An Army of Normal Folks - Lean In or Walk Away?

Episode Date: October 18, 2024

For our latest "Shop Talk", Coach Bill reacts to an Army member seeking his advice about whether to lean into a difficult situation or to walk away entirely. Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, this is Bill Courtney with Shop Talk number 26. Ding ding ding. I did it for you, Alex. I know, one day you're going to get a bell. Can we not afford a bell? Actually, I talked to a listener the other day who said, why don't you just go to Office Depot and get a bell? What are you doing?

That's kind of what I'm asking. Good for the listener. Yeah, I know, four kids, things to do to do God forbid take the time to get a bell anyway, hey everybody shop talk, so I received a letter that I'm gonna read now before we break and let you kind of marinate on the letter and then I'll come back and We'll talk about it because I think it's really interesting We'll talk about it because I think it's really interesting. I'm also going to change this a little bit and I'm not going to use names for obvious reasons once you hear this you'll understand.

But you who sent me this letter, this is your shop talk for you that I hope other people can also glean some type of some type of guidance from. Dear Coach Bill, I'd like a lesson from you on how to make the decision to lean in or walk away. Lord, have mercy, have we all not had that thought process in relationships or all kinds of all manner of different things were involved in. You see I serve on the board of a non-profit organization. One made up of teachers and now I'm kind of being careful here. One made up of teachers who are donating time for doing private work with students.

I helped incorporate this organization a couple of decades ago and have served our teachers in just about all capacities. I left the area, moved away for a while, and I came back a few years back and started serving on the board again. Leadership has been on the decline. The organization has actually lost its 50 political infighting on the board. Any and all suggestion that I and other members of the board have made have been shot down. There are things that need to be done to turn the organization around, but I don't want to wage war, nor I don't really feel like I have time to.

What's more, it's eating away at my inner peace. At this point, I'd like to walk away, but my conscience is telling me to lean in. I don't know what to do. What do you think? I would be most grateful if you could talk about it on your shop talk. I receive inspiration and guidance from you on your podcast all the time and look up to you as a virtual mentor. So that last line I had to read because it makes me feel so good so thank you wow you know I've got to believe that in a number of different things in our lives we've all been faced with this kind of similar issue and we struggle with the decision do I lean in and fight or do I just throw my hands up and walk away because you know my life's too

short I got better things to do. It's an interesting thing so Shop Talk number 26 is lean in or walk away. Right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. This week, Charlemagne the God sits down with Vice President Kamala Harris for a conversation you don't want to miss. The things that we want and are prepared to fight for won't happen if we're not active and if we don't participate. They tackle the big questions. Politics, policy, and what's next for the country.

Doesn't the Biden administration have to take some blame for the border though? Charlemagne, first thing we dropped was a bill to fix the broken immigration system, which by the way Trump did not fix when he was president. Don't miss this in-depth interview with Charlamagne the God and Vice President Kamala Harris, only on The Breakfast Club. Catch the full interview now on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Malcolm Gladwell. 25 years ago, I wrote my first book called The Tipping Point, all about the moments when an idea or trend crosses a certain threshold and spreads like wildfire.

I've had a lot of time to think about that book, and the way I thought about Tipping Points changed. So now I'm releasing the sequel, Revenge of the Tipping Point, where I return to the subjects of social epidemics and the dark side of contagious phenomena. You can hear a sneak peek of the audiobook on my podcast, Revisionist History. Plus, we'll dive into a duo of narrative episodes about my favorite trial in American history and a reevaluation of the broken windows theory I explored in my first book. Find Revenge of the Tipping Point wherever you get your audiobooks and listen to Revisionist History on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you listen to podcasts. Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, James Brown, B.B. King, Miriam Makeba. I shook up the world. James Brown said, said love. And the kid said, I'm black and I'm proud. Black boxing stars and black music royalty together in the heart of Zaire, Africa.

Three days of music and then the boxing event. What was going on in the world at the time made this fight as important that anything else is going on on the planet. My grandfather laid on the ropes and let George Foreman basically just punch himself out. Welcome to Rumble, the story of a world in transformation.

The 60s and prior to that, you couldn't call a person black. And how we arrived at this peak moment. I don't have to be what you want me to be. We all came from the continent of Africa. Listen to Rumble, Ali, Foreman, and the soul of 74 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, of Africa. Hi, I'm Eva Longoria. Hi, I'm Maite Gomez-Rajon. Our podcast, Hungry for History, is back. Season two. Season two.

Are we recording? Are we good? Oh, we push record, right? And this season, we're taking a bigger bite out of the most delicious food and its history. Seeing that the most popular cocktail is the Margarita, followed by the Mojito from Cuba, and the piñac Lada from Puerto Rico.

So all of these places. We thank Latin culture. There's a mention of blood sausage in Homer's Odyssey that dates back to the ninth century BC. BC? I didn't realize how old the hot dog was. Listen to Hungry for History as part of the My Kultura podcast network,

available on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey everyone, it's Katie Couric. Well, the election is in the home stretch and I'm exhausted, but turns out the end is near, right in time for a new season of my podcast, Next Question. This podcast is for people like me who need a little perspective and insight.

I'm bringing in some FOKs, friends of Katie's, to help me out, like Ezra Klein, Van Jones, Jen Psaki, Ested Herndon. But we're also going to have some fun, even though these days fun and politics seems like an oxymoron. But we'll do that thanks to some of my friends like Samantha Bee, Roy Wood Jr., and Charlemagne the God. We're going to take some viewer questions as well. I mean, isn't that what democracy

is all about? Power to the podcast for the people. So whether you're obsessed with the news or just trying to figure out what's going on, this season of Next Question is for you. Check out our new season of Next Question with me, Katie Couric, on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back. Lean in or walk away. I'm going to tell you a story that I haven't told. I don't think I've ever told it publicly or on the air.

Certainly had conversations about it with friends, but I'm going to go ahead and tell you. When I was first at Manassas, I was oblivious, candidly, to the societal and political differences of certain people around me and the school and the program. To let you know, Manassas is over a hundred year old school. It's been a proudly, largely African American school for its entire time. Isaac Hayes actually went to Manassas and for many, many, many decades Manassas graduated kids who went on to go to college and doctors, attorneys, and people from all walks of life have been successful coming from Anasis.

And then after King got killed in 68 and the area of New Chicago, which is another very proud largely African American community, started suffering the consequences of stores moving out, business moving out, money leaving. Manassas kind of got caught in that vacuum. And despite its very, very proud heritage, had struggled for many years with involvement, parents, finances, and candidly community support. So my first game at Manassas, I coached, there were four people in our stands and it was

the principal, the athletic director, a lady named Mrs. Guy, who never missed a Manassas anything. And back then she had to have been her 70s and the bus driver. That was it. There was absolutely zero support. 19 kids on the team. They'd won four games in 10 years. It really wasn't a football program. It was not much. Um, and then of course, if you've watched undeefeated, or you know my story, six years later we had 75 kids on the team. We were winning lots of ball games, new equipment, and our stands were packed.

The weird thing is though, because I was there six years, the people that were there on year five and six weren't even involved in the school in year one and two. They were in seventh and eighth grade somewhere else. Manassas is only high school. So the people that showed up the last three years had absolutely no perspective as to what it took to get Manassas to that level. And so they don't remember, they didn't remember the 494. They didn't remember the fact that there was no equipment. They didn't remember the fact that the equipment we had was old and outdated. They didn't, they didn't remember having to take the kids five out of 10 games out of town to get beat or slaughtered by big, big schools who were

writing a check for us so that the team could just pay basic bills. And they certainly didn't remember only four people in the stands. They just didn't have that perspective. And so sadly there were some in the community who weren't around the first two three years who started showing up years five and six who were looking around going why why do we have this guy coaching our team? Why don't we have you know a guy that looks more like the team? Why don't we have, you know, a guy that looks more like the kids? Why don't we go hire another coach? Why don't we go in a different direction?

You know, what's this going on? And that hurt my feelings. And it made me angry. And it's me angry. And it's frustrating, real frustrating to the point that I thought, you know, they don't want me here, I can leave. But I also knew that if I left and my coaches left and all the support that we generated around the community would leave, that it would be not long before Manassas was back to what it was before we showed up.

And it's not that we were saving Manassas, we just had the ability to create the circumstances for the program to be successful and give the kids a level playing field and then let the kids do their work. The other thing, candidly, is the kids weren't saying that stuff. It was just stuff people, naysayers, one or two bad apples in the community. Candidly the vast, vast, vast, vast majority, 99.5% of the parents and the teachers and the administrators and... the students that didn't even play football and people in the community were unbelievably supportive, appreciative and proud... of what the kids and us together were building...

and had built. And it's a reminder to me that you know, you could you could actually create a goose that laid a golden egg and somebody would gripe about the shape. There is absolutely we got people who say we didn't land on the moon. We got...there's just people. There's just people...there are always going to be, no matter what you do and how well you do it, there are going to be people out there who detract and destroy and take away. And so when you go into a difficult situation like Manassas or like our letter to start this conversation, walk away or lean in, when you go to do some work like this, you naturally

assume you're going to have some problems raising money, you'll have some problems getting volunteers, but those are normal problems. But what you don't anticipate sometimes is actually having problems on your own team of people that are supposedly looking to serve. And it can be very frustrating. And when I was at Madness, I was very frustrated and I almost let the nasty sentiments of a very, very small few ruin it for me, the kids, and the vast majority of everybody else associated with the program and all the work we've done. And I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that.

I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. I'm not going to be able to do that. So, lean in or walk away. You know, whatever it was that inspired you to start doing the good work you were doing

at the beginning, those things still exist. So if you walk away from it today, why did you even start it in the first place. And if you let a few unsavory detractors have you walk away, think of the opportunity for impact you'd be missing every day. So my answer will always be this, lean in. Don't let the don't let the loud minority screw it up for the very thankful majority. Lean in, fight because whatever impetus, whatever was in your mind to make this thing start in the first place still exists. And that must be worth fighting for because the kids that these teachers are serving and the greater community that can be built by this service is worth leaning into and you can't let one or two bad apples destroy all of the good that can be done. Lean in, don't walk away understand that it can eat away at your inner peace I

get that I've had that I've felt that but just look at the kids look at the good that's going on and let that restore your inner peace and direct your ire where it should be directed which is that the people that are that are putting themselves before the kids in the organization and work hard to overcome that, hopefully eradicate it and continue to serve kids in the best way you can. So shop talk number six, 26, lean in or walk away. I say lean in hard and do the work for the right reasons and don't let the loud minority ruin it for the thankful majority.

I'm Bill Courtney, that's Shop Talk number 26. And I wanna tell you about one more thing before we go. We are hosting our next live interview, which is our second live interview. The first one was with the Dancing UPS man that I hope you've seen online. It was awesome. We're hosting our second one in Memphis on November 7th at Second Presbyterian Church. They have a really nice big auditorium. This thing is with Todd Comernicki. Sorry, Todd Comernicki? Todd Comernicki. How do you say it?

Comernicki. Todd Comernicki. There you go. Todd Comer Nikki is a talented dude. He's the director of one of my favorite movies on the face of the planet. That's just tearjerking, inspiring movie. A very thoughtful movie called Elf. I hope you've seen it at Christmas. You joke about that. People may think you're joking. I love Elf. I know. I'm just making sure people know. I tear up during Elf the first time I've ever watched it. When Santa Claus took off, that was the greatest thing in the world.

Everybody was singing. I love Elf. It's the funniest movie on the face of the planet and it's great and you have to watch it at Christmas. It's like that and National Lampoon's Christmas vacation. I never miss them. Anyway, this guy directed Elf, but on the more serious side of things, he was the writer of Sully. You remember the movie where they

landed the plane in the Hudson and saved everybody. And now some really deep content. He is the director of Angel Studios' upcoming film, Bonhoeffer, Pastor Spy Assassin. Now Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pastor, a German pastor, and he tried to rally the church in Germany to stop Hitler. He was involved in Operation 7, which was an operation that was smuggling Jews into Switzerland to save their lives. But ultimately, he joined the famous Valkyrie plot, which was the plot to assassinate Hitler. He was caught and he was executed in a concentration camp for his involvement in that. He is the one of the most epic examples of an ordinary person who lived an extraordinary life of service all the way to the point of death. Lean in or walk away? I'd say he'd lean in.

So we're going to tell this story through the lens of the director of the film, Todd Cumbarnickie. And I really hope you'll join us. Again, it's November 7th in Memphis Second Presbyterian Church. I think this will be inspiring, interesting. To meet this incredible director, we're going to live record it and we'll even open the audience up to questions. You can RSVP for free tickets at bonhoefferdirector.eventbrite.com. That's B-O-N-H-O-E-F-F-E-R, director, dot eventbrite.com.

Really would like to fill the place up. We can hold four or five, six hundred people. And so far we've got a hundred RSVVPs or so but we've got plenty of time between now and November 7th y'all please come I think it'll be a great evening. Beyond that I want to thank our producer Iron Light Labs I'm Bill Courtney that's Shop Talk number 26 always lean in we'll see you next week. This week Charlemagne the God sits down with vice president Kamala Harris for a We'll see you next week. This week, Charlemagne the God sits down with Vice President Kamala Harris for a conversation

you don't want to miss. Listen, I feel very strongly I need to earn every vote, which is why I'm here having this candid conversation with you and your listeners. They tackle the big questions, politics, policy, and what's next for the country. I am running to be president for everybody, but I'm clear-eyed about the history and the disparities that exist for specific communities. And I'm not going to shy away from that. Don't miss this in-depth interview with Charlemagne the God and vice president

Kamala Harris only on The Breakfast Club. Catch the full interview now on the Black Effect Podcast Network, iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, 1974. George Foreman was champion of the world. Ali was smart and he was handsome. Story behind the Rumble in the Jungle is like a Hollywood movie.

But that is only half the story. There's also James Brown, Bill Withers, B.B. King, Miriam Makeba, all the biggest slack artists on the planet. Together in Africa. It was a big deal. Listen to Rumble, Ali, Foreman, and the Soul of 74 on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

We think of Franklin as the dodging dude flying a kite in the rain. Benjamin Franklin is our subject for a new season with Walter Isaacson. He's the most successful self-made business person in America. A printer, a scientist, founding father, but maybe not the guy we think we know. Franklin casts his lot on the side of revolution and it's another thing that splits the family apart. Listen to On Benjamin Franklin with Walter Isaacson on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What does the heartbreaking fate of the cheetah tell us about the way we raise our children? Why was Los Angeles the bank robbery capital of the world? What exactly happened in the Marriott Hotel in downtown Boston in March of 2020? I'm Malcolm Gladwell. In my new audiobook, Revenge of the Tipping Point, I'm looking at these questions and exploring the dark side of contagious phenomenon.

You can hear a sneak peek of the audiobook on my podcast, Revisionist History. Listen on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Do you ever wonder where your favorite foods come from? Like what's the history behind bacon wrapped hot dogs? Hi, I'm Eva Longoria. Hi, I'm Maite Gomez-Rejon. Our podcast, Hungry for History, is back. And this season we're taking a bigger bite

out of the most delicious food and its history. Saying that the most popular cocktail is the Margarita, followed by the Mojito from Cuba, and the Piñu Colada from Puerto Rico. Listen to Hungry for History on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.