Mick Unplugged - Emotional Intelligence: Jim Burns Reveals the Hidden Advantage in Leadership

Episode Date: December 11, 2025

Jim Burns is a dynamic leader and community builder based in the Upstate of South Carolina. With roots just outside Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Jim has become synonymous with development, community outreach, and economic growth in his adopted hometown. As the Chief Operating Officer for Hartness Development and founder of C LLC, specializing in strategy and execution excellence, Jim combines an entrepreneurial spirit with a deep commitment to purposeful leadership. He is known for championing personal growth, emotional intelligence, and the power of building strong, resilient teams—values that he credits to his “three Fs”: family, friends, and faith. Jim is also a former Greenville County Council member and an active participant in a wide range of local initiatives, leaving a lasting positive impact on his community. Takeaways Growth is Essential: Both personally and professionally, continual growth is key. Jim emphasizes that in business and life, “if you’re not growing, you’re dying”—intentional, measurable growth should be every leader’s focus. Self-Awareness Drives Leadership: Knowing your strengths and weaknesses enables you to build teams that complement your skill set, rather than trying to be everything to everyone. Surrounding yourself with strong, capable people is critical for organizational success. Emotional Intelligence in Action: Leading with emotional intelligence—especially self-regulation and empathy—allows leaders to handle challenges with composure and make better decisions, setting an example for their teams. Sound Bytes “You want your companies to grow, you want personal growth, you want the organizations that you’re a part of to grow—whether philanthropic or community or whatever.” “If you’re not growing, you’re dying... Plan for it. Be intentional about your growth.” “As a leader, what can I control? I can control what I think, what I say, and what I do. I can’t control anybody else.” Connect & Discover Jim: LinkedIn: @jim-burns Instagram: @hartnessliving 🔥 Ready to Unleash Your Inner Game-Changer? 🔥   Mick Hunt’s BEST SELLING book, How to Be a Good Leader When You’ve Never Had One: The Blueprint for Modern Leadership, is here to light a fire under your ambition and arm you with the real-talk strategies that only Mick delivers.  👉 Grab your copy now and level up your life → Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books A Million    FOLLOW MICK ON: Spotify: MickUnplugged Instagram: @mickunplugged  Facebook: @mickunplugged YouTube:  @MickUnpluggedPodcast  LinkedIn: @mickhunt  Website:  MickHuntOfficial.com Apple: MickUnplugged Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to an in-person, Mick Unplugged. I'm in my hometown, in the upstate, and I am here with a gentleman who, when you think of the upstate of South Carolina, you think about developing, you think about community outreach. It is this guy, Jim Burns. You're listening to Mick Unplugged, hosted by the one and only Mick Hunt. This is where purpose meets power and stories spark transformation. Mick takes you beyond the motivation and into meaning. helping you discover your because and becoming unstoppable.

I'm Rudy Rush, and trust me, you're in the right place. Let's get unplugged. You can't laugh, that's the truth. I bet you. Too kind. No, no, don't know, man. It takes a village, my friend. It does take a village, for sure.

Jeremy, I know if I remember correctly, you moved here from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. you were fine, Tim? Yep. Exactly. I was actually a little town right outside of Pittsburgh called La Trobe. I've heard of La Trobe. It's a real ball players or St. Vincent College where the Steelers training camp is and Arnie Palmer was there and Mr. Roger, lots of the little beer called Rolling Rock, old 33. There's there.

So small fact, I didn't know it was La Trobe, but my youngest son who we just talked about, all right? Yeah. The South University of Miami, all posts went to St. Vincent to play football. Really? He chose Beloit College and only won two games in four years and won the St. Vincent and won, like, the D3 championship three years in a row. And I said, Kamen, are you sure that this was really the right decision for you? Life choices, right? And choices.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So, Steelers, that. Big time. Yep. I know that I raised my kids right because they're all big Steelers fans, too. All right. And the episode is over. That was the beginning and the end.

Because us Patriot fans They did good too They got six Super Bowls as well Yeah Yeah and ours are more recent But that's my We're living in the past I hear you

I hear you No right so Jim I want to get into a lot But you know I ask all my guests The very first question Is about their recourse That thing that's deeper than your why I call it like your true purpose

Yeah And it changes over time So if I always say Jim today What is your recourse Why do you keep doing what you do? And like we talked a little bit about four. It's kind of interesting just to go back and think about it. And so since we met and we started talking and doing this,

I was like, wow, it really is a great question. We did this game with kids, right? Like, why, why, dad? Why do I do the cause? And then, you know, if you're, you don't think about it as a parent, you're saying, because I said so. And so great, great, I love the question and everything. I narrowed it down to, you know, it's kind of a,

a bunch of, bunch of answers, but to try to get together, you know, my, my, my, my causes are family,

friends, faith. I call my three Fs. Yeah. Okay. I have someone knows this school. That's right. That's right.

My three Fs. And then, you know, I'm, I'm all about leadership. And, and every, I think,

you know, John Maxwell said, everything rises and falls on leadership. And then I'm, also all about growth. You know, growth, you know, you want your companies to grow. You want to have personal growth. You want to see the organizations that you're a part of grow, whether philanthropic or the community or whatever. And so I created a company that is called C LOC, it was strategy and execution excellence. And I still have the company. And I'm working with

Hartness Development. I'm the chief operating officer for Hartness. But C is still an end. And And the reason that I started that was because it's strategy, L-O-C-S-E, strategy and execution excellence. And what I saw out there through my career was that some people were really good at strategy and really good at visioning, but they didn't execute. They didn't get into the details. They weren't the type of person that wants to be collaborative, which on any big project you have to do. So they set the vision, they set strategy, and they might be fantastic at that. But when you bring that together, because you can't just be good at strategy or it's just a plan on the shelf. You can't just be good at execution because then you execute things that don't matter.

And so, and I think that's part of that's, that's one of my wise is like be able to see the bigger picture to envision what's not there and what it can become. and then bring that to fruition. Wow. I love that. And you're exactly right. I actually had this conversation with my C.O. She's going to yell at him when she here he is. Don't get a joke.

It's my Mario, it's okay. It's okay. I don't believe that people that are highly organized and plan amazing are great executions. Right. Right. It's almost like, invests up. a bad thing. Because I feed people that are great at execution missed the small details. But for whatever reason, a lot of times we put people in place and we expect

them to do it all. And we expect them to do the organizing the planning and the execution. And usually when somebody is great, again, at the organizing the planning, they failed to execute to standard because they put so much time and energy making sure that if all the things could happen we can solve or we'll be protected. Right. I'm going to get your take on that, too. Like, I see leaders fail a lot when they think you've got to be multi-dimensional. I think as I'm one of the things in personal growth, right, you've got to be self-aware.

You've got to know as a leader what you're good at, what your gifts are, right? Listen, I think if you if you don't know your strengths and your weaknesses, then then you're you're going to, you're going to create problems. Yeah. So you can be great, you can be a great manager of people and have great people skills, but you're not going to have, you don't have the financial acumen. So what I look for in leaders of the companies that I have, you got to have, you have to supplement with really smart people in those areas that you know aren't your. strength. Okay. So how do you, how do you recognize that? And that's just, that goes straight back to personal self-awareness. I can do certain things, but I might not be as good as somebody else. And when it's a big enough piece of the organization, you better make sure you hire strong people

in all those other positions. Again, something else we agree on. It's another thing. I literally just got fin of speaking to an organization about that where I said, you're spending way too much time trying to grow weaknesses in people. Right. Why not let your people accentuate where they're very strong and continue to be strong and then supplement where they're weak with another person that's strong where they're weak. And keep building your organization that way. Yeah.

Because if you as a growing thing, right, you go back, you grow. There's a growing thing. You need strong people throughout. And if you're the right leader, you're going to grow more people. They're going to put them in positions where they're leading in certain areas so that you know if you get hit by a bus, my organization, my entity is going to continue on. Exactly. And you use the word grower growth several times. I know you've said this, and it was one of the things that when I moved here, when I moved back home when I was researching Jim Burns, You had a statement that said, if you're not growing, you're dying. Talk about the power of that growth, especially in this modern world, not just for leaders or entrepreneurs, but people in general, that growth, not just the mindset, but the actual application of role.

I think, again, are you, most people are like, oh, well, I don't know how to do this or I don't know how to do that. And they try to grow in those areas. And I don't do that. grow in the areas where you have interests, where you, where you, where you have strengths. But you got to keep growing because you never, you never stop growing. You never stop reading. I'm a big, I've got like a whole reading list of things, including Mick unplugged. And, and so we've just got, we've got to continue to have the mindset that there's, I think the more than I find out about, right?

it points out how little I'd up, right? And so if you, in everything that I've been a part of has been, how do we grow? Yeah. How are we going to grow in economic development? And then there's a board chair for the local economic development corp, right? We have to dispel the, we're growing too fast and we're growing to what we've got to grow in a proper course, right? And do the things that allow us to keep the personality and keep all the advantage. of being in this area are, but we've got to continue to grow because those, you can just

look back in history at all the examples where we said, okay, no more. And then those areas just start to decline. And people start to move out and there's no jobs to supplement. And that's just a, that's just a ticket down to the downward spiral. And so from everything from your communities to your person, what are you doing, um, I plan for? Right. Be intentional about your growth and where you're going to grow and how you're going to do it and say, you know, by this time next year, I want to be here. By this and have specific measurements that you or try. Some of it is, you know, is harder to do. It's harder to measure. Yeah. But if you say, I think I heard one time he said in one of your things is like this one percent better every day doesn't work because how do you measure that? How do you measure? And I agree with that 100 percent, right? So you got to have We've got to be measurable goals to grow or you don't, right? When you hit those goals, you're, you feel empowered and you feel like I did this and it energizes me, at least me, it energizes me more. So how do we do that and keep energizing yourself to go to that next level?

I love that, do you? I love that. So again, one of the best and greatest leaders that I know is Jim Bright. When you're looking at building your teams, what are. Canada's Wonderland is bringing the holiday magic this season with Winterfest on select nights now through January 3rd. Step into a winter wonderland filled with millions of dazzling lights, festive shows, rides, and holiday treats. Plus, Coca-Cola is back with Canada's kindest community, celebrating acts of kindness nationwide with a chance at 100,000 donation for the winning community and a 2026 holiday caravan stop. Learn more at canadaswunderland.com.

Some of the values that you look in for people, because I have to assume that you're a lot like me, and I never asked you what's question before. But for me, I hire people. And then the role will become the role. But if you're not the person fit, you'll never leave the role fit. So I don't care what your accolades are. I don't care what your resume says. If you're not the right person as a human being, it's never going to work. So tell us a little bit about that.

I think there's, there's two categories. When I'm looking at hiring different people, I think there's two categories. There's very specific categories, like an HR person, I don't need a scientist to do that. You know, I need somebody that's got that emotional intelligence and that's motivational and everything like that. So you look for specific things. Accounting is another role. Like, you got to know the books. You got to know the rules.

You got to do that so that you keep everybody outside of trouble. In the development business that we've grown here, you know, it's. Yeah, I like people that have a breadth of knowledge. I like, you know, more of the Swiss Army knife kind of folks that I can put in any situation and they'll figure it out. They always have me to come back to as a resource. We were talking about this, you know, we're doing annual reviews. And I think my job as the CEO here is to make sure that everybody has the tools they need to be successful. they have the skill sets to be successful in the projects that they get assigned

and then they know that they can always get to me it might not be at a normal time you're a keep a business schedule but they can always get to me and if there's roadblocks I'm going to help them overcome those things so I think there are specific instances where you're looking for really targeted areas of expertise yeah but for the most part those are the those are the you know kind of the more administrative roles that you got to have me within a growing or an organization of some size. And then for for most of what we're doing here, man, you know, I need great project managers. And that's like the whole spectrum.

That's not, that's not they're really good at this or this is. I can take the, I can give them a project no matter what it is. And they go and knock it out. And that's, I'm extremely blessed to have some great people that work with me, that have worked with me in different organizations and everything. And that's your success as a leader depends on how well you build up everybody else. Totally agree. And you just brought up one of my favorite terms, which is something, it's actually a pillar of all of the companies that I have, which is emotional intelligence. We lead, we respect, and we interact with emotional intelligence. But in 2025, and we're heading at a 2026, I still see a lot of leaders.

I see a lot of individuals talk the emotional intelligence game, but then when it's time to apply it in a real-world scenario, they forget all those principles. Like my favorite one is self-regulation. You get that tense moment and you just answer right away or you send that email off. And then when you meet with me, it's like, no use to pause like five, ten seconds, right? get up and walk around and then come back to it when you're calm. Why are leaders, one, not leading with emotional intelligence? And what are some things, where are some tips from you that leaders can do now

to make sure that they're implementing emotional intelligence into what they do? Why are people doing it? I think it goes back to do you know who you are, number one? And what do you control, right? I'm a strong believer, you know, whether it's a stoic virtue, what is a lot of different things, but as a leader, what can I control me? And I can control what I think, what I say, and what I do. I can't control anybody else what they think they do. And so all I can do is be the example of what I expect from that. And so I think

there is. It's way too easy to sit behind the computer and you get a bad email or something that upset you and you're ready to fire something off and I think that's what you got to know I control what I say you know what I do okay what you said is upsetting to me but I'm not going to react immediately and I'm like I have a I have a big big decisions or something that really is upsetting I say we're not going to respond we're asleep on it we're going to come back tomorrow and we're going to have have regulated and gotten through all the emotions right you can't act on emotion, you act with the, whenever you act in anger, you're not going to come out, but it's not going to be the best decision that you can be.

Oh, I'll be. Right. Yeah. With, you know, the world champion, six-time world champion Patriots. We call controlling the controllables. I think Bill Belichick was the first to ever say that. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Could it be. Could be. No, but you're spot on. So for that person that's listening, that's watching right now, just like, yeah, I hear what Jim and Maker saying, but man, it's tough. What's some advice you get? I think just that whenever something upsets you that much

and before you act on something, take that breath. Take that time and just know that, like, let that be a part that's ingrained in you. to be a leader, people want in the face of, you know, you look at Churchill, right? In the face of what was almost imminent, he couldn't assure them that they were going to get through, the winters and the things like that of World War II, but his just deserve victory. So I can't promise you that you're going to be victorious. I can't promise you. But if we prepare and we set our minds and say, we're going to be victorious, we're going

to deserve it. I'm not going to tell you we're going to be victorious, but we're going to deserve it. And I think that attitude, just having that attitude, I'm going to deserve, you know, you deserve what your actions say for it. Right. And so what you think, say, and do. And so I think that's, you know, take the step back and, you know, go back to the, the philosophies and the religious thing. Act as if it was you in that. place how would you want to be responded to me totally agree you know and for me again i teach emotional intelligence i'm a student of emotional intelligence but i'm always working on it myself to you guys so we would talk about the five pillars self-awareness self-regulation motivation social skills and

empathy jim i struggle with him yeah i'm a die-hard entrepreneur i'm a serial entrepreneur i'm the person that hey put it on my shoulders it's going to get done and i drive hard. Myself, not my team, but I drive hard. I struggle. And I can admit this. I'm human. Absolutely. I struggle to understand people that don't have that same mentality. Hey, I got to drive. I got to go make it happen. But I also understand that everybody doesn't have that. So I have to make sure that I work on empathy every day. And a lot of times people think empathy and sympathy are the same thing. No, empathy means I hear you and I understand. Right. I don't feel sorry for you, but I peer you and I understand it. If you were to look at emotional intelligence, where do you work at all? I don't want to say a weakness, but what's an area for you to grow within those partners? I think it without a doubt is that that pulse, that, you know, I think that's some regulation. And everybody wants to be quick to react. and because like you said we're trying to get it done and when somebody presents you with bad news or or something that's gone wrong then are you going to take the time to figure out why it went

wrong and how you can help that individual overcott you know you're then you're the leader and your example sets the tone for the entire organization and if if you're very reactive especially lashing out, then they're going to see that and say, that's the example that I have. So what I'm always preaching myself is like, okay, you know, I might have to go about part of my morning routine is meditation. All right, man, I'm going to go back.

I've got to clear my mind. Because if your mind is clogged with negative thoughts, with retaliation, with whatever it is that you think I have to react to this way, you're not making good decisions. That's not your mess self. Yeah. And so that is, that is without a doubt. Like I, the empathy thing, I could, I could relate 100% with you, man.

But it's, the empathy is, is one of those things where, again, that's, I go back. I'm going to put myself in their shoes. And how do I, how do I do this? Yeah. Maybe it's just a phase you're going through. You'll get over it. I can't help you with that. The next appointment is in six months.

You're not alone. Finding mental health support shouldn't leave you feeling more lost. CAMH, we know how frustrating it can be trying to access care. We're working to build a future where the path to support is clear, and every step forward feels like progress, not another wrong turn. Visit camh.ca to help us forge a better path for mental health care. Acting in a calm but decisive manner, when you need to be decisive, is, I think, the key to resolving those conflicts.

I like it. I like it. So you just talked about part of your morning routine. Yeah. What else is your morning routine? Oh, man. This, I'm not, I think my wife tolerates it. I'm not sure she's, you know, encourages it.

But, but, but, you know, we, we get up and, you know, the first thing I got to do, you know, I'll drink my protein shake or whatever. Get something, you get something, get the, get my body stirred up a little bit. But then I sit down and meditate. I sit down. my daily calm app and and uh okay and i sit there with my my good friend tamara levitt and and she leads me through that 10 or 11 minutes every day and and it just i really think that uh that centers me that that gives me that sense of calm um you know that peace of mind and then i go immediately from that into my devotionals or reading some kind of philosophical thing i'm reading meditation

marcus are really is some meditations right now and but some put once you what you clear your mind, then fill it with something good. Yeah, feel it with something inspirational. I'm reading the Bible. I'm doing those meditations. I'm doing Marcus's meditation or several different books that I'll read a little bit from each time. And then, you know, once they, then you feel good. And the clan, you know, we make sure that we got everything we need for the day, that I'm

prepared for everything in the day. And then you're all, every once in a while, mix in some, you know, some exercise in there. But it depends on how much time up. Like, when you wake up, do you have that half an hour for some stretching or some doing something like that? But that's generally it. You get ready and you go tackle the dead. You know, you feel like you're ready to go. See, I need that.

I need, when I'm whole and not traveling, I have a long of mutine, but I travel enough so much. But I make sure I have a few moments of myself every morning. I make sure my phone is away and I can gather my thoughts and try to plan what I'm doing me. But I need to get a strict point. And I think, you know, Arthur Brooks, you know, Arthur, Bergen. Arthur Brooks just came out with something about his morning routine. And he's like the six things that he does for an awesome morning or whatever. And I'm not, I haven't got to all six of right, but I think it is.

And it is. A, never start, you know, never start the day by picking up your phone. Great, right? Right. Leave the phone down. Do your thing so that you do have your your time, you know. And I think just that little bit of tranquility, that little bit of very this brings that, you know, and we're all on this quest for our peace of mind as we go through our days and nights and everything. So how do you grab that at the very, very start of your day? I think is super important to me. But it's hard. It is. It is. And it's a routine. When you're not where you're usually are, a new routine and all that, you're really kind of, it's throwing me off. So what's the best thing you could do there, too? I'm telling you. Like, we're family, so I'll say this.

So I've been traveling so much, as you know. Yeah. Last week, man, I woke up and had no idea where I was. Literally, I get out of the hotel. I walk out of my room. I said, that's traveling too much, man. I have to look to see where room number I was in because I was going to go charge breakfast to the room, right? It was like, I don't, I don't know the run number I'm in.

Right. Wait a second. Where am I? Right. Literally no idea where I was. So, yeah, I have slowed down. Yeah. But we got to get caught up in that, right?

It's hard. And even if you're in your same house, everything like that, then the kid might come down or something happened or you got to get to work early or something. And I think it's just, you know, I read something that, you know, if you trade, trade your last hour at night before you go to bed with the first hour in the morning. In other words, if you usually go to bed at 11, go to bed at 10. And if you usually get up at 6, get up at 5. And that you're going to, you're going to feel much more better. You're going to feel better about what you accomplish from 5 to 6 than you do from 10 to 11. Hmm. I'm going to try it. Yeah. I haven't done it yet because I'm not a 5 o'clock in

the morning person, but you know, I could be 6. Yeah. I'm going to try it. I'll say I just do There you go. He's hot. Say, I'm up. Okay. Good. So you talked about family rope, right? Like one of the three Fs. Yeah. Talk to me about how you balance all the things that you do from entrepreneur, being CEO, being involved in the community like you are. How do you balance that to make sure that you're still a husband and you're still a dad and you're still son and uncle and all that, Jack? well let me let me first of all say i got it wrong for a long time you know and and you're like to you have to you have to um again and you get that self-awareness and i don't know what age it comes to us but you know thank thank thank goodness it came to me and um so um i i think

i don't i think the term work life balance is a myth it's totally brilliant by this integration it's integration how do you you know if you if you don't love your work if you're not enthusiastic about doing your job and going to work then then you're missing something you're missing something in your life maybe says there's an innate part in all of us that says you want to be a part of being fulfilled is is doing something that you believe is meaningful um to society yeah right and so i want to while i want to teach that to my children so i just gotten married in November. So coming up all one year

between the both of us, Nagy, I, it's completely lucked out. Between the two of us, we have six kids. So we have, we have a full house, you know, and five of them are out. One's a senior, and we're enjoying

every bit of the last year, of the last son that we got. But I think you know, you want to set an example. But then sometimes you just have to be there. I thought I'm very my my two sons that were very thing into basketball and I think I might have missed uh of their entire career I might have missed you know our handsful games right you're gonna you're gonna be that coached many many of those games um and everything

and so it's something that's will those those memories they're they'll just continuously be cherished and probably more cherished and but um it's just it's a it's a myth that you you can't you can do Absolutely. So, so as I said, got it wrong, got a prioritize. And priority number one is family, right? And then then you've got everything else that falls after that. And so you want to show the example of what, what hard and smart work can accomplish. And you also want to show them that, you know, all the kids, I don't know that when they need me, I'm going to be paid. I love that, dude. And you're right, I had to learn it, too. I mean, for me, well, my kids never said this, right? I feel like I have three of the best kids on planet. I'm going to argue with you about that.

What? What will I see is all right? I ain't about that. I bought that. Hey, Kit, we'll just do this. Yeah. If Uncle Jill gives you a redder business gift and that does, then there you go. But what I didn't ever want my kids to say, and it took a moment for me to realize this was that,

I never wanted them to say that. You're so present and available for your clients, for your team, for your peers, for prospects. I never wanted them to feel like anything else I couldn't be as present for for them. And so I had to work on making sure I was present. And a lot of times present doesn't mean physically. I mean, my kids are all out of college. I have one left in college, but picking them the phone. even though they don't talk on the phone,

but if I make sure I do that, sitting there a text message, checking in on them, just reminding them of little things and them reminding me of little things. So for everybody that's watching or listening, especially for the leaders and entrepreneurs where you're putting in 60, 70, 80 hours a week,

remember to be present, right? And again, present always isn't physical. You can emotionally be present for someone. You can spiritually, be present for someone. So for me, I had to learn that and take a moment and say, or you gotta be present. And I think, um, yeah, I, I, I, I, I really like that. I think the, um, not only as being present mean a lot of different things, but I, I, I just remember, like, you, you, you know, sometimes you, you need to be there when they need you to be there. Yeah.

And then there's times when they're like, I go, I'll need you, you know, I don't you. Yeah, yeah, you know, that's good. And, and, in some of the greatest, you know, you know, thoughts that you just evoked was my daughter is in law school and she's doing great. She's up in Washington, D.C. And there was one period of time. It was like a month. And every day she called because she had moved into her own place. And it was like, dad, the dishwasher's not barking at this.

And the garbage dispels of this. And she's calling me. And I'm like, oh, my gosh. You know that time when your kids realize, dad's not a dumb ass. you brush this right i'm going to call him and hell he'd even see if he could help you on this and that was and she even said one time she goes i know i've called you like every day and i'm like it's been the best best two weeks in my life you just you just keep doing it you keep calling me anytime anytime you need something and i think that's the you know uh you don't you can't

push um you got to give them the space and let them kind of come to you from time to time but they always know that you're there and you're ready to pick up you know at the at the at the Up of that. Absolutely. Absolutely. So, Jim, I want to, before I get to my quick five, I want to talk to you about this and give you kudos for this too. So most of you know, I board a raise Greenville, South Carolina or the upstate. But just moved back like last year. And when I moved back, everybody was asking me, do you know Jim Burns? You know Jim Burns? I go to chamber meetings. You know Jim Burns. I had events. Do you know Jim Burns? I'm like, all right, let me get to know Jim Burns. But kudos to you for being involved in the community on so many levels. I would love for you to talk to the leader and the entrepreneur that's watching realistically specifically right now. Why is community involvement so key to being a leader and being a part of what you do is entrepreneur?

Well, all right. So in my personal situation, what I saw, I have an architecture degree and a political science degree. And I was like, what am I going to do with this? And when I got out of school, and so I helped run people's campaigns. And it finally got to the point where there was an opportunity for me to run myself. And so I was always interested in making sure we put good people in positions of authority in the public. Like there's, there's, I can tell you, you know, your, you're, you're a congressman and your senators, they, they, they work hard for you. And, and, you know, we, we have some good ones. And then, but the way the rubber reads the road, you know, is your local city councils and your county councils and your school wards and everything. Because, you know, nobody gets more upset than if they don't believe their child is getting a quality education. Right. nobody gets more upset than, you know, with things in your community are going bright. And so

that was, it was another area where I thought, you know, we need some leadership. We need some things where people can believe in the people and the message that they're saying. And I was just, you know, lucky enough to fool, you know, 51% of the people through a few elections here to continue to serve. And I think, you know, it is, it is a difficult. thing. It is one of the most, you know, I tell people when they say, I serve 12 years on Greenville County Council, and I said, I decided to leave after those three terms because there's only so much, so many times you can beat your head against the wall and do it and want to come back for more, you know. And I also think, you know, I've got to say that theoretically, I think, you know, we should be able to elect the right person as long as we want to and and a grin and how we do. that practically it doesn't work the you know the um you know so from a theoretical standpoint i don't like turn limits from the practicality thing that seeing people that that becomes their identity and they don't know how to live and need who they are without being that but that's not

the right basis of our motivation to be an elected official so but i would encourage everybody you know we got to have good people in our local governments too because we're only as good as those people We're only making as good decisions as those people that we put into those offices. So I look at it as it was just a way to be involved, to be a part of the growth of Grinville and the trajectory. We all stand on the shoulders of giants, right? But the, you know, what it all. I found Grieville when I became an adult, came back in college and was here. And it was this growing and wonderful place.

But then we had areas where we weren't getting it up. And so I said, okay, it's time to, it's time to, you know, put my money where my mouth is and my time and effort into it. And so that's why I went, I served on, like you said, and it's okay to get out of being elected official too. So I've been able to serve on several boards and chaired some of these, the economic development board here for the county has been used a real big, big part of what I've wanted to accomplish because I believe the rising tide lifts all boats. We can have reasonable growth. And it preserves the quality of your life that we have and we can do it in the right way. And so I think and the, you know, that all ties in with being entrepreneurial, I think to, to your question is sometimes you got you got you got, you got you're solving problems. As an entrepreneur, I look at all these entrepreneurs as the ultimate problem solvers because they could solve not only their product problems or how to get to where, you know, the product they want or the service they want, but. they've got to solve everything else that goes along with that. And I think Greenville has such an amazing ecosystem for entrepreneurs here. And I think it's not as well known as some of the other ones. But the resources that we have here, they continue to grow. They continue to get

better. And it's just a great place for entrepreneurs. And what we know about Grego in the upstate is what made us, what got us to this level of success, at least in Greenville County, is what we pivoted from textiles to manufacturing. And we did an amazing job. And those are the giants that Zuh's shoulders were standing on. But what we realize now is that won't get, maintain the level of success that we've enjoyed. And so we have to pivot. We have to go after headquarters.

We have to go after the entrepreneurs. We have to go after research and development. and take these amazing manufacturers that are here and try to get, why not you? Why not you? And that's something that motivates me. You know, that's connecting with people. That's leading, you know, the, you know, it's a develop it, right? It's a, it's how do we find the right spot for them?

How do we show them that Greenville has everything that, you know, that company needs to be successful? That is, to me, is incredibly exciting. And it leaves a lasting impression on the community. I love it. And I need you to know this. Okay. You talked about, you know, the giants and the shoulders that we're standing on.

Brother, you now are a part of those shoulders, too. I want you to know that. I mean that because, again, when I moved back here, I heard your name more than anyone I see name. That kind of worries me. All right, Joe, I know how busy you are. I'm going to get you about here. Appreciate a quick five. And because we're at the heart in this hotel.

And this segment is going to be sponsored by Hardness Hotel. There you go. And you're trying to see and scrolling right now, there's going to be some information to Hartness Hotel, an amazing restaurant, Patterson, right over here as well, too. One of the best properties in the upstate, something that I truly support, especially, you know, you're coming from out of town. A lot of visitors who have been here are huge college of the show. It's close to the airport. You feel like you're in your own world over here, Jim and, you know. amazing job with about thank you man take it a great team effort great family the heartiness family

it just been amazing to work with and uh it is it's a it's a you know i've been blessed to work on a lot of different projects and developments in in my uh in my career and some of them you know when you get to the end you know it's kind of that's that's not exactly what we thought we were getting you know this one this one knocked it out of the park and just in in so many ways and uh we're just where it's extremely, extremely excited for what it's become and excited for the future of what it's going to become as well. Love it. Love it.

All right. Here's a quick five. All right. I won't even bash you one of the Steelers versus Catreus and who's better because we know it's the Patriots. No, well, you're a good. Asterler of all time is. Franco Harris.

Okay. Franco. Legend. Franco Harris. Yeah, man. He just, we talk about giving back to this community and everything like that. I think he just set the, he set the stand. as a gentleman, you know, as a rugged, rugged player.

And it was always trying to, trying to do everything he could for the team. But then, you know, at the end of his playing career, then he really turned into a supporter of the Tiananianna and a beloved figure in the Jen, not Pittsburgh. My wonder. My honor. Second question. Is Clemson ever going to be good again at football? So I got a son.

That's a, Joe. Josh is a junior over there. And he said that hope springs eternal over there on campus. So I'm going to go with his and say, yeah, we're going to be back next year. Okay. All right. Yeah. So you know as parents, we're not supposed to have favorite children.

Who's yours? You know, you can't ever do that. But I'll just say, as a dad, you know, you're just enormously proud of, you know, I'm enormously proud of the three kids that I have. And Kathleen, now my wife's three sons that she has to. So it's, they just, you know, when you get to this point, right, it's kind of like, this is the good fun. Now we just get to sit back and watch all the things that they accomplish and continue to just enjoy all the fruits of the hard work that we put into it and creating those, you know, helping to mold those individuals. And so, man, I just think they're all just a blessing. Love it.

I used to ask my grandfather that. He would say the one that asked me for the least about it. I'm waiting to get to that stage of, like, as I say, everyone's going to be. I'm not sure if that would be, yeah, exactly, yeah. All right. So when you need to escape or you, not even escape, you want to go somewhere nice, you and your wife and your family, like, what's a good destination for you when it's not the upstate? Where do you like vacationing or travel to?

When it's not the upstate. Well, I will tell you, we just got back, you know, we did our honeymoon over in Italy, right? And I tell you, I just, I love everything about, I'm, I have Italian heritage, and I just love everything about it. It's, it's amazing how you reconnect with it. So I think that, that, you know, for the grand, the grand one, you know, getting over to Italy. So it rest, you know, finding a place in Tuscany and just, you know, enjoying the small village or whatever, wherever you're staying. And then, but closer to home here, you know, down, going down to the beach, going down to one of the islands, Charleston, Hildenhead. Fripp, you know, all those great places where you just, you get a sense of calm and, you know, understand that there's a higher power at work and just the beauty of everything that's natural down there. All right. Last one. We're writing the story of Jen Bach, who you are and all the amazing things that you do. When that story, the last shenups is this. What do you want that legacy to be? What do you want people? to remember and know about Jimvards?

Yeah, it's so funny, you know, I've heard a sermon recently that was about the eulogy virtues, right? And so if somebody's giving you a eulogy, what do you think that would be the most important? I think humility. I think I would love to be known as someone that, you know, to let last sentence get written that it continues to learn. continues to, you know, strives to help, you know, and someone with just amazing peace of mind

and calm as we get older, you know, I find that I want things to, to bother me less. So all the, when the things that are in your 20s and 30s that you get rather up about and then you realize, you know, it's really not those things. And those imagine problems, right? Don't suffer as a stoic virtue, right? don't suffer imagine problems. And so I think just, you know, I want to live to a ripe old day. So I want to be, you know, great granddad and have all of the children running around

and grandchildren and everybody, you know. And so, you know, I think if people think of me as a humble man who continue to grow nun and loved his family, that's a life well lived. there. That's amazing. Ladies and gentlemen, this is my good friend. I appreciate you both. Thank you, man. Thank you. It's been a lot of fun. Absolutely. All the viewers and listeners, remember you're because

is your super hour. Go unleased. That's another powerful conversation on Mick Unplugged. If this episode moved you, and I'm sure it did, follow the show wherever you listen. Share it with someone who needs that spark. And leave a review so more people can find there because. I'm Rudy

rush and until next time, stay driven, stay focused, and stay unplugged.