Ever Onward Podcast

Glenn & Mindy Stearns: The Power of Servant Leadership | Ever Onward - Ep. 93

• Ahlquist. • Season 1 • Episode 93

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Recorded live at our Kerosene event, where they keynoted alongside Tommy Ahlquist, Glenn and Mindy Stearns share their extraordinary journey from adversity to impact.

Glenn’s path was anything but easy. Growing up in Maryland with alcoholic parents, he failed fourth grade due to dyslexia and became a father at just 14 years old. After a moment of clarity in a bar, he drove to California, where a chance encounter with a gardener sparked his interest in real estate—a moment that set him on the path to entrepreneurship.

Together, Glenn and Mindy built their first company, Stearns Lending, with a philosophy of treating every person equally and listening to employees at all levels. After selling to Blackstone in 2014, they launched Kind Lending, which has since grown to 1,000 employees and become the fastest-growing mortgage company in America. But their road wasn’t without struggle. Launching just before COVID, they endured 33 consecutive months of losses, yet refused to make excuses—choosing instead to lean into their culture of perseverance and kindness.

Glenn also faced a life-threatening battle with throat cancer, now receiving all of his nutrition through a feeding tube. Despite this, he never complains, embodying the resilience that has defined both his personal and professional life.

Beyond business, the Stearns devote themselves to mentoring disadvantaged youth through the Horatio Alger Association, planting seeds of possibility for the next generation. Their story proves that when relationships are built on honesty, kindness, and respect, extraordinary outcomes follow.

As Glenn and Mindy put it: “Our cell phone numbers are available to every employee at Kind Lending because we believe in servant leadership. When people feel heard and valued, they’ll help your company achieve extraordinary results.”

This episode is a powerful reminder that kindness is more than a value—it’s a strategy for building both successful companies and meaningful lives.

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SPEAKER_01:

Glenn and Mindy Stearns are such good friends of mine. In my lifetime, I've had a few people that I've met that have been so impactful on me for what they've said, for sure, but then for how they live their life and how they act and the example they've set. And I'm telling you, uh, Glenn and Mindy for me are dear friends, but have also been mentors of mine, and I've just watched how they've modeled their life. He is a successful award-winning businessman. He is a former TV entertainment reporter, and together they are one of America's power couples from nothing. You created an extraordinary financial enterprise.

SPEAKER_03:

I think everything that you've accomplished and who you are as a person is really a scarf.

SPEAKER_02:

You want your tail up to get there, man. You're just great at what you do, and you don't take note for an answer.

SPEAKER_03:

Nice, nice. Here we go. All right. Hi. What did Kim say? How am I gonna change this room? Okay, I got it. I was listening, Kim. I was listening.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, this is gonna be fun. Um, thank you uh very much for being here today. Oh, excited. I've prepared a bunch of stuff, but I actually probably won't even look at it. Um, because I know you well enough. Um I actually just reread your book in preparation for this, Glenn. And uh and for all of you out there, when you read Glenn's book, you'll get the we'll we'll skip over some of the story because it's so rich. It's just rich. But I want to be able to get out of you today some things that will make everyone in this room a better person because you're you're both of your are are are clearly two of the best people on this planet.

SPEAKER_03:

And so you oversell us, Tommy.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you. Wait till they hear the story of how uh of the Oprah Winfrey show.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh no.

SPEAKER_01:

No, it's gonna be good. But Glenn, let's start with you. Just talk a little bit about the humble beginnings because I think it's a good place to start. Um, and uh I have some quotes from your book I may bring out, but but uh tell us tell us where it all began for you.

SPEAKER_02:

Sure, yeah, I grew up in Maryland and um you know I had uh pretty pretty blue-collar family we lived in, an apartment. We had the bars on the windows, the whole thing um failed fourth grade. Uh wasn't very good at reading, I had dyslexia. Um I had a child in the eighth grade at 14. Uh parents were alcoholics, um, everybody in the family was into something like that. So it was a uh but you only know what you know, right? You know, so it was an interesting beginning. And um and for some reason I just decided I need to get out of there. And so I ended up being the first to go to college and um off it went.

SPEAKER_03:

Tell how you drove across country. I like that story.

SPEAKER_02:

Well I I was in a bar with a buddy, with a lot of buddies, and I it was one in the morning, and I am laughing hysterically at um a friend that either got a beard thrown on him or he got slapped or something. And in the middle of my laughter, or as I say, the middle of my deepest fog, I had my clearest memory or clearest thought. I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to fall into the same pattern my dad and everybody was in. So the next day I told my buddy, I said, Why don't we head to California? He says, When? I said, Let's go tomorrow. Like, what? And so we drove out to California and I found myself there's someone in here today. I was talking to the had uh met me on a bench, and um I ended up in California and I was alone now at this one point. I was sitting on a bench over the Pacific Ocean, the homes, these beautiful, million-dollar homes, these just cars and beautiful people. And I like, I want this life, right? And so there's a man in his yard and he's trimming his rose bushes, and so I walked up to him and I said, What did it take to get this house? Like, I know I can do it. Like, what did it take? And the guy turns to me and says, Senor, I'm the gardener. He says, I think the man is in real estate. I said, I want to get into real estate.

SPEAKER_03:

Career was begun, and that was it.

SPEAKER_01:

And a dream was born. Um, I want to uh I want to get the business side. So so where Glenn really thrived was building one of the nation's largest companies. Um you're you're in his name adorns buildings all through Southern California, and you became the nation's largest lender. Um you vertically integrated almost everything. There are there are leaders in this room right now, whether they're running a university or or businesses that are struggling with scaling and and and dealing with people and motivating people, and and that's kind of what today's about. But I I know the secret because I've been around you. When you're around Glanwith in a room, whether it's with the lowest employee that works for you, that's opening the doors and and and valeting your cars to the most important person in your organization, I know you treat them exactly the same. In fact, you may treat the guys valeting your cars better than the others. So I know a lot of that's authentic, but maybe you can give some of your secrets to, you know, in a world where where it is employees and taking care of people and inspiring them, what were some of your secrets over the years to grow your company?

SPEAKER_02:

Well, you know, it's funny because when it first started, I was a I was a broker and I didn't know what I was doing. And I thought, well, how can I grow my company? And I thought, well, I need to be a banker. How do I do that? So I would go in every day to HUD because I was trying to get their business, and I asked the receptionist, her name is Jeannie Baker, I said, I want to be a banker. How do I do that? I had no one now that I know what I know, HUD just has no idea how to become a banker, but but she said, Look, you need to get a credit line, and she started to help me. And then I started a title company and that failed. And I went to Jeannie Baker because they were selling homes in HUD. I said, How do I become a you know, um a title, how do I get the title work? And she said, You need a contract. I'm like, how do I get a contract? What's that? And so she helped me get my first contract. And what I found was, you know, these gatekeepers, these people that sit there that usually people walk right over. Um, they can be really the most powerful people in your organization. Uh Debbie Davis, uh, she's been with us twenty six years. Uh she's our receptionist and all around everything. Wonderful lady. And um we've had a lot of people try to think less of her, and she's probably one of the most powerful people in our company, you know.

SPEAKER_03:

If I could interject a little bit, um, I just uh you know, Glenn built Stern's Lending to be in an incredible organization, and Blackstone um bought it back in 2015 or 14, I think it was, and he went on and had was diagnosed with cancer of the throat and has overcome a lot. He's healthy, cancer-free right now, so that's the good news. So we're celebrating. Um but you know what he did. If you saw the show on Discovery, I don't know how many of you have, it's a great show to watch with the kids, families, very inspiring, undercover billionaire. It's about building a business from nothing. He was dropped off in a small town with nothing, had to build a million-dollar evaluated business in 90 days, or he had to put a million of his own money in. That was a bet. And Discovery said, okay, let's take on it, do it. And the show really um, I think it reignited in him a fire to build again because he loves the process. He loves the game. He says, I love being in the game. He I know you had a conversation with T-Boon Pickens once about him going from a billionaire to broke, billionaire to broke, billionaire to broke. He's like, T-Boon, why are you doing this? You're gonna be broke again. What are you doing? He's like, I love being in the game, son. So Glenn, in that same vein, loves being in the game. But more than anything, um, the success of Stearns was such a powerful thing that we built. And you know, Blackstone obviously took note of it, but it really was the vision of Glenn and the people that he attracted. Now, after Undercover Billionaire, we came up and founded Kind Lending. Now, Kind Now is the fastest growing mortgage company in the industry. We're number five out of all we started less than five years ago. We have a thousand employees about now, and we really believe in servant leadership, and it's something that has been the keystone of our success. Glenn listens, we give our phone number to every employee and hiring good people. And and I what I've loved about this man is he's got no ego in the game. And he always says, I hire people that are smarter than me, I hire people that know more than me, and I just I don't have all the answers. And he does treat everyone from the valet to the receptionist to the owners to investors, whoever it is, with the equal amount of respect and regard. And I think that's been a key of it.

SPEAKER_02:

When you ask about these secrets, it was great to have a company that was number one and watch it go to number two to number three to number four.

SPEAKER_01:

Let's let's pause a little bit. So Glenn sold your exit was in what year?

SPEAKER_03:

2015 or 14, 2014.

SPEAKER_01:

2014 sells this company for a lot of money.

SPEAKER_03:

A little bit.

SPEAKER_01:

A lot of money. Did all right. Then you had some fun um and went around the world and did some wonderful things philanthropically that I want to get a little bit into, but but then they they drove the company that when you're saying watching it going from number one down, and then you bought it back. Um sort of.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Or do you build built well Glenn may not tell this story, but I will. Okay. But um, right when Glenn was um right when the Discovery show was promoting undercover billionaires releasing in the fall, new show, gonna hit the fall. If you're watching, Blackstone decided to file chapter 11. So he tells the story that Stearns lending is filing chapter 11, and here he is, Glenn Stearns on this show, and they're calling. What is what happened with the Wall Street Journal?

SPEAKER_02:

The Wall Street Journal calls me. Are you the undercover billionaire? Are you bankrupt? I'm like, no, I'm a screwee.

SPEAKER_03:

They basically he says screwy, but they did. They they basically wiped out everything they were owed to him, and that's what they do. Hey, there's no knock on Blackstone, they do amazing things because they're an incredible organization.

SPEAKER_01:

But well, we were just talking, uh Odette and I were just talking about private equity and healthcare.

SPEAKER_02:

So hey, they're they're a great company. Yeah, there's no, like I said, wrong, but uh, but then his non-compete was null and void, and that's when kind lending was born.

SPEAKER_01:

Kind lending was born.

SPEAKER_02:

Back to the secrets, because you watch the company and why did we number one? Why did we go from there all the way down, right? And what happened was when I looked, I said, wow, you know, there's there's financial currency, money. I'll pay you more money when you stay. And people say, well, I'll give you till five o'clock and that's it. And then there's many other types of currency. There's happiness, right? There's the ability to feel you're part of something bigger than you are, and that you are part of the success. And when you allow other people to feel that they are the reason, and they are, for why you end up growing and you know, and taking on these goals and hitting them and exceeding them, they feel very proud. And then they're, you know, I would come in at nine at night having to kick people out. Right, come on, guys, go home. Just one more thing. But when you turn it around to where it's only just um about money, it changes, you know, a little bit. And so when we restart it, we realized there's so much more than just a financial reward. There's really, you know, getting in there and feeling you're a part of something bigger than just yourself, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow. So kind lending, and Mindy, you were very involved. Talk about the rebirth of the company and now a thousand employees and the second time around. Um, how's it been?

SPEAKER_03:

You know what? Um I obviously I have a background in television and broadcasts. That was my training and dental hygiene. That's another story. But um so when Glenn came back, I had been involved in more of an ancillary role before, more of people and people operations and and communications. So he said, I really want you to be part of this in a more significant way. So we created a title, and it's was I was the chief happiness officer. That's how it started. So um, and then as we evolved into a more mature company, I became the chief kindness officer because we are kind lending.

SPEAKER_02:

So, Tommy, let me tell you what happened, really, okay. We were the we uh we decided this time, let's not just become a regular company that does it the way everybody. Like, I want to have some fun in this company. I mean, we we went out and our portal that every customer has to go through win it fast and easy. So we called it the quickie. Happy beginnings and happy endings, okay?

SPEAKER_01:

Um I was waiting for this to get real, and now there we go. So now it's the Glenn and Mindy we all know here. People are going to be. So it's the quickie.

SPEAKER_02:

It's called the quickie.

SPEAKER_01:

I should tell you all. I'm gonna so I called Glenn a couple weeks ago and I said, Hey, are you ready for this? And he kind of whispered in the phone, he's like, Yeah, I I am, but I almost died. And I'm an emard, I'm an old EMAR doctor, right? And he tells me this story of 4th of July going to a party, getting some he had cancer that we'll get to, and he had uh radiation on his vocal cords, so he was getting a treatment on his vocal cords, and in about 72 hours, his airway closed off and ended up in the hospital for weeks and had a tracheotomy. So for all of you out here that's that may and may not have seen a tracheotomy in your life, it's a big freaking deal. So I'm like, oh man, I'm so sorry you can't make it. And he's like, No, I'll be there. And I'm like, dude, you still have a hole in your neck. And he's like, Yeah, but I'll be there. So he's doing great, but um That's why I'm talking a little more than normal.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm alive. It's maybe his voice. He's alive. He's like a cockroach, nothing's gonna kill him for telling me.

SPEAKER_01:

Where were we? Sorry. Where were we? I wanted to say cat.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, so we said, let's start this company the way we want to do it, right? Let's have some fun. So we started with the quickie, right? And then um Mindy goes out there, we only had about 150 people. Hey everybody, I'm your chief ho.

SPEAKER_03:

I'm I'm like, CHO.

SPEAKER_02:

But we were having fun, and people started realizing, you know, when you stand for something really in your organization, and we don't stand for, but we had a lot of in yuan yos, a lot of fun, but it was really about let's really enjoy ourselves. You guys are gonna be working here eight, ten hours a day, so why not have some laughs? And so people started to really, you know, enjoy themselves. We went to our customers and we said, you know, we're gonna start a um like a like a ranking incentive program. And if you give us a certain amount of your business, you're gonna be a good dog. If you give us more, you're a big dog. And if you give us the top, you're the alpha dog, right? And if you're new, you're a puppy. But we don't want like the two, three, five percent, because that's really the trash in the business. So if you do that, because we can rank now with everybody, and you're a wiener dog. So we have like the shirts, right? Like, don't be a wiener, you know, and people just they laugh, they have fun, but it's really caused the company to take on this life of its own where people want to work there, people want to bring their business. And we've shot up, you know, in the first four months, we hit a billion dollars, which was very quick. It took us forever last time, and now, you know, it's doing that like all the time.

SPEAKER_03:

But I don't want to say it didn't come without hardships, too, because we talk a lot about grit in this group about building success. I mean, we he went obviously from one of the top mortgage companies in the country when it was Stearns, sold it, came back in, and then we opened in 2019, right before COVID. So the minute we had office space, we opened this big beautiful, we went back to the same building that we had had before, same floor, same office. It was kind of nostalgic. But then California shut down all non-essential workers. So it was just Glenn and I and his receptionists in this huge office, and we had no employees at the office. And it was a really it was a really challenging time. And then for the next 33 months, 11 quarters, we had loss. We wrote a check out of our personal account for 33 months to keep the business and the doors open. And I give a lot of credit to this guy because I'm like, okay, how much how how are really three feet from the gold, right?

SPEAKER_02:

You ever agreed that? But no, it with my last go-round, we lost money one quarter. And now I'm like, that's it. This is the last month. Okay, one more month. Say that over.

SPEAKER_03:

It's this guy's faith in in he's been in the market, you know, for 35 years. He understands the market shifts and we have to adapt. And there are things, and one of the principles is look, we only react to what we can. We can't control everything. Why get upset about things that we can't control? And so all we can control is our experience of our employees. That's my role as the chief kindness officer is to help encourage the culture. I am all about the culture. I talk to every new hire, I call stay in contact with all of our employees. We send out notices, we celebrate, we highlight employees every day, we send flowers, we call them, we talk to them, we text them, we celebrate our employees. We listen and we have a call every month, once a month, we get on and talk to our whole company, and here's our cell phone. You have questions.

SPEAKER_02:

It's definitely a bottom-down approach.

SPEAKER_03:

No, bottom-up. It's really like we have sat with employees and we say, What you've been elsewhere, you've been at other companies, and I'm sure many of you have employees that have worked for other competitors. What did they do that you loved? What did they do right? What have you seen in technology, advancements, and automation that they did that we should do? And that's how we lead. And we answer, there's no closed door, there's no, we know all the answers. It's we learned from our employees how to be the best.

SPEAKER_02:

You know what I noticed, uh Tommy, is um, you know, again, we have more of that servant leadership style, right? Like we work for them. Uh, when that new regime kind of came when I sold Stern's, um, they had more of a top-down and we know it all type approach, which it works in some companies and that's fine. But um what it did when people were trying to send messages and say, hey, this isn't working, they were more looking at it like that's a reflection of the executive team. Don't say that. So they would be uh forced into really being quiet, I guess. And so you lost the voice from the street, you know. And when that happens, you don't you're not able to make very good decisions because you're not able to hear what's going on. And so, you know, we've just made sure all the uh management understands we have to keep that open so we can react faster.

SPEAKER_01:

It's interesting as I'm listening to you, is uh the human needs of an individual are are kind of the same. They want to feel valued, they want to feel important, they want to feel like their employer values their work and their effort and their time and energy. We spend so much time at work, right? And I think in small businesses, it's a little easier to connect in that way where you're able to one-on-one it. What I've loved about listening to you and talking to you and getting advice from you, you've been able to figure that out at scale, where you still can feel that way, even with big companies. But it's it's intentional, right? You have to have your then your layers of leadership have to buy into that. We have some great companies here in Idaho that I think the most successful companies in Idaho have done that same thing, but it's a great lesson for all of us as we scale to ask those questions. How did you do it? How do you still make them feel like they're important and they really connect?

SPEAKER_03:

Well, when Kim was talking earlier about the different generations too, and what people are looking for in a work experience, like you really like optimization of your of your life experience is important, just the quality of the life you live. And if you I mean, having employees that love where they work is one of the best things you can have for job retention and employee retention. People want to feel heard, they want to feel like their ideas matter, that they value, that they have access to management. I mean, like I said, we give out our phone numbers, everybody knows how to get to us, and there is no closed door. And that's I think that's been one of the cornerstones is just creating an environment that says, we hear you, we do, and we put a newsletter out every week that says, We heard you, and here's all the things that we've implemented since your ideas came about. Here's what we're doing now, here's what we are activating. So they understand we did hear, and that's been a really important prospect.

SPEAKER_02:

We have a lot of people that have worked there for I mean, with us at the old company and then the new one. My assistant 29 years. 29 years, many, 20 years, many, 15, many 10, you know. So they know, you know, we've uh we really do care, you know. And that's the uh I think that's the key. You know, and again, it's different other people. Again, I watched Blackstone make a lot of money. They ended up they're very, very good at financially engineering, you know, what they need their outcome. I mean, they're the best. And um and I again I I look at them and think, wow, you you know, you got exactly what you came for. That wasn't what I that uh we're about heart. We're not doing it just uh just to make money, you know. You gotta feel good. And again, everybody's different in every company they come in with different intentions. Let's get ready to get this thing public and go. We don't want to do that, you know. I just wanna come to work and feel good, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm gonna shift a little bit because I have so much. I knew I knew. But um can we talk about your relationship? What I've learned from you, Glenn, from the moment I met you, relationships are everything. But when I watch the relationship between you and Mindy, it's it's special. I mean, there's something there, the synergy, the love, the everything about that. And how important is are relationships in general, and then this relationship to the success and the happiness you have in your life.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, I mean, I I can speak for from my perspective.

SPEAKER_01:

I think it's funny that you went first. I like that.

SPEAKER_02:

I was gonna say, you know how it works. Yeah. Let her go first.

SPEAKER_03:

Go ahead, Annie. Yes, Tyr. Um, you know, I had a very independent life before I met him. And I mean, for anybody that's single out there, I really was at a place in my life when I met Glenn that I I had made this statement. I am so happy with my life. I love where I am, I love what I'm doing, I love my friends, my job, my dog, my life. I was in a good space, and I was not interested in meeting anybody. So the irony was that I met Glenn that night a few hours later, and uh that just turned my world upside down in a way I didn't expect. So for me, it was really being in a place that I was really winning personally without any re without anybody else. It was it was a really good feeling. So we just came together and things just blew up from there.

SPEAKER_02:

And just to add to that, I was in that same space. It's weird, you know. I was like, I'm not looking. We met on a blackjack table. Okay, and I didn't even get her name. We stayed all night, it was a big group. And I thought when I left, well, uh, she was really different, but I didn't even get her name. And then a couple days later I saw her on the news. I'm like, that's the same girl I was sitting next to. Stalker, yeah. And uh so I I emailed the radio at the TV station. Hey, were you the girl sitting next to? No answer. Like, hmm. So I called the fewer hotline promise. And um I said, Hey, I'm having a big Jimmy Buffett party if you'd like to come, and she called me back, you know. So it was it wasn't this weird, you know, like we didn't meet on Tinder or anything, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

Did you have Jimmy Buffett at the Yeah, yeah. Most people say we're having a Jimmy Buffett concert, it's like we're having a Jimmy Buffett concert, but with Glenn, it's a Jimmy Buffett concert. Well, I was just to be clear.

SPEAKER_02:

But it was it ended up being anyway, that's that's kind of how we met. But what I realized after, you know, I had been married before, and um my little filter was I had said um at their first date, we went out after that Jimmy Buffett. I said, hey, uh, you know, I have three boys, and I gotta tell you, I said their mother, I said, she and the kids come first. I just want to put it out there. And she was like, Wow, I love that. You know, and now a lot of women would turn and walk away, but I was just not I didn't have enough patience for someone that wasn't secure, you know. And uh she was very secure in herself, and um it turned out very well. Our my ex-wife came to our wedding.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, I gotta say, uh, you know, divorced with two baby mamas and four kids wasn't on the list of the perfect man when I was looking.

SPEAKER_01:

But you saw that that wallet?

SPEAKER_03:

No. Oh yeah. I had my own wallet, Tommy. I had a really fat one myself. Thank you very much. But um what I will say is that I this was a mark of character. What's that? I've drained it since then. You're welcome. So um You know, Tommy, she had her credit card stolen and I did not report it.

SPEAKER_02:

You know why? The crook was spending less than she spent.

SPEAKER_03:

So you love that one.

SPEAKER_02:

I love that one.

SPEAKER_03:

What I was going to say was that I loved his the that first dinner, I will say, was such a mark of character to me that he was so complimentary about his ex-wife that he spoke about her with such regard and respect that had such a mark for me of character that he didn't apologize. He says, Look, she'll come first. She's the mother of my children, and I, you know, I have this other woman, we're friends still. I mean, we had a child, we were really young, they never married. But I thought, wow, you know, coming from Hollywood and a few vacuous pretty boys that failed to say they were divorced or so, you know, a lot of lies. I was it was so refreshing to meet someone who was so brutally and blunt and honest, and that was such a mark of character for me. And it really set the stage for how we operated from then on out. I mean, honesty is everything. And then what he said is by being up front with the truth, then you learn if someone wants to stick with you because you give them the choice. Do I want to stay knowing what I'm in for, or am I just, you know, there's no facade, which was was beautiful, and that was part of it. That was the beginning. I invited him home for Thanksgiving three weeks later, and my parents were like, he's the one. That was 23 years ago.

SPEAKER_02:

And it obviously takes, you know, takes both sides because she welcomed my ex and my children.

SPEAKER_01:

And I mean, when we went around the world on the boat uh after we sold, I'd gotten cancer, and I was like I I think it's funny you still call it a boat, but I remember the first time you were talking about the boat, and you showed me the picture, I'm like, let's call it what it is. That's not a boat. But it's still funny that this many years later it's a boat. But it's a boat. If a helicopter lands on it, it's not a boat. Just to be clear, okay.

SPEAKER_02:

You're on the boat with the whole family. On the boat. And um, but we brought my ex-wife, we convinced her, she was a teacher in Orange County, to quit and then to come for a year.

SPEAKER_03:

And uh she homeschooled our girls. So his ex-wife and I and him were traveling for a year on a boat, and uh we had a really incredible year. It was it was amazing. Like she was a teacher and she's the godmother to our girls, and they had three boys, and we gave her two little girls, and it's just been a beautiful thing. She just got married recently and we're all friends.

SPEAKER_01:

So I I think um I think this is gonna come up a lot, and when you read his book, it it I think uh hopefully what you leave for today, it's kindness, it's genuine, it's you, it's all of you, and it just it it permeates and makes everyone around you better. I want to I want to shift to philanthropy a little bit. We don't have time today, everybody, for all of the good that these two do, and it's it's everywhere. But and I haven't even we haven't prepped of any of this, so some of this is just coming off the cuff, but but but talk about some of the kids you select to take down, the homeless kids, and that story blew me away the first time I heard it, and some of those some of the results from that. Uh if you just share that briefly.

SPEAKER_02:

So uh we're we're in a group uh called Horatio Alger, and um it was a an amazing organization that um they select 10 or 12 people to get in every year. Um it's done in the Supreme Court, it's the only non-judicial act in the Supreme Court, so it's a really big deal.

SPEAKER_03:

But it's usually it's all um people have gone through severe adversity and have come out and have um more of a rags to riches kind of Horatio Alger was an author that wrote about um regs to rich's story. So the organization was founded on successful entrepreneurs who came from nothing, made something of their lives, and then made a point of giving back. And that was the whole that's the whole crux of the Horatio Alger Association. And like you said, there's like 13 people inducted every year. It's kind of like the US equivalent of being knighted, if you will. We don't really have obviously have that, but it's it's a very special organization. But the the main focus of it is scholarships for kids who have been through terrible, terrible adversity. And these kids are like the future. They the the American dream is alive and well in these kids because they see that hard work, integrity, and education is the key to having success, that breaking the cycles of these terrible childhoods that have been they've been living. They're not victims, they don't have a victim mentality. It's so inspiring. And we just we invest in these kids and believe in them as the future of America because they will be the ones running our companies and creating new innovations for our world.

SPEAKER_02:

We'll do these leadership gatherings and we'll bring them down to like to Necker. We're going there Thursday, and we will we'll have great speakers with me. We have some amazing speakers that are there.

SPEAKER_01:

So they bring these kids, the horrible situations, down to Richard Br Branson's Island, and you bring in speakers that are from all the world and mentor of the people. Professional speakers and then and then plug them in with mentorship, and then the stories of where these kids go are that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_02:

Their stories make the professional speakers look like nothing. I mean, you're you know, you're crying and you're so happy for them all at the same time. I mean, they're uh they're amazing, young, resilient, you know, men and women. So it's uh it's wonderful to invest in their future.

SPEAKER_01:

That's great. Okay, uh, you got one more question, then we'll open it up, have someone, some questions from the audience. But um I flash back to when the Broncos won the Super Bowl and you were partying in John Elway's room and you sent me a video, and it was crazy, it was mayhem. I mean, you're living it up, things are great, and then your cancer died. I want to talk about, we talked a little bit about this yesterday, um, facing death and that whole realization of you do all these great things in life, but you have this much time. And and one, what it was like facing it for you, because that I mean, your diagnosis uh was very serious. I mean, it was not clear you were gonna get through this, and then afterwards, talk about how that's changed your perception on on the way you live now. Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

But first I'll talk about the partying with John Elway in his room. Because I think it's relative to a lot of what we go through, okay? I was sitting with John, and it was after maybe eight or nine games in the season.

SPEAKER_03:

Let me just say the reason John and Glenn are friends is Glenn knows nothing about football. And I think that's why John really appreciates Glenn because they don't talk about football. He doesn't watch football. Glenn will call Glenn on a Monday night, like, what are you doing? He's like, dude, I'm in the middle of the year.

SPEAKER_02:

I'm at the game. Sorry, man. So um but yeah, no, we were sitting and we were having conversations, and um he said, Man, next year we are I think we can make the Super Bowl. I said, next year, aren't you like nine and oh this year? Yeah, but that Peyton Manning, he wants he is so selfish. He wants to hit all these records for himself, and he's just not being a team leader. And um I said, Do you think he can take you to the Super Bowl? Well, yeah, he could if you'd refocus. And so he says, that's why we're gonna get rid of him in next year. I said, John, you think that Peyton Manning is your employee? Peyton Manning looks at you like you're his ultimate. You went out after winning two Super Bowls and got out. This guy knows. I said, you gotta think about your employees. I said, when you first meet a superstar, you walk down the hall and you give him that look in your eye, hey, how you doing? And the stare stays long. You love that guy. I said, now you don't have that much confidence in him anymore, do you? No. I go, I bet you walk by him, hey. You don't even give him the look. He knows. I said, John, what would it take just to go and say, I was having a conversation with my buddy? I believe you could take us to the Super Bowl. I believe you could win it at Peyton. Why don't you say that to the guy? Plant the seed. He is he you're his idol John. You're not his boss. Next day he texts me. I um I I forget the what number was he, 18? Yeah. Anyway, I I talked to 18. He doesn't say his name, I talked to 18. I planted the seed. So the video of us jumping on the bed after the game, I'm going, I want my Super Bowl ring. I want my ring. I helped plant that seed. But um Did he give you a ring? Hell no.

SPEAKER_03:

But you gotta try them all on at his house. Glenn has had like all of them on his hand.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, what was the question? Well, we started on cancer and we ended up on Super Bowl rings.

SPEAKER_02:

So cancer. Um for me, I know a lot of people have gone through cancer and it suffered tremendously and have passed. Um so I, you know, I feel horrible for those people and those families. But for me, um, it was a gift. It opened my eyes to like today could be the best day of my life. Like, you never know. So live it. And I have felt so grateful every day. Feeling like, wow, like I could be gone, and what about my kids? And they're not gonna be with the family. So I've I you know it's it's been a wonderful gift in a weird way. And again, that's hard to say when a lot of people lose people. But um yeah, it really just opened my eyes, and I'll just tell you one quick story. Um it was Mitt Romney's um it was the RN's, it was the re the Republican convention for Mitt 2012. And um I was there with some friends and two other guys. One was named Foster Freeze, who you knew, and the other was Mike Ingram. They were in the stairwell and they met an 18-year-old kid, and that kid pitched them on how he could change the youth of America, and Foster was the first to invest in that kid. Google it right now, and the kid was Charlie Kirk. Okay, so I was able to watch this young man as Foster. We did a lot together, as you did. I know he helped you in your campaign. And to look at youth, they have no fear and they they are not worried about losing it all because they don't have it, right? But when we get older, we pucker up. I don't want to risk it all, because if I do, what'll happen, right? But the the best part of our lives was that scraping and scratching and clawing our way back up to the top or up to the top, you know? And so things like that show, Undercover Billionaire, everybody's gonna go, you're gonna go$100 with no contacts, no, and you're gonna try to start a business in 90, you are gonna fail. Why would you do it? And I I was like, you know, said that on camera, but they cut it. Richard Branson and John Elway. They interviewed both of them, and I thought, these are my buddies, why wouldn't they think this is cool? They go, Glenn, you're absolutely crazy. You're gonna fail. And I thought, like, I'm gonna try my hardest. That's what life's about. Well, halfway through in that show, I realized for 100%, not 90 to 100%, I was gonna fail.

SPEAKER_03:

I knew it. So if you watch the show at the barbecue fest, you'll see him staring off. That's when he was about to quit.

SPEAKER_02:

So I said, I am failing, so I'm gonna quit. Like I am going to walk right now. Because if I do, they cannot make the show. They'll sue me, and I'm what it's worth my reputation. I don't care. So I'm leaving. I literally like started to walk. And then I realized something, I was like, I've never quit in my life. But I'm thinking to myself, but this is bigger. It's not that I'll fail in front of the world. I'm gonna have in perpetuity a video that my children get to watch. Look at dad, the loser, right? So I Well, they already feel that way, it's okay. So I could not make that. I need to quit. And as I start to leave, I said to myself, I've never quit. And if anything, my kids are gonna see that I'm gonna try and I'm gonna go down swinging as hard as I can. And then somehow it worked. You know what I mean? So to me, cancer, what it taught me was keep stretching, keep living, keep growing. And like that's one of the it's not the dumb show. I don't care about the show. I care about the fact that in life you've got on both sides. This devil quit, quit. It's easier. That's even better over there. That job's easier. Did you know look over there? And it's hard sometimes to just keep going through the crab, man. How many times have you wanted to give up? How many times have you just everybody told you it's better over there? And when you stick to it, you can do amazing things. And so, you know, I was really proud of not quitting, not giving up. And that I think it came from the cancer, you know, I will.

SPEAKER_03:

I will interject a little bit on this. Another thing, if if you did see the show, if you do see the show, at the end, he talks about excuses. Um, and nobody in that show made any excuses. They helped him, they stepped up in ways to a stranger that just had a dream and an idea, and they all jumped in and they helped. And Glenn had a moment in in the restaurant at the end when he's like, Each of you, nobody gave an excuse. And neither did I, because life is about not having excuses. You don't get anywhere, and he pulls out a feeding tube. Now, you may not know this, but because of the cancer, he cannot eat at all. He had cancer of the epiglottis, they took out his epiglottis, so it's your primary defense against choking. So if he swallows water or even his saliva or anything, he can aspirate. So Glenn eats 100% of his meals and all of his nutrition goes through a feeding tube, his water, everything. You never hear him complain. He'll go to dinner, he'll sit down, he'll go out, he'll be with friends. He never complains, he never ever eats. And nobody knows that. But he's here he is going, kicking, open up another business, he's gonna go at it again, still living large and taking big risks, and and he's never been happier. So there's life.

SPEAKER_02:

But I cook. I'm a cook now. Why not? You know, I'm not gonna sit in the corner.

SPEAKER_03:

He's now a chef. He watches Bobby Flay and other things and learns how to make food. So wonderful.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh we have time for maybe one question or yeah. This is President Jones, Arm.

SPEAKER_00:

Gordon Jones, president of one of our colleges here. You have other presidents. A lot of us in this room work with youth. I I gleaned some of what you might say, but could you expand on how do you talk to when you do our youth? What are you encouraging them to think about, that group that really hasn't yet been shaped? And I'm curious, um, either expand on what you've already said or um share with us.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, well, I again that's that is our focus. I love um helping and and trying to plant the seeds. Um when I was young, I was again think about this 14, you know, I've got alcoholic parents, I've got a a child being born, and this one man that came to me and he said, There's something about you, Glenn. He goes, I don't know what it is, but I think one day you're gonna be a leader, you're gonna do great things in life. And um I was embarrassed. I remember saying, Oh, don't, you know, don't say that. And then when I got to college, um we we started a fraternity, and um there was a gentleman that said, Hey, let's go around and talk about somebody we admire. It can be someone from the past that's dead, it could be somebody now. He goes, I'll start. He goes, I admire Glenn, and let me tell you why. And I go, Oh, stop, stop. But those two times that's it. Because I came from a kind of hard, you know, upbringing. I didn't have a lot of people, I didn't have mentors, I didn't have a lot of people, but I did have two times where people planted that seed to say, there's something about you. And again, I was embarrassed, I didn't want to think, but I thought, I don't want to let those people down. I want to try to make something of myself. And so I believe that we all should be planting seeds in these young people, saying that we think there's so much greatness that can come out of them. And when I talk to people of adversity, young children, I'm like, you have such a great story to start from. You know, I mean, your story was inspired so much for where you are, where you're going. So I love to make sure that young people understand that when you take chances, especially when you're young, that you can do anything. And, you know, and I like sometimes I don't, I'm not trying to brag at them, but I say, you know, I can relate a lot to your story, and I kind of go over some of the stuff, and and again, I'm I graduated with a 2.1, okay? I didn't have like the best grades in college. And I tell them, I go, and they I got a 2.1, but they gave me an honorary doctorate too afterwards. So some more stay in school. You can do it.

SPEAKER_01:

That's great.

SPEAKER_02:

In other words, you know, if I can do it, you can do it, basically right.

SPEAKER_03:

I think too, uh, Gordon, is what we really value in our organization is the mentorship approach that the Horatio Alge Association focuses on. Is these kids not only get money, but they get access to the most successful brains and successful um entrepreneurs in the world. And we have never shied away from mentorship. There sometimes you just see a kid, you see struggling, and maybe just that little moment, you see some, you know, hey, I believe in you, I see something in you. And it's just that little seed that will sometimes send them on a path you never expect, but it's just giving them that little moment of hope for themselves that they may not see in themselves.

SPEAKER_01:

So that's great. Well, um, man, I'm humbled to have you guys here. Uh, thank you for being here. Thank you for being my friend, and thank you for inspiring so many people. Um, Glenn, I love you guys so much.

SPEAKER_03:

And Tommy for governor, are we gonna do that again? Come on. No California needs a governor. Come on down. Come on down.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you. Let's let's uh give certain screen like a warm. Thank you.