The Learning Leader Show With Ryan Hawk - 546: Tim Ryan - Giving Stump Speeches, Using Meditation & Mindfulness, Playing Quarterback, Listening to Dave Matthews Band, and Running for President?

Episode Date: September 24, 2023

Text Hawk to 66866 to become part of "Mindful Monday." Join 10's of thousands of your fellow learning leaders and receive a carefully curated email from me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right... Full show notes at www.LearningLeader.com Twitter/IG: @RyanHawk12   https://twitter.com/RyanHawk12 Gratitude – For Tim's last speech as a congressman, he said "It's an honor to be a citizen of the United States. I think we get out of this mess we're in, the polarization, the hate, the anger, the fear… The first step out of that is with gratitude." Tim opens by sharing the impact his high school football coaches had on him and why playing quarterback at John F. Kennedy High School prepared him for life as a leader... In 2002, Tim ran for the United States House of Representatives for the 17th District.  Tim was initially seen as an underdog in a 6-way primary. He was elected at age 29. "There is an exhausted majority in the country, and they feel like they don't have any political home at all," Ryan said, describing his target audience as those who have been "checking out." "That's maddening because that gives a bigger voice to those forces of division and hate and anger, so we want to build an organization that welcomes these people to participate." AOC endorsed Tim for his Senate run in 2022. And he said, "It's not helpful here. Nor did I seek it." David Axelrod said about Tim's 2022 Senate Run that "he's running the best campaign in the country. And the best campaign in the country may not be enough." "Dave Matthews has inspired me to live a better life, to do what's right, that it's okay to care about each other." "There may be some things where we don't agree, but I think we need to have decent people that care about us in government, and I think Tim is a decent man." -- Dave Matthews "I'm honored to have Dave Matthews, one of my absolute favorite musicians, in the Buckeye State to fire up our team and bring this thing home." Being in the moment – The campaign trail is grueling. Every day is a new town with new people. And you need to get up and give your stump speech, listen to people, and tell compelling stories. His mantra of "I am only in control of this stump speech," and Tim's ability to stay in the moment was critical and is a key reason why he's done so well over the years. Tim's grandfather… And the impact he had on his life. "He was there." Regardless of the weather or whatever he had going on, Tim felt his grandfather's presence as a servant leader. This is an excellent reminder for us as leaders that our first job is to show up consistently for those we are leading.

Jim Collins told me on episode number 216 that the single greatest determining factor in my long-term success or failure would be my who, who I chose to surround myself with. And that conversation has had a huge impact on how I've designed my business. And one of the most important elements that I provide is my learning leader circle. and I open up applications one time per year, and that time is now at learning leader circle.com is where you can apply. Now, this is the most inefficient element of my business because I personally read every application and I personally choose who will go on to the next round and then who will ultimately be one of the 12 people to be in my next Learning Leader Circle.

And I only do it one time per year, and that time is now. If you are intentional about surrounding yourself with others who will push you, challenge you, make you think differently, if you're willing to self-reflect and do some work, this could be for you. And you can apply at learningleaders circle.com. We meet once per month on Zoom and then we meet one time per year in person for our leadership retreat for members of my learning leader circle. So if you'd like to apply, go to learning leader circle. Welcome to the Learning Leaders Show, presented by Insight Global. I am your host, Ryan Hawk. Thank you so much for being here.

Text, Hawk to 666866 to become part of Mindful Monday. You, along with tens of thousands of other learning leaders from all over the world, will receive a carefully curated email for me each Monday morning to help you start your week off right. You'll also receive details about how my book, The pursuit of excellence will help you become a more effective leader. Text, Hawk to 666866. Now, on to tonight's featured leader. Tim Ryan is an American politician who served as a United States representative for Ohio from 2003 to 2003.

Tim is also a bestselling author of multiple books, including Healing America and a mindful nation. He has launched a new and a new. called We the People, which is dedicated to fostering unity, reform, and reconciliation in American society. During this conversation, we discussed why Tim got into politics and how politics can be fixed. Dunting. What he learned playing quarterback and how that impacts him as a leader today. We discuss why we love the Dave Matthews Band, and Tim shares why he's standing up for the quote, exhausted majority and how that goes far beyond being a Republican or a Democrat. Ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy this wide-ranging conversation with Tim Ryan.

All right, Tim, it's so good to have you here on The Learning Leaders Show. Welcome, man. Thank you. Great to be with you. Let's start with something, one of the more important elements of your history that we share, actually. And I love finding uncommon commonalities. One of them is we both were quarterbacks for our high school teams. And I'm curious, Tim, when you think about your life as a leader, because you've been in so many leadership roles, especially over the past 20 years, what did you, what do you draw from your time as a quarterback at John F. Kennedy High School into your life as a leader for the

state of Ohio? God, almost everything. I mean, I can trace back anything I've, like, learned the hard way that helped shape me or a mindset or approach. it's being a quarterback in a football town like Youngstown area of Warren Warren Harding produced so many great athletes we were the Catholic school in Trumbull County and in that media market so like you throw an interception in front of 5,000 people that really sucks and then your coach wants to watch the film at that point the VHS tape in front of the team keep replaying it

really driving in the lesson not trying to hurt your feelings but like trying to drive in the lesson so you don't make that mistake again. I think being able to take the hits, standing for what you believe in, even if you do make a mistake, trying to get the team on the same page, knowing when to slap someone on the rear end, it's okay, and know when to like maybe give them a little tough love

that you can do better. That's, you're an extension of the coach. But I felt really blessed. I had my football coach and my basketball coach were pretty hard-nosed guys from Toledo. And they knew how to get up in you to get your attention. So that kind of stuff made me, I think, ready for the political world that I was going to enter. The world of politics is a weird world.

I don't know a ton about it, but I did start following it mildly. Well, as a fellow Ohio, and I've been following you for a while, you travel the world. I travel all over the place, giving speeches and doing Q&As and all this stuff at the end. And I found that the majority of people are not on the far ends of the spectrum. although those people seem to be the loudest. The ones on the far left or the far right seem like the loudest, the media maybe picks them up the most. But that's not where the majority is.

I feel like you're a guy who has stood up for guys like me, the majority of people. How do you feel about that and the whole media coverage and just Americans and Ohioans in general for where we are and where you are? Yeah, I feel like the phrase, the exhausted majority is exactly what I identify, where you identify, I think a lot of people. And I think the jig is up as far as what the media is doing. They need the conflict, so they need the extremes because that gets eyeballs. That gets your amygdala all jacked up. It throws you into some

level of fight or flight mode. And so your eyeballs go on the TV and then they sell commercials and they try to make money off it. But I think people are kind of calling out that system now. because it's broken. Like all these institutions in one way or another really broken. And so the media has really, I was in Congress for 20 years. I got in right after the Iraq war. And so the country was certainly divided on that issue. But we were still passing budgets.

The government wasn't getting shut down. It wasn't hard to say, but it wasn't as polarized as it even as today. Like during a war that a lot of us thought we shouldn't be into. And to think that it's gotten that far down the track with this polarization, I think it's largely media driven. It's the algorithms on our social media where you start off kind of a moderate one way or the other and you keep going down the rabbit hole and they keep filling your inbox up or your social media feed up with certain things.

Next thing you know, you're in the 10% on one side or the other, 15% on one side or the other. And it leaves everybody freaking exhausted. And I think that's where I'm hoping that a new kind of politics can emerge because we're all on the same page. We just don't know we're on the same page. And once we can kind of figure that out, I think we can move forward together. Well, it's interesting that another guy who's from up around where you're from, who I thought I would also vote for president along with you. And that's Anthony Gonzalez.

And because of, but he got run out. And I'm like, this guy is reasonable. Now you're a Democrat. He's a Republican. and I love both you guys. It is a reasonable guy. And the thing I fear is that reasonable moderate leaders are not going to be in politics anymore.

You're not currently, although I think that's your days are not over. Anthony seems like he doesn't want to do it anymore, although I haven't talked to him, but from here, that bums me out because I think that's the type of people that represent the majority, the exhausted majority. I want those people in politics. I want them running for president. That's what I think most of us do, but it doesn't seem like it's possible right now. It's really hard.

It's really hard. And I loved Anthony Gonzalez. He was the buddy of mine in Congress. And I just, my heart broke for him and his family because here's a guy, athlete, successful business person. Like the, and him and I didn't agree on everything. But he's the kind of guy you want in politics. He's the guy you want in a room negotiating a deal. What can we do together to move the ball down the field?

and the guys getting death threats because of what I thought was a really courageous stand that he took politically against the masses. And yeah, now you lost another good one there. And I watched that happen over my course of my career. People just kind of bail out. You can go to the private sector and you could make more money. And people think, well, you're in Congress that you're somehow like scamming the system. And there are a lot of people in there that need to be out. I think we need generational change on both sides of the aisle.

new leaders on both sides of the aisle, but most people could do a heck of a lot better outside of politics than in. It's really a service. I went to Catholic school for 13 years, like social gospel, service, helping others, like a mission-driven life. To me, that's why I got into politics. I saw it as an extension, in some ways of sports, because you got the competition, you got the friction, that stuff. And I'm half Irish, so the old Irish saying, is this a private fighter? Can anyone get into it? So I didn't mind that aspect of it, but it's about service. And it really is about trying to do the right thing. And when you start punishing people with death threats and to the level for doing what they thought was best in that moment based on the evidence and the situation they were dealing with and you run them out of town, then the mob's run into place, not the elected officials.

Let's go back to 2002. So you ran for United States House Representatives for the 17th District. I read you were initially seen as a pretty big underdog in a six-way Democratic primary. What did you do, man? How did you do it? How did you come from the underdog to win and then do it for 20 years? It was so fun. I looked back on that campaign. I was 29 years old. I ran a very similar campaign for the state Senate in Trumbull County, but then they redid the districts and they put this new district together. and I was 29. I was listening to way too much Dave Matthews band. Impassum.

We got to go, man. We got to go. Joseph Campbell. My foundation was laid and I went for it. And I basically, I didn't have any money. But I got my buddies. My mom's Italian. I've got this big Italian family.

And we just put a machine together. And we were literally standing on this was our big move. I got the O.DOT, Ohio Department of Transportation map. And I found the most, the busiest intersections in the congressional district. And we put teams of people with huge yard signs, Ryan for Congress. And we didn't have money to do anything, but we were buying these big signs so that we could be all over the district at morning rush hour and evening rush hour. Rain, sleet, snow. And I remember one day it was snowing and my team's like, well, we can't go out there today. I was like, that we're going today's the day you go and i heard more people like they're honking people were bringing

us coffee they're like if you're willing to stand out here in the snow to get this job then you'll work hard when you get it and that's how we did it we had some cool ads and stuff but we didn't have a lot of money to put them on but i think it was people seeing me out really hustling i think they work hard they want their member congress to work hard and we kind of captured everybody's imagination and and we're able to hold it for the next 20 years. Man, and I've found, too, over watching you on TV and give tons of speeches that you have a knack as a speech giver, as a communicator, as being both relatable and also really intelligent and a good storyteller. Those are skills to develop that I think all leaders would benefit. What have you done intentionally to get so good as a communicator?

I read a lot. Yeah, I read a lot, listen to a lot of books, get my mindful Monday emails from you, guys like you. I've read a lot of like John Wooden books over the years, Bill Jackson book over the years, watch a lot of videos like old Joseph Campbell videos. And I watched him tell stories as a teacher because I think political leaders really should be teachers. Lots of Kennedy stuff, Robert and Jack Kennedy, Martin Luther King. and just like Jimmy Valvano. Like was one of my, I had a three, four years span where I was just, I was channeling Jimmy Valvano on during my campaign speeches and on the stump.

Ordinary people can do extraordinary things. It was one of my favorite. And you go back and watch Valvano. Just speak from your heart, speak from passion. Don't feel like you've got to have everything right. Like this is not a course at Oxford where your grammar's got to be proper all the time and that kind of thing. So those kind of things help me develop.

in the last couple years, became really good friends with Steve Schmidt, who became a buddy of mine, Steve Rand McCain's campaign. And he's helped me a lot as far as like trying to distill things down. But what I found was like you probably do when you speak to is like I tell stories that are meaningful to me that and I'm a huge Dave Matthews fan and I've seen a lot of concerts. And at one point I thought, I kept wondering like, how does he sing the same songs? over and over with so much passion, Springsteen, like these guys over and over again. And it just hit me one day at one of the concerts, because these songs mean something to him. They come from his experience, the depths of who he is, and he could tap right into that

because that's what the song's about. He can channel those emotions and stuff. And I learned from that a few years ago. And I was like, that's why these, like, I tell this story about my grandfather, who was my guy, like my complete leg guy. I almost tear up every time I tell the story. And it's like I'm not acting. I'm thinking about my grandfather.

I'm thinking about the joy I had being. I'm getting a little like teary eye just thinking about it now. Like because it means something to me. So I think from a speaker perspective, whatever the topic may be, tell those stories that are meaningful because that will go hard to the members of the audience more than just kind of the words. You're painting the picture and you're capturing the emotion.

And I think I started to do that in the Senate campaign because I've been doing it 20 years. I think it came to a head and I was clearly at my best, which is a whole other topic because I was at my best and didn't win. So it was like it doesn't mean you're not at your best. I remember watching you were on the TV show, The Circus, which is on Showtime. And getting very excited about you. And the first thing I said to my wife, I remember watching the show is that you got to watch this guy. he seems more genuine than just about any of the other politicians I'm seeing. And I think that's what most people want because we see so many that don't seem genuine,

that just say, okay, the polls say, I got to say this. Or we could name it a lot of different ones that say that guy is not genuine. I feel like people get that sense from, yes, you may have ran against some of them. I feel like people get that, they get that sense. though, that this guy seems like he's speaking what he thinks, what he believes, not based on what a staffer said, well, this poll said this. So you need to say this in order to align. And those are the ones who are just kind of moving around saying whatever a poll says. And we're not dumb.

We can sense when somebody is being genuine and speaking from the heart with passion as you talk about, as opposed to the ones who are speaking based on talking points or a poll. Yeah. Well, again, going back to being a quarterback, like you've got to develop. And it took me time to do this too. It's not like I just was born like this, but you've got to have the internal strength. You've got to have the guts to know that I'm going to say something maybe a little bit negative about the president and that I'm going to get a call from the White House. And like, you got to be okay with that. The president, you share that you share the same party, right.

Yeah, of course. And so you've got to be willing to take those hits in order to continue to push what you believe in, what you think is most important. It's higher than the office. I'm a free American. I need to speak my piece to. I'm trying to be a leader. I think this is the direction we need to go in. And you learn that through sports.

I tease all the time. Like sports, you get the physical hits. In politics, you get the emotional hits. But it's all preparing you for real life. And I think it did that for me. And to be able to tell those interest groups no, to be able to say no. I think that's what a lot of leaders are lacking today, that inability to say no. And it's like, I love you.

I care about you. I agree with you on 90%. But no, it's almost like you got to deal with your kid. You want to give your kids everything. You say no. Like I said no to my kid the other day. And Andrew's like, it was something stupid. She was like, why did you say no?

I said, because he needed to hear no. He heard too many yeses in a row. So he needs to get used to hearing no every now and again. It would be good for him. Yeah. Well, speaking of your childhood, you said your grandfather was your guy. What is it about him that he was your guy and why was he such an important leader for you? He was there.

My parents got divorced and an amazing story that years later I reconciled with my dad. And now my dad's my guy. But there was a period of time where he was a real example for me. and looking back after his passing and reflecting on his life, he was a servant. He was the usher at 1045 Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church. He ran the beer tent at the summer festival. There wasn't a game I played in from Little League flag football up to being the star of the high school football team. Where I didn't look in the stands and he wasn't there.

He was just rain, sling snow, or hail. My grandma would stay home and listen to it on the radio, but grandpa was there. And I just think that to me is like he was treasure of his union, steel worker union. Like he lived a life of service and he was happy and they would go dancing on Saturday night. They had all the big bands come through town and they would go dance and get dressed up and dance on Saturday night and have a few drinks. And he had joy. Like he had joy at the deepest levels and real joy. And to me that's really someone I want to try to be like and try to model.

but the fact that he was there and present and set an example, not through like a lot of like getting in your face or that kind of, but just like, yeah, grandpa had to figure it out. He prayed the rosary. He had a contemplative aspect to his life where I'd go down to his house and ride my bike.

They were about two blocks down. I lived in Niles, Ohio, and it's kind of an Italian community. And I'd just ride my bike down there. And he'd be in there sometimes with my grandmother praying the rosary. radio was off, TV was off. That was just contemplative practice, which I think stuck with me too. Your parents divorced when you were seven.

Critical age. That's tough. I heard it was messy. How did that impact you as a kid? I don't think you realize it really till later. A lot of like, I'm going to go out and shoot baskets until my fingers freeze off. Like, I'm going to shovel the driveway. I had a tire hanging in the neighbor's swing.

throwing balls i think i i pretty much stuffed it down until through those years really through and then practicing the craft that i was trying to be good at and got lost into and i was the youngest child too so somehow that always the older child takes more of the brunt because you're half paying attention anything going on anyway but you know i think it it had it did affect me and i think i it also as i think again the mindset it provides a lot of opportunities for me to have all these other father figures. My coaches all of a sudden had a more prominent role. My buddies' dads had more of a prominent role. So it gave me like a portfolio of people to and dads to like look at and learn from. And so it was really, it was kind of

hard. And then you reflect back and like, yeah, I kind of had a little bit of a hole there in my heart. And so when I got married, literally my wife, without me knowing, went to my dad and my stepmom and had lunch and like, how do I make this right? Because Tim should not go the rest of his life without knowing his dad. And now, like, my dad is my nine-year-old's best cheerleader and fan. And like, it's just, it's come full circle, but it all ends up being a real example of an impact

that one person can have in another person's life. And my wife did that for me. So it was hard. And it probably led to a lot. lot of my ambition and wanting to grow and prove myself. But fortunately, we were able to heal the wound. Amazing story. I appreciate you, Sharon, especially what a cool thing your wife did. With that said, it seems like you credit some of those hardships for you being as successful as you are today, a 20-year congressman, potentially future president. I don't say that lightly.

I mean that. So an amazing accomplishments. Now, as a dad, dad, you don't obviously want to put your children through that experience. However, it hardened you. It gave you ambition. It certainly made you tougher and more resilient. How do you pass that or how do you bring up kids to have that in their life, even though they probably have it far easier than you did? I just finished watching the show succession. Have you watched this? It's basically, and I'm looking at the kids who obviously the dad did very well, and it was the most dysfunctional family you'd ever want to meet. Right.

And it is food for thought for like if you do well and you're doing okay, like you try to make it a little bit easier. But I don't know. I haven't quite figured it out. But again, like I said, saying no, you can't get everything you want. You got to work hard and you got to push, I think push them. There's a lot of successful athletes, pro athletes who came up pretty well. Their parents did okay.

But you're able to discipline them. I think that's going to be a big part of it, like making sure that. But fortunately, my wife's from right outside of Youngstown. Her dad was a steel worker. She grew up poor. I'm from middle class in Niles, both in the Rust Belt areas. And we have that like, you know, you're not saying that to me. That ain't happening. Don't make me take action here. And so I think we got good parameters, especially around Brady, our youngest. And I think it's just being disciplining them and making sure they can't get away with stuff.

That to me, that's the key is because I've saw, I'm sure you grew up with people too. high school. This guy, good athlete, got away with this when he was in seventh grade, and ninth grade he got away with that. Cops were involved, but they got him out of it. And then in high school, a couple more times, and they kept getting them out of it. Kids dead now. Or in jail. That's just what happens. And keeping that, I think, front of mind is like, you're not doing them any favors. You know, you got to let them sometime. I feel like finding ways for them to experience hardship is really good. I'm a little bit biased or a lot biased, but sports has played such a great role. I love, I have an old daughter who plays volleyball,

and we just played a five set match last week. That means we played five sets, and at least two of those sets, they lost 25 times, right? You lose 25 points in a set. Think about how many times they have to bounce back from losing and from adversity. And I can't create that. And I think sports is a great way working, right, like having to get up and work can pay for things and the fact that we're not going to bail you out. We're going to say no. I just love that how it builds this natural resistance where you messed up or you, because of you, your team lost that set.

Like I love seeing them in these pressure situations where they, like obviously I'm rooting like crazy for them to do well. But when they don't, it is an amazing opportunity for them to have to be resilient and to bounce back. And I think you can draw from those skills, much like I know you did as a quarterback when you get sacked or you throw a pick. and it feels so bad but you can't wallow and sit there you feel sorry for yourself you got to get right back up and do it i feel like i personally draw from that every day from my coaches from

those experiences that has helped so much with everything that i've done since those days playing sports yeah and then reinforcing their ability to overcome and to bounce back like highlighting that shining a light on that and we tried to do this because we moved to columbus and tried to get brady down here and some camps and stuff. So we had to walk into the Dublin football camp and did know a soul. And I walked them in. I was the dad and I stayed, but he had to go do it. And then he made some friends. And then after a couple days later, I'm like, look, you didn't know anybody here. Now you got a couple of buddies. Like, you're good at overcoming these kind of obstacles. And I'm already, you plant those seeds. You got to water them. I heard Matt Campbell this week, Iowa State coach,

Ohio boy. Half time they were at the end of the first quarter. I was beating them up and they interviewed him and on the sideline he said what a great opportunity for our young people to grow

right now playing against this team. And I thought that's why he's a great football coach. What a great opportunity for our young kids to grow. And I think that kind of mindset and then highlighting when the kids do well because you're going to get more of what you highlight, you're going to get less of what you ignore. And that's why sometimes parenting so hard

because it's just an art form of like, you take a pass on that. You can't swing at every pitch, let it go. Maybe the kid just said something like you don't want to be in his face. But when they do something right, you keep the praise on and just keep that going. Speaking of a time when felt like you did everything right and still lost, Dave O'Don-Axorod said of your 22 Senate run

that you were, quote, running the best campaign in the country. And yet, though, the best campaign in the country may not be enough. What a wild run. It had to be from the inside. And I was watching it from kind of afar, but as a fellow Ohioan, I was interested. What was that like running the best campaign and not necessarily getting the support from a national level, I guess is how I'd put it, that could have maybe propelled you over the top. But you lost. You end up losing.

Can you just share what that whole process was like and what you learned from it? Yeah, it's wild. No one can really capture it. I don't think unless you're actually in it at the campaign level or at the candidate level or the family level. But it's it's grueling. It's training camp every day. You got to get up and you got to grind. Ohio is a huge state. 88 counties, 12 or 13 different media markets, a lot of different interest groups and a lot of ground the cover. You get down in the southern Ohio and you're like, why am I in West Virginia right now? Well, we got to get over to Steubenville and there's only one way to get there. Why are we in Kentucky? That's how big of a state it is one of my people I follow like you is Ryan Holiday with the Daily Stoic and just love his books and they've read all of them, all his Stoicism books. And there's a saying, you're like, you're only in control of what you're in control of. And you have to emotionally be in that spot because if not, you're going to bleed energy, you're going to be off message and you're going to be worrying about a bunch of shit. You have no control over at all. And so my whole thing was like, I am only in control of this stump speech, the story. So I'm going to be in that

moment. I'm going to be in that story about Grandpa Rizzy, and I'm going to tell that story the best way I know how to tell that story. When I do that, it taps into my emotions and it becomes a good stump speech. And then trying to navigate the, how much money you have, it's like you have to know about that because you have to make decisions based on it. But you can't live like, I'm really pissed at Chuck Schumer right now. so I get on the stump in front of 200 people in Dayton, and then I'm like an angry candidate. That's not going to work. It's like I called Schumer.

I asked for help. I called him again. Whatever, it wasn't coming. So you can't like if somebody gets hurt during your game, your top running back, it's like you don't give up. You should be playing.

Put somebody else in and let's go do the best we can. That's some people are going to make excuses later why you win or lose. And so really the biggest lesson I take away is that just be in the moment. just don't take the bait. And everyone's trying to get you mad. Like, well, I can't believe these guys in D.C. It's all right. We don't need them.

We're going to win without them. Let's go. I need your help. We've got to put yard signs up. And just staying positive. I just, I'm a firm believer in that you do create your own reality. But positivity breeds positivity. Like attracts like.

And if the leader is negative and pissy and angry, then you're going to probably attract supporters that are angry, pissy, and negative too. And that's not a very good campaign. It's the happy warrior. And I just want to try to, and really like trying to translate this and those of us who are athletes and then you have families like, how do you translate that in your personal life? How do you translate that into being a better husband, being a better dad? That's really the trick, I think. And that's kind of what the last eight or nine months have been, taking these skills that I've developed in the campaign trail and try to do better at home. What is the average day like on the campaign trail?

Are you sleeping on buses, getting up, speech, Q&A is talking, go to the next spot, same speech, Q&A. Like, I've never fully experienced it. What's it like? Yeah, pretty much. Interviews, sometimes local TV, sometimes print, sometimes national. But, you know, your job as the candidate is pretty much to just you stay on message. You're the mouthpiece.

You're the vision. You're the energizer. and let other people kind of handle the details and you got to let go of some of the, like you can't have necessarily an opinion on everything. Sometimes the head coach doesn't call the plays. You can weigh in and now and again, but you've got to let the people do their jobs. So yeah, my job was to try to be semi-rested and try to be in the zone.

I was doing breathing techniques all day long, meditation all day long, little naps, power naps, trying to eat okay, but trying to be relaxed and too. I'd have a couple drinks at night just to kind of like unwind, debrief, chill out, listen to some music, like just stay in a good spot, like was my job. And I think it worked out okay. Axelrod is one of my favorites. So for him to give high praise is meaningful.

Do you give this like same speech over and over? Do you tweak it based on where you are? When you say stump speech, obviously I've heard of stump speech, I get it. But is it like the same basic talk each time? I would always have a handful of stories that I wanted to tell. And always the grandpa story was kind of the main story because it was about service. It was about giving back. It was very nostalgic. So I could tell about my Catholic grandfather, but I would have, you know, Jewish people come up to me and say, I had a grandfather just like that or other people in different religions. It wasn't about the religion. It was about the service. It was about the person. And so I would have a handful of stories that I would come. kind of interchange. Talking to a labor union, might have a good story about that or business group or kids. But a lot of them were sports stories too. I've had more than one woman come up to me and say, enough of the sports stories, Ryan. I was like, well, our girls are playing sports too.

Like these are life lessons, which can't please everybody. But yeah, a handful of stories, a few main key points that you want to make. And then always keep it loose. I know you do this when you speak too. You got to keep it loose because there may be a joke in there that like you can make that really is disarming. Yeah. Yeah, of course. And that makes it, that interaction is what really makes it go. And I think that was a lot of fun. I'd have a couple of jokes that I would tell along the way. But like keeping it open. And but those, yeah, just having a handful of stories. And then you interchange them depending on where you are, what your mood is or what you want to what you want to say. And then my wife was there. My kid was there. I'd make sure I would.

I was teasing them a little bit along the way, so they were having fun and try to embarrass them in front of the crowd. That was always a goal of mine. One of the things when you're running for something, whether it's president or a Senate seat, is it helps to have endorsements sometimes. I read that AOC endorsed you for your Senate run in 2022, and you responded and said, that endorsement's not helpful here, nor did I seek it. Pretty, I don't feel like I see people talk like that. Someone from their own party endorsed you, and you said, I don't want that endorsement. What was that all about? Is that accurate? And why did you say that? The honest answer is like the Democratic brand in Ohio is really bad. It's a really, the perception of a Democrat in Ohio now is not good at all.

We've had candidates run as non-affiliated for the Supreme Court and win that were Democrats, but they didn't have a D by their name and they would win. And then they changed the law. And two years later, that same candidate ran again for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, but had the D-Byer name and got trounced just because of that. And so I didn't want to run necessarily as a Democrat. I am a Democrat. I have my issues with the party. I think AOC and some of those other justice Democrats, like they don't always represent what I represent. President Biden has made some decisions that I don't necessarily agree with. I want to be able to speak my peace. And I don't want to be lumped in with everybody else because I feel like I was trying to get the party to be in a different spot. And it happens from time to time in political parties.

I think the Republican Party is in the same boat right now, where you have guys like me who are trying like, okay, let's get back to the economic issues that 90% of the people care about. And we've got to stand up for people's rights and all of that stuff. And I was very clear on my positions. It wasn't like I was hedging. But I don't have time to, like, defend someone's endorsement of me. I just, I didn't have time for that.

was getting me off mission, off track. And so we had to be very clear about that. We mentioned this at the top, but do you feel like there is a path back for those of us in the exhausted majority, as you say, to have guys like you, guys like Anthony Gonzalez and others like you who probably speak, again, for the majority, but we're more in the, I don't even like saying it, like more independent, more in the middle? Is there a way back for guys like you to get into there? And if so, like, what's that way back?

what's great about a republic democracy like we have there's an opportunity to replenish to renew we've been in these moments before civil wars and civil rights and all of these issues where we've been able to kind of break free and kind of renew ourselves and i started a group called we the people we're kind of organizing around the 250th anniversary of the country the birthday 200th 250th birthday, I guess you would say. We're lucky we made it this far. And we want to try to say, okay, look, we the people in the exhausted majority want something different. We want to be able to disagree with each other around really important things. These are complicated issues. The progressives aren't right on everything. The conservatives aren't right on everything.

But how would we know if we're not working together to really get to the best decision? I think anybody in business or other areas, coaches, man in the coach's locker room, man, do they have it out, right? On strategy, on how we're going to move forward. There's some nasty-ass fights in those coaching rooms where they're going through it and they're trying to figure it out. Guess what? The good coaches, the good organizations, they come because of that friction, they come to the best strategy. And I remember my high school coaches, they would get in fights about stuff all the time and they'd be mad at each other. But they came through the other side. We had always had a really good strategy moving forward. And so we the people

and you can go to We the People 250.us, if you want to be a part of this, we believe we want to do two things. We want to say there's a place for you to land in the exhausted majority. You don't have to go to one political party or the other. We're going to have a lot of Republicans, a lot of Democrats, all working together. And then the other thing we want to do, which I think is lacking, is that we want the innovations happening in the country to be highlighted. Now, as we talk, it's toxic politics, what's going to get eyeballs, who hates who, who's making fun of who. There's like a handful of really interesting, cool things happening in the country that we're going to do compelling videos on,

and then we want to organize the people in that spot. So one of them's like, how are healing vets with MDMA, right, and psilocybin? Like, it's healing veterans. We're still almost at 20 suicides a day with vets, which is a national disgrace. And here over the years, an organization called MAPS has done all. lot of research on this. And we're going to do some videos on it. And then we're going to organize the people who believe in it. The vets, the families, two, three sessions, Ryan. And these guys are

90% healed from really severe trauma. And so we want to highlight that. Cannabinoids, healing addiction, mindfulness and social and emotional learning in schools, using food as medicine. Like, these things are happening, but they get no oxygen in the toxic environment that we're in. So we the people What was about like, or is that, is MDMA for vets a Democratic issue or a Republican issue? Is that progressive or is that conservative? Like, who really even cares? It's working. Like, let's go.

Guys like me and you and others, we want to do, I want to do a big thing on bringing coaches and mentoring specifically around coaches. We've got no, we've got no rituals anymore in the country. We've got no more rights of passage, really. The Catholic Church had a scandal. The Boy Scouts had it scandal. media has a scandal, politics has its scandal. Like there's all these things going on in the country that there's no trust in institutions.

I think there's an opportunity really through sports, through all of these people. You, Ryan Holiday, the Daily Coach, Brian Kite, like these guys, you guys are all in my Twitter feed. This is what I get. I'm like, no more politics. I'm with these guys now. But how do we build a real national initiative around the discipline, the values, the hard work ethic, those kind of things that coaches live and breathe every single day, that's the renewing of the culture, I think, that we can help bring.

And we the people is going to be an opportunity for us to tease that out, bring people together and try to make a big difference with it. It's certainly ambitious, and I love it. Why do you think something like this hasn't or doesn't necessarily catch on? Is it because of how quick the media is to get clicks, to get eyeballs, to understand that this you're talking about mindfulness and reflection and meditation which is almost about like pausing and silence and slowing down whereas the media is the basically the opposite of that I need you to click I need to look at this I need to look at the Chiron that says breaking news

right and so everything you're talking about is kind of the opposite of that how do you feel because it's probably an uphill battle with this mission knowing the daily I guess news media diet that most people are ingesting right now. Yeah, I think part of it is people don't know where to go. I think that's why those of you that are in this space are finding a lot of success. You're finding a lot of interest. You're able to build a business off of this because you're actually filling a huge void in the marketplace. It speaks to people.

It helps people. It helps them grow. It makes them feel a part of a community of other people who are. moving in this direction. And so I think we want to try to at least provide some spot for people to land. And if they have, if they know they can go somewhere else, as opposed to turn on the, you know, the normal news channels and hear just the maddening conversation that's going on, it's really irrelevant to most people's lives. I think it'll be a pool. And you've got to, you know, again, you got to make it cool. You got to make it snappy. You got to make it fun.

But you also, and then we want to provide some resources too. I, I want my first, like, I think making contemplation, meditation, mindfulness, like a radical act for people to see it. Like, yeah, I want to be, I want to be against the system, right? I was in my first, my first long meditation retreat with John Cabinzin, who was really the guy who brought secular mindfulness practice, kind of stripped it of the religion and brought it to the West and started studying it. I went to a retreat. He said, sitting on this cushion for 30 minutes a day, twice a day, or whatever, however, however. is a radical act. Whoa, bro.

What did you just say? Because think about it, like if everyone's on the treadmill, that's the common act. The radical act is to slow down. And so I feel like we're trying to all like, because all, you know, what you do too,

like to get a mindful Monday in my email box that has the word mindful in it is like, this brother is on to it. he gets it. And I think people, once they hear that, they want to, they want, like I wanted to follow you. I was like, okay, who's this guy? Obviously know the last name because I'm from Ohio, you know. And I say, who's this guy? This is really interesting too. And then I started to follow what you were doing. But people want that and they just want somebody to say it's okay and that it is going to help you reduce your stress and become better, but you'd be better dad, better this, better that, better mom.

And so giving them this kind of thing, I think we just got to figure out how do we permeate and make it more pervasive more so than the toxicity. And if we can do that, we will get people away from that and into this larger initiative. And it needs to be a calling. We're not going to the moon. Like I think that's the other real shift is that I think President Kennedy was talking about, we want to explore the stars and we want to not dominate but understand the outer world, right? I think we're in a shift. I think now the exploration. is to the inner world and ourselves and how we navigate that because clearly we're not doing something right. And I think an internal reflection and examination could help us all kind of shift

perspective. And I hope I can be a part of doing that. I get some pushback at times, Tim, when I work with leaders and we pull up their calendars and they're just back to back all day? I'm like, when do you have time to think? When do you have time to reflect? When do you have time for silence. So to hear that you, while in the middle of a wild campaign, hotly contested, eyes are on you, right, one that was in the spotlight, that you, in between all of those meetings and interviews and TV spots and stump speeches, you were going back on your bus or wherever you could to meditate, to think, to reflect, to be quiet. If you were able to do it during all of that mess, I got to believe all of us can make the time to do it each day.

100%. It's got to be a decision that you make. And there's no one routine. You don't have to get up at 5 in the morning. You've got to find out in your life how you could make it go. And again, role models are really important. Like I told you, my grandfather, I'd catch him praying the rosary. It was trying to show off. He wasn't doing it in church to look cool. He was doing it in his room by himself. I remember coming out of Kennedy High School. I'd come out of the lunchroom, and I would turn left, and my coach, head football coach, he would turn both the athletic director of my head football coach, they would turn, and I would look at different parts of the day. They were sneaking in the chapel. I remember another football coach at Kennedy. I went to church one day,

and he's sitting off, tucked in the corner, praying the rosary. It was reinforcing in me. And I didn't really realize that until later in life, but it was reinforcing at me that in my, and it was reinforcing at me in me that you have to have time for contemplation. Like that's an important part. If my head football coach can find time during the day to pray, to connect a higher power, to calm down, whatever, like, that must be really important. And then to see Jimmy Valvano in his great speech, laugh, cry, and think every day. And so I was fortunate because I felt like everywhere I turned somebody,

was making that okay for a dude sports guy to participate in that. Phil Jackson, I remember growing up 50, so the Bulls were the team and listening to Phil Jackson and that. And I bought his book, Sacred Hoops, and I read it. And then he had books that he read in there, Zen Mind, Beginners Mind, and I can't remember the other couple. But I went out and got a couple of those books that influenced Phil Jackson. And now I, every couple years go back and reread Zen Mind Beginner's Mind. And so that's why I think the coaching piece, what you guys are doing is so important because politics is downstream of culture. And what we're trying to do is influence the culture.

And you do that by influencing leaders. But you also do it by getting in the schools and coaches and teachers. And that's how it just exponentially grows. You've brought it up a few times. And I held it to the end. But I was dying to ask you, Dave Matthews comes to Columbus, Ohio, to do a concert for you, to get out the vote. And I just thought, oh, I remember I think I was at one of my daughter's games at night because I would have driven up there for sure. What an event. What was that like that,

the guy that probably both of our favorite musicians. And whenever I find a fellow Dave Matthews band fan, I can't help but want to talk to you about it. I get made fun of it. I don't know why. If you just go to the show, I can't see how you wouldn't enjoy yourself. But anyways, what was that like, man? What was that event like? What was like meeting Dave? Watch the videos, heard him say some really kind things about you. He's supporting you. He's there because of you to support you. Yeah.

How cool was that? Oh, bucket list, man. Bucket list. Never to be experienced again. It was really amazing. We had Bernie Kosar there too who came out and helped endorse me. And so I'm sitting there with Bernie Kosar and Dave Matthews and my wife. Bernie was my high school.

I wore his t-shirt under my pads. Like, I was going to the Browns. I was going to be the next Bernie. And my wife looked at me. She goes, you are. living the dream tonight. Absolutely. But it's because, like, I like him, in some sense, fanboy and all that.

But his songs mean something to me. I ran for the state senate at 27 years old. I had the guts to run for Congress because of what his music, what it did for me, how it spoke to me, how it moved me, how it inspired me. And so for me to, like, get on this path at a very young age and have him, influenced me and then for him to be there and campaign for me in Columbus and we got five, six thousand people like absolutely blew my mind and he didn't want the night to end. He wanted it to keep going.

And if you'd have been there when a mutual friend of mine and the person who works with Dave called me and she said, Dave Matthews is a big fan of yours. And I was like, I said, you got this mixed up. I'm a big fan of Dave Matthews. It's like, no, you don't understand. I was like so confused. She's like, he wants to come play with you. I see you, did someone pay you to like come and like just like string me out on this?

Like what's going on here? So it was the most amazing night. And you and I have got to see Dave Matthews concert together. I got to go one step further of this. One of the reasons I love them is you go there. And so my wife Miranda comes. She is a just an awesome supportive partner. She doesn't necessarily care that much about.

about the music, not like me. It doesn't affect her, but she'll dance, she'll have fun and she'll be just amazing. But what she says to me too that I fully agree with, I just love their smiles. I love that you can tell that there is nowhere else they would rather be. They bring so much joy and gratitude to the stage.

Buddy Strong, the keyboard player, smiling the whole time. Carter Roper, smiling the whole time. Dave, what does he say in between almost every song? Thank you so much. Thank you all for being here. Thank you so much. And it actually reminded me of your speech when you left Congress, the number one word that you wanted to focus on when you left

was gratitude. And I wondered if there's a little Dave in that speech as you're leaving Congress after 20 years that you say the one word you want to focus on is gratitude. It's an honor to be a citizen of the United States. I think we get out of this mess we're in, the polarization, the hate, the anger, the fear. The first step out of that is with gratitude. And I thought, oh, I feel like he's this is a little Dave in there with this speech as he's leaving yeah I'm sure it's stuck in there somewhere but yeah I think those guys are as I mentioned I saw two two shows in Chicago this summer and it's like there's no one having more fun in the whole place of 20 or 30,000 people than the band than Dave Matthews because they under they're just such a powerful emotion like gratitude

is just it is the game changer and so yeah I even I that the jig is up. That's like a Dave Matthews line. I'm like, I can't like, it's just in, it's in my mind. Like some of these guys that I've just listened to over and over again, it just sticks with you because it resonates with you. So, yeah, that was amazing, man. We've got to go.

I'll text you when the next tour comes out and we will find dates, whether they're in Ohio or somewhere else to go. But I am thinking a little bit towards the future and for the benefit of all of us, our country. What's next for you? I know what you're doing with your group, but I'm looking in the future. I'm looking at

running for president. What else is out there? What are you thinking? What do you have your eyes on? What's a big vision for you longer term and potentially getting back into politics? I think when people get these real transition periods of their life, you guys still get a job and take care of your family and all that stuff. I'm really trying to kind of just embrace the unknown. It sounds like kind of gooey, but I really am. Like I'm coaching my kids flag football team. I'm going to coach his basketball team. We had a game this week. I haven't had that much fun in one hour of my life in a long time, like coaching a nine-year-old flag team. It was just so fun. And so I'm really enjoying that. And it's hard to look at what's next, like politically. I'm still engaged.

I'd still watch a little bit just to kind of, if somebody asked or I got to do an interview, but I don't know. I really don't. It's such a toxic environment. And it's so liberating to some extent to be out. I read what I want to read. I do the podcast I want to do. I watch what I want to watch. I'm watching Archie Bunker. Honest to God, I'm like, I'm one like three seasons in the all in the family. Just trying to understand the culture of the 70s versus the culture of today and the impact of some of these TV shows.

And I couldn't do that if I'm on a tour bus running for the Senate. And I want to make sure I'm joyful. I'm having fun. And if there's an opportunity to provide some leadership, I told my wife, I may have one more run left in me at some point. It's a grind on the family, too. That was way for a long time for 10 years. And we had three kids and three dogs, and she really took the brunt of it.

And so she's getting the chance to take a breath, too. That's always a factor. So we'll see. But my heart will always be in it. My heart's in service. And we'll figure out how to do it. Maybe after Dave Matthews concert, we could figure it out together. All right.

One more, Tim. I'm curious for somebody who's a bit earlier in their career. They want to do good. but they don't necessarily know what they want to do. They want to leave a positive dent, though, in the world. What are some general pieces of life slash career advice you'd give to that person? Follow your bliss. Honestly, it's become apparent to me.

That's probably the mantra that everybody should have because you need to be doing something that gets you so excited that you're going to be really good at it. I was never a super great student, but I started getting on these tracks of things that I was really, like, really spoke to me. and I would read and read and read. And it wasn't necessarily in the classroom or in the college textbook.

And so follow what you love. And there will be a service component in there somewhere. Even if you're the CEO of a company, your company is there to serve. And your real leaders are servant leaders. So you're there to serve your, I know you coach this up, but you're there to serve your employees. You're in there to serve your customers. You're not there to get a bunch of smoke blown up your rear end because you're the

boss. It's a complete opposite of that. But you've got to be really in a space where you're so engaged, so motivated, so excited about what you're doing that you're making a difference in people's lives. Website for more is We the People 250.us. A lot of good stuff already on there. It's really good. As well as the fact that you are a bestselling author. So I was reading a Mindful Nation this morning, The Real Food Revolution.

You have really thoughtful, thought-provoking text out there for people to read. I highly encourage it. And Tim, as we said, I would love to continue our dialogue as we both progress. You're only about an hour and 15 minutes from where I'm standing right now. So there'll certainly be some times for us to get together, have a drink, and maybe see a few shows. I would love that, man. That'd be awesome. Let's do it.

Keep up with great work. Thanks, man. All right. You got it. It is the end of the podcast club. If you're a member of the end of the podcast club, send me a note, Ryan at learningleader.com. Let me know what you learned from this great conversation with Tim Ryan. A few takeaways from my notes.

I love the story of his grandfather, the impact his grandfather had on his life. Quote, he was there. Regardless of the weather or whatever he had going on in his life, Tim felt his grandfather's presence as a servant leader. This is a great reminder for all of us. as leaders that our first job is to show up consistently for those that we are leading. Next, being in the moment, the campaign trail is grueling. Every day, it's a new town with new people, and you've got to get up and give your stump

speech, listen to people and tell compelling stories to move them, to move them to vote for you, to back you. And his mantra of, I am only in control of this stump speech. Tim's ability to stay in the moment was critical and is a key reason why he's done so well over the years. All of us would be better served if we remember, I am only in control of this moment and give that moment everything we have. Then gratitude for Tim's last speech as a congressman. I couldn't help but think he might be channeling some of that Dave Matthews band fan in him when he said, quote, it's an honor to be a citizen of the United States.

I think we get out of this mess we're in, the polarization, the hate, the anger, the fear. The first step out of that is with gratitude. And being thankful is one of my core values. So this spoke greatly to me that understanding how good we have it, being grateful for the good fortune that most of us have is a great way to start each day. and we'd probably all be a little better off if we remembered that. Once again, I want to say thank you so much. Speaking of gratitude, for continuing to spread the message and telling a friend or two,

hey, you should listen to this episode of The Learning Leader Show with Tim Ryan. I think it will help you become a more effective leader because you continue to do that and you continue to go to Ryanhawk.net, which launches you into iTunes, Apple Podcast. And once you're there, you write a thoughtful review and you rate the show, hopefully five stars. By doing that, you are continually giving me the opportunity to do what I love on a daily basis. And for that, I will forever be grateful. Thank you so, so much.

Talk you soon. Can't wait.