he realized that this is a lesson that think of going from the spiritual side. He said, the same God that started the world with the same God with my son, the same God with your son is a reason behind it. And that helped me a lot, sort of get my mind around things about faith. And if you have faith, there's reasons behind it. You don't know why, but you've got to have faith. That's going to work out. So these are the kinds of lessons that he was teaching me all these years. And that's why I wrote my book From Turmoil to Triumph. These were the lessons that I got to implement that day on the Hudson river that came right from faith to looking at being able to do the mission and looking at how to really have even more responsiveness. Right. That's a long winded answer, but that's an amazing time. And now it's my commitment to be able to share what he shared with me to the next generation.

How did Bill learn all of that?

He had a mentor. And his mentor came to him in 1917. And he told me Bill lived around here in the Charlotte. Charlotte area. His dad was a farmer. As the story goes, as she shared with me, they come in to sell their crops because Charlotte was the hub, right? They come in and sell their crops. And this guy would come in, he said, he's always in a suit. And he would come in and he'd talk, right? And Bill was anxious. Bill loved movies. In the early 20s, he would love movies, but he didn't have any money. So the guy showed him how to get a few pennies together and get his first movie, his first movie house. And all of a sudden he was Learning, he says, from this very successful businessman. So it just got passed down from somebody 1910s to Bill, and then Bill. I think Bill, I think, ultimately was looking for somebody to pass it on to. He was just looking for somebody, right. And I just happened to be the guy there that he got, and I agreed. And I told my mom and dad, they were like, who is this guy? Right. And I share with them what happened, and they're like, he can offer just one bit of advice, just take it on. But he taught me much more than that.

Did you ever ask Bill why he picked you?

I never really asked him why, but I think he told me a story around. Around why. And this came down when he was opening up his first movie theater in South Carolina in the 1930s. And the story said. He never told me directly, but I sort of hinted at why he said that he was going down and it was a long drive to South Carolina. It wasn't interstate highways, and he needed somebody. He needed to hire a manager, somebody to manage that. And he said one of the ones of bits of advice he got when he was starting his own business was go on your instincts. He said, you could do all the analysis you want, but if you go on your instincts more often or not, it's going to play out. And that gentleman stayed with him through the entire 1960s. He was with him the whole time, 1960. So I think if I look back, when he said that, told that story, he really told me that he had something instinctively connected. And I don't know why, but I thought, you know, I don't question why, but I just happened to be there at the right time. I was a recipient of a gift, and that gift's gonna be passed on. Wow.

Okay. So he passes away in 1997. What happened to the movie theaters?

Yep. He was already semi retired at that point, so he already passed the movie theaters on. He was pretty much retired. He only reason I found out the backstory, only I really found out he was at movie theaters, is when I started dating my future wife. I had no money, right? I had no money, right? And he gave me a couple movie passes to go to take my girl out to the movies. Be a hotshot, right? So I went out. It's the Queens Park. It's no longer there, but it's down. It was about two miles from the restaurant. Took her there, right? And when I got there, we got in there to check in. The guy says, Tell Mr. Bill hey. And I'm like, what? Okay? And I went back and he Said, how was your experience? So it was great. I mean, the guy took care of us. He goes, that's one of my theaters. And that's when I found out. Right. He sent me to check in on really doing what he wants to do. But he had passed those on, I guess, a few several years before. During that time, he was semi retired at that point. He was coming to Howard Johnson every night to have coffee and ice cream.

Wow.

Okay.

So he passes away, gives you his lessons, and then what did you do with them at that point? Did you tell us, take us on your career path?

Yeah, so I was in sales at that point. I was pretty successful. I was always doing pretty well. And in 1987, after this happened, what did I do with them? I put them in a journal and I didn't look at them. But what happened five months later, four or five months later, is when I was asked by a gentleman named Tony Robbins to be his assistant head of security. I was on a security team. I was had proximity to another master. Right. But I was assistant, which meant I basically managed the floor while other people managed other things. But about two years later, in 2000 or so, he asked me, the head of security. So now I'm traveling with Tony, and I'll be supporting Tony directly and the team. I was having these conversations with Tony, getting distinctions on these things that I learned and getting new distinctions from Tony on some of these things. So for about 13, 14 years, I was around Tony and then the head of security. So I had the opportunity to be around Masters, which one of the things he taught me and I learned from Bill, but Tony taught me is proximity is power. You're around people who have influence and know things. That's power. And my dad told me that years ago in a different way, said you don't have to know everything, but you have to know somebody who does know everything. He told me that when I was in high school and, you know, when I was a kid, and it turned out to be true. So Tony, for the next 13 or so years, Tony sort of gave me the opportunity to have a doctoral lesson in how to manage your mind. And especially that played out on January 15, 2009, greatly.

Wow. So, okay, were you working with Tony at the time that you were on that plane?

I was that and working for another company at the same time. I was working hard on both things. So, yes, I was with Tony. And Tony was the only person who called me that night after the plane crash, only about Tony. He's got resources, and if he Wants to find somebody. He will find somebody, right? He's the only one that found me. Sitting in a hospital recovery. He actually did a YouTube on that conversation. You go out to YouTube and see it. And told a little bit about our conversation. And.

It was very emotional for me because I just wasn't one of his people. I was like his guy. Right. And that meant a lot to me.

So take us into that flight now that just into Flight 1549. And where was it going and where did you get on?

Got on in LaGuardia, end of a three day business trip. Got done early, changed the flight. I was on first class seat at 5 o' clock flight, changed it to flight 1549 at 2:40, got seat 15A. So 15A. 1549, January 15th. A lot of 15s going in there and I've got numerologists telling me what that means and that's a whole nother discussion. But yeah, nothing unusual, right? The plane was delayed. If you've been out of LaGuardia and it was 11 degrees and it was snowing, so no big deal, right? That's not a big deal. Happens all the time. Nothing unusual about the takeoff, you know, and if you've ever taken off Al LaGuardia, for folks who haven't, the runways are jut out into the bay and then the normal flight pattern is they turn north and they start making their turns. Nothing unusual until about 60 seconds after. And then when you hear a big explosion. And that's what got my attention because I wasn't paying attention. I was reading the magazine because I know everything. I'm Mr. Flyer, right? I know everything. And all of a sudden you see fire coming out from these left wing, like, okay, but the planes have multiple engines, right? So all right, we'll go back, get another plane. I'm not going to get home early tonight. But no one knew at that moment, including the crew, at that exact second that would happen on the left side of the plane, where I was at, also up on the right side of the plane, simultaneously, it knocked both engines out. The birds knocked them out simultaneously, the geese did. So now you have no power.

What did that feel like when you had no power?

It was just like you were gliding. It's like that's what was startling at first. You hear nothing. It's so quiet. I tell people, talk to any passenger, they'll tell you the same thing. It was so quiet. You hear a pin drop.

Looking at each other.

People were sort of looking, but no one was freaking out. I tell people that's one of the great. I think so that's where God's grace entered, because no one freaked out. No one was looking around. No one was going. Going crazy. I think everybody's looking around, like, what's going on? And then they start banking. I'm like, okay, going back to the airport, right? No big deal. But then as he banked, I looked out the window and the skyline in Manhattan was like, right there. I mean, it was right there, and we were actually at a little lower than the highest buildings. Like, okay, now I look out a little further. You see this bridge coming up, which turned into be the George Washington Bridge. It's like, I've never seen that bridge before in my life. And I say, okay, something's going on, right? So I was like, every second of second things are going on until he says his famous words. This is your captain. Brace for impact. And then, you know, at that point, it's serious. Something's going down. And it doesn't look good at this point because now you're clearing the George Washington by roughly 400ft. The bridge is 600ft up. The plane was a thousand feet at that point in descending. So he clears about 400ft, and the only thing you see is water. It's like, I've never seen a successful plane land in the water. They're always toppling. So that's the moment there. You have to get your. I tell you, you gotta get your ducks in the row pretty quick now. You gotta get things lined up in every which way pretty quick and get your game plan together. Because if you do survive, what are you gonna do now? So that's pretty much what happened. I got. After I said my last prayers, got my head down, Gary. I said, okay, I play sports, right? Like I mentioned, I played sports. We always had a game plan. And in business, I had a game plan. And my game plan was aisle up, out. I kept saying in my head, I love out. I up, out. I up, out. I L, up. If I survived, I at least had. I had to have a game plan.

What do you mean, I L, up, out?

I was at C15A. Get to the aisle, go up in the middle row and get out. That was my game plan. Aisle, up, out. Because I wasn't on the wing. I was four rows behind the wing. So I had to go up to get out. One way or another, I had to go up. Aisle up, out. That was my game plan.

Wow. So the first time he came on the intercom was to tell you to brace. Didn't tell you what was going on, what's happening? Nothing.

The only time he came on, that's it. He was very succinct in his communication, which I think one of the great attributes that happened that day. Not only he, but the crew was very succinct. You know, they kept saying, brace, brace, brace. Right. So. Cause they knew that was coming up.

So what was it like when you hit the water?

Extremely hard hit. He estimates he hit between 100, 120 miles an hour. And if you see the head and I got do my talk and I show a little video of it, the backside hits first and 15 A's towards the back. So the back hit first, which meant to the brunt of the hit. Then it came down and then certain, right. Start skidding to slow down. So, yeah, it was a very, very, very hard hit. And water started coming in immediately because the back of the plane got torn off on the head. Water starts coming in. So water immediately, Gary was where I was. It was about ankle to knee deep. Immediately it was 36 degree water. Back of the plane, it was more like chest level, deep water.

So the people in the back of the plane were seatbelted in and the water was chest high. Right off the bat, how long did it take to go from the hit to where you were stopped?

It took approximately 20 to 30 seconds from hits down, sliding to totally stop. But 20 to 30 seconds, that's it.

And I wonder how he knew not to. Well, why do other planes topple and yours didn't?

He hit it perfectly. Because if you look at it, and I've heard other pilots say the same thing, one degree, just one little degree. Either way, you're either toppling into New York City or toppling into Newark. And that's a bigger disaster than what happened. Or 1 degree nose down, you're going straight to the bottom of the Hudson. Or one degree back, you're going backwards. You had to hit it perfectly.

Wow. Wonder how the heck he knew to do that.

He had all those years of his moments, right. Of practice and preparation.

Wow. Did you hear the back of the plane rip off?

No. When we hit, I looked out the window, I saw lights. It was such a hard hit. I went forward, back forward. It was that hard of a hit. It was like a very jarring hit.

And then the back of the plane is gone.

Not the total back, just the engine in the back.

Oh, the engine in the back. Okay, okay. But then water starts pouring in right away. 20 seconds later, you're stopped. Okay, now you're stopped. What's it like inside the plane? What's going on?

The term I used that night with Katie Couric on CBS was control, chaos. People weren't out of their heads, right. No one was pushing each other and get out of the way. But it was moving quickly. People had to move because water now, like I said, it's about anywhere from waist to chest level, deep in the back, about knee level deep. Where we at? You got to go. You got to start moving. There's no time to wait, right? You can't mess around. Think, let me get my stuff. Right? You got to go.

And then you did go.

You got up.

You did not get out. You were in seat a.

You said 15a on the left side. Correct.

So you were at a window.

No, four rows behind the left wing. I was at a window. More rose by the left wing.

Was there somebody next to you?

Yep. Plane was full. Correct.

Oh, gosh. So you had to wait for them to get out.

Yep.

For you to then go out. So take us through it. The plane comes to a standstill.

It started going down about 24 minutes is when it was like this. All right, so about 24 minutes from going from relatively flat, the backside in and up. What happened to me is when things were moving, right, it was my time to go. And I got to the aisle, and I'm like, I'll up out. But then something happened that changed everything. I started hearing my mom start talking in my head very quickly. And there's something my mom would tell me. Gary, when I was a child, all of a sudden I heard, and my mom passed away in 1997. But what it was is, if you do the right thing, God will take care of you. And I heard that, and I had to make a decision. And the decision I made was I climbed over the seats to go towards the back of see if anybody needed help, because I was fine. I know anybody in the back was fine, but I was fine. So instead of going out, I climbed over the seats to get behind it, and things were moving pretty well, I have to admit. People are moving. There's nobody standing still. But I got behind the last person. I started making my way out. Then at that point, you're about, like I said, about chest level, deep water. The back hit first, so the bins have broken open and all the luggage is floating around.

Right.

And it's dark because you got to remember this is late afternoon winter New York.

Right.

So it's so dark. And the first light that I saw was on the right side of 10F. I'm like, I'm out of here. But then I got to the door, I started looking out and there was no room on the wing for me and no room on the boat for me. But that's why it was amazing that people are being rescued. That's why I was inside the plane, waist deep in 36 degree water about 7 minutes holding onto that lifeboat. Because the lifeboat was floating out into the river and they were yelling me to hold on so they could have access to the wing to get out on to get out. So that's why I was in the plane for about 7 minutes away. Steep in 36 degree water.

When you think about going into a cold plunge, they're about that. And sitting in there for a minute is excruciating. Much less seven minutes. How long can you survive in 36 degree water?

EMTs told me I shouldn't be around. Usually is no more than 90 seconds. What I've heard from other people, I. You get that adrenaline, right? You got the adrenaline going and that speeds your metabolism up, which I think is exactly what happened to me. I was like, all right, let's go. I'm going to that athletic mode right now. It's time to go into play mode. I think that's what happened because about seven minutes later is when I felt the plane shift. And I found out later is one of the tugboats was part of the rescue. As he backed out, he hit the front of the plane. When he hit the front of the plane, he shook the plane. Shook the plane. I felt water go up my back. I'm like, I gotta get out of here, it's going down. And that's why I jumped in to start swimming to the closest boat that I could find at the end of the wing. And now it's the longest 15 yard swim of my life. Because not only was I fully clothed, I've already been in the water for 36 minutes or 36 degree water for seven minutes and there's jet fuel in the water. So when we were talking about your eye situation. Yeah, that's what happened. That's why I wear glasses. I found out when I got back I had jet fuel in my eyes. Got stuck in my eyes. And that's why I got had a little hazy perspective that night. But that I got there. I think my mom and dad said they had gimme swimming lessons in the Red Cross when I was a young kid. I may never get out of that plane to swim. I had to swim for my life.

And Then they just pulled you into one of the boats.

You would think that, but no. I got there and they started yelling at me to climb, climb, climb. Because the ferries are about 10 to 12ft up, and then a ladder there. And I yelled up, can't, can't, can't. And then I heard my mom talk to me. Because the word my mom hated most of life, Gary, was word can't. If you grew up in my house, you said, I can't. And my mom, she would say, if you can't do it, you're going to do it. And what I realized after she passed away, that was when I realized her worldview. I talk about worldview a lot. People's perspective of what's going on. The worldview. Her worldview is, if you can't, you must. She won't accept it. So I got one arm up, other arm up, and two men, to this day, I don't know who they are, grabbed me, pulled me on one of the ferries, and that's how I got out.

Unbelievable. So you were in the water for how long? Seven and a half minutes.

Eight minutes at least. Somewhere in that. That range? Yeah.

Wow. Okay. So they pull you up into the boat, and then what happens?

You think everything's cool, right? I got made it. But that's not what happened. That's the moment I talked about a moment ago about adrenaline, right? And you can. You just go, go, go. But when you think you've made it, you let it all go out. I equate it to. And you live out west. And I saw this last year when I spoke in Oregon, these wildfires, right? You see these wildfires. And then I was watching while I was out in Oregon, these wildfires. I see these firefighters that are going in, right? And they come out and they're sitting on the curb and they got nothing left, right? And that's what happened to me. And I was so cold, Gary. I mean, I've been in the water now for extended amount of time, and the air temperature is 11 degrees. I could barely breathe. I. That's the moment I thought, I'm not going to make it. But fortunately, someone was there with a phone. Please let me get my message out, let somebody know that I was. I said, this is your father. I've been in a plane crash. That's all I could get out. But at least I got the message out that I was alive. And that's how my family found out that I survived.

Gosh. Did everybody survive or did some not survive?

The only one in Aviation history that everybody survived? 100%.

Oh, my gosh. So now you're sitting on the boat freezing in 11 degree temperature. Did they put you in blankets? Did they put you in hot water? Like what happened to you?

Well, that would have been great if all that would have happened. None of that happened because they didn't have any blankets on the boats because the boats were deployed immediately when. After the plane crashed into the water. The CEO author's name is Arthur Imperator of the New York Waterways to set the boats out. Go. They weren't supplied with all that. So no, I went to the New Jersey side because I went out the right side of the plane. And those. Those boats, those ferries were going to New Jersey. Left side went to New York City. And so I got there, they put me down the floor in this Triad center, Gary. And stripped all my clothes off. I'm sitting there in my underwear. I don't even know what's going on. Right. Just sitting in my underwear. And my EMT tells you, I'll be right back. So now I'm on the floor pretty much naked, and then a guy walks up to me with a card to say. It says, I need your name and date of birth. And I give it to him, and he puts that card around my right ankle, and he walked away. And I don't know when you grew up. I know who the listeners grew up. I grew up in the 70s and there was a show called MASH. When they tagged your toe, you didn't make it. That's exactly what I thought. I'm like, I'm dead. I'm like. I said this. The movie Ghost is true. Right. I'm just watching this whole thing play out. Unfortunately, EMT came, took my blood pressure, and it was totally out of control. And that's when things started happening for me.

They didn't give you blankets, they didn't give anything to keep you warm? Nothing.

Nope. They didn't have anything.

Oh, my gosh. That doesn't sound like a heck of a lot of fun.

It's, you know, definitely one of those days. You're challenged at every point. Yeah. You know, and that's why I tell people the things I learned from Bill Tony. And being around these people is. It's all about your mindset. If you can't control your mind with all stuff's hidden around you, you're not gonna have a chance. And that's why I try to teach these younger people, right?

These.

These young kids who are smart as a whip, but they're having problems now controlling their mindset with all the COVID and all that other stuff that's going on. Right. They don't have the wisdom yet to know that, you know, if you have that positive mental attitude and have that mindset, you can survive.

Right?

You can survive and get another shot to play. But that's what that's happening a lot to these kids now. I've talked to a lot of these kids and they're scared because they never had to face adversity. And that's one of the things my parents at least made me do when I was young, face adversity. They made me have consequences for my decisions, which I think I'm failure at that with my kids. I want my kids to make sure they had a good opportunity. But one of the things I would do over if I had this whole thing to do over is I'll put them in situations where they had to make a decision and they had a consequence so they can know how to make a decision. Because everybody's going to have that life defining moment. Everybody is okay.

So then they ended up getting you to the hospital. Hypothermia and all the rest. So how long were you in the hospital?

I was only in the hospital overnight because I want to go home and I should have gone home. I was very fortunate that the circumstances played out where I could get home. And when I got home, I made some promises. I go to the doctor and all this, and I finally did that. If I look back on this, if you talk to my friend at Palisades Hackensack Medical center, as I said, we should have released him. I was in no condition to do anything at that point, but I tried to man up and just do it, and I did.

So what are the lessons that you learned from that experience that you now teach about? And because I know you speak all over the world, what are some of the things that you talk about?

Well, a couple of things I talk about. I'll tell you what I learned. One of the big learnings from that day and it really came from that situation. But probably a couple of weeks after is when it comes to clicked in my head. And what happened, Gary, was I was in doing a lot of media with a lot of the crew and a lot of the passengers. And I was on Good Morning America with other passengers and the crew. And we got done and we were sitting in the green room, you know, just talking and stuff. And one of the passengers just started getting very emotional. Say it that way, getting emotional. And it Was emotional outburst, say it that way. And I was sitting there thinking, what's wrong with this guy? We survived the plane crash, we're on national tv, but how bad can it get? And all of a sudden, I really found out later that he was going through a divorce and he just lost his job. Well, his meaning of the plane crash was devastation. And I started thinking, how many times in my life have I judged somebody so quickly before I understood their backstory, but understood a little bit about them? What does that cost me financially, emotionally, relationship wise? I mean, how many times have we judged somebody quickly? We don't even want to talk to them. That's what's going on in this country right now. We're judging people immediately. We can't even have a conversation without getting in an argument. So I said, if I could change that one thing, be less judgmental, how could that help me? So I started doing that. And that's opened up everything in my life, where I'm at right now. Just, I said, I believe what Martin Luther King said. Judge people by the content of their character. Right? That's the biggest lesson out of this. But some of the things that played out that day is definitely around. I talk about awareness. You got to be aware. You got to understand what's going on around you, right? And you can't just let somebody else direct you all the time in your life. You got to stay aware. One of the key skills that day that played out for me, and I actually wrote about it this week in my blog, this is the key skill set everybody needs right now. Whether you're going to look for a new job or looking to be an entrepreneur or whatever you're doing, is the skill set of anticipation, the ability to anticipate what's going on next, see the bigger picture. I talk about the alternative vision for the future. Like Bill taught me, you have to anticipate. And I really realized that there's two skill sets that I coach people on now, that if you want something, you better be able to anticipate. Because if you can help somebody anticipate their next move and help them, your asset. And second, which played out exactly during the plane crash, is resourcefulness. Because you don't have a lot of resources when you're in a plane crash. But if you can use the resources that you do have, then become resourceful. People are looking for people who are resourceful because there's not a lot of empty, a lot of money going around, and resources are available all over the place. You gotta be able to use your skill sets in a way to be an asset to somebody else. So anticipation and resourcefulness.

Wow. Yeah. Gosh, now that once all of this was over, you were on the TV programs, you didn't go back to work with Tony or did you?

I did for a couple years. In fact, the next month, late in February, which is about a month and a half after this all happened, in late February, he had an event in Secaucus, N.J. and his assistant called me. Gary said, you going to be there? Because, you know, I mean, I'm going through all this stuff, right? I said, I'll be there, I'll be there, right? So I show up. Kaylee, I wasn't much used to him, right? That weekend we were doing our pre events get together, right? I said, tony, I said, I want to give you a heads up on something. I'm probably going to have more media here than you will. And he starts laughing, right? I knew what was happening. CBS and everybody else was showing up outside, you know, because I was there. So I was pretty useless to him, that event. But at least I was there for him. And he saw me show up, right? And I wanted to show up for him because he showed up for me that night.

Yeah.

I talk about loyalty, right? You know, I'm big on loyalty. You gotta have your team's backs. You have to, or you're never gonna have any trust whatsoever with him.

So I'm surprised Tony didn't have you come speak.

I've had a couple things. He's been very kind with me. But you gotta remember, those are Tony's events. Yeah, those are Tony's events. He pays a lot of money to have those events.

Yeah. From there you went on to start speaking, start having holding events, start teaching. What was that like for you?

Well, initially, I was just doing churches and local events. I didn't know what I was doing, Gary. I was being asked every 15 minutes, do something right? And I was trying to work and I was trying to serve Tony, and I was not serving my family, which was something I looked back on. Probably I would have changed, but, you know, I. I took the zig Ziglar approach. I said, you know, for the first 50, 75 things I'm going to do, I'm just gonna do it. So what Tony told me was this. Speak from your heart. Don't ever take notes. Speak from the heart. I really focused on that. But what opened up everything for me, a couple of things that open up. The one thing that really opened it up was when I was invited to speak at a fundraiser for the American Red Cross in Charlotte. And they asked me if I would speak. It was a Red Cross month in March, a couple months later, and of course I was going to do it. They were there for me three times that day. Of course I would do anything I can. And I came, and all of a sudden, they raised over $100,000 at that event, which got my name out, right? I was asked to speak to one of their. Their major events up at. In Washington, D.C. which happened to be Supreme Court. And so I had the opportunity, and they raised $6 million that night. I didn't. I. All I did was speak. But when it happened that night for me is, I don't know if you've ever been to the Supreme Court, but you have to have a justice sponsor you, all right? You can't just walk in and say, I want to do an event. Right? And the justice who was sponsoring that now is Justice Anthony Kennedy. And when I got there, I got introduced to him. Come to my court. Give me three minutes. What happened that day? And he took me to his quarters about two or three minutes. I share with him a little bit of what I share with you. And then he came back out and I got my picture taken. I'm like, whoa, I want the Supreme Court justice. And it's not because I'm so great. It's because I think I gave it up. Gave up being judgmental. I said, you know what? I'm here to serve. I'm here to serve. That's not about me. And that, I think, is what opened up everything for me. And that Al gave me a strong reference for if you just come from a servant, leadership, heart, things will open up for you in your life.

Dave, what's next for you? What's your plan for what's coming up?

Well, thank you. So we'll go back to Bill's notes, because back in 2016, when I was writing my book Moments Matter, I found the notes in this credenza. If you see my credenza right behind me, they were in this credenza. So I made a commitment back then, and it was one of my major mission is to teach what he taught me to a million people in 10 years. So this is my mission. And Tony always taught me, he said, make the big a goal, right? Make the big goal and you'll figure out how to do it. You don't have to figure out how to do it right now. So it's taken me a few years to figure out how we're going to do it. So you know, I got my new book out. I'm running another book for the 15th anniversary next year. Right. I've got my magazine, see my magazine down here called Moments Matter, the magazine. I'm sharing information with other people in my magazine. I've got a course out teaching certain lessons of this in the course. And of course I look forward to see. I love to speak because that opens up talk to people one on one and orange group sessions. So that's how we're doing. All because I found them and I made this big goal and all of a sudden I'm starting to figure it out.

Wow. So last question for you. What's the best piece of advice you've ever given or the best piece of advice you've ever gotten?

I think that one of the best pieces of advice that I learned, but not in this terminology I'm rephrasing it is faith removes hesitation. What does that mean? What is faith? Give thanks. You have a bigger belief system as things happen for a reason and a purpose. And if you have faith, it removes any hesitation on taking action. It's those people who don't have faith, they get stalled, get stifled and so they don't make progress. One of the last thing I talk about when you hear me speak, Gary, is talk about gratitude. It starts with gratitude and grace is fueled by gratitude. My thought process is the more gratitude you give, the more grace you get. The more grace you give, the more faith you have. The more faith you have, the more action you're going to take to improve somebody else's life. I talk about this at the end of my talk because I want people to understand. You can't have fear with gratitude. You can't. You have gratitude. You're giving thanks something bigger. That faith has come inside you and you will have determination and persistence and perseverance to be able to push through when those times get tough. And what happened to me on January 15th is basically a reference for that.

You're about helping other people, about unleashing other people, unlocking.

It's all about becoming a servant leader and giving, helping other people first, right? And don't expect anything. I tell my kids. My kids are, you know, millennials and gen zers and sometimes they expect things first. In fact, I had somebody last week come to me and all he did is want. He didn't offer anything. I ever speak to him. The piece of advice is give first. Give something of value to somebody first instead of asking. And that's what Bill did for me, right? He gave to me. I mean, he didn't have to give me those tickets. He didn't have to do all this, Right. And it taught me a great lesson, is I just give first, right? It comes back tenfold, and it does in life.

I love that. And so if people want to follow you, learn from you, hire you, have you come speak, what's the best way for them to get in touch with you?

Well, thank you so much. The easiest one is go to my website, Dave Sanderson speaks.com you can see all my material. You can get in touch with me. But if you want to see my new content, which I'm coming out with, new content I'm committed to over the next 52 weeks, come out with new content every week, and I post that on LinkedIn. And I gotta just mention this week's lessons around anticipation and why it matters. So, yeah, go to LinkedIn if you good content, some new information for me. And then if you want to check in, go to davesandersonspeaks.com and I'd be honored to connect with you.

That's great. Dave. Thank you so much for taking the time to be here today. I really enjoyed hearing your story. Obviously excited that you survived that crazy day, but it's great to see that you're giving back so much and making an impact in other people's lives. So thank you so much for being here, Gary.

Thank you for having me. I hope you have a blessed day.

So it's time for our new segment, which is Guess Their why. And I'm gonna pick for this episode, Amelia Earhart. And I'm picking her because she and I both spoke at an event a couple weeks ago. And so I got to hear her story, and she's not related to the original Amelia Earhart. And it's a fascinating story on how that came about, but that doesn't take away from what she completed and what she did on her own. And so as a college student, she learned to fly a plane and then took on the task of flying around the globe. And she did it. So I'm going to say that Amelia Earhart's. You ought to see her story. I mean, you ought to hear her speak sometime because it was really, really well done. Great lessons. I believe that her why is actually to find a better way and share it. She was always looking for better ways. When something got stuck or something got blocked or something wasn't going to turn out like she thought it would, she would work and work and find another way she would find a better way and everything kept getting better and better. So I believe that Amelia Earhart's why is to find a better way and share it. So thank you so much for listening. If you've not yet discovered your why, you can do so@whyinstitute.com with the code PODCAST50. If you love the beyond you'd why podcast, please don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review and rating on whatever platform you're listening to so that we can bring the why to 1 billion people in the next 15 years. Thank you so much for listening and I'll see you next week.

I really hope you enjoyed today's episode and that through today's guest, you heard how important it is to know your why and how impactful it can be in your life and the lives of those around you. Be sure to head over to why institute.com and discover your why today. Remember, the more you know about yourself, the more you'll know about others. I'm Dr. Gary Sanchez and I'll see you on the next episode.