Finding Your Why: Leaving Your Stamp In The World With Steve White

I have an amazing leader that is going to share with you his wisdom and his enthusiasm for life. I spent a couple of minutes speaking to this young man, and I know you are going to have so much learning from him. Before we go any further, make sure you like, comment, share, and subscribe to this show. It is truly a pleasure for me to introduce you to this man who was the President of Comcast West Division for eleven years. In other words, he’s a big deal. I am going to let our guest tell you about all his wisdom rather than me present it and diminish it in my little way. Welcome, Steve White.

Thank you, Patty Ann. It is so nice to be here with you. I love your energy. I feel it. Hopefully, your audience will feel our energy and come away inspired to go do big things.

Thank you. Steve, here’s the scoop. I did a little bit of research, not too much because I’m a busy person too. I’ve got to tell you, I could not find one thing about Steve, the man’s personal life. Anything that you feel comfortable sharing, pray-tell, because I believe in the whole person, wherever you are in life, you bring your whole self. It sounds cliché but it’s true. I know the successful Steve White because I can read, but I want to know about the man. Is he a husband, a father, a pet lover, an athlete, and musician? Tell us.

Call me the American story. I grew up in the housing projects of Indianapolis, Indiana. Single mother raised four knucklehead boys all by herself. I’m the biggest knucklehead.

Are you the only one that’s bald now, or do the others still have their hair?

We’ve got three that are bald, so it happens. Once you start, you take it all off.

I thought she’d be pulling her hair out of her head with four boys.

My brother calls it ‘come on home.’ Once that little one spot comes, you come on home and take that one off. I grew up in the housing projects of Indianapolis. Single mother raised four boys. She had an eighth-grade education and was a high school janitor for 35 years. That’s my story. I started there, and I learned about hardworking and teamwork. We didn’t realize we were poor. We felt rich because we had a mom that loved us. Our dad was not around.

I remember her first job was cleaning motel rooms. I was eleven years old. She had left my dad, and she would take us on the weekends because she couldn’t afford a babysitter during that year, and we would help her clean motel rooms when we were 10, 11, or 12 years old. I’m here to tell you, this is a motel. There’s no in-room dining and no spa. This is a place where you pull your car up in your doorstep.

People treat those places like you can’t imagine. Watching my mother clean those rooms with a fantastic attitude and a willingness to help and show us from the person that I like to call Steve White. Through that, I learned that I was placed on this Earth for a reason. There’s no reason I would go through that and come out of that unless there was a purpose for my life. This journey for me has been about living my purpose, which is about creating that table of prosperity for as many people as possible.

Mark Twain has a famous quote, “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” All of us should be in that thirst to find why we’ve been placed on this Earth. My goal is how do I make a difference in as many folks’ lives as possible? When you provide us the opportunity to come to hang out with you, why not? Hopefully, through this conversation, you and I will inspire even if it’s just one person, then we’ve done a good job.

Thank you. For the readers, Steve and I were speaking before we went live, and I didn’t realize we both had very strong moms. My readers know that my mom was widowed very young and raised five kids. We owe so much to our parents and to the opportunity of being born in this great country. I don’t care if that’s politically correct or not, I will say it, but I still want to know about Steve, the man’s personality.

I married a wonderful woman named Barbita. We have a son, his name is Steven Andrew White II. He’s ten years old this year 2023. Check this out, we share the same birthday, December 18th. When I ask my wife, “Where’s my birthday gift?” She says, “See that boy there? Do you know how I carried that big boy for nine months?” That is my birthday gift. That’s my life. I have three brothers. They’re all doing well. I’m the oldest. We reside here in Denver, Colorado. This is where my son was born, so this has become home. I was the President of Comcast West. Now, I’m a Special Advisor and Special Counsel supporting the CEO of Comcast Cable.

That sounds like the coolest job on the planet, the special counsel. I was like, “I’m going to ask Steve how I get that job.” It sounds like it’s lucrative.

It’s eleven years of helping Comcast make a lot of money. There’s an opportunity to broaden my scope and do things. I wrote my first book which was released on March 8th, 2022. I’ve been out promoting that, and that’s been exciting. It gives me an opportunity to do a number of things while helping Comcast. It’s a great situation for me.

What are you passionate about? What is it that you think about and you’re like, “I can never do or think enough of this?”

Making a difference. Let me share a story with you. Last summer of 2022, A UPS driver brought a package to my home. I met him at the door, and we talked for about ten minutes or so about my career and my life. His name is Joe. If you follow me on social media or go to my website, SteveWhiteSpeaks.com, you’ll hear about Joe’s story.

A month later, Joe applies to Comcast based on our ten-minute conversation, and a year and a half later, he’s one of our top-performing employees in the entire country. That brief ten-minute conversation, talking about my journey, successes, and failures inspired him to go apply for Comcast without me knowing, without any strings being pulled.

There’s a song that goes, “We all die twice.” We die the day they put us in our graves. The second time is the last time someone mentions our name. We should all strive for a place where even after we’re long gone, our impact is still being felt. In any case, that opportunity to interact with them. What jazzes me is making a difference in the lives of others whether it’s a spoken word, a coaching session, or a hand-up, not a handout, that inspires me. That gets me excited knowing that I’ve been placed on this Earth for a reason to make a difference.

 

Think about this, Patty Ann. You and I did not reach this spot on our own. Someone gave us a hand-up, not a handout, and I want to make sure people are clear about it. A handout is different than a hand-up. A hand-up is, “I believe you have skills and talent, and I’m going to give you an opportunity to display your talent.” When you get that opportunity, the sky is the limit. Being able to impact others is what gets me jazzed. Also, I continue to beat my ten-year-old son at all sports. At some point, I can beat him at basketball, baseball, and football.

I wish you wouldn’t be so humble, Steve. Turn around, he’s going to be beating your butt.

He’s got to understand loss because life is not a perfect road. There are bumps and scrapes, and we’re going to get bloodied, but our ability to respond to that is what makes it happen. In a perfect relationship, the ability to be authentic with people is the crux of a relationship. That’s the relationship I want to have with my son.

You brought up sports. Many times, I say, “You never know when life is going to throw you a curve ball.” We’ll go back to basketball. You have to be able to pivot, but since you did bring up basketball and I do believe you are a Hoosier, I’d like to know how you feel about Bobby Knight’s type of leadership compared to your type of leadership and the type of leadership that’s prevalent now.

I don’t know if you read the book called The Miracle of St. Anthony: A Season with Coach Bob Hurley. His son, Danny, is coaching at UConn now. We lived in Connecticut for years, and one of my sons went to UConn. It’s a very different style of leadership. I would argue they’d be arrested now, and I don’t feel like we’ve gone from one extreme, I’m not sure. Tell us how you feel about that type of leadership as opposed to the uncompromising leadership that you live and write about in your book.

Bobby Knight got it right because I was a student at the school and knowing several of the basketball players.

You were there when he was coaching.

They love Bobby Knight because he took care of them. He challenged them. He pulled the best out of them and cared about them. Landon Turner, who was an All-American Center on the basketball team was paralyzed in a car accident. Bobby Knight raised money for him. He’s still in contact with him. He took care of him. He made a real difference in Landon’s life. That’s the part of Bobby Knight that I like. The part I didn’t like that is devastating is he created ‘us versus them’ mentality. You and I have benefited from folks giving us a hand up because of our skills and our talent. Bobby Knight positions himself as, “I’m the one that can do that for you, not this person over here.”

Give an example of that, Steve, because I never looked at him that way. That’s interesting.

Let me give you an example. He is now affiliated with the basketball team in Indiana because one of his ex-players, Mike Woodson, is now the coach. Mike Woodson was an All-American for Bobby Knight. He loves and stayed in contact with Bobby Knight. Bobby Knight has re-engaged with the university. There were other coaches that were not major allies of his that he didn’t engage with the university when he still has so much to give.

I’m a Bobby Knight fan. I believe in Coach Knight. He has a lot of great qualities, but you can’t be inconsistent in your love, friendship, and support because even with our kids and business partners, we cannot be inconsistent in how we approach relationships. That is the inconsistency of Bobby Knight that puts him on the outside of what I believe is his rightful place to be judged as a real mover, shaker, and game-changer.

One thing in relationships, we can tolerate a lot of things, but we cannot tolerate inconsistency. I remember one of my old bosses. People would always come in the morning, “Is good Bob showing up or bad Bob?” Everybody is focused on whether good Bob is showing up or bad Bob. Now, no one is focused on the business because we’re all focusing on which Bob is going to show up. That is a fundamental part of leadership, and that’s the only thing I would challenge Coach Knight to if I were with him one-on-one now.

People can tolerate a lot of things when it comes to relationships, but the one thing they can’t tolerate is inconsistency.

In terms of leadership, I read John Maxwell. One of my coaching certifications is from there. John Maxwell is one of the greatest leaders ever. His work and his writings have changed lives. His definition of leadership is influence, nothing more and nothing less. Speak to that.

I agree because people make a decision every single day. Do they follow you or not? Let me give you an example. Great companies don’t get 100% from their employees. They get 110% because each day, I have what I call discretionary effort, and I make the decision of, “Do I want to give that to Comcast or not?” When you are inspired by a company, you get everyone saying, “I’m going to give discretionary.” Stevie has a soccer game on Saturday, and we leave a few minutes early because we want to stop by one of the Xfinity Comcast stores to say hi to some of our hardworking employees that are working on a Saturday on our way to the soccer game. That’s discretionary effort.

 

I’m taking time out of my life with my son to stop by. I’m going to hopefully teach him a lesson, but I’m stopping in there for ten minutes to say, “I wanted to check on you, guys. You’re all good. I know it’s a Saturday. Is everybody good?” I then move on. That’s an example of giving that discretionary effort that I get to make a choice. This is not the 9:00 to 5:00. This is the time when I decide to give that to you.

When you can influence leaders enough to get to that point, then you know that you’re on the right track. You might say, “How do I get that?” It’s when I demonstrate to you that I care more about you first than what you can do for me. The first question I always start with in a new relationship is, “Before we go anywhere, tell me about your hopes and dreams.” Once I lock in on that, now I can weave everything through the lens of your hopes and dreams. That’s how you influence leaders to do great things.

What you’re doing is you’re meeting the person where they are, not where you want them to be. What you said about the discretionary energy, I almost said income, but they’re connected. It’s not leadership now. It’s mandated. I could go on and on about that. Richard Branson or somebody says, “If you take care of your employees, they will take care of your customers.”

Part of that is if I know that Steve cares for me as a team member and he knows, not inappropriately, someone in my family is sick or I’m struggling in my marriage, or whatever it is, he spends five minutes listening because you can’t solve any of my problems. What happens is, sooner or later, it changes. A crisis only lasts so long. Now, when I don’t have to do something, when I don’t have to reach out, or when it’s not my job, I will remember that Steve doesn’t just care about me in terms of output, but cares about me as a human. I will then give him, and in turn my company, my shareholders, and my customers that discretionary energy. We don’t have a lot of that left now, so that’s brilliant.

That’s exactly right, and you can’t do it unless you’re willing to be vulnerable. When I’m vulnerable, I’m asking that question, and sometimes, I might have to share more about myself to submit that. If you’re going through something I might share it with you, I went through that. Let me tell you how I dealt with it and what worked for me or what mistakes I made. That vulnerability is what creates the connection to each other. When you can create that connection, that’s beauty. You and I go into a relationship trusting. Most people don’t. They want you to prove to them that you have their best interests at heart and go into understanding that.

Vulnerability is what creates the connection.

You’re talking about Stephen M R Covey, not Steven the dad, The 7 Habits, the son that wrote the book, Smart Trust. He talks about our generation will say, “You have to earn my trust.” Anybody younger says, “No. Give me trust.” People will say to me all the time when I’m coaching or consulting, they don’t trust me. My first response and it stops them dead in their tracks is, “Are you trustworthy?” If a kid says, “My mother doesn’t trust me,” I’m like, “Are you trustworthy?” They know what they’re doing. If your spouse doesn’t trust you, are you trustworthy?

Let’s go to the trust and the leadership. In business, I’ve noticed a man’s life could be falling apart. “Steve, how’s it going?” “Great. Good. Wife is crushing it. Kids getting all A’s. Work is great.” It’s not. A lot of businesses are in the corporate world. Entrepreneurs are different the thought of being vulnerable is if you start twitching, it gives you anxiety.

There’s an appropriate vulnerability that makes you human. I feel in order to create trust, you have to make yourself vulnerable. Why do you think leaders are petrified of being human and not the old school? I’ll say it because I’m always throwing him onto the bus, Jack Welch. I lived in Connecticut. There are problems that trace back to that. Talk about vulnerability and trust, and it all has to appear good. I’m not talking about anything inappropriate, but it is good for people to see you as human.

Most people are afraid they’re going to get hurt. What I reckoned folks is I start every morning alone. I reflect. Some people pray and meditate. Whatever your deal is, find a way to get yourself ready to go. Each morning, I pray. I feel like I put an armor on ready for the day because there will be ups and downs.

What it does for me is it centers me and keeps me in the present. When you’re in the present, you can see what’s right in front of you. Even when someone is telling you what’s great, you can look at them. If you are present, you can listen to what they’re saying, how they’re acting or their body language to understand.

It’s your energy. You’re feeling your energy. That’s a discrepancy.

That’s why this work-from-home is a dangerous thing for particularly young leaders. One of the ways that are happening with my team is when I’m in a room and I see someone that’s being quiet, I’ll engage them, I’ll pat them on the back, or I’ll grab them for a cup of coffee. When you’re isolated, it drives you deeper into that hole. That’s why I get nervous about this work-from-home. There’s certainly a balance, of course, but let’s not get carried away with this.

I’m going to challenge you on that. Women have been begging to work from home since we went into the workforce. I cannot tell you the difference in how much stress it takes out of your life from not having to commute or sitting there waiting for a meeting to start, throwing my laundry in the wash, on the way to the bathroom, throwing it in the dryer. It sounds simple.

Now, we used to say productivity getting hurt. Nonsense. We know the numbers don’t show that. I tell people, and usually, it’s the older White leaders that don’t have to worry about picking their kids up from school because I have a wife that doesn’t work or they have a nanny. They say it has to do with culture. I agree with the whole culture thing. However, when they say culture, I tell people to interchange it and put the word control because you cannot create a new paradigm with the old paradigm solutions.

I agree with you, there’s something to be set for collaboration and creating that connection. When Wall Street talks about this mentoring, there’s not that much mentoring going on. Who are they kidding? Stop it already. I understand the water cooler talk. There are certain jobs you needed. There’s no doubt. I know plenty of attorneys that commute to work go into their office, close the door, log onto their computer, go to the bathroom, don’t leave to have lunch because you miss a billable hour, and don’t talk to anybody.

We have to be careful. I don’t think every company, every job, and every role, but I do think we have to go with the shifting tide. I said to the younger kids, “What about having a relationship with the people you work with?” They said, in so many words, “I saw my father work for the same company for 19 years. At the 20th year, he was eligible to retire, get a pension, and they laid him off. I’m not doing that. I don’t want to be friends with the people I work with.” Now, that’s extreme, but I do feel we have to be careful. It’s a paradigm shift and nobody likes change, but COVID certainly proved it accelerated in twenty years. It would have taken us twenty years to do work from home.

It’s a balance because we don’t truly know the impact. Let me give you an example. My son is in the fourth grade. It’s a private school. Those second graders are struggling with each other and there are a lot of different relationship issues because their first two years of school were Zoom calls. There was a smart lady, her name is Patty Ann, who said 80% of business relationships are about people. That’s what she said. I could be wrong but they’re about people. She’s smart so I took that halfway to say, “Let’s create flexibility. Let’s not mandate.”

Educating children as they’re developing, that’s comparing apples and oranges.

Let me tell you where it’s different. Some of my best learnings were sitting there in a room watching leaders learning what not to do as much as what I should do. As a young leader, how do you get exposure to the CEO if everybody is always on Zoom or the senior vice president to learn? I never lost sight. I work for Steve White Incorporated. I don’t work for Comcast. Comcast purchases my services, and I’m glad about that. When I’m at work on those relationships, I’m learning because it is making Steve White Incorporated stronger.

 

I want you to talk more about that because I do think we need to take individual responsibility for our careers. There’s this nonsense out there, “I work for Goldman Sachs. I work for JP Morgan. I work for Salesforce.” You said no, you work for yourself. Talk about that. That’s brilliant.

I work for Steve White incorporated. Comcast purchases my services, and the reason they purchase my service is I’m always investing in my company making it stronger. Let’s be honest. It is a business relationship. I help Comcast sell products and goods and they can pay back shareholders and it’s a business relationship.

They’re going to invest in me because I’m investing in myself. Don’t look at the work situation as you’re making me do this. No, I am willing only to go because I learn and grow from those that are helping my company grow stronger. That how I think about it as an investment in my company. If I have to commute 2 or 3 days a week, that’s an investment in my company because I’m going to learn and develop relationships. I’m going to see how to do it, and how not to do it. I’m going to learn how to do deals. I’m going to get a front-row seat to all of that you can’t get.

Now, I had aspirations for hire, but somebody said, “Can you be the CEO of a company and work 9:00 to 5:00?” I said, “You can have a great life here. You can have a great career and we will purchase your services, but if you aspire to be president of the company, that’s not going to happen.” You get to make that choice. I had higher aspirations, so I look at whether it was commuting, traveling, or whatever is an investment in my company. Let’s use the mindset. You are now in control, not someone else.

I like what you said. It sounds like there is that element of you had a choice. What they’re doing is they’re saying you have to be in, say four days a week. Disney came out with that. I can see creative roles in Disney that might be necessary but I don’t know if everyone needs to be in.

You get to make a decision.

They’re not saying that. They’re mandating it.

You have to then make a decision and say, “For my company, is this setup going to benefit my company?” If it’s not, go on and quit tomorrow, but build your excellent plan if that does not fit with your values of what you’re trying to do in control. If you stay in control, that works for me. Comcast is going to make the right decisions for itself. Goldman Sachs going to make the decision. Disney will make it. You have to do the same thing. If it does not fit you, build your strategy. It might take a year to get there but at least you’ve got a plan forward.

Tell me what are your thoughts on the prevalent attitude culture, despite what’s said that companies are about the bottom line and it doesn’t matter. You could have worked your fingers to the bone and if your whole division is being let go, you are being let go. What do you say to that?

Unfortunately, I believe it’s true. A company like Comcast purchases my services, I happen to believe it’s one of those companies that do care about people. At least that’s what I believe because I’ve seen many examples of it. You have to continue to look at it very objectively. It is a business relationship. When you become a public company, some shareholders need to get paid. People are investing in your company, and they’re entrusted with running the business.

 

I never lose sight that this is a business relationship. It’s an at-will relationship. I can leave and they can leave. We all have that right. As long as you understand that, your company is being fed, and you’re feeding the company, it’s a mutually agreeable relationship. When people start losing sight of entitlement on both sides, that’s when they get in trouble.

Entitlement is a whole different conversation. You’re entitled to nothing.

That’s why I call it a hand-up. I want somebody to give me an opportunity. That’s all any of us could ask for.

Many times, we have to be responsible for making our opportunities. As I always say, “Winners get it done and losers make excuses.”

One of the things that you said that I would love for our readers to learn more about is when people say, “Do you trust me?” and you say, “Are you trustworthy?” You have to check yourself. You have to understand what energy you’re putting out there. We attract what we put out there. I’m not saying life is fair because we do get bad breaks and we all get bad breaks, and this idea that what we put out there is important. If you want to trust people, then be trustworthy. If you want people to be loyal to you, then you have to be loyal. You’ll get your heart broken, but you got to focus on what you do.

You attract what you put out there.

Success isn’t a straight line. I feel that we learn more from our failures than we ever do from our successes. Share with the readers a failure you’ve had that’s not in the book that you don’t like to tell people and you hate to admit, “I hadn’t even thought about that since she asked me this,” and the lessons you learn from it, so the people will say, “Steve White is human. He’s not Superman. He can be more relatable to the person climbing their way up.”

I talked about the book, but I don’t know how deep I went. I got fired. I thought my purpose in life was to ensure that my family was never in poverty again, therefore, I worked and was focused on myself. I was not focused on anyone else. The less I gave, the more I felt I would get my family out of poverty. For a period of time, that worked but over time, I had no one following me.

Back to leadership influence, I thought I was lean. I looked over and no one was behind me. I got fired and I deserved it. Now, at that time, I didn’t think I deserved it, but upon reflection, I wouldn’t follow me either. It was all about me and I got fired, as a result. I was embarrassed. My mother used to brag about me and talk about it. I couldn’t tell her. It would break my heart. That was a critical moment for me to flip the script to say, “If I start investing in others, they will push me up to the top.” That’s how I become president of one of the largest companies in America. My team pushed me up.

Start investing in others because they will be the ones who will push you to the top.

Where in your career were you? Have you been fired early?

I was 24 years old. I was a sales manager leading ten people. I had climbed the ladder. I was making $44,000 a year. I was on top of the world and got fired because I was not caring for others. The more I invest in others, they push me to the top, therefore, that’s how I get noticed. People get promoted because people push you up above everyone else. That’s how you get noticed, not based on everything you do.

Yes, you’ve got to put in good work, but when you have others pushing you up, that’s how you get noticed. That’s what happened to me. How does a little kid from the housing projects of Indianapolis become President of Comcast West leading 30,000 employees and $20 billion in revenue? It’s because people pushed him to the top.

Steve, back then at 24, you were still much this not knowing kid, not that long out of the projects, how did you figure that out? What influenced you, or why did you not take your bat and ball and go home?

Darnell Martin, who’s no longer with us. Remember we said, “You died twice. You died the day somebody put you away and the last time somebody mentions your name.” Darnell Martin has been gone 25 years and I’m still talking about him. He grabbed me and said, “Son, I see something in you that you don’t even see in yourself. If you continue to operate and lead the way you’re leading, you’ll never realize your full potential.”

Who was this person to you and one that you cared about?

He was an African-American executive, higher up in the company. On my worst day, he called me and said, “I see something else in you. If you agreed to invest more in others, not just yourself, I’ll give you another chance.” He grabbed me by the shoulder after beating me with a 2×4, not literally but figuratively. I moved to Chicago to another part of the company with American hospice. Why? It was a big enough company that I could go to another division, and that’s where my career took off.

One of the things I want to share with your readers from a relationship standpoint is studies have shown each of us will meet 4 to 5 new people every day. Maybe it’s at the Starbucks counter, at the airport, or whatever. When our life is over, there will be 80,000 people that we have met and either established a relationship or we didn’t. I want each of our readers to envision your days were over. You’re walking through the stadium, there are 80,000 people that you’ve interacted with over your lifetime.

I’m not talking about family. I’m talking about people you’ve met and they are doing 1 of 3 things. They’re cheering Patty Ann or they’re booing, “That Patty Ann,” or worse, they’re saying nothing. You’re irrelevant. Your time was wasted. There are no fingerprints that you are even here. Every moment and every opportunity is presented to us to impact someone. That’s what Darnell Martin did for me. Although he’s been gone for many years, as long as I’m here, his name will never die. Wouldn’t that be awesome if we all strive for that? Eighty-thousand people, when we’re done walking through that stadium, are cheering because we made a difference in their life.

Tell me specifically whom you were a Darnell for and how that played out.

I was President of Comcast West for eleven years. Succession planning is a big deal. A gentleman by the name of Rich Jennings, who I mentored and developed over a ten-and-a-half-year period replaced me as the President of Comcast West. What an awesome opportunity. I remember having a difficult conversation with him about how he dressed. He’s a very smart guy, but I said, “Rich, people will see your outfit before they will see you. Let’s take that off the table so they can see the genius of Rich.”

Did you give him a dress success lesson?

Don’t let people judge you.

How was he dressed? What was he doing?

He was younger, and you’re familiar with hip hop and it looked sharp, but you’re a senior vice president and that’s not appropriate for this environment. You can dress any way you want to, but if you want to be president of the company, there are certain ways that you have to dress. He accepted that advice. How proud am I? When I interview others, they made the decision based on my recommendation that he was the right person for the job.

Now, hopefully, he’s carried on the legacy and he will impact others and pay it forward. I tell people, “Don’t worry about how many people you’re impacting. Start with one.” I share with you this Joe story, the UPS driver, who’s now with Comcast and doing well. Go to my website, SteveWhiteSpeaks.com. In my blog, I talk about my relationship with Joe and how I was able to impact him in a positive way. Now he’s doing fantastic. Thank you, UPS, for giving us a star employee.

What is the last book you’ve reread and why?

Great book Halftime by the name of Bob Buford, who’s an old cable guy. He used to run Bufort cable but he sold out. This book is called Halftime, and it talks about all of us, men and women. Once we reach a certain level of success, that’s great. Now, what are you going to do with the next part of your life that is significant? The first half of our life we’re all operating, trying to develop a level of success for ourselves and our families. Once you’ve reached a level of success and your kids can eat at night and your family has got shelter, what are you going to do significantly with your life now?

This book, Halftime, is what inspired me to go write a book and develop a social media presence to share mind-leadership thoughts and perspectives, successes and failures with others. Now I’m trying to live a life of significance and I’ve enjoyed a level of success. This book, Halftime, is not a big book, but I reread it regularly because it keeps me focused on why am I here. What am I doing that’s significant in making a difference? How do I go impact multiple Joes, not one Joe, not just one Rich? You and I found whether it’s some podcasts or social media, we can impact multiple Joes and multiple Richs. That’s one of the paths to picking a way to create a life of significance.

You’re leveraging yourself with your book. Talk about Uncompromising. What are the nuggets, the takeaways? If there are two things people can take away from that book, what would you want it to be?

The two most important days in your life, as Mark Twain said, “Yhe day you’re born and the second is why.” I talk about how you find your why. I share with you and in my book seven pathways. Once you find and identify your purpose in your why or your fight, whatever you want to call it, here are the pathways so you can lead a life of significance, impact, and legacy.

The two most important days of your life are the day you’re born and the day you know why. Everyone should have that thirst to find why.

That’s what the book is about, and I weave in my life story because it is an American story that people need to hear more of. We hear about all the bad things. I want to share that the American dream is alive. It’s there for the taking. Is it easy? No, but if you follow your purpose and why you’ve been placed on this Earth, I promise you’ll enjoy a life of success impact. I’m not saying how much money you’re going to have. That’s not what I’m promising you. I’m promising you that I believe you can live a life of success, impact, and legacy.

How do you define success?

It depends on the person. Me, I share publicly, we struggle to have children. Now, we hear laughter in the house of a little boy running around doing silly things, driving his mom crazy because he’s doing little boy things. That is the definition of success. When he says, “Dad,” it’s hard for me to say no when he looks at me with those eyes.

That’s a huge piece. Being able to take care of my mother who’s now safely retired. She’s 82 years old and enjoying a good life. She goes on vacations with us. She visits. Ensuring my family has a level of security. Being a dad, being a husband, hearing laughter, there’s nothing more special. It changes over time. For me now being a dad is a special thing.

Early on, when we started the episode, I asked you what you were passionate about and you didn’t answer. I got my answer now because it seems to me like being a dad and a family man.

I get to experiment with my child and I better do a good job because there’s no do-over. What drives me this ability to impact others positively is what gets me excited.

My last question before we wrap up because I want to be respectful of your time is, what’s the one song you can’t live without?

There’s an old song. There are two. My wife would love me to say Amazing Grace. That’s one of her favorite songs. My love song is Always and Forever. It’s by a group called Heatwave. It’s from the ‘70s. It is the most beautiful love song. I remember it was played at my prom and I have it in my Apple.

At your high school prom?

High school prom. This was the early ‘80s, but this song still resonates and I have it on in my little Apple library that I play regularly. It’s just a simple love song. Always and Forever, go listen to it, by Heatwave.

What’s the answer to the question that I wasn’t smart enough to ask?

You got them all, but this idea of how you find your purpose and why. I tell people to ask themselves these three questions. 1) What are you passionate about? Mine is making an impact. 2) What are you good at? Sometimes they’re not the same thing. You got to connect the dots and get your kitchen cabinet to help you figure that out. Once you answer those two questions, you ask yourself the third question which is if I’m good at and passionate, would I do it for free? If you could answer those three questions, you found your purpose and why.

I promise you, if you focus on the process of living your why, the money will take care of it. I truly believe that in my heart. How do I identify why I have been placed to observe? For me, start with those three questions. What am I passionate about? What am I good at? Add the two together, would I do it for free? Patty Ann, we’re doing this for free. We’re away from our families doing this because we want to go impact others. No one is sending us a big check for this. We’re doing it because we believe in it.

Tell people where they can find out more about you, where they can follow you, and where they can get your book. Unabashed self-promotion.

You’ve been great. Go to my website, SteveWhiteSpeaks.com. Everything you need to know, you can identify how you can follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. You can read parts of my book and put it out there for everybody to take a look at. If you want to buy the book, Uncompromising, just go to Amazon or wherever you buy your books and it’s available to you. Check out the website. We’ve tried to create a learning app, so you can go hang out there, learn, track me, see other podcasts and other interviews I’ve done, and hopefully, you’ll be inspired.

Thank you so much, Steve. This was so inspiring and fun. I am so appreciative. Even though you’re a Hoosier, two of my kids are Badgers, it’s still all good. Thank you. Make sure you get his book and follow everything that Steve White has to share because you’ll do nothing but grow, and he will enrich your life with his wisdom. That concludes this episode. As promised, I knew you were going to love this interview, so make sure you like, comment, share, and subscribe to the show. Until next time, be well.

 

Important Links

• Steve White
• Xfinity
• The Miracle of St. Anthony: A Season with Coach Bob Hurley
• The 7 Habits
• Smart Trust
• Uncompromising
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