Jeff Dudan | On the Homefront with Jeff Dudan #79

So, you know, we're. We're. We're deciding. I had this opportunity to do Undercover Boss and nobody in town. I mean, we were. We were active in the town and in all the kids schools volunteering. And we were coached everything that they would allow us to coach. And, you know, nobody really knew much about the business, but it had really grown. And I. We sat down and I said, hey, I've got this opportunity to do this show. We've all seen it. We had watched it. We understood what it was. Sometimes it went really poorly. It. I mean, it, like drama makes good television. And believe me, they put you under stress, they set you up in situations, and I've had to fight. I mean, it was the. I. I had to go into it and say, they can't put anything on that. I don't say. So I had to. Like, they could only put on. Now they will put things together that weren't said together to create something, and that's fine. Like, but you don't get any. You don't get to see it until it plays live. Like, there is no. Once you. You film it for a couple of weeks, and then you don't see it till it plays live. You have no. They're going to make an interesting television show. And if you looking like a jerk is part of it, then that's part of it. So. So I sat the kids down and, you know, we had this. This mantra that I got from coach Jerry Moore at Appalachian State University, which was always, do more than is expected. And it was sitting above their. Their, you know, sitting above their head. And I said, look, you know, like, if we do this show, you know, things are going to change for you because like it or not, like, they'll probably be an article in the paper. Your friends, your neighbors, your teachers, now they're going. They might look differently at you because they're going to perceive that you're wealthy or they're going to perceive, you know, whatever it is, or they'll be envious of you because you're on national tele. Whatever it is. And so we sat down. But honestly, it was just laying it against those values of trust yourself to take chances, fail fast, and move forward. You can't not take an opportunity. If there's not a good reason to say no, then you need to say yes. And while there was risk in that decision based on our values, I couldn't set the example of saying, well, I really don't want to do it. I'm afraid, you know, something could go wrong. You know, it's, it's, you know, you're not doing more than expected if you're turning down an opportunity that can help your business in that way. So, so that was an example of, you know, just looking square at those values and stuff like that. I'll tell you, my daughter, she shoved one, she shot one right back in my face last year. She, so she was a, she's a high performer. Like, she's, not only is she a multiple time world champion equestrian, she also played on the women's 19U National Soccer Championship team as a 16 year old. So here's, here's a kid that's just quiet de minimis, you know, big glasses now. I mean, and she went to Clemson, got a 4.0 in accounting. And then she got into law school and she got into nyu, which is expensive and she could have gone, it's a top five or whatever. So she could have gone to these other schools that probably would have paid for her tuition to go to a top 25 or 30 school, you still get a law degree, all of that kind of stuff. And dude, she's, you know, I said, well, have you thought about this? And she said, didn't you always tell us to compete at the highest level that we qualify for? And I'm like, well crap, you know, so yeah, I mean like, so like these, these values that you instill, they allow you to manage teams with a looser bit. They allow you to, you know, and you have to live them and you have to, you have, you know, you can't, you can't say these are for everybody but you, but allows you to really, you know, be more of a coach than a disciplinarian. It allows you to, I don't know what you guys experience was growing up, you know, everybody has different parenting styles and you know, some are, you know, high discipline and you know, over, you know, you know, I always wanted to teach the kids not what to think, but how to think and then teach them the difference between right and wrong. And then at the age of 14, I told him, I said the age of accountability is 14. There's nothing more that I can tell you. You're basically on your own and I'm not going to rescue you. So have at it. And you know, it, it worked. But the values and, you know, understanding, like how we would make decisions on, you know, things that were unclear, challenging things, difficult times, was a, was a filter that we always had and we always had fun and we always were respectful and we, you know, being servant leadership is important to us and making sure that we're, we're helping, you know, you know, people crawl over the bodies of the people that are right around them and don't help them and then give money to, know a chair, a national charity. Well, there's people around them that are starving or in need or something like that. So, you know, really, you know, making a personal, you know, making it personal and helping people that need it when you know that they need it as well.