Oct 26, 2023
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You're listening to the Oracle Maven podcast, where we bring people
together from the veteran affiliated community to highlight
employees, partners, organized actions, and those who are
continuing the mission to serve. Welcome to the Maven podcast. I'm
your host, Chris Spencer, and in this episode I'm joined by our
co-host David Cross, senior vice president and SAS, chief
information security officer within Oracle.
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We can't do it alone, and we know relationships are important.
There isn't much else one could say that counters that in this
episode. David and I touch on the basics of why we should all work
towards understanding the considerations of why we need to develop
different types of relationships, how we may approach others with
compassion, empathy, and purpose, and what we should include in our
toolbox to recognize the specific feelings that may occur during
this process.
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We have all we need to become the person we want to be. So let's
remember how to connect with others with sincerity and genuine
intent. As we continue the mission to serve. Thanks for listening.
We hope you enjoy this episode and please remember to check in on
your buddies and family. David's contact details are in the podcast
description and you can always find me on LinkedIn David Cross.
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How's it going, sir?
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It has been too long, Chris, that I've been dying to get us going
and our next episode is on the podcast and I know the audience has
been waiting for us.
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We had to take some time. You did a little bit traveling, did
you?
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You know, I am David Cross Travelers dot com. I do love my travels.
And hey, my last big trip, right, was to France and I went to
Normandy in Omaha Beach. So definitely check it out. And I will
say, as the veteran, right, it's an amazing experience. And I was
even able to conduct the, you know, the ceremony at the cemetery
that is there.
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It Omaha Beach or the Normandy. Right. It's quite an honor. And
it's something if you ever have the opportunity, I think as a
veterans, it's kind of a place we must all visit that How long
do.
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You plan that trip? That sounds like something that you had to
spend some time thinking about. How are you going to how are you
going to go and how long are you going to spend time? Was it much
thought or was it last minute?
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No, I thought about it for a year. It's one of those things that I
didn't make the deal with my wife that she had to visit Paris for
the first time. But that I get to visit Normandy for the first
time. So we made the deal. And like I said, you know, it's all
about relationships and thinking about that.
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And, you know, sometimes there's like little give and take.
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A little compromise. That's a good segue way. And don't think that
I just let you slide over that shameless plug of David Cross
travels. That was a good one. You didn't say your blog one yet,
though, so we'll wait for that. Relationships. Yep. So, folks, you
know, we've been talking about lately a lot of the things that go
on.
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Right. And so we can look at it from different perspectives, you
know, the importance of relationships. Why do you have. And I think
both David and I in our own ways, independent of each other. David
just alluded to that here. But, you know, you have you have you
have some categories that you're split relationships up in to say,
oh, it's a work relationship or it's my, you know, my circle of
five where it's my closest friends or my closest The board of
directors, you know, there's types of relationships that we're
going to we're going to talk through today.
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And and maybe just kind of well, we're just going to talk about
them because the value is relative to the perception of you and how
and how you can understand things for you. Maybe some nuggets,
maybe not. But it's just one of those banter podcasts for this
episode. So, David, I don't know, where do you want to start?
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I don't know, Chris. There's always, you know, as being our veteran
podcast or even rights. I trust veterans. But I think an element
let's think about the relationship that we've built, you know, from
the military. Right. And how that affects our lives, how it affects
our relationships and going forward. Why don't we start there?
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Yeah, it's a good one. Let's talk about you. Me, right. So you're
you're a senior vice president in cybersecurity. Or in security?
You and I met a couple of years ago, not through our own doing. We
were put together based off of the relationship we had with our
passion, which is veteran affiliated focus. And then through MAVEN,
military affiliated, better employee network.
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We have roles and positions. And so my role to help lead that with
a strong team. You were also brought in from an executive sponsor
to support us in the in that capacity. And so from that couple of
years ago, we drove some some solid initiatives that set a good
foundation for others to now continue on with relationship
building.
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Right. We we've given a good ground for relationship building in
the network and then yours in mind evolved into, well, what can you
and I can do further to further that which leads to this podcast.
And we've randomly, not randomly, but you know, at certain
intervals we'll keep in touch and check in and say, what are we
doing?
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Let's do this. And like today was somewhat spontaneous, you know,
but I didn't that start with expectations maybe. You know, clearly
we were introduced I didn't have an expectation of meeting you. I
had an expectation on the role that you were in that evolved into
other things. What about you?
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Well, Chris, I think I think that I did have an expectation to a
degree is saying here I am joining a veterans related group. Right.
In that expectation, what can I expect from you? Right. And so that
I said, well, we were not in the service together. We're not in the
same unit together. We're not in the same war together yet.
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But we're both veterans. Right. And so an expectation of what are
your principles right? How are we going to operate? Right. The
natural sign, I think, is just like when our active duty, you know,
even your Army, Navy, Air Force, we know how to operate in that.
You now have this great baseline of how we start and operate.
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And that's a major advantage I think sometimes veterans have with
each other and others are members of the service and it builds a
relationships to the next level and different relationships.
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Yeah, because so so it so it comes with the expectations and if you
have a significant other a partner or a friend, a close friend or
family member, you know, we we hear this often is like no
expectations. You know, I'm I'm with you. No expectations. There
are some and you talked a little bit about the value systems and
things like that.
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There's some things that are just assumed and taken for granted.
That generally speaking, we don't want to hold somebody to to our
perspective. And so we we hopefully allow others to be themselves
and that's part of the relationship, the good with the bad, you
know, if you're going to use an example. And but when you're
brought together unexpectedly, you know, that openness to to have
that flow begin of the dialog, the connections, you know, in this
case, you mentioned the commonality stripping away the other
factors that were less important at the moment.
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You said, well, we're veterans. We don't have a lot of these other
things in common, but we do have that and that's where we'll start.
And I think that's the one of the key elements as we kind of just
go through the idea of what a relationship definition could mean to
everybody is commonality. What do we have in common?
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What do you think some of the challenges are in getting to that
part to where you can strip away the other factors of wants and
needs from an individual perspective and saying, I want I want to
talk to that person because of whatever, or I need to talk to that
person for whatever. Or you just bump into somebody and you didn't
want to talk to them.
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You didn't need to talk to me. Did you expect it? What do you think
some of the caveats are?
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Great question. You know, I think an element is that sometimes you
think about it, it's like what's the icebreaker? How do I get my
foot in the door? You know, how do I open up the conversation? And
sometimes when you don't know somebody, you don't know actually how
to do the opening, right? Sometimes that's what things adventure's
like.
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Okay, we have some commonalities. I can start with something. I
could say, hey, you're in the army. Great. Now, I was like, Oh,
what unit were you in? Oh, great. Instantly, you've got a starting
point with knowing nothing else, right? Other times you've been
meeting that. Well, let's say we're not even we're not veterans
like. All right, Chris, what do you do?
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Right. Okay, you do you watch movies, you know, it gets awkward,
uncomfortable, right? Because you're guessing what to do. And I
think part of it as people is, is maybe sometimes just like
networking or trying to get a job, do some research. Well, is Chris
on LinkedIn? Oh, is he on other social media oh, he's a fan of
movies.
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Ah. Oh, no, he's a golfer. Oh, great. Now I have an opening to
Chris and you go golfing this past weekend. Wow. What an opener.
And that's what it's all about.
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Yeah. You learn, you learn something about somebody so that the
idea that you can, you know, one, be mindful enough to realize that
you might have to do put some effort into the beginning. Right. And
nothing is easy, I guess it's safe to say is starting a
conversation until you practice, right? You have to kind of do it
frequently and often in similar scenarios to build the confidence
to be able to know that you're going into it unexpected in the
outcomes, but just trying something and then going from there.
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So fluidity, I think is another factor that weighs into that. So
you started it, you had an initiation, now you started the
conversation and being fluid on the on the response to now what
that is what are some of the things that happen in, in, in your
space in doing that? Because you're in your role, in your
professional role, it's is it become somewhat of an expectation
that you do networking of too often?
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Yeah, it's very, very important I think is certainly in the
security space. And my role is really to be able to make a
connection with customers. I think one of the things I certainly
found here at the company is that you need to build a community
because especially it comes to security. It's about trust and so
how can you trust someone when it's opaque?
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You need to have transparency and openness. You need to have a
connection. And so part of it is like you may have to start
building those connections and building a community, you know, and
starting the conversation sometimes can be challenging. But that's
how the security community is successful is by building the
connections, by sharing information. And I think that's very
similar to what you're describing with relationships, right?
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I think, of course, you think about recruiting, right? You know,
how do you get someone that is maybe not interested in your company
to even have a conversation with you? What's your trick?
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Yeah, that's that's that's a good one. It's something that's
acquired. I pause there because it's a hard it's a hard question,
right? It can be you can easily respond to that with something
because you have an incentive. And so now your goal. So you're if
you're if you're goal minded and you're you orientate to say, well,
here's what I'm going to get out of it in that specific capacity,
then there's your driver.
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And now you know that you have to do something regardless because
you can't you can't get what you need to earn unless you do. So I
think there's I'm going to answer that in to two ways. One in a
recruiting element, right? Or when you're trying to get something
from something you have a motive. The thing, though, that I can say
with with all honesty is the transparency and the sincerity
manifest itself in the things that you do before you even say
anything.
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Right. Your approach to body language, just your general being, I
think. And this it's maybe weird to say, but I think it's just a
matter of, you know, some people will see that and immediately just
not be interested in beginning the conversation. Let, let, let
alone reciprocating anything that you're going to try to do. So I
think what wins is realizing that part, which is the second
component is getting getting yourself to understand how to be
sincere and genuine in what you're trying to do for the right
reasons, because I think that's the language that you can't
necessarily speak verbally unless you share it.
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And then it then it becomes then and then there's a risk there
because then it's not it's probably less humble if you say it
versus just be it. So I think, you know, the way the way that I
think about approaching people to want them to come be a part of
something, the tribal component, which I think we all want in some
capacity, we want to belong to something.
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That's the connection. And I think that's the thing that gets me to
understand more about how to do something is because it's going to
be that connection that you talked about earlier, what you call it
a commonality. But there's a kind of a human connection that allows
us to be at least for that moment, interested in the same
things.
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I have something that I want to share with you because I think it's
good for you and we can we can we should talk about it and then
that becomes the second component is because now that you have that
engagement, you know, you certainly need to hold the conversation
to be able to communicate effectively, to share the goodness that
you want to share.
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Yes. Let me build upon that. Going back to I think our relationship
is a we're veterans and ultimately is in the military to say,
what's the mission what's the target? And so when I didn't know
you, I said, Chris, what's our mission? What are we going to do?
Right. Once we know that, like, okay, we have a common goal, we're
going to go after it.
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Now let's put it aside. We're not the veterans. We're not military
saying, all right, what is the person's mission? Might be a little
hard or just really figure out what's in it for them when you
understand what's in it for them. What are they looking for? And
that's the target. That's what you're going after. And
understanding that right is really what it's all about.
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And when you do that, then you can really align and build a
relationship because you may help them achieve that mission, that
goal, that target.
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Yeah. What's in it for them? That's good. So that's that's a
simplified way of sharing the same idea. So that's what that's what
David's good about when we have this relationship. So how do you
how do you understand that? What's in it for them? You got to be
curious. And I think that's the other element is at some point
you're going to be more curious than not, whereas before you're
probably not looking at it.
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The mindfulness is not the thing. It's part of your life because of
whatever reason, you just you just focus on different things. I
think it's a life stage thing. So when you're curious about that,
that interest in seeing what's in it for them, you have to learn
what it is, right? And that's the engagement part, right? So what I
get excited about is being able to engage with people just for the
pure, simple fact of it's an engagement that's it.
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I don't I no longer have an ulterior motive unless it's driven
towards an observation that screams to me that maybe in this
interaction they could benefit from something else. I know I
benefit from it. I already accepted the fact that I'm going to walk
away better feeling good about talking to somebody else. Because
you have to. Right. In order to feel like you're a part of
something, you have to it's one of those social animals that you
just naturally do.
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There's variations can only be careful here, variations of that,
the levels of intensity and how you do that. You know, I mean, we
can talk about how you're, you know, extroverted, introverted and
all these personality types and things like that. There's certain
levels to that. I'm just saying for you, how it makes you feel is
also just as important because that keeps driving you towards
wanting to do it.
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So, Chris, this makes me want to ask you a question about is what
you're describing. Isn't that just like paying it forward? Right.
Is like whether you're trying to help someone connect with someone,
are you just really the real the principle of you pay it forward
because you never know in the future when you may need something in
return?
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Yeah. Yes. Yes. Always looking behind you and around you to see if
there's something you can do for others. Absolutely. I mean,
ultimately, that's that's most of where the joy comes is doing for
others. But it's also having the understanding that, you know, when
you do that, you're actually doing something for yourself. But the
key is to not get caught up in how it benefits you.
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I think that's the trick and understanding that paying it forward
shouldn't surround and how you feel about it as much as it how it
makes others feel.
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Absolutely. You know, going back to, you know, what my first job
is, I left the military. My first manager is he said, you know,
David the most valuable thing you can always do is make other
people feel great and other people feel great, make other people
great helping them. And because you never know when the time comes,
when you need the help, you need the leg up.
00;16;52;20 - 00;17;22;06
Right? You need the army picked up off the ground. Right. And is
building up these set of cards over time is is quite enormous.
Right. And I think that's what everyone should think about, right?
It's not a debt that you're paying. It's actually a credit that
you're building. It's quite amazing when the unexpected happens or
the unknown happens or an opportunity happens and you realize, oh,
my gosh, that person that I helped, you know, five years ago, ten
years ago, and I need something there for me.
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And they're so willing because they remember what you did for them.
And that's what relationships are all about.
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Yeah. The people remember how you made them feel. That's certainly
an element that that speaks volumes. The you know, the interesting
part in all of this I think the underlying factors, everybody needs
something from somebody. Right. But if I could say this and have it
makes sense, that would be great. You don't have to say it out
loud, right?
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You don't have to say it. We all need something from somebody. So
if we're working and it's a work relationship and I have to go to
somebody else, some people will say, you know, don't, don't, don't
go to somebody else only when you need something. That's a fair
point. Unless that's the type of relationship that you have that
it's grown to be that way to where you've already gone through the
bumps of building a relationship, forging the relationship in ways
that allows that to be the case.
00;18;18;04 - 00;18;52;03
Or you increase the risk of it just being one of those things that
now people will avoid. Right? You could be that person that people
avoid. You only come to me when you need something and that's it's
one of these books that we talk about. That's the taker, right?
That's somebody that's a taker. There's giver and taker. So I think
there's that that element of humility that goes with that, too,
where there's at least a common understanding that how you're going
to leverage your relationship with the individual for the type of
relationship you have, that it can be that because reality is we
all need something from somebody we just don't want to keep.
00;18;52;03 - 00;18;54;14
Like what you're saying, keep taking money out of the bank.
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You know, another angle on that is sometimes I think I never want
people to fear of being a taker asking for things because I
actually one of my observations over many years in the studio space
the the high tech space, whatever it is, people are often hesitant
to ask for help. They're hesitant to ask a question. And sometimes
the I say the weakest person or the people that could could
actually be the most successful are the ones that asked for the
life ring.
00;19;26;28 - 00;19;41;05
They ask for help. And I think we should encourage that, is that
there's the takers that are taking advantage of things. And those
are the people that really should be takers because they just need
to ask for it, ask for help. And that's how our company can be
successful when people help each other.
00;19;41;21 - 00;20;08;12
Yeah, that's a good one. So let's unpack that a little bit. So one
mindfulness is key. We've mentioned it a couple of times.
Self-awareness from mindfulness, you get the self-awareness of
recognizing who those people are and that comes with now a
developed skill to be able to recognize how you can help somebody
come out of that. Right. And that's what I was kind of inferring
earlier, where some people just aren't naturally you know,
outgoing.
00;20;08;12 - 00;20;33;09
And so it takes a little nudging. That's, I think, probably built
around a lot of what you'd said about trust. Right. And so you
know, there's David Brooks had written a book, The Second Mountain,
and inside that it's talking about in a relationship and in a
related social crisis. And it talks about the loneliness, crisis,
distrust, the crisis of meaning and then tribalism.
00;20;33;09 - 00;20;54;02
So there's some elements in here that kind of surround or circle
what we're talking about, too, where mental health is a component.
You no doubt insecurity or discomfort. You know, there's a lot of
folks that that feel like they're going to be in a position when
they ask for help. And those are the things. That's why we talk
about the circle of trust, right?
00;20;54;02 - 00;21;17;22
The five, five closest individuals that you keep there because it
keeps it tight. They know you best. Each one has something that's
helping you do something. It's different than the other. It's that
kind of a sum of five, if you will, as I've heard some friends call
it, that that's a good a good point of saying, you know, how do you
recognize when somebody in your relationships is needing something
when they're not asking for it?
00;21;19;23 - 00;21;40;29
So kind of building upon the theme here of, you know, our books,
because I know our audience love our book recommendations on this
month, going to kind of a theme describing here is, you know,
people not sure they're you know, maybe not confident in pastor you
know, my book of the month recommendation. It was the mastery
manual by Robin Sharma.
00;21;41;11 - 00;21;55;00
It's really an amazing book that I highly recommend to everybody in
thinking about how do you become to lead? How do you become great
right And the mastery manual is is something that I highly
recommend to to our audience for this podcast.
00;21;56;20 - 00;22;02;15
Talk a little bit about that. What is that what it's kind of the
the Cliff Note version of that.
00;22;04;02 - 00;22;24;07
A big part of it is I think sometimes it's about stepping out.
Right. And an element is that you are going to lead, you are going
to take charge. Right. You it it's not about being extroverted or
introverted, those type of things. It's really about it really kind
of everything of setting your goals right is that the element is
which I agree with, is like you get up in the morning, right?
00;22;24;07 - 00;22;38;25
Is like, okay, who's the leaders? The people you get up at 5:00 in
the morning, and you set your day, you set your schedule. Right.
And I think some of the benefits I remember the days of like, yep,
when is when is the the roll call wearing and when is the duty
section right? 7 a.m. you can't be late.
00;22;39;16 - 00;22;56;05
You're going to get up early. You're going to be prepared for it,
giving your uniform all those benefits like David, how how can you
be at the top of your game every single day is like, yeah, because
I was trained in the military. Right. And it's a big part of it is
you have clear goals. You set them down and you go after them,
right?
00;22;56;06 - 00;22;59;17
And you build in the structures that you need to achieve that.
00;23;00;24 - 00;23;27;04
Yeah. And so there's some self-actualization that comes inside of
that it seems then that, you know, one, you have to figure out what
you want to do. There's some of us that still haven't figured out
entirely what we want to do. So we're kind of just floating around
and then we just, you know, we take opportunities, right? And then
we say, well, I don't, I don't know how this is going to turn out,
but I'm going to say, yes, and I think that's the other
factors.
00;23;27;20 - 00;23;53;01
You know, some of what you're saying is you have to say yes when
you're hesitating, when you have doubt. If you've done diligence
right. And you're confident enough to say, well, I'm still unsure,
but at some point you have to make a move. And so you say yes, and
then that would help you be aligned now with outcomes, knowing that
that's the self-discovery comes through that exploration after you
say yes.
00;23;53;01 - 00;24;18;01
And I think that that's a key element of relationships today. I was
having a conversation with one of my friends and she had
recommended that I go on LinkedIn and connect with somebody else.
And I didn't hesitate. I if you're making the recommendation, I'm
going to go do it and I did it. You know, it's, it's a habit that
comes, it's formed based off of saying having said yes and the risk
assessment, right?
00;24;18;01 - 00;24;35;24
Because you can be risk averse, which is something I learned from
David several years ago. On taking you step out of my comfort zone.
I consulted with him. I pulled him aside because our relationship
was I'm like, hey, you've been doing this, you know, and you have
more experience around these areas at this level. What do you think
I should do?
00;24;36;11 - 00;24;59;29
And is I the summary is what do it. But we have to remember that
sometimes we we need to be risk averse but we don't want to overdo
that. So we have to know how we're going to be able to calculate it
effectively and then, of course, be ready for what happens after
that. And that was one of the greatest advice that I've received
from David is, you know, in order to step outside your comfort, you
got to say yes.
00;25;00;08 - 00;25;20;09
But you have to understand that the things that happen after that,
you're not necessarily going to be able to plan for. So just roll
with it enough to be able to understand it and then continue on
through it until you're out of it. That way, you can now become
more comfortable with making a decision later you're growing.
00;25;21;29 - 00;25;50;07
I think I'm kind of taking this you made me think about it for a
minute. That is that we all have relationships and connections, but
we also need to nurture them because, you know, over time we never
know when's the next time. We may need help, we may need a push, we
may need the insights is kind of like we go through phases in our
careers or our lives and seeing that of going back and looking at
the relationship saying, well, we probably all over time, you know,
some of us a little older said 20 years like, oh, I know an expert
in this.
00;25;50;07 - 00;26;08;26
I know someone that inspired me in that and when the time comes,
you go one, you should nurture and maintain those even if you don't
need something yet. But in the future you may. So you also never
know. And maybe they need help. They just maybe they're not asking
for it. Right? And I think that's a big thing that we should always
think about.
00;26;09;02 - 00;26;18;07
Why do you and I, you know, keep our relationship? Right? Because
we like we think there's value. We're there. It's great having, you
know, your your buddy when the time comes, you've got the backup
when you need it.
00;26;19;01 - 00;26;34;08
Yeah, it's a good point. And I like how you said that you never
know when somebody else is going to need you. So if you think about
that, let's let's ponder this real quick. Do you ever walk in down
somewhere, are sitting in your chair? You just you know, doing
nothing. You sit in there and then you think of somebody.
00;26;35;14 - 00;26;55;15
I'm always curious as to why that happens. And there's been a time
when, you know, I get a phone call and some of us may have had had
this happen to you. It's happened to me twice. And I vowed, never
have it happen again. And I'm do my best because if it comes up,
you answer the phone because you don't know who's on the other end
of it.
00;26;55;15 - 00;27;15;17
That's literally a call for help. But the other thing where this
intuitiveness for I don't know is called is it instinct or
something where you get this feeling that somebody pops into your
head or haven't spoken to so and so and so long. I now it's no
longer really a question as to what I'm going to do it more often
than not because not for everybody.
00;27;15;18 - 00;27;34;01
It's not for everything. More often than not, I even place a value
on it, which is limiting. So I'm somewhat of a contradiction, but
not I'm saying they popped into my head for a reason. I should
reach out. So I do my best to try to do that. It just depends on
the mindset I'm in. And sometimes I'm not where I want to be or
need to be.
00;27;34;13 - 00;27;54;19
But because of that, that's literally the thing that I'm using
similar to that of a phone call saying why I thought of this
person. I should I should reach out because I've already told
myself I haven't in a while. And I think that's the connection that
we can't explain as to how we can check in on people to make sure
that we're nurturing the relationships.
00;27;54;19 - 00;28;06;09
Because if you're not physically around them on a constant basis,
you don't know when they need you or not because they might not be
asking or because they can't. Either way, I like I like what you
brought up.
00;28;07;12 - 00;28;30;13
You know, I think in building upon that a little bit is I think
there's some challenges that are vague. How many people send
holiday cards every year? I think that number is dying or going
away, you know, more and more of the years. Right. But at the same
time, I still think about well, every year I get a lot of
sometimes, whether it's on LinkedIn or other social media or, you
know, quick email or a tweet or something that say, hey, David,
how's it going?
00;28;30;14 - 00;28;50;24
Hope you as well with you. And you start think if you really think
about this, I you know, I'm kind of glad they did that. That means
they're maintaining that connection, even though I maybe forgot
about it, but I never know when I may need it. Right. So then it
makes me think, you know, is maybe I should just do that is kind of
having my little things have just keeping that connection warm
because you never know.
00;28;51;05 - 00;29;11;17
It may not be tomorrow, I mean, a year from now, maybe ten years
from now. But when you keep those warm connections, especially
people that it maybe it's ten years ago that you did some great
things together. Life changes, right? We've talked about one of our
podcast, you the unexpected. You're not aware and you always want
to have that whole squad and a whole unit behind you when the time
comes.
00;29;12;17 - 00;29;12;27
Yeah.
00;29;13;14 - 00;29;29;13
Now that's that's that's that's the way to think you know it's
using the information that you have realizing that you don't have
it all. So then you do put some effort into to try to get some more
information to say, is it me? What should I be doing? How should I
be doing? It? Is that should I do that?
00;29;29;23 - 00;29;54;16
Maybe. I mean, the whole thing is it's in your head. You're
thinking about it. What are you going to do about it? And the worst
case scenario is you land on saying, I'm going to pick up the
phone, I'm going to shoot a text, I'm going to send an email, I'm
going to knock on the door. More importantly, with your neighbors,
here's the sarcasm with your neighbors, knock on their door, get to
know your neighborhood and the community.
00;29;54;16 - 00;30;00;08
I mean, you just redefine what community means and then apply that
and get to know everybody around you. I mean, because why not.
00;30;02;03 - 00;30;16;17
Without question, Chris. I mean, things have been quiet for a
while, but like the you know, the zombies, we don't know when
they're going to show up. And if your neighbors aren't there right
now, you know, you can only store so much water, some food and
MREs. Chris, I'll leave it at that.
00;30;18;13 - 00;30;20;01
Got it. All right.
00;30;21;12 - 00;30;40;18
So, Chris, you know, I think this has been a really, you know, a
great conversation, right? I think is that is we don't know what's
going to happen in future. Right. You know, whether it's zombies,
you know, whether it's, you know, a climate change, you know,
whether it's a change in or jobs. Right. But I think it's about a,
you know, thinking about how you build trust in how you build
connections.
00;30;40;18 - 00;31;00;21
How you nurture and maintain the bonds that you made over the
years. Does as veterans write things about your units in many years
ago, you know, reconnect with them, you know, just keep it warm. A
very simple, you know, a simple call, a simple email, a message on
Facebook, those type of things. But always look at the network.
00;31;01;01 - 00;31;10;23
Paying it forward. Right, is because sometimes the unexpected can
happen to us. And it's great having those connections, those
relationships, when the time we need them.
00;31;11;24 - 00;31;41;10
Yeah, that's that's sound advice. I mean, that's what it means.
Let's let's just say like this, what else are you doing where you
can't do that? You know, and I think that's more of a philosophical
question. You know, it could be a rhetorical you can use it for
whatever else. But ask yourself, if you're not doing anything, you
know, at the moment, why not use that that moment to reach out to
somebody and think about how they might be feeling and how that
could spark something else.
00;31;41;10 - 00;31;59;10
And the motive is to do that. Right? And yeah, you might get
something out of it for sure. You're going to feel good. You get
that, that's for sure. Or maybe you won't because maybe maybe
there's a risk in when you do that that there's some unfinished
conversation that hasn't happened and things like that. However,
it's still there.
00;31;59;19 - 00;32;17;22
So now you can you can face it, you can work through it, and then,
you know, you can have closure of some sort. So that's the other
part of it. So I mean, let's be real. There's some that some other
relationship activities that components to consider. But I think
generally speaking is, you know, we have people around us, we've
engaged with people, we've interacted with people.
00;32;17;26 - 00;32;33;27
You know, there's people that have come in and out of your life at
some point to where there's value in the immediate minute. Right.
And that in that moment, there's there's immediate value. And then
there's times when you haven't realized it yet. And that's to what
you've been saying is there may be a time when you need each other
or one of you needs somebody else.
00;32;33;27 - 00;32;54;24
They know maybe maybe they're even serving as a connection. Right.
And I think that's the thing, you know, is people point nice to
other people is also part of the path. So yeah. So I guess this is
a good touch base. Touch base. I appreciate your time, David. And
you know, for anybody out there that wants to connect with us, you
know, you got to cross that.
00;32;56;00 - 00;32;56;26
What is it called now?
00;32;57;17 - 00;33;03;21
David Cross Travel Scan Me, my blog that talks about all the
zombies around the world. I wonder.
00;33;04;09 - 00;33;09;04
What. Yeah, that one I was talking about, whether it's Twitter, but
that and then.
00;33;10;26 - 00;33;13;26
And then Mr. TB Cross ad on Twitter.
00;33;13;26 - 00;33;18;10
So yeah. Yep. And then say one more time.
00;33;19;01 - 00;33;21;18
Mr. DB Cross at Twitter.
00;33;21;27 - 00;33;24;10
And then your your blog, your travel blog.
00;33;24;26 - 00;33;26;22
David Cross travel scam.
00;33;27;05 - 00;33;41;13
Yeah, you should go there. I checked it out. I mean, you know, we,
we talk about it. It's funny now because we talk about it, but
there's some good stuff there. I mean, you definitely do some
traveling. How often do you travel in the air, do you think.
00;33;42;07 - 00;33;55;10
Well, at least I try to go at least, you know, two big trips a
year. You know, the comet kind of threw things off a little bit.
But, you know, definitely, you know, you know, three to four times
a year because it's really my personal passion and things like
that. And it's connecting to more people around the world is
amazing.
00;33;55;10 - 00;34;07;16
The people I've met around the world that I have friends in
Australia that I met on a tour. Right. That will be friends
forever. And I never know if I need help. And our flight gets
canceled in Melbourne, Australia. I know who to contact.
00;34;08;02 - 00;34;22;06
Yeah. Then there's that. Right? So got it. All right. Well, David,
and then you can always find me on LinkedIn. I think we'll say that
in opening too. But it's been a pleasure What do you think we
should talk about next?
00;34;23;22 - 00;34;45;04
Good question. What should we talk about next? You know, I think
it's I think there's an element is I think we're we were mentioned
before about challenges is then why don't we talk about moving up,
right? You know, how do you strive to the top? Right, right. And
let's say what motivates people? How do they get there when there's
obstacles and barriers?
00;34;45;04 - 00;34;47;26
Right. You know, let's maybe we can even have a guest join us.
00;34;49;13 - 00;34;59;17
I like that. All right. So maybe our next episode is going to
include career trajectory and how you move move to where you want
to be. Maybe that's that'll be the episode name.
00;35;00;02 - 00;35;00;14
Love it.
00;35;00;28 - 00;35;04;06
All right, David, appreciate your time as always.
00;35;04;06 - 00;35;05;19
Chris, I'm looking forward to the next one.
00;35;06;10 - 00;35;08;07
All right, everyone, keep moving forward.