WEBVTT
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Have you ever felt stuck in pain, loss, or failure?
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Wondering how to rise when life knocks you down again?
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Then Bounce Back is for you.
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So gather your resilience, hold tight to hope, and get ready to reimagine what's possible in your life.
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So here's your host, Frank Sakari.
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Welcome to Bounce Back in Business and Life.
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And I'm going to open with a statement here.
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If you don't like what's happening, why don't you do something about it?
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We're going to have a conversation today about responsible citizenship.
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Healthy communities don't happen by accident.
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They're built by people who choose the operative word, choose to get involved.
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Responsible citizenship isn't defined by political affiliation.
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It's reflected in how we serve our neighbors, how we mentor the next generation, and we volunteer our time, how we support our community, engage with others respectfully, even when we disagree.
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My guest Chip Webster reminds us that unity in service, strengthening democracy, begins at the local level.
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Let's meet him.
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Chip is a mentor.
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He's a strategic consultant, author of the book, Unity in Service: A Pathway to Responsible Citizenship.
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Chip, welcome to Bounce Back in Business and Life.
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Great to see you again.
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I'm excited to have you because this is probably the most timely conversation we've had on the show for a while.
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Tell us your background.
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What inspired you to write this book?
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And where did all that knowledge come from?
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Let's call it scar tissue.
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I had a career that spanned everything from Sears Roebuck and company to publish independent phone books.
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And then I stumbled into an organization called Vistage, actually, here in San Diego.
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That's where the world headquarters are.
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And in that role, I chaired a group of CEOs for about 14 years, and then ended up running the Ford Operation independent company for another 13 years, and then have been engaged in my semi-retirement in peer groups.
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So I guess that's where we're almost hiding 40 years of peer group in working in different companies.
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So I had a chance to observe incredible leaders, had a chance to see leaders screw it up.
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I have been a sort of a study student of human behavior informally.
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And I've watched our country lose its spirit starting in the 60s.
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A statistic you may, I may have shared with you before, I can't remember, but in 1964, 77% of the population, this is according to Pew, thought the country was going in the right direction.
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In 2025, the answer is 17%.
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If you look at other statistics, then in the 70s, 80% of the people thought the medical system was good and they trusted it.
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It's 37% at 70s and 24 is the last time they measured it.
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And then with banks, it was like 60% trusted, and now it's in the mid-20s.
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So trust, the foundation of all relationships, has deteriorated dramatically.
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You were in San Diego when we were doing loops with the United States, we would stay in Chula Vista in our RV.
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It's a great RV park down there, and we would walk along the bay.
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And I do this everywhere, but since you're in San Diego, I'll use it as an example.
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And some days I'll go out and I'll just walk and won't say anything to anybody.
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And the same way people say hi to me.
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One in a hundred.
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Um I go say hi to everybody, I get response about 20% of the time.
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When someone sees themselves being acknowledged, they let it light up like a Christmas tree.
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And other days I just nod at people, and it's just been interesting.
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More and more people put their headphones on, they look away.
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I walked for a couple hours this morning in St.
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Pete, same thing, and it just exacerbates itself.
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So we saw the statistics.
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We know that I'll be off a few percentage points on these, but 10% of the people in the United States have no friends.
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Zero.
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Nada.
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Unbelievable, big.
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Only 50% of the population has three or more, three, three friends or less.
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A lot of people don't know their neighbors.
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I think it's 25% of the people don't know all their neighbors.
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12% don't know any of their neighbors.
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So it's all we were talking, we mentioned earlier, it's about us.
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Unity begins with you and I.
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It begins with us.
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Engaging is the way to start that relationship.
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We need to be validated.
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Can I read a poem?
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Sure.
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Because I think it speaks specifically to this.
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It's called microvalidations.
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Six and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
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English proverb.
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Microclimate, microaggressions.
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We live in a microclimate.
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Microbiomes live in us.
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Microaggressions are part of life.
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What we need more of are microvalidations, microaffirmations.
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We become trapped in our silos.
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We become contemptuous of those who don't agree with us.
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They must not be human.
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Our country, our cities, our friends have become divided.
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We can't keep distance ourselves from each other.
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We must all hang together, or most assuredly, we will hang separately.
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Benjamin Franklin.
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Our children, our grandchildren, need us to hang together for their future.
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A healthy democracy requires its citizens to work together to remain free.
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We need to see our interdependence and break down the barriers that divide us.
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We need each other.
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Start with microvalidations.
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Open the door for someone and say hello.
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Talk to your neighbors.
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Look people in the eye and acknowledge they exist.
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Reconnect with each other.
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Affirm the humanness in everyone.
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Right on point.
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It's so powerful.
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Those little steps, little things, tend to cause a ripple effect.
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I did a talk for the group called the ripple effect, and that was the whole big deal.
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It's one of kindness, one kind word will have a ripple.
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So, Chip, in all your experience, how did you think that we got here?
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How did this civil disengagement become so prevalent?
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This is unscientific observations.
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And maybe that's good because a lot of scientific stuff gets twisted.
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I'm a baby boomer.
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I was born in 46, so I'm on the leading edge.
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My dad, I'm sure you're some of your relatives, I think I went to war.
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Yes, me too.
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And they came back and saw how miserable it was.
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They'd lived through the depression, so they were pretty hard scrabbled.
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And a lot of them, my dad wasn't one of them, he made me work, but a lot of I don't want my kids to have to work as hard as I did.
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Sorry, your kids need to work as harder as harder.
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That's where you learn.
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So there was this wanting to soften things, and then we took for granted the greatness when in the 50s, we ran the world.
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We were at 80% of the production in the world capacity, everything had been bombed out.
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The 50s were golden age, the 60s, but then in the beginning of the 60s, there began to be a division.
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And it came, I think Vietnam had a lot to do with it.
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It doesn't matter how you feel about the war.
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What matters is what it impacted on our society.
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I think along with that, when they put the draft in, some people could avoid the draft if they had the money, if they had the connections.
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I got draft number 256, so I got blessed with that.
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But there's a lot of people who, if you remember Creden's Clearwater survival song, Fortunate Sun, I'm no senator's son.
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And or so you had to go serve.
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So I think that began to divide us.
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And then the book about demonstrating the breaking up of the left and the right.
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It used to be that you could sit and talk to somebody was a different from a different political persuasion.
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And we were all trying to basically accomplish the same thing.
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But then it became a divisive wedge.
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And we know that the Russians invested money in the United States during those demonstrations to divide us further.
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And it was a bad day if a bank didn't blow up, if you remember back in the 60s, Bank of America getting blown up.
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So it was it was that beginning of this flower children, hate everything, it's not a perfect utopian desire.
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Then I think it it's it settled back a little bit, but now the press and the politicians have decided that by flame striking the match to this flame and adding to it has their constituents really support them and be vocal.
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So that just divides.
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They're using that to divide us, but it leaves the middle kind of confused.
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There are now more independent registered voters than Republican or Democrat.
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That's a big clue.
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But our political system, and this is part of the problem, is set up for a two-party system.
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In 49 states, they have some variation of sore loser laws.
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And that is if you run in the primary and you get defeated, you cannot run as an independent.
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So it's the extremes that show up and vote, and then you have these people running for office who neither one, either side of the table should not be in office.
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And somebody who would get elected in the general election can't run.
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George Washington in his farewell address warned us against political parties.
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But the parties put party ahead of the nation.
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So there's a whole long laundry list of things that have exacerbated this division.
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Media parties, and the only people that can turn that around is us.
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The other thing that's happened is we've become more and more divided socially and economically.
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My big Harry Audacious goal is to get everybody to serve the country for a year.
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You graduate from high school and you go to work for the country for a year.
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Doesn't have to be in the military, but those of us remember the CCC, the Civilian Conservation Corps, they built a lot of the national parks.
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They built a lot of dams.
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They improved roads.
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I've just been in California and I know how bad the roads are.
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Yeah, they are.
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We just put some 18-year-olds to work to fix the roads, put fill up the potholes, we'd be ahead of the game.
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And what that does is gets people to understand two things.
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One, we're a lot more like than the press would like us to think.
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Yes.
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And this is our country.
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We're responsible for.
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We have the government we deserve.
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Everybody complains about the government.
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When I was traveling around the country in my RV, we would stop at RV parks and have conversations with people.
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And after we talked about where did you get your tires and what RV parks to avoid, sometimes it would drift into how unhappy people were with the direction of the country.
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And I'd say, it's our fault.
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And they look at me like I had two heads.
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It is our fault.
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We elected these people.
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A great indicator of how disconnected we are from our role as a responsible citizen is voter turnout.
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In the last five presidential elections, 58 to 66 percent of the people turned out to vote.
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Only two-thirds of people are voting for the president, or less.
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Yes, in terms, which is the House, 37 to 50 percent over the last five elections.
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That's unacceptable.
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Absolutely right.
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Now when I go back to some of the points you made, my lottery number was 10 in the draft.
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Okay, then you probably win.
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So I did.
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And it was going to the army for two years.
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Or so I think I could get it into my head that I could shoot at people, but I didn't want anybody shooting back at me.
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So I enlisted as an Air Force medic because Air Force Medics stayed where the airplanes are, right?
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So it was playing me out if I did go, I wouldn't get shot at.
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And he would say to me, Frank, you know why this is so horrible?
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And I said, tell me why.
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I'm 19 years old, right?
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What do I know from horrible, right?
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And he said, This is the first time the war and all its horror is brought into the homes of the American people every single night.
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We didn't have that in World War II or Korea.
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Now we do, and it's horrible.
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And then someone has to be blamed for it.
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He said, Unfortunately, that's just the way it is.
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I don't like something, I gotta blame somebody.
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So who do I gonna blame?
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And there's a whole bunch of people who will tell you they're to blame.
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It's not me, it's our country.
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We put these people in place, it's our problem.
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We can fix this.
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We got this finger pointing.
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Love that point.
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So, how do you define responsible citizenship?
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Let's start with the basics.
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You first you have to be willing to defend the country.
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If we're unwilling to defend the country, we don't deserve it.
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Freedom isn't free.
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And I think one of the problems in Vietnam was that there really wasn't a clear enemy.
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There wasn't a clear, we win, we're defending ourselves, we're defending our future.
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It was a quote-unquote police action that had to be bloody and not well run.
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It was run out of Washington, D.C., not run out in the field.
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The responsible citizens defend the country, elect people who put country ahead of party and who are going to be responsible with the purse.
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Forget all the other problems we have.
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We're going broke.
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And if you look at the history of civilizations that fail, it's when they spend more money on the debt than they do on the military.
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And we're there now.
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If you look at the Ottoman Empire, you just go back and look at history, Rome, all these former civilizations, we're right there.
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So we've elected people who it's easier to say we'll give the money to somebody who will take care of that, we'll run this program, we'll give you money for that, all these NGOs.
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We're now finding out a lot of the money that we've spent on welfare has been stolen.
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We've just been very sloppy in our bookkeeping.
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When we talk about the internal audits in the government, that's a joke.
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The government should be audited by independent auditors, like every public company has to be, or you go to jail.
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So demanding responsible stewardship, asking the government and being getting out of the house and studying and listening and watching people when you vote, don't listen to what they say, watch what they do and have done.
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The best prediction future behavior is past behavior.
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I love it when they talk about a politician will whose extreme will run to the middle during the election and then go back to the extreme.
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How many times do you have to have that done before you realize we're really stupid?
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So demand demanding that the political parties lose their power, allowing more people to run for office, that's up to us.
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I love that one of my great statistics is something like 80 or 90 percent people think that the Congress is incompetent, except my congressman.
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Yep.
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Exactly.
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Let me get this straight.
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Making the tough decisions and getting good people to run, it's become so hard to run.
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We tolerate lies.
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We can go back four or five elections, and somebody running for office and they'll be accused of all sorts of heinous acts that turn out to be a lie.
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After one of the presidential elections, and I won't say what party, because I'm trying to be neutral on this.
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At the end of an election, the winning side, somebody was asked in that party, you won, but you lied.
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He said, We won, didn't we?
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That doesn't work.
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I was director of government operations for NCR in ATT a bunch of years ago.
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So I dealt with a lot of state government, not local, not federal.
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Now, one of the things that I would hear, you said around the point, everybody's a crook except my guy.
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We want term limits except for my guy.
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Okay.
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We it whether you're whether you like Willie Brown in California or hate Willie Brown in California, one of the things he told me when I was director of government operations, because he said the money when it goes to the party, it goes to the zealots, the extremists on both ends.
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And those are the people who get the funding to run for office.
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And I remember asking him, Mr.
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Speaker, why are you spending a million dollars to get a job that pays 50,000?
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What what's the point here?
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Why are we doing this?
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Okay.
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I love his answer.
00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:34.480
His answer was the power to make a difference.
00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:40.640
But I don't know if it's a power to make a difference or if it's just a the sense of power or the proximity to power.
00:19:40.799 --> 00:19:44.640
Now, one of the things you emphasize in your book, you emphasize service.
00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:47.359
You talked about a little bit earlier.
00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:57.599
I used to travel overseas quite a bit, and I used to go to Switzerland quite a bit in my tech life, and they would have two years post-secondary, post-high school.
00:19:57.839 --> 00:19:59.279
You had to do something.
00:19:59.920 --> 00:20:01.839
And it was either the military or whatever.
00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:08.480
And the gentleman, my customer, said to me, Frank, there's a world of difference between an 18-year-old and a 20-year-old.
00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:17.279
And I loved your fact about one year, I think it should be two, but one year post-I would love to, but yeah, I gotta get one before I can get two.
00:20:17.599 --> 00:20:30.400
Now you've had to get up in the morning, you've had to go do something, you've had responsibility, you had to pay, you got paid, but you were expected to show up and do something for that pay.
00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:37.279
And one of the things that it taught me, being a military, so yeah, was what I didn't want to do.
00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:49.599
If we have that one year or two years, you'll find out I don't want to do this, and you'll be more focused when I went back to college after the military.
00:20:50.000 --> 00:21:00.880
I was incredibly focused because I knew what I didn't want, and was able to streamline my thought processes to get to where I believed I should be going.
00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:02.640
Do you see that coming?
00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:04.400
It's interesting you say that.
00:21:04.480 --> 00:21:09.440
I co-authored a essay paper for Braver Angels.
00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:11.039
You may have heard of Braver Angels.
00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:11.599
Yes.
00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:16.880
And my co-author was Dennis Ross, a former member of Congress.
00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:24.160
And when we were doing our research for it, we found, and I'm these once again, these numbers are going to be directionally right, not hold on.
00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:30.079
Something like 70 or 80% of the kids who graduate from high school have no earthly idea what they want to do.
00:21:30.319 --> 00:21:30.960
Yep.
00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:39.119
And in the 1990s and earlier, something like 70% of kids worked while they were in high school.
00:21:39.279 --> 00:21:41.440
I worked starting in junior high.
00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:44.799
By the time I got to college, I had a pretty good idea what I wanted to do.
00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:49.839
Only 10% of the kids now have jobs outside of school.
00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:57.359
But to go for a year or two better and work, you're gonna find out a whole lot about yourself.
00:21:57.440 --> 00:22:08.319
You're gonna get out part of my Structure would be you have a boot camp, and yeah, you get the cell phone on the weekends, but you're gonna get back in physical shape, you're gonna work.
00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:13.039
I would do team building exercise, breaking down the barriers.
00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:17.359
So when you get out after a year, you have a much better idea of what you want to do.
00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:18.000
Exactly.
00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:22.640
Much better idea of who you are without mom and dad telling you who you are.
00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:36.319
My daughter works for the Department of Education in the state of Arizona, and one of the things she was saying, the CTE program is starting to gain traction again.
00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:46.000
And one of the talks that she gave, she said, We spent 40 years telling youth that if you don't go to college, you're gonna be nothing.
00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:57.200
So we all went to college, we all have debt, like a mortgage, a job that pays$35,000 a year, as opposed to taking the chip the kids now.
00:22:57.359 --> 00:22:59.839
And I think the businesses, this is important, we'll get to this.
00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:14.240
And I think the businesses are starting to recognize I need a flow of employees, and they don't have to have degrees in a lot of these jobs, and most of them don't have to have a degree, but I need the steady flow of people coming in who are interested.
00:23:14.319 --> 00:23:25.039
And if I start that in junior high or high school at the latest, with these CTEs and internship programs and what have you, then I'm building this community, correct?
00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:28.960
And I'm building a sense of pride in the community.
00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:33.599
And in the state of Arizona, they desperately need to keep the kids in state.
00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:34.480
Yeah.
00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:37.119
And I think that's occurring everywhere.
00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:38.640
It is, absolutely.
00:23:38.799 --> 00:23:46.640
The ability to think I can do something and create something is such an important basic.
00:23:46.799 --> 00:23:53.119
When I went to high school in Palm Springs in California, you had to take metal shop and wood shop.
00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:58.079
You had to take two of the shops, then I took electrical two, and then drafting.
00:23:58.240 --> 00:23:59.920
But you had to have two of those skills.
00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:08.160
And those skills, it's not just about going and getting that career, it's about learning how to take a piece of metal and turn it into something.
00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:12.079
And then also it helps when you're at home and you're trying to figure out how to fix something.
00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:13.119
Exactly.
00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:19.759
But the whole challenge for me, I learned more out of the classroom than I did.
00:24:19.920 --> 00:24:29.039
I went to Drake University because they had a co-op program where I got credit for working at Sears, which by the way was the only A I got in college.
00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:33.599
But I started out my career there and did very well.
00:24:33.839 --> 00:24:36.880
Got promoted every 13 months.
00:24:37.039 --> 00:24:40.559
So I had a good career until they left and got recruited away.
00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:43.119
But that gave me the confidence.
00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:57.519
What responsibility do they have for building responsible citizenship?
00:24:58.079 --> 00:25:05.359
Continuing on the responsible citizenship theme, an Air Force General said nobody ever washed or rent a car.
00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:07.920
That's exactly right.
00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:12.319
And I think a lot of people think they're renting this country.
00:25:13.279 --> 00:25:20.079
And driving around, I'll pick on California since you're there and I've spent a lot of my life there.
00:25:20.319 --> 00:25:23.759
We would stop at a rest stop and it looked like a garbage bed.
00:25:24.079 --> 00:25:24.480
Yeah.
00:25:24.799 --> 00:25:29.039
We'd be assigned a thousand dollar fine for littering.
00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:32.880
And literally, the literally litter was literally up to the site.
00:25:33.119 --> 00:25:33.680
Going over.
00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:35.599
Yeah.
00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:43.279
So I think taking people and getting them to understand it's our country.
00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:46.319
I have to go out here and repair the roads.
00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:49.680
And now I have equity, I have sweat equity.
00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:52.799
And I know better of what I want to be when I grow up.
00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:56.160
I'm not sure I answered your question that well.
00:25:56.480 --> 00:25:57.599
You've got to part way there.
00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:02.880
Now, business leaders, anything from Ed DeAngelis in Philadelphia.
00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:08.400
And he runs a humanistic-based company because he said what you said.
00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:12.400
I see us fracturing as a community.
00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:16.480
I can't solve the world, but I can solve my community.
00:26:17.119 --> 00:26:18.559
One person at a time.
00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:19.839
Exactly.
00:26:20.160 --> 00:26:30.559
I'm writing a speech, I've been asked to talk to a rotary club, and one of the things I've been putting into the speech is our responsibility as a leader is to be a role model.
00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:46.240
And part of that is volunteering ourselves and being a member of a rotary club and going and serving breakfast or whatever that club is going to do, or eradication of polio is their big vision.
00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:52.400
And I'm right now I'm chairman of the board of Tampa Bay Watch, which is a nonprofit in St.
00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:54.079
Petersburg.
00:26:54.559 --> 00:26:57.200
And we have an incredible volunteer base.
00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:04.799
And some of the volunteers are teams from a company like J-Bull Circuit, which is a big company.
00:27:05.119 --> 00:27:14.880
They'll be all there, well, they'll all have the same t-shirt on, and they'll be out there building oyster refalls or cleaning fishing line or planting oyster seagrasses.
00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:16.720
It's a team building exercise.
00:27:16.799 --> 00:27:22.559
And the leader of the company has to demonstrate that and talk about it.
00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:30.400
Not telling people how to vote, but tell them they need to vote and what to look for before they vote.
00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:34.559
That's leadership and understanding.
00:27:34.799 --> 00:27:45.200
The most important thing we do as a citizen is make ourselves aware and vote.
00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:51.759
Please don't vote if you just listen to what Uncle Harry says or the commentator on TV.
00:27:52.640 --> 00:27:53.440
Exactly.
00:27:53.759 --> 00:27:59.759
Vote because you've done your homework and you know that it's a lesser of two evils too many times, but it is a lesser of two evils.
00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:04.480
Which one is better than the other, or at least bad?
00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:05.359
Right.
00:28:05.839 --> 00:28:10.400
I saw growing up, I grew up in an Italian community in western New York, right?
00:28:10.559 --> 00:28:14.799
I remember my grandfather when someone was running for election local.
00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:19.039
You bring everybody, bring the neighborhood, and ask questions.
00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:20.160
How are you going to do this?
00:28:20.319 --> 00:28:21.119
What are you going to do?
00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:23.279
Here's our challenge, it's here's this.
00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:23.920
Okay.
00:28:25.200 --> 00:28:33.440
And recently I went to one of the debates, which are a joke now, for the California governor.
00:28:33.519 --> 00:28:36.319
And all it is backbiting and backstabbing.
00:28:36.400 --> 00:28:39.200
And again, let's talk about issues.
00:28:39.359 --> 00:28:48.559
Let's stop the bullshit and let's talk about the issues that matter as opposed to you have this many houses and how can you afford it?
00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:49.680
And enough.
00:28:49.920 --> 00:28:50.559
Enough.
00:28:51.039 --> 00:28:53.200
And the hate talk has to stop.
00:28:54.400 --> 00:28:58.640
So I think you hit the thing everybody should do is vote.
00:28:58.880 --> 00:28:59.680
Absolutely.
00:28:59.920 --> 00:29:01.599
How do people reach you, Chip?
00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:06.319
Come to my website, unionservice.org.
00:29:07.359 --> 00:29:11.200
Or Chip Webster at Unityandservice.org.
00:29:13.599 --> 00:29:15.839
Reach out, reach out to Chip people.
00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:17.440
He's a wealth of knowledge.
00:29:17.759 --> 00:29:19.039
Now we're just about out of time.
00:29:19.599 --> 00:29:21.680
Thank Chip one more time for being here.
00:29:21.839 --> 00:29:40.000
And as he said, if each of us commits to putting community before conflict and nation ahead of party, we will, not might, or could, we will build a future grounded in trust, respect, and shared purpose.
00:29:40.319 --> 00:29:42.480
And that's when lasting change begins.
00:29:43.039 --> 00:29:44.400
Let me leave you all with this.
00:29:44.640 --> 00:29:49.279
None of us are in this alone, and the secret to walking on water is to know where the rocks are.
00:29:49.519 --> 00:29:50.319
And today, Mr.
00:29:50.480 --> 00:29:53.200
Webster showed us where many of those rocks are.
00:29:53.440 --> 00:29:57.680
Join us again next week, and we'll find more of those rocks.
00:29:57.920 --> 00:30:00.160
Like this, share it with a friend, and please subscribe.
00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:00.400
Mr.
00:30:00.480 --> 00:30:02.720
Webster, thank you so much for your time.
00:30:03.359 --> 00:30:04.160
Thank you, Frank.
00:30:04.319 --> 00:30:05.279
Enjoyed it.
00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:11.119
So that's it for today's episode of Bounce Back.
00:30:11.200 --> 00:30:15.119
Head on over to Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen and subscribe to the show.
00:30:15.279 --> 00:30:27.920
One lucky listener every single week who posts a review on Apple Podcasts or iTunes will win a chance the grand prize drawing to win a ten thousand dollar private VIP day with Frank himself.
00:30:28.079 --> 00:30:34.079
Be sure to head on over to BouncebackPodcast.com and pick up a free copy of Frank's gift.
00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:37.119
And join us on the next episode.
00:00:00.959 --> 00:00:04.959
Have you ever felt stuck in pain, loss, or failure?
00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:08.320
Wondering how to rise when life knocks you down again?
00:00:08.560 --> 00:00:10.960
Then Bounce Back is for you.
00:00:11.199 --> 00:00:18.160
So gather your resilience, hold tight to hope, and get ready to reimagine what's possible in your life.
00:00:18.399 --> 00:00:21.120
So here's your host, Frank Sakari.
00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:33.280
Welcome to Bounce Back in Business and Life.
00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:35.600
And I'm going to open with a statement here.
00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:40.719
If you don't like what's happening, why don't you do something about it?
00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:45.280
We're going to have a conversation today about responsible citizenship.
00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:48.079
Healthy communities don't happen by accident.
00:00:48.320 --> 00:00:54.320
They're built by people who choose the operative word, choose to get involved.
00:00:55.039 --> 00:00:58.960
Responsible citizenship isn't defined by political affiliation.
00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:12.959
It's reflected in how we serve our neighbors, how we mentor the next generation, and we volunteer our time, how we support our community, engage with others respectfully, even when we disagree.
00:01:13.840 --> 00:01:21.760
My guest Chip Webster reminds us that unity in service, strengthening democracy, begins at the local level.
00:01:22.079 --> 00:01:23.120
Let's meet him.
00:01:23.439 --> 00:01:24.400
Chip is a mentor.
00:01:24.480 --> 00:01:32.319
He's a strategic consultant, author of the book, Unity in Service: A Pathway to Responsible Citizenship.
00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:35.120
Chip, welcome to Bounce Back in Business and Life.
00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:37.200
Great to see you again.
00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:44.000
I'm excited to have you because this is probably the most timely conversation we've had on the show for a while.
00:01:44.319 --> 00:01:45.359
Tell us your background.
00:01:45.519 --> 00:01:48.480
What inspired you to write this book?
00:01:48.640 --> 00:01:50.879
And where did all that knowledge come from?
00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:53.599
Let's call it scar tissue.
00:01:56.719 --> 00:02:04.640
I had a career that spanned everything from Sears Roebuck and company to publish independent phone books.
00:02:04.959 --> 00:02:09.120
And then I stumbled into an organization called Vistage, actually, here in San Diego.
00:02:09.199 --> 00:02:11.039
That's where the world headquarters are.
00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:28.960
And in that role, I chaired a group of CEOs for about 14 years, and then ended up running the Ford Operation independent company for another 13 years, and then have been engaged in my semi-retirement in peer groups.
00:02:29.280 --> 00:02:35.199
So I guess that's where we're almost hiding 40 years of peer group in working in different companies.
00:02:35.280 --> 00:02:41.919
So I had a chance to observe incredible leaders, had a chance to see leaders screw it up.
00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:47.599
I have been a sort of a study student of human behavior informally.
00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:54.800
And I've watched our country lose its spirit starting in the 60s.
00:02:55.039 --> 00:03:08.639
A statistic you may, I may have shared with you before, I can't remember, but in 1964, 77% of the population, this is according to Pew, thought the country was going in the right direction.
00:03:09.520 --> 00:03:15.759
In 2025, the answer is 17%.
00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:27.120
If you look at other statistics, then in the 70s, 80% of the people thought the medical system was good and they trusted it.
00:03:27.199 --> 00:03:31.680
It's 37% at 70s and 24 is the last time they measured it.
00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:36.719
And then with banks, it was like 60% trusted, and now it's in the mid-20s.
00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:44.479
So trust, the foundation of all relationships, has deteriorated dramatically.
00:03:44.800 --> 00:03:51.280
You were in San Diego when we were doing loops with the United States, we would stay in Chula Vista in our RV.
00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:55.599
It's a great RV park down there, and we would walk along the bay.
00:03:56.000 --> 00:04:00.240
And I do this everywhere, but since you're in San Diego, I'll use it as an example.
00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:03.120
And some days I'll go out and I'll just walk and won't say anything to anybody.
00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:04.960
And the same way people say hi to me.
00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:06.560
One in a hundred.
00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:13.439
Um I go say hi to everybody, I get response about 20% of the time.
00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:17.519
When someone sees themselves being acknowledged, they let it light up like a Christmas tree.
00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:21.439
And other days I just nod at people, and it's just been interesting.
00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:25.920
More and more people put their headphones on, they look away.
00:04:26.240 --> 00:04:28.560
I walked for a couple hours this morning in St.
00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:31.759
Pete, same thing, and it just exacerbates itself.
00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:33.279
So we saw the statistics.
00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:40.800
We know that I'll be off a few percentage points on these, but 10% of the people in the United States have no friends.
00:04:41.040 --> 00:04:41.519
Zero.
00:04:41.680 --> 00:04:42.000
Nada.
00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:44.079
Unbelievable, big.
00:04:45.279 --> 00:04:51.199
Only 50% of the population has three or more, three, three friends or less.
00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:53.759
A lot of people don't know their neighbors.
00:04:53.839 --> 00:04:57.279
I think it's 25% of the people don't know all their neighbors.
00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:00.000
12% don't know any of their neighbors.
00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:03.439
So it's all we were talking, we mentioned earlier, it's about us.
00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:07.680
Unity begins with you and I.
00:05:07.839 --> 00:05:09.040
It begins with us.
00:05:09.600 --> 00:05:14.240
Engaging is the way to start that relationship.
00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:16.399
We need to be validated.
00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:18.160
Can I read a poem?
00:05:18.959 --> 00:05:19.439
Sure.
00:05:20.879 --> 00:05:23.680
Because I think it speaks specifically to this.
00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:25.439
It's called microvalidations.
00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:30.560
Six and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:32.240
English proverb.
00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:35.040
Microclimate, microaggressions.
00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:37.040
We live in a microclimate.
00:05:37.199 --> 00:05:38.639
Microbiomes live in us.
00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:40.720
Microaggressions are part of life.
00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:45.759
What we need more of are microvalidations, microaffirmations.
00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:48.480
We become trapped in our silos.
00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:52.319
We become contemptuous of those who don't agree with us.
00:05:52.560 --> 00:05:54.240
They must not be human.
00:05:54.560 --> 00:05:59.199
Our country, our cities, our friends have become divided.
00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:02.319
We can't keep distance ourselves from each other.
00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:06.639
We must all hang together, or most assuredly, we will hang separately.
00:06:06.959 --> 00:06:08.560
Benjamin Franklin.
00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:13.519
Our children, our grandchildren, need us to hang together for their future.
00:06:13.920 --> 00:06:18.639
A healthy democracy requires its citizens to work together to remain free.
00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:24.160
We need to see our interdependence and break down the barriers that divide us.
00:06:24.480 --> 00:06:26.079
We need each other.
00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:28.319
Start with microvalidations.
00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:30.959
Open the door for someone and say hello.
00:06:31.199 --> 00:06:32.480
Talk to your neighbors.
00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:35.199
Look people in the eye and acknowledge they exist.
00:06:35.920 --> 00:06:37.439
Reconnect with each other.
00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:40.560
Affirm the humanness in everyone.
00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:42.000
Right on point.
00:06:42.160 --> 00:06:43.519
It's so powerful.
00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:50.000
Those little steps, little things, tend to cause a ripple effect.
00:06:50.240 --> 00:06:53.600
I did a talk for the group called the ripple effect, and that was the whole big deal.
00:06:53.759 --> 00:06:58.560
It's one of kindness, one kind word will have a ripple.
00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:03.839
So, Chip, in all your experience, how did you think that we got here?
00:07:03.920 --> 00:07:08.000
How did this civil disengagement become so prevalent?
00:07:08.959 --> 00:07:11.279
This is unscientific observations.
00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:15.759
And maybe that's good because a lot of scientific stuff gets twisted.
00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:17.040
I'm a baby boomer.
00:07:17.120 --> 00:07:19.759
I was born in 46, so I'm on the leading edge.
00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:24.800
My dad, I'm sure you're some of your relatives, I think I went to war.
00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:26.800
Yes, me too.
00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:32.079
And they came back and saw how miserable it was.
00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:35.279
They'd lived through the depression, so they were pretty hard scrabbled.
00:07:36.560 --> 00:07:43.040
And a lot of them, my dad wasn't one of them, he made me work, but a lot of I don't want my kids to have to work as hard as I did.
00:07:44.079 --> 00:07:46.879
Sorry, your kids need to work as harder as harder.
00:07:47.040 --> 00:07:48.160
That's where you learn.
00:07:48.399 --> 00:07:59.680
So there was this wanting to soften things, and then we took for granted the greatness when in the 50s, we ran the world.
00:08:00.079 --> 00:08:05.439
We were at 80% of the production in the world capacity, everything had been bombed out.
00:08:05.600 --> 00:08:12.160
The 50s were golden age, the 60s, but then in the beginning of the 60s, there began to be a division.
00:08:12.879 --> 00:08:16.639
And it came, I think Vietnam had a lot to do with it.
00:08:17.040 --> 00:08:19.279
It doesn't matter how you feel about the war.
00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:24.160
What matters is what it impacted on our society.
00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:33.840
I think along with that, when they put the draft in, some people could avoid the draft if they had the money, if they had the connections.
00:08:34.080 --> 00:08:38.639
I got draft number 256, so I got blessed with that.
00:08:39.120 --> 00:08:47.919
But there's a lot of people who, if you remember Creden's Clearwater survival song, Fortunate Sun, I'm no senator's son.
00:08:48.399 --> 00:08:50.320
And or so you had to go serve.
00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:52.559
So I think that began to divide us.
00:08:53.120 --> 00:09:02.720
And then the book about demonstrating the breaking up of the left and the right.
00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:08.720
It used to be that you could sit and talk to somebody was a different from a different political persuasion.
00:09:08.799 --> 00:09:12.799
And we were all trying to basically accomplish the same thing.
00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:16.000
But then it became a divisive wedge.
00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:26.960
And we know that the Russians invested money in the United States during those demonstrations to divide us further.
00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:32.399
And it was a bad day if a bank didn't blow up, if you remember back in the 60s, Bank of America getting blown up.
00:09:33.919 --> 00:09:45.360
So it was it was that beginning of this flower children, hate everything, it's not a perfect utopian desire.
00:09:45.759 --> 00:10:04.720
Then I think it it's it settled back a little bit, but now the press and the politicians have decided that by flame striking the match to this flame and adding to it has their constituents really support them and be vocal.
00:10:05.039 --> 00:10:06.240
So that just divides.
00:10:06.559 --> 00:10:12.080
They're using that to divide us, but it leaves the middle kind of confused.
00:10:12.799 --> 00:10:18.799
There are now more independent registered voters than Republican or Democrat.
00:10:19.360 --> 00:10:20.559
That's a big clue.
00:10:20.879 --> 00:10:26.879
But our political system, and this is part of the problem, is set up for a two-party system.
00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:32.559
In 49 states, they have some variation of sore loser laws.
00:10:33.039 --> 00:10:42.159
And that is if you run in the primary and you get defeated, you cannot run as an independent.
00:10:48.480 --> 00:10:59.120
So it's the extremes that show up and vote, and then you have these people running for office who neither one, either side of the table should not be in office.
00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:03.840
And somebody who would get elected in the general election can't run.
00:11:04.559 --> 00:11:09.039
George Washington in his farewell address warned us against political parties.
00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:16.399
But the parties put party ahead of the nation.
00:11:17.519 --> 00:11:23.679
So there's a whole long laundry list of things that have exacerbated this division.
00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:31.120
Media parties, and the only people that can turn that around is us.
00:11:31.759 --> 00:11:36.240
The other thing that's happened is we've become more and more divided socially and economically.
00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:40.639
My big Harry Audacious goal is to get everybody to serve the country for a year.
00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:45.120
You graduate from high school and you go to work for the country for a year.
00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:53.120
Doesn't have to be in the military, but those of us remember the CCC, the Civilian Conservation Corps, they built a lot of the national parks.
00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:54.480
They built a lot of dams.
00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:56.480
They improved roads.
00:11:56.720 --> 00:11:59.679
I've just been in California and I know how bad the roads are.
00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:01.200
Yeah, they are.
00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:08.240
We just put some 18-year-olds to work to fix the roads, put fill up the potholes, we'd be ahead of the game.
00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:12.960
And what that does is gets people to understand two things.
00:12:13.120 --> 00:12:17.600
One, we're a lot more like than the press would like us to think.
00:12:17.840 --> 00:12:18.399
Yes.
00:12:18.639 --> 00:12:20.799
And this is our country.
00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:22.720
We're responsible for.
00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:25.679
We have the government we deserve.
00:12:25.759 --> 00:12:27.039
Everybody complains about the government.
00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:32.399
When I was traveling around the country in my RV, we would stop at RV parks and have conversations with people.
00:12:32.480 --> 00:12:41.600
And after we talked about where did you get your tires and what RV parks to avoid, sometimes it would drift into how unhappy people were with the direction of the country.
00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:42.960
And I'd say, it's our fault.
00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:45.200
And they look at me like I had two heads.
00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:46.639
It is our fault.
00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:48.320
We elected these people.
00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:57.679
A great indicator of how disconnected we are from our role as a responsible citizen is voter turnout.
00:12:57.840 --> 00:13:04.639
In the last five presidential elections, 58 to 66 percent of the people turned out to vote.
00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:08.159
Only two-thirds of people are voting for the president, or less.
00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:16.639
Yes, in terms, which is the House, 37 to 50 percent over the last five elections.
00:13:16.799 --> 00:13:18.480
That's unacceptable.
00:13:20.320 --> 00:13:21.200
Absolutely right.
00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:26.720
Now when I go back to some of the points you made, my lottery number was 10 in the draft.
00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:29.200
Okay, then you probably win.
00:13:29.440 --> 00:13:30.399
So I did.
00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:33.360
And it was going to the army for two years.
00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:41.759
Or so I think I could get it into my head that I could shoot at people, but I didn't want anybody shooting back at me.
00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:47.440
So I enlisted as an Air Force medic because Air Force Medics stayed where the airplanes are, right?
00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:51.120
So it was playing me out if I did go, I wouldn't get shot at.
00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:06.399
And he would say to me, Frank, you know why this is so horrible?
00:14:06.639 --> 00:14:08.799
And I said, tell me why.
00:14:09.039 --> 00:14:11.039
I'm 19 years old, right?
00:14:11.840 --> 00:14:13.440
What do I know from horrible, right?
00:14:13.600 --> 00:14:24.960
And he said, This is the first time the war and all its horror is brought into the homes of the American people every single night.
00:14:25.360 --> 00:14:27.679
We didn't have that in World War II or Korea.
00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:30.399
Now we do, and it's horrible.
00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:32.879
And then someone has to be blamed for it.
00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:36.000
He said, Unfortunately, that's just the way it is.
00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:39.279
I don't like something, I gotta blame somebody.
00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:40.799
So who do I gonna blame?
00:14:40.960 --> 00:14:44.960
And there's a whole bunch of people who will tell you they're to blame.
00:14:45.279 --> 00:14:47.600
It's not me, it's our country.
00:14:47.840 --> 00:14:50.720
We put these people in place, it's our problem.
00:14:51.039 --> 00:14:52.480
We can fix this.
00:14:52.879 --> 00:14:54.799
We got this finger pointing.
00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:57.360
Love that point.
00:14:57.519 --> 00:15:00.559
So, how do you define responsible citizenship?
00:15:02.480 --> 00:15:04.159
Let's start with the basics.
00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:07.120
You first you have to be willing to defend the country.
00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:10.399
If we're unwilling to defend the country, we don't deserve it.
00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:11.840
Freedom isn't free.
00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:18.960
And I think one of the problems in Vietnam was that there really wasn't a clear enemy.
00:15:19.120 --> 00:15:24.480
There wasn't a clear, we win, we're defending ourselves, we're defending our future.
00:15:24.639 --> 00:15:31.759
It was a quote-unquote police action that had to be bloody and not well run.
00:15:31.919 --> 00:15:36.000
It was run out of Washington, D.C., not run out in the field.
00:15:36.159 --> 00:15:48.159
The responsible citizens defend the country, elect people who put country ahead of party and who are going to be responsible with the purse.
00:15:48.399 --> 00:15:50.000
Forget all the other problems we have.
00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:51.200
We're going broke.
00:15:51.360 --> 00:16:02.080
And if you look at the history of civilizations that fail, it's when they spend more money on the debt than they do on the military.
00:16:02.320 --> 00:16:03.759
And we're there now.
00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:12.159
If you look at the Ottoman Empire, you just go back and look at history, Rome, all these former civilizations, we're right there.
00:16:12.559 --> 00:16:23.759
So we've elected people who it's easier to say we'll give the money to somebody who will take care of that, we'll run this program, we'll give you money for that, all these NGOs.
00:16:23.919 --> 00:16:28.879
We're now finding out a lot of the money that we've spent on welfare has been stolen.
00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:33.120
We've just been very sloppy in our bookkeeping.
00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:38.480
When we talk about the internal audits in the government, that's a joke.
00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:45.759
The government should be audited by independent auditors, like every public company has to be, or you go to jail.
00:16:46.240 --> 00:17:06.960
So demanding responsible stewardship, asking the government and being getting out of the house and studying and listening and watching people when you vote, don't listen to what they say, watch what they do and have done.
00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:10.799
The best prediction future behavior is past behavior.
00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:19.839
I love it when they talk about a politician will whose extreme will run to the middle during the election and then go back to the extreme.
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:24.960
How many times do you have to have that done before you realize we're really stupid?
00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:38.000
So demand demanding that the political parties lose their power, allowing more people to run for office, that's up to us.
00:17:39.920 --> 00:17:48.960
I love that one of my great statistics is something like 80 or 90 percent people think that the Congress is incompetent, except my congressman.
00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:49.599
Yep.
00:17:50.400 --> 00:17:51.279
Exactly.
00:17:51.759 --> 00:17:53.359
Let me get this straight.
00:17:54.319 --> 00:17:59.200
Making the tough decisions and getting good people to run, it's become so hard to run.
00:17:59.519 --> 00:18:01.039
We tolerate lies.
00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:10.319
We can go back four or five elections, and somebody running for office and they'll be accused of all sorts of heinous acts that turn out to be a lie.
00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:16.480
After one of the presidential elections, and I won't say what party, because I'm trying to be neutral on this.
00:18:16.799 --> 00:18:23.200
At the end of an election, the winning side, somebody was asked in that party, you won, but you lied.
00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:24.960
He said, We won, didn't we?
00:18:26.079 --> 00:18:27.359
That doesn't work.
00:18:28.240 --> 00:18:32.559
I was director of government operations for NCR in ATT a bunch of years ago.
00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:36.160
So I dealt with a lot of state government, not local, not federal.
00:18:36.319 --> 00:18:42.559
Now, one of the things that I would hear, you said around the point, everybody's a crook except my guy.
00:18:42.799 --> 00:18:45.920
We want term limits except for my guy.
00:18:46.640 --> 00:18:46.960
Okay.
00:18:48.160 --> 00:19:09.119
We it whether you're whether you like Willie Brown in California or hate Willie Brown in California, one of the things he told me when I was director of government operations, because he said the money when it goes to the party, it goes to the zealots, the extremists on both ends.
00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:13.920
And those are the people who get the funding to run for office.
00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:15.680
And I remember asking him, Mr.
00:19:15.839 --> 00:19:22.640
Speaker, why are you spending a million dollars to get a job that pays 50,000?
00:19:24.079 --> 00:19:25.279
What what's the point here?
00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:26.640
Why are we doing this?
00:19:27.839 --> 00:19:28.160
Okay.
00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:30.160
I love his answer.
00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:34.480
His answer was the power to make a difference.
00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:40.640
But I don't know if it's a power to make a difference or if it's just a the sense of power or the proximity to power.
00:19:40.799 --> 00:19:44.640
Now, one of the things you emphasize in your book, you emphasize service.
00:19:45.279 --> 00:19:47.359
You talked about a little bit earlier.
00:19:48.480 --> 00:19:57.599
I used to travel overseas quite a bit, and I used to go to Switzerland quite a bit in my tech life, and they would have two years post-secondary, post-high school.
00:19:57.839 --> 00:19:59.279
You had to do something.
00:19:59.920 --> 00:20:01.839
And it was either the military or whatever.
00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:08.480
And the gentleman, my customer, said to me, Frank, there's a world of difference between an 18-year-old and a 20-year-old.
00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:17.279
And I loved your fact about one year, I think it should be two, but one year post-I would love to, but yeah, I gotta get one before I can get two.
00:20:17.599 --> 00:20:30.400
Now you've had to get up in the morning, you've had to go do something, you've had responsibility, you had to pay, you got paid, but you were expected to show up and do something for that pay.
00:20:30.720 --> 00:20:37.279
And one of the things that it taught me, being a military, so yeah, was what I didn't want to do.
00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:49.599
If we have that one year or two years, you'll find out I don't want to do this, and you'll be more focused when I went back to college after the military.
00:20:50.000 --> 00:21:00.880
I was incredibly focused because I knew what I didn't want, and was able to streamline my thought processes to get to where I believed I should be going.
00:21:01.039 --> 00:21:02.640
Do you see that coming?
00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:04.400
It's interesting you say that.
00:21:04.480 --> 00:21:09.440
I co-authored a essay paper for Braver Angels.
00:21:09.680 --> 00:21:11.039
You may have heard of Braver Angels.
00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:11.599
Yes.
00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:16.880
And my co-author was Dennis Ross, a former member of Congress.
00:21:17.200 --> 00:21:24.160
And when we were doing our research for it, we found, and I'm these once again, these numbers are going to be directionally right, not hold on.
00:21:24.480 --> 00:21:30.079
Something like 70 or 80% of the kids who graduate from high school have no earthly idea what they want to do.
00:21:30.319 --> 00:21:30.960
Yep.
00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:39.119
And in the 1990s and earlier, something like 70% of kids worked while they were in high school.
00:21:39.279 --> 00:21:41.440
I worked starting in junior high.
00:21:41.599 --> 00:21:44.799
By the time I got to college, I had a pretty good idea what I wanted to do.
00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:49.839
Only 10% of the kids now have jobs outside of school.
00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:57.359
But to go for a year or two better and work, you're gonna find out a whole lot about yourself.
00:21:57.440 --> 00:22:08.319
You're gonna get out part of my Structure would be you have a boot camp, and yeah, you get the cell phone on the weekends, but you're gonna get back in physical shape, you're gonna work.
00:22:08.640 --> 00:22:13.039
I would do team building exercise, breaking down the barriers.
00:22:13.359 --> 00:22:17.359
So when you get out after a year, you have a much better idea of what you want to do.
00:22:17.599 --> 00:22:18.000
Exactly.
00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:22.640
Much better idea of who you are without mom and dad telling you who you are.
00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:36.319
My daughter works for the Department of Education in the state of Arizona, and one of the things she was saying, the CTE program is starting to gain traction again.
00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:46.000
And one of the talks that she gave, she said, We spent 40 years telling youth that if you don't go to college, you're gonna be nothing.
00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:57.200
So we all went to college, we all have debt, like a mortgage, a job that pays$35,000 a year, as opposed to taking the chip the kids now.
00:22:57.359 --> 00:22:59.839
And I think the businesses, this is important, we'll get to this.
00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:14.240
And I think the businesses are starting to recognize I need a flow of employees, and they don't have to have degrees in a lot of these jobs, and most of them don't have to have a degree, but I need the steady flow of people coming in who are interested.
00:23:14.319 --> 00:23:25.039
And if I start that in junior high or high school at the latest, with these CTEs and internship programs and what have you, then I'm building this community, correct?
00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:28.960
And I'm building a sense of pride in the community.
00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:33.599
And in the state of Arizona, they desperately need to keep the kids in state.
00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:34.480
Yeah.
00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:37.119
And I think that's occurring everywhere.
00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:38.640
It is, absolutely.
00:23:38.799 --> 00:23:46.640
The ability to think I can do something and create something is such an important basic.
00:23:46.799 --> 00:23:53.119
When I went to high school in Palm Springs in California, you had to take metal shop and wood shop.
00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:58.079
You had to take two of the shops, then I took electrical two, and then drafting.
00:23:58.240 --> 00:23:59.920
But you had to have two of those skills.
00:24:00.000 --> 00:24:08.160
And those skills, it's not just about going and getting that career, it's about learning how to take a piece of metal and turn it into something.
00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:12.079
And then also it helps when you're at home and you're trying to figure out how to fix something.
00:24:12.240 --> 00:24:13.119
Exactly.
00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:19.759
But the whole challenge for me, I learned more out of the classroom than I did.
00:24:19.920 --> 00:24:29.039
I went to Drake University because they had a co-op program where I got credit for working at Sears, which by the way was the only A I got in college.
00:24:31.039 --> 00:24:33.599
But I started out my career there and did very well.
00:24:33.839 --> 00:24:36.880
Got promoted every 13 months.
00:24:37.039 --> 00:24:40.559
So I had a good career until they left and got recruited away.
00:24:40.960 --> 00:24:43.119
But that gave me the confidence.
00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:57.519
What responsibility do they have for building responsible citizenship?
00:24:58.079 --> 00:25:05.359
Continuing on the responsible citizenship theme, an Air Force General said nobody ever washed or rent a car.
00:25:06.480 --> 00:25:07.920
That's exactly right.
00:25:08.640 --> 00:25:12.319
And I think a lot of people think they're renting this country.
00:25:13.279 --> 00:25:20.079
And driving around, I'll pick on California since you're there and I've spent a lot of my life there.
00:25:20.319 --> 00:25:23.759
We would stop at a rest stop and it looked like a garbage bed.
00:25:24.079 --> 00:25:24.480
Yeah.
00:25:24.799 --> 00:25:29.039
We'd be assigned a thousand dollar fine for littering.
00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:32.880
And literally, the literally litter was literally up to the site.
00:25:33.119 --> 00:25:33.680
Going over.
00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:35.599
Yeah.
00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:43.279
So I think taking people and getting them to understand it's our country.
00:25:43.519 --> 00:25:46.319
I have to go out here and repair the roads.
00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:49.680
And now I have equity, I have sweat equity.
00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:52.799
And I know better of what I want to be when I grow up.
00:25:52.960 --> 00:25:56.160
I'm not sure I answered your question that well.
00:25:56.480 --> 00:25:57.599
You've got to part way there.
00:25:58.160 --> 00:26:02.880
Now, business leaders, anything from Ed DeAngelis in Philadelphia.
00:26:02.960 --> 00:26:08.400
And he runs a humanistic-based company because he said what you said.
00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:12.400
I see us fracturing as a community.
00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:16.480
I can't solve the world, but I can solve my community.
00:26:17.119 --> 00:26:18.559
One person at a time.
00:26:18.880 --> 00:26:19.839
Exactly.
00:26:20.160 --> 00:26:30.559
I'm writing a speech, I've been asked to talk to a rotary club, and one of the things I've been putting into the speech is our responsibility as a leader is to be a role model.
00:26:31.119 --> 00:26:46.240
And part of that is volunteering ourselves and being a member of a rotary club and going and serving breakfast or whatever that club is going to do, or eradication of polio is their big vision.
00:26:46.880 --> 00:26:52.400
And I'm right now I'm chairman of the board of Tampa Bay Watch, which is a nonprofit in St.
00:26:52.880 --> 00:26:54.079
Petersburg.
00:26:54.559 --> 00:26:57.200
And we have an incredible volunteer base.
00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:04.799
And some of the volunteers are teams from a company like J-Bull Circuit, which is a big company.
00:27:05.119 --> 00:27:14.880
They'll be all there, well, they'll all have the same t-shirt on, and they'll be out there building oyster refalls or cleaning fishing line or planting oyster seagrasses.
00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:16.720
It's a team building exercise.
00:27:16.799 --> 00:27:22.559
And the leader of the company has to demonstrate that and talk about it.
00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:30.400
Not telling people how to vote, but tell them they need to vote and what to look for before they vote.
00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:34.559
That's leadership and understanding.
00:27:34.799 --> 00:27:45.200
The most important thing we do as a citizen is make ourselves aware and vote.
00:27:45.680 --> 00:27:51.759
Please don't vote if you just listen to what Uncle Harry says or the commentator on TV.
00:27:52.640 --> 00:27:53.440
Exactly.
00:27:53.759 --> 00:27:59.759
Vote because you've done your homework and you know that it's a lesser of two evils too many times, but it is a lesser of two evils.
00:28:00.079 --> 00:28:04.480
Which one is better than the other, or at least bad?
00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:05.359
Right.
00:28:05.839 --> 00:28:10.400
I saw growing up, I grew up in an Italian community in western New York, right?
00:28:10.559 --> 00:28:14.799
I remember my grandfather when someone was running for election local.
00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:19.039
You bring everybody, bring the neighborhood, and ask questions.
00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:20.160
How are you going to do this?
00:28:20.319 --> 00:28:21.119
What are you going to do?
00:28:21.279 --> 00:28:23.279
Here's our challenge, it's here's this.
00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:23.920
Okay.
00:28:25.200 --> 00:28:33.440
And recently I went to one of the debates, which are a joke now, for the California governor.
00:28:33.519 --> 00:28:36.319
And all it is backbiting and backstabbing.
00:28:36.400 --> 00:28:39.200
And again, let's talk about issues.
00:28:39.359 --> 00:28:48.559
Let's stop the bullshit and let's talk about the issues that matter as opposed to you have this many houses and how can you afford it?
00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:49.680
And enough.
00:28:49.920 --> 00:28:50.559
Enough.
00:28:51.039 --> 00:28:53.200
And the hate talk has to stop.
00:28:54.400 --> 00:28:58.640
So I think you hit the thing everybody should do is vote.
00:28:58.880 --> 00:28:59.680
Absolutely.
00:28:59.920 --> 00:29:01.599
How do people reach you, Chip?
00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:06.319
Come to my website, unionservice.org.
00:29:07.359 --> 00:29:11.200
Or Chip Webster at Unityandservice.org.
00:29:13.599 --> 00:29:15.839
Reach out, reach out to Chip people.
00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:17.440
He's a wealth of knowledge.
00:29:17.759 --> 00:29:19.039
Now we're just about out of time.
00:29:19.599 --> 00:29:21.680
Thank Chip one more time for being here.
00:29:21.839 --> 00:29:40.000
And as he said, if each of us commits to putting community before conflict and nation ahead of party, we will, not might, or could, we will build a future grounded in trust, respect, and shared purpose.
00:29:40.319 --> 00:29:42.480
And that's when lasting change begins.
00:29:43.039 --> 00:29:44.400
Let me leave you all with this.
00:29:44.640 --> 00:29:49.279
None of us are in this alone, and the secret to walking on water is to know where the rocks are.
00:29:49.519 --> 00:29:50.319
And today, Mr.
00:29:50.480 --> 00:29:53.200
Webster showed us where many of those rocks are.
00:29:53.440 --> 00:29:57.680
Join us again next week, and we'll find more of those rocks.
00:29:57.920 --> 00:30:00.160
Like this, share it with a friend, and please subscribe.
00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:00.400
Mr.
00:30:00.480 --> 00:30:02.720
Webster, thank you so much for your time.
00:30:03.359 --> 00:30:04.160
Thank you, Frank.
00:30:04.319 --> 00:30:05.279
Enjoyed it.
00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:11.119
So that's it for today's episode of Bounce Back.
00:30:11.200 --> 00:30:15.119
Head on over to Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen and subscribe to the show.
00:30:15.279 --> 00:30:27.920
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00:30:28.079 --> 00:30:34.079
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00:30:34.400 --> 00:30:37.119
And join us on the next episode.
