The Ben Mulroney Show - Can we change the world? Pete Bombaci sure thinks so!

Episode Date: June 18, 2026

GUEST:  Pete Bombaci / genwell If you enjoyed the podcast, tell a friend! For more of the Ben Mulroney Show, subscribe to the podcast! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://link.chtbl.com/bms⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Also, on youtube -- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@BenMulroneyShow⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Ben on Twitter/X at https://x.com/BenMulroney Insta: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠@benmulroneyshow⁠⁠⁠ Executive Producer:  Mike Drolet Reach out to Mike with story ideas or tips at [e-mail] Enjoy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This podcast is brought to you by the National Payroll Institute, the leader for the payroll profession in Canada, setting the standard of professional excellence, delivering critical expertise, and providing resources that over 45,000 payroll professionals rely on. Welcome back to the Ben Mulroney Show. And as always, we thank you for joining us on whatever platform you find us on. It's a pleasure and an honor to spend a little bit of our day with you. Always love my chats with Pete Bambachi, who joins us now. Pete, We talk about human connection. And, you know, in this increasingly siloed off world, a lot of people hear what we say during these conversations that we have. They appreciate the need to talk to strangers and build those connections. They don't know where to start. But right now, during the World Cup and in the middle of the summer

with sporting events all over the place, it's right in front of us, isn't it? Absolutely, Ben. Sports is a great way for us to build those bridges that open the the door to conversations, whether it's somebody wearing a jersey, a hat, your team played last night, it's all around us. Yeah. Well, when I was at Duke, I mean, that's where I went to, did my undergrad, and they have a great sports, some great basketball tradition.

Long after I got out, if I saw somebody on a street, especially in Canada or when I was traveling, if I saw someone with a Duke sweatshirt or a t-shirt or a hat, it made me want to go talk to that stranger. And people should feel that, you know, when they see somebody wearing a jersey or a kit of a team that means something to them, it's almost like an invitation to go talk to them. Absolutely, Ben. I can remember I was wearing a Texas Longhorns hat in Sydney, Australia, and somebody was like, you know, hook them horns. And, you know, your Blue Devils example. But look at last year with the J's run.

Look at the World Cup. Look at, you know, the Habs recently. and for the last couple years, the Oilers, you know, they become Canada's team. And it really is that build that bridge that says, hey, what did you think of the game last night? Who are you cheering for? Who's your favorite player? All those things are really the conduit to creating the conversations that make us feel like we're part of something bigger than ourselves. Yeah, and it doesn't take a lot.

Like, I see people who will see somebody with a Montreal Canadiens jersey on and someone will say, let's go Habs, and then they walk away. But you could take, you could, instead of. keeping a set of forward motion, you can stop for 60 seconds. The person will probably stop and talk to you for those 60 seconds. And you're going to feel really good about that interaction. Yeah, no question. I'm assuming that person you said that too was probably a hat, was probably a

leaf band just wearing the abs jersey. He didn't even know how to respond. But besides that, you know, I think you're right. You know, when we start to realize the power of connection, when we start to realize that it reduces anxiety and depression, that it increases happiness and makes us feel more resilient to get through life. When we start to recognize that it's each of our responsibility to make the time to build these connections that make us happier and healthier, I hope that more people will become conscious and say, look, when that guy says,

hey, what did you think of the game last night or who's your favorite player, that we all make the time to create those conversations. And look, you know, you've said before that there are benefits beyond, you know, the endorphin rush you might get from a positive interaction. You know, you've said exercise is beneficial, but the social relationships that we form while playing sport are probably just as beneficial. Yeah, absolutely, Ben.

Like, today I think our conversation was really, really around the idea of cheering for a team and whether we do it at home and we're wearing our jersey with our family or, you know, our kids or maybe our neighbors, whether we go to a bar or restaurant or if you're lucky enough, Maybe you go outside the ACC, outside the Bell Center, wherever you might go when we put ourselves in community to cheer for our team. Because usually we say we won, those are powerful moments. But then you take the other side, which is, and I think now because we don't play on the streets and our young people don't often have those spontaneous activities, when we get the opportunity to play a team sport, whether it's soccer or baseball or hockey or whatever, let's recognize.

yes, you're right. The physical activity is important, but maybe the more important thing with social media and distraction and hyper-competitiveness is actually the relationships that we are creating through those sports that we play each and every day. Look, one of my most memorable moments in sport last year was going to a baseball game, and I was in the second row, really lucky to have those seats. The guy in the front row, I was with my sons, and the guy in the front row, he and his buddy, refused to sit. Now, I don't know why they needed to stand the entire time. There was no one in front of them.

And so they were in front of my sons. And so I asked them at some point if they would sit. And things started getting testy between us. And I did not like the way this interaction was going. So at the earliest possible convenience, I bought them both a beer. And it changed the dynamic completely. Like they were, yeah, they were still jackasses, but they were charming jackasses after that. And we had a lot of fun together.

My sons liked the interactions as well. But it just took a slight pivot. It doesn't have to be. You have to buy everybody a beer. But just changing that conversation a little bit can create a long-lasting memory. Oh, Ben, I so love how you responded to that. Rather than getting angry and getting into a battle or a scrap over, hey, would you please sit down for the 37th time? It's you were like, hey, what if I actually just, you know, created a kind gesture, bottom of beer,

and they were realizing, hey, you weren't trying to be a jackass by responding the way you did. It's like your kids wanted to watch the game. And I think deep down inside, when we treat each other as human beings, when we recognize that we don't know what's going on in other people's lives, we don't know what's going on in their day, when we start to realize if we are all just a little more connected to each other, that we start to realize, hey, we are all in this world together and none of us get out of it alive. So let's have some fun while we're here.

Well, yeah, and I would challenge people listening the next time you ask somebody, hey how you doing actually don't challenge yourself to listen to the answer and respond in a way that demonstrated you listen to the answer that's it that's the only that's the challenge it'll probably take you 45 seconds and the reaction that you get when you listen and then respond to what that person said they they're probably going to be surprised that you actually listened and cared and that you get to take that with you you get to take that moment where where you saw in that person's eyes that they were listened to in a moment that they did not expect to even be heard. And you'll feel really good from it.

Beautiful words, Ben. At the end of the day, there's something called active listening. An active listening says that, you know, before you go to jump in with your story about that exact same situation, that you ask another question, you actually demonstrate that you, as you say, listened and that you want to go deeper into their experience versus sharing your own experience. And if we all, you know, we've all heard the old line, two ears, one mouth, if we all took more time to listen to really, you know, in the famous words of Ted Lassow, be curious, not judgmental. Let's ask more questions. And let's, rather than trying to share

our experience so quickly, that's how we build connection. That's how we build friendship, relationships. And that's how we work, make the world a better place. That scene in Ted Lassow when they're playing darts is, I mean, honestly, if I could watch that, that once a month. It makes me feel so good. And listen, we're talking about sport. We're talking about human connection. I don't think there's a television show that demonstrates it more than Ted Lassow.

Yeah, we are big fans of Jason Siddakis and the writing of Ted Lassow. I think it should be mandatory watching for every human being because, you know, in every situation, whether it's the workplace or the classroom, you know, everybody's living their own lives. But what I love that Ted did was said, look, I don't even understand what's going on. on the field. Yeah. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to treat each of you to be the best that you can be.

How can I support you be a better person? And when we all feel like we're seen, valued, and heard, then we will run through the wall, whether it's for a boss, whether it's for a coach, whether it's for our family. It's we all just want that sense of safety, security, support, inclusion, belonging, all those words. And it all comes from taking the time to get to know each other. Real quick, if people have been actively listening, and they want to get involved with Genwell.

How can they? They can head over to genwell.ca. Find out more about the movement. But this week is actually Seniors Loneliness Awareness Week. So head over to Loneliness Awarenessweek.ca. And tell us how you are getting connected with a senior this week. But let's not just do it on the weeks of our campaigns. Let's do it every day of the year because that's how we change the world.

Since the dawn of time, humanity has been at war. It has shaped the world around us. And if it somehow feels like we've been here before, it's because we have. I'm David Boris. I'm a military historian, and on my new podcast, Hostile History, I take us inside history's most defining wars and rebellions. From Genghis Khan to the war in Iran, find out how the past can explain the present. Search for and follow hostile history on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you find your favorite podcast.