Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Hey.
Hey.
[00:00:20] Speaker B: Thank you for taking time out of your day. I appreciate it. I was happy to connect with you. So I'm a writer, I've been writing my whole life. Wrote my first book when I was 12.
Ended up in journalism when I was in high school. Had a paper that hired me and then I, I spent a stint as a screenwriter in Hollywood for 15 years down in Hollywood working with a fairly well known producer and when he passed away I was a little fried on the, the Hollywood scene. If you're seeing all the stories on the news, you know that's about sums up the way it was sometimes.
And so I got into direct response marketing and just writing and publishing books. And so I've got 16 books now, they're all non fiction. I've got a long list of fiction books, I just haven't started on them yet and, and so now I'm, I'm working on my, on my, my next one which is going to be kind of a compilation.
Are you familiar with Tim Ferriss?
[00:01:18] Speaker A: The name's familiar, but I'm not. So you're based in LA then?
[00:01:22] Speaker B: Basically I'm in Las Vegas now.
[00:01:24] Speaker A: I. Oh, Las Vegas. I got you.
[00:01:26] Speaker B: My wife and I like to say we escaped, but yeah, so, so Tim Ferriss, he's most famous for a book called the Four Hour Work Week, but he published his last couple of books. What he did is he's got a very, a fairly substantial podcast where he interviews a lot of people and at the end of the year he takes sort of his best interviews and then he compiles them into like a book. And I just thought it was a really great idea what he did. And so that was the sort of the litmus for my, this project here and call. I'm, I'm interviewing primarily CEOs of companies that have, you know, reached a certain amount just because of the, everything out there is around guys and startups that are trying to get their first 10 to you know, 15 employees. And I was like, yeah, but what happens when you get to 50 and 100 and what does that look like and how do you get there and how do you manage that and what does that do with the culture? And so that, that was what this book is about is, you know, how do you, how do you go from, you know, start up, scrap and like I think most small businesses in, in America are four to five employees. And so I just sort of became enamored with what does it take to, to grow beyond that and more specifically what are the challenges? You face when you do that. Because I think, at least in my work with people and the conversations I've had, there's sort of this myth of like, oh, when you get to a certain point where you can have 25 or 50 or 100 or, you know, 500 employees, then you've got it made. Right. But I'm like, there's, there's a whole other. Whole other level of things you got to deal with in a whole other level of skills that, that you've got to have to be there. So that, that's kind of what this project's about and interviewing as many people as I can. And we're going to compile everything into sort of a user guide and compendium for, for other business owners that are, you know, looking to grow.
[00:03:24] Speaker A: I'm in your court. So let's get started in any way you want. All right. Not the first podcast I've done, probably not the last.
Background's a little different than most.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: Yeah. So let's talk. So I saw you, you listed as your, your company's Healthy America ecosystem. So let's. Can you talk to me just the. Like this. Just do a little bit of summary about what that that is.
[00:03:46] Speaker A: And yes, it goes back a little further than that.
Let me give you a short pitch on my bio.
[00:03:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:03:56] Speaker A: Okay. Over educated and always multitask. So I have degrees in agriculture, environmental engineering, medicine, public health and schooled all over the world. Not better or worse, just different.
I was in a commissioned officer in the US Public Health Service. I did some service for the country. I did some diplomatic service overseas. I've been in the media, I've taught at different places and I've seen all of the world of what I would call sick care, health care and health. And I'm pushing the ladder to go up the stream. I was shortlisted but didn't make it to be US Surgeon General under the Obama administration.
[00:04:39] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:04:40] Speaker A: I've played in the politics across the board and seen the good, the bad and you can fill in the rest of the dots.
Have done a lot of media and still doing media. And as I saw the healthcare delivery system, including being a patient more recently, which I don't wish upon you. I saw the inside of a hospital recently. Ironically, at the same time I was admitted to the hospital, I was invited to the Vatican to meet with the Pope. This is last month. It did not happen. Life goes on.
And I was looking for a different model because there is a definition of health that's worth sharing with you. It goes back to 1948 by the world Health Organization. Health is a state of complete physical, mental, social. And I inserted the word spiritual well being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. We're not there. We have a sick care system that's fragmented, inefficient and ineffective and very much top down for the rich and very poorly structured for the poor on up. As I went around the country, I looked at all of rural America. I filmed films in Appalachia, I filmed films in Las Vegas, New Mexico. I did a major project in Salt Lake City and I saw the same story. We're in a tough time for productive transformation, change.
And I saw the system from all the different points. I was a consultant for the labor unions. I was a consultant for large corporations, whether it was Ford, Lockheed, Rockwell, you name it. I saw the public sector too, working for major counties and states. And each one had a pillar or a vertical. So it's hard to cross over from one pillar or vertical to the next. And as I was getting a little bit more mature, economics weren't the number one thing in my life. I had freedom to do something. My kids were growing up a little bit. My son's a sports anchor in Phoenix.
For the major station in Phoenix, I saw a different model. So a healthier American ecosystem is a different model. It's a model that's more holistic and integrated. And the model really has three eyes to it. It's interactive, it's interdependent, and it's interconnected. And it really looks at all the other things that would affect Travis's health status. It could be his education, it could be his housing, it could be his transportation, it could be his environment, it should be his technology. So we're trying to launch, develop the three M's, have the moment, develop the momentum and create the movement to have something that's more aspirational and has a change from the status quo, which, which really everyone agree upon is dysfunctional. So that's the pitch to you. And I've worked in corporate America at a reasonably high level, fti. I was the executive physician for one of the largest consulting companies in the country. I worked for Buck, I worked for, as a private consultant. So I've seen. And I also had my own entrepreneurial ventures.
[00:08:10] Speaker B: So you've seen all sides of it from every level, with all different, you.
[00:08:16] Speaker A: Know, I've seen successes and I've seen failures and I've seen the dynamics. And one of the best lines I got was an Appalachia. So you're welcome to take any of my lines. The line there was incomes are prioritized over outcomes.
And I thought that was a pretty powerful line. Also another line that you can use, think bold, start small, move with passion and purpose.
So try to do things that are doable and along the way you make some pivots. And you've made some pivots in your own life.
[00:08:53] Speaker B: Yeah, certainly have. So when you talk about every, you know, every state, every county has their own vertical in the health care system. Can you give me a couple of examples of what that, what that means and also why does that make it so hard for them to, to change?
[00:09:08] Speaker A: Well, that's a great question.
I schooled overseas too, at a famous institution, and I'd say your question is better than my answer.
There's definitions. So if you are in, let's say Mississippi, the Delta Mississippi, that's rural with one culture. If you go to Las Vegas, New Mexico, and I don't know if you knew Las Vegas, New Mexico, but voted no for Las Vegas, Nevada in 1890, so it never became Las Vegas, the gambling thing. And each one of these has a problem of moving more downstream than upstream. They also have a problem of the top to bottom problem. The top is where the money comes from. If you're in your space, you probably have heard of wizards and dreamers. Yep.
And I've been involved with that too. The wizards are where the money is. And most of these small towns look to the government for the money, but they're understaffed and don't have the resources to go after the grants. Philanthropy is ignored. Most of America, except for the urban environment, leadership is tough. Rural hospitals are understaffed and they're under leadership driven. And they're living off the 1960s Hill Burton budget, not the current entrepreneurial budget. So if you go from the Delta and you decide you want to go to Montana, it's a different politics there. So you have a different framework to work from. What did Similar basic issues. You have poverty, you have isolation, you have lack of technology, you have a lack of specialists who want to live there. And academia tends to be more urban and confined to where they're at. Not all. There are exceptions to the rule, but change is tough. And it doesn't matter what the political structure is in Washington.
It's hard to get what you're doing. So I applaud you. You're trying to get a best practice story. And I will tell you within a month, because of successes and failures, I will be coming out with a coffee Table book. I've written other books but it will be Building a healthy American ecosystem. And I promise you it'll be very attractive and very catchy. You'll catch it. It won't be a full novel. It won't be a non fiction of hundreds of pages. And from there we're looking to have the conclaves forum summits and even to create a docu documentary on the seven sectors.
[00:11:54] Speaker B: So my co host is interrupting us here.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: Oh, more impressive. Let I think the co host should answer the ask the questions and forget you. Travis.
[00:12:04] Speaker B: Sorry to interrupt but she came and stuck her face in my face and.
[00:12:07] Speaker A: Was like I think it's great and I love your room. Your room's very attractive. Thank you.
[00:12:11] Speaker B: It's funny, when you were mentioning Building a healthy American Ecosystem, my brain went man, that's a great title for a book. So I'm excited. Excited that you, you actually are putting that into a book.
[00:12:23] Speaker A: You'll see. I mean because of you.
I must admit, since this is an open conversation, you'll edit it any way you want. I didn't have a clue who Travis was. I didn't have a clue if this was going to be for real. And I guess I should share my wife's name and you can look her up. Nancy Fund. Pfund.
Right. You ever hear of Tesla?
[00:12:51] Speaker B: Of course.
[00:12:52] Speaker A: She helped create the company. She's a social impact investor. The rest you can look up on your own.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: Well, you know, I suppose this is small companies like Tesla.
[00:13:02] Speaker A: Yeah. So we've learned a lot about the good. The bad. Interesting enough. The company I created in the 90s was called Thap Total Health and Productivity. And the model not the same was taken over 20 years later by Berkshire Hathaway, Amazon and JP Morgan. And brought in Atul Gawande to look at a way that employers could create their own healthy ecosystem. It didn't make it so when you try to do these startup companies one, it's not the easiest time to be in startup businesses.
It takes a long time and it takes a lot of commitment with the right leadership and that's a challenge. On the other hand, I think we have a great opportunity working with you and others. I mean we're not closed and we have access to Hollywood. I could drop names on you. Hollywood showing interest with us already to do something. I can also tell you people in your field are looking to do what you're doing with a little dollar figure tied to it. So I can tell you Forbes has reached out to me, Bloomberg has reached out to me and said, can we write a book with you?
And I asked for the business model. I said, no, you keep your own business model. We're going to do it our way or wrong.
[00:14:25] Speaker B: If you've already written a few books and there's not, you know, I mean, you already understand the process so well.
[00:14:31] Speaker A: I got three words that I've learned that I'll share with you, that you already know. Three keywords. Between you and I, you ready for the three words?
Branding, distribution, celebrity status.
[00:14:46] Speaker B: That's funny. I have a presentation that I do. You know, I call it Microsoft, the Micro Celebrity Effect.
And I talk about. So my mentor in Hollywood, his wife was Sally Kellerman.
[00:14:58] Speaker A: And you're okay, right?
[00:15:00] Speaker B: She was. So, you know, I got to see what it was like to be a certain level of famous.
And I realized when I got into the entrepreneurial world that there, there's a fame in the industries too. The guys that sort of command all the attention. But it's a much better, much better type of fame because you don't get hassled as much.
So you're exactly right. Branding, Branding, distribution and celebrities is everything.
[00:15:24] Speaker A: And also in giving a presentation, because I teach at Stanford, not that's good or bad, but whatever else I learned from their big communications guy there. In every presentation, there are only three words. Also, know the subject matter.
Feel for Travis, not for yourself.
And leave Travis with three pearls at the end so Travis can go home with the three pearls.
[00:15:49] Speaker B: Well, I just got him. That's good. So I gotta say, for somebody with your academic background, from my perspective of people I've worked with, that usually doesn't translate into entrepreneurial space.
Usually end up just staying in academia. So I'm. How. What was the experience for you that, that you had the education, but also took you into building these, you know, these companies.
[00:16:15] Speaker A: Do you have any knowledge of Yiddish?
[00:16:19] Speaker B: Not at all.
[00:16:20] Speaker A: Okay, I'll give you one word and you can use it in Las Vegas at the right place.
I have a degree of spilkis.
That's. He's pronounced right. Spilkus is ants in your pants. Okay.
So as I did other things, I'm saying, right or wrong, I would have done some things a little differently. And that's what you're asking for. I ran for public office at the. At the age of 32, I ran for lieutenant governor of California. I ran for the surgeon general slot. So it wasn't that I took one lane. I created my claim to fame. And you can look it up, probably was when I was Younger. I did a major project on an exposure to asbestos. I screamed, 15,000 shipyard workers.
[00:17:08] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:17:09] Speaker A: And I was on national TV with Bill Plant at CBS in Washington and the other guy, Ted Koppel. And I got a lot of attention.
I learned the good and the bad from that. I testified in Congress in front of Teddy Kennedy. On the other hand, the same issue back then still exists today. People are suing for asbestos exposure. They have mesothelium. So some things change. Or not. So I always felt that there was more than academia. That was only part of my background. I served in the public sector. I had the private sector, the hybrid issue, and trying to do meaningful things. Unfortunately, the economics, for whatever reason, even now, I always had support from someone.
Last time, though, I had a little bit of a. Not a failure, but I read the market wrong. I was going to do a major summit in Omaha. Okay. I made three not mistakes, but I didn't read out the tea leads right. One, I started during the political year last year. Wrong place.
[00:18:22] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:23] Speaker A: Two, I thought people would be intrigued by doing it in the heartland of America. Wrong place. Okay.
The only things that people go to Omaha for are, you know, if they have a relationship with Warren Buffett, if they have a relationship with steak, and if they like college baseball because the World Series are there. I didn't realize that most of Warren Buffett's investments were in Dairy Queen, Coca Cola and Domino's Pizza Apple for a while. Yeah, right. But I had to deal with health, so whatever. So at the end, I said, we're flipping this. So we flipped it. And now, Travis, I don't know how to. I'll send you a copy of it. We'll see. We're changing it to do a different way, and we're getting sponsorship. Also. We went after all the large sponsors, whether banks or major accounting firms or other. They said, this is not the year we're making a decision. It's a political year. And this is. We're not just not going out of our comfort level. So that's what I'm saying. That's not a failure, but it's a pivot. Like you made your pivots out of Hollywood.
[00:19:39] Speaker B: It's also partly timing, too, right?
[00:19:41] Speaker A: That's right. Totally correct.
[00:19:43] Speaker B: You could make the argument in Hollywood that a lot of times it's the guys that had the lucky timing. The ones that, you know, end up be hitting the top for whatever reason. So. So with you. So for you then starting these companies. So what I love about this is that, you know, obviously my book is about leadership and what does it mean to be a good leader and how do you lead people? And most of the people I'm talking to are entrepreneurs. Now you are entrepreneur. You've also had the public health space. You've done with philanthropy and not the public health, but the public service space. So, like, as you started your own companies and started managing these and growing, obviously, if you got your company now, like, what were some of the challenges? Let's talk about sort of the stages of what are the challenges of from, like, startup to, I don't know, the first million. And then, you know, when's the pivot point where what worked before doesn't work anymore. And how did you navigate those as a. As a leader?
[00:20:42] Speaker A: That's a great question, and I can't give you the definitive response, but I'll give it a try. Sure.
[00:20:48] Speaker B: Well, I'm just more about your experience, so I don't think there is a right or wrong answer with all what's so fantastic about it.
[00:20:54] Speaker A: The first thing is have an idea that's not only yours, but maybe shared with some other people. So it's an innovative idea. Creativity.
Try to have a direction that you want to take. And if you really want to do it correctly, do a Scott analysis, which you've never heard of, but you've heard of a SWOT analysis. Yeah, I didn't like this. I didn't like the W, so I changed it to challenge. Okay, so what's your vision? What are your strengths? What are your challenges? What are your opportunities and what are your threats? In the process, you learn some stuff and you should also get some change. So I'll share with you some of the things I would have done differently from experience.
I had a healthy ego for the word I, I this and I that, and I did a lot of different things. I did not do the we as well as I could have. I did not put the energy into the team. Okay. I created the team. And the challenge was that as I changed because of, I ran out of patience for A, I went to B, I went from B to C. I didn't support the people who were with me at A. So they said, why do you want to work with Phil?
Phil, you know, is going to move to B to C, and we don't know where we're going. So I would have done that. 2.
In hindsight, I would focus on fewer things. At the same time, because I was practicing medicine, being an entrepreneur in the political circle, I would have taken the fewer things and done more Laser focus.
I would have also gone after executive coaching for myself because for better, for worse. And you can make your own comments. I can pitch. Okay. I can sell, I can motivate. But I didn't dot all the eyes on functionality.
Another thing that you have to do better than I did. I'm doing a little bit better now, is I have to listen.
So I have to listen to what Travis is asking for and understand that over time, Travis and I will have a different relationship than we started today. And actually, I reach out to say that it's a yes from my perspective. I like Travis, so that's moving forward. This is a surprise podcast. Okay. Totally surprised. How you got to it. How I tried to schedule with you, which was a nightmare.
They said, don't schedule. You couldn't schedule until next November. I said, wait a second.
You know, I'm just telling you that's a fact. That's not fiction. I appre.
[00:23:49] Speaker B: I appreciate the feedback. We.
[00:23:50] Speaker A: We.
[00:23:51] Speaker B: We moved our entire system onto a new platform, and it has. It's not been a smooth transition. I'm sorry, you got.
[00:23:58] Speaker A: I'm. I'm not telling you. I'm just telling you. But somehow Travis, Cody, the person attract. That's why I said, and I got permission from my significant other to go forward. Okay. She said, why do you even want to do it? So to finish, your comment is you have to learn, you have to listen. You have to develop trust with both the client and your own team. And you have to have a strategic action plan that has texture to it. So you got to move A, B, and C. So right now, I have texture. You asked me, what about healthy American ecosystem. I have texture of the strategic action plan, and I learned something from others. So listen. So I'll give you something that's very specific. The senior vice president of Microsoft said, what we want from you on what you're doing is, one, we applaud you. Two, we have four points that we want you to deal with us on.
One, what's your purpose? So I could give you an entire picture of the purpose. Okay. And you'll see it in the book. Two, what are your expectations?
So make it clear and specific what your expectation. Three, who else is sponsoring you? We don't want to be the first sponsor. We want to be part of the team. And four, probably the most important thing he said is, what's in it for Microsoft?
What do we get out of it? Not what you get out of it.
And now as this book comes out, I can tell you I Talked to Hollywood at length today. Names I could drop on you. Blair Underwood, Jimmy Foxx and a whole bunch of others and producers and directors. And they have interest and Simon Schuster has interest. Okay, now, are those words or is that reality I'm sure you've seen in your life? There are a lot of very.
[00:25:55] Speaker B: So there's a lot of interest, not a lot of action, usually.
[00:25:59] Speaker A: Thank you. Thank you. That's it. So those are what you learn. And then how do I mentor. So I mentor a lot of other people through a variety of different ways, whether it's at teaching or calls like this. I don't have an issue. I. But see, my motivation is more for change because earlier in my life I was an emergency room physician. So if Travis comes in, Travis wants me to attend to his issue with something positive. And now that's how I feel about can we make building a healthy American ecosystem part of a conversation that leads to action? And if I had to give you for your own purpose, what I consider the five Cs, which leads to the six Cs, the five critical steps, and that's part of this conversation with you today. Convene. Well, you took the initiative on the convene, connect. You took the initiative, but I was a little aggressive to connect with you. Communicate. That's what we're doing now.
Collaborate. That's. We'll see where we go from here.
And commit. So you're committed to writing your leadership book? I'm committed to a belief in what you're doing. And the most important word, it's where they come together is change.
So you're working to change ways people thinking, and it's not much different than the healthy American ecosystem. The only question I would ask you is what attracted you on LinkedIn to connect with me?
[00:27:40] Speaker B: The degree of background of your education and experience was pretty vast.
And I gotta say, I didn't see any of your books on, listed on your LinkedIn. So that was also surprising to me because I was like, man, you got like all this background in there. But it was primarily the different differences that you had across spectrums. Like, you've said, you've done public service, you've done the medical. So I'm just. And more importantly, it's. It's the size of the organizations that I was looking at, because I'm just, like I said, I. I work with a lot of people that are. And I say a lot of people, a lot of entrepreneurs that are in the 3 to 5 on employees, 5 to 10. And so after a Few several years and I've worked with a few people now that have got 150 or so employees. And so my brain just started looking at the, the difference between those two and the styles of leadership and that that's what sort of my ended up with the idea for why I wanted to create this book was.
[00:28:41] Speaker A: And do you have a sense of who your audience is either on the podcast or where you want to go from your perspective?
[00:28:47] Speaker B: Yeah, I think my audience is going to, I'm targeting it at people that are probably running businesses in the million dollar range that are trying to figure out how do we get to 10?
Because again, most of the people I'm working with that are in the million dollar a year range are in the five to 10 employee thing. And they've been there for a number of years.
[00:29:07] Speaker A: They're stuck.
[00:29:08] Speaker B: They're stuck.
[00:29:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:10] Speaker B: And so I, that's when I started looking at it going and you know, I had a very fascinating conversation with.
He's actually working with me to, to write his first book.
His company is going to do I think probably 130 million this year.
He's in the supplement space and it was very funny because he's very good with business. And, and he said, Travis, if you have a business that's making at least a million dollars a year, he's like, I can get you to 50 million in two years. He's like, but if you're in the 3 to 400,000 and you need to get to a million, I don't know what to tell you and I just might. I just thought that was such an interesting thing where he's like, I don't know how you make your first million, but I can help you take once you're making a million into 50 in a couple of years.
[00:29:56] Speaker A: That's all about scalability.
[00:29:57] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:29:58] Speaker A: And the other thing is the word that I didn't mention, which is mission critical is relationships. Because there are all host of different relationships for me. I can tell you personal relationships and professionals should be bound. And I like the metaphor of the seesaw.
The see I like an even, I like an even playing field where both sides listen to one another. And you've been very good. You share about yourself. Okay. You shared about the challenges you've had. You shared and you've asked me to do the same thing to you. That for me creates a leveler, a level playing field if everyone's just grabbing you for money, network or relationships. I have a, at my age, I'm a little challenged also. I'VE learned that moderation is okay. Don't take on more than you can do and put your energy into it.
[00:30:56] Speaker B: I definitely didn't learn that lesson in my 20s and 30s. I think I'm just starting to get it now.
[00:31:01] Speaker A: Yeah.
So is there anything else I can answer for you and then I'll let you go?
[00:31:06] Speaker B: Yeah, I was gonna say, you know what, what I think is interesting is your comment about one thing you wish you would have done was executive coaching for yourself. A number of years ago I, I was at a, a meeting in Santa Monica and it was. I forget his name and I probably should know who he is, but it's the guy who founded QuickBooks.
[00:31:27] Speaker A: Huh.
[00:31:28] Speaker B: He's worth $9 billion now, I think.
[00:31:31] Speaker A: Is that the same as Intuit?
[00:31:33] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:31:34] Speaker A: Okay.
His last name was, I think Cook.
[00:31:39] Speaker B: I think you're right. But somebody asked him, like, in your career, what was the biggest mistake that you made? And he, without hesitation, he said, knowing what I know now, he's like, I wish I would have gotten an executive coach 20 years ago. He's like, I just got one three years ago. And he's like, my wealth has doubled in that amount of time. And he's like, I'm worth $7 billion. He's like, I probably would have been worth 50 or more. And so. And it was interesting because most people think, well, when you get to the point where you're worth a billion dollars, why would you need outside help? Right? And he was saying, oh, man, having a coach was the best thing that ever happened to me in my business. So.
[00:32:15] Speaker A: Well, I read I raised a lot of money for that. I had help from Hamburg and Quist at that time. I went after a lot of money. And ironically, although it's a challenge now, most of the money I got was from United Health Care.
And I learned that they looked at me as a prototype for their future, but wouldn't let me have access to their client base. Okay. The other thing is, I learned was being sponsored by venture capital, they're interested in return on investment at a different pace than I was.
And I didn't listen to my own team because I had to hire too many programmers when I should have leased the software.
Yeah. So there were a lot of mistakes and the clients wanted A to be done and I was pushing B on them. So I should have listened to the clients more and the executive coach could have given me some ability.
And then it's wealth, happiness. That's an open ended question. I mean, you want to be successful and you want to make sure you pay back your sponsors in tangible ways as soon as possible.
However, sometimes ego gets in the way. So when I looked at myself, people say, well, you got four things for your identification. You're a character, you have an ego, you have energy, and you're meshugginate, which means a little eccentric. So that's. And then you play into your strengths, but then you back off and you listen to Travis, you know. And will Travis stay on schedule for his leadership book? Does he have the right.
You can't self publish it because if you self publish it, no one's going to read it. I can tell you. I know a lot of self publishing. You're lucky if you get a thousand copies soldiers. So you have to. And you got to have some celebrity status, you know, that helps write the introduction for you and say, I've learned something from. So in some ways, we're not in very different spaces, just different subject matter.
[00:34:27] Speaker B: Sure. So what's your goals in 2025 with your healthy America Eco plan? You're releasing the book.
[00:34:33] Speaker A: But what you said, I can, I can tell you the, the question is, are you asking me a dream state or a reality state question?
[00:34:44] Speaker B: Both. What's your dream and then what's the reality for 2025?
[00:34:50] Speaker A: The dream state is to get the book to Travis by February 1st. The, the, the first copy doesn't mean it won't need revisions. It doesn't mean I don't want to have some branding with, you know, name recognition on it. But second thing is maybe to get it published by a larger publisher, Simon Schuster, of something else. Three is to have a smaller conclave, not like what we were going to do in Omaha, a conclave of key players, so major foundations, major major companies and different sectors. So if you see it, and you can see it on LinkedIn, all the sectors would be represented. It could be health, education and have them at a round table. If that takes off, build that up to the long. At this point, here's another dream state which looks like it's a reality. You know what top 30 is?
[00:35:52] Speaker B: No, I don't.
[00:35:54] Speaker A: Okay. You've heard about the climate change that the UN puts on your top 30s in the. The one that's coming up in Brazil. They've invited me at this point, let's say, that stream, to do a sideshow to present to the world a healthy American ecosystem. And the Vaticans asked me to contribute there. So that's dream state. And to make this book, whatever you want to call it, into a documentary. So everything that I talk to you about here, this list would have a story behind, would have a document which had zip appeal to it. So what I've learned is less is more.
More is too much. It's got to capture your attention and don't rely on all the philanthropies to be your funding source because that ain't going to get it. And make sure that you're.
Have some humility on this one in humors and try to deal with the. The divide between those who have and those who don't have and share, you know, and be creative. So today, not that it turned out to be a risk, but this was not a high priority thing.
[00:37:12] Speaker B: Sure, yeah, I get it.
[00:37:14] Speaker A: The intrigue was Travis. That. The intrigue with Travis was very simple.
And it has nothing to do with what you thought.
Once I had the desire to connect with you, you saw who took the effort to push to make it happen.
That, that, that caught me off guard. And I'm not one.
I can only show you one thing. This is out of humor. It's not out of anything else. I have another identity.
Maybe you can see it and maybe you can't.
[00:37:51] Speaker B: It's a little too shiny.
[00:37:53] Speaker A: Okay.
Here. Let's see if it pulls out because it's humorous. It's more human than anything else. Hold on one second.
Can you see that? What it says?
[00:38:04] Speaker B: Oh, Sheriff.
[00:38:06] Speaker A: I'm a sheriff.
[00:38:07] Speaker B: You are a really Sheriff?
[00:38:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:38:09] Speaker B: That's amazing.
[00:38:11] Speaker A: It was an honorary thing to be had because I was a physician and they wanted me.
[00:38:16] Speaker B: I, I appreciate you taking the time.
[00:38:17] Speaker A: Okay, take care. Thanks a million. Cheers.
[00:38:20] Speaker B: Bye.
