Episode 290: Life Lessons from a Fighter Pilot

Episode Summary

Steven shares his experiences as a fighter pilot, the challenges he overcame during that time, and how those experiences helped him upgrade his leadership abilities. We have an inspiring conversation about leadership, humility, resilience, and situation awareness. Steven kindly shared the mantra that helped him successfully carry on with the privilege of being part of the 1% of pilots and technicians that turn into instructors of the Weapons School. 

Steve Shallenberger: Welcome to all of our Becoming Your Best podcast listeners wherever you may be in the world today. This is your host, Steve Shallenberger and I am excited for the guest that we have on this podcast show today. It happens to be one of our sons. So, this is going to be great. Let me just tell you about our third son, Steven. He is currently serving as the CEO of Element One, a startup that is working to restore clean air while allowing the continued use of our modern transportation economy. He is the former CEO of DMOC Inc. manufacturing firm. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School, earned the Bachelors of Science of Engineering from the United States Air Force Academy. And before Business School at Wharton, he flew the F-16 fighter jet for 10 years, finishing his career up as an instructor at the United States Air Force Weapons School, which is their top gun school. He loves his family, parents, siblings, wife, and three vibrant children. And he loves the adventure of life. Welcome, Steve. 

Steven C Shallenberger: Hey, thank you. It’s such a pleasure to be with you, dad, and other members who are here on the podcast today. I’ve listened to these podcasts for a long time, I’ve gained so much from them and it’s a real privilege to get to be here with you, dad. I’m very excited to work with you for these next few minutes. 

Steve Shallenberger: Oh, it’ll be fun. Yep. Okay, well, let’s jump right into it. It is fun because the listeners that we have here today are so amazing – other leaders in their own right in every way in their personal lives with their families, friends, the teams they work with, and organizations they serve civically, and publicly, give service to people generally, and among the best, and working to be among the best at what they do in their professional life. So, the things we’re going to talk about today, it’ll be great for everyone. And I’d like to start out Steve, if you don’t mind, telling us about your Air Force experience. Give us a background on the Air Force Academy, the pilot seats, the training, the discipline, and there’s a whole bunch of things. So, let’s get into it. Do you want to give us a little background on this? 

Steven C Shallenberger: Yeah, you bet. I can share with you kind of from the beginning and touch on a couple of key points from the Air Force experience that were important to me what I took away from it. And what better place than to start kind of at the beginning that I remember we had a couple of – 40 – fighter planes, in the repertoire of toys in the home I grew up in and loved to play with those and just had a desire to be a fighter pilot. And that’s what I thought about when I thought about my future, there really wasn’t anything else that I thought about. And I remember in seventh grade, a recruiter came from the Air Force and talked about different careers within the Air Force and I raised my hand and said, “I want to be a fighter pilot.”. And he looked at me and said, “Oh, that’s not going to happen. Hardly anybody gets to be a fighter pilot, you might as well forget about it.”. And I thought, “Okay, well, I guess that’s your opinion.”. And I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity and certainly not just myself but there’ve been many people who helped this come true for me. And I went to the Air Force Academy and thought that was one of the clearest paths I could find to becoming a fighter pilot and had a really great experience there. 

Steve Shallenberger: For those parents that might be answering questions of their children, or anybody that’s interested in getting into the Air Force Academy, tell us what the process is. Or this would be really for any military academy which is, of course, top-notch? How does that work? 

Steven C Shallenberger: An application that’s going to look at your background and accomplishments, what is your GPA, how did you do on your test scores, those are only a small portion of it. They’re going to take a look at your application and the essays you write and that’s kind of getting your foot in the door. And once you do that, if they accept you at that point, you need to get an appointment from an appointing authority such as a congressman, either a senator or representative over the president. Then you’ve complete your application by submitting that aspect of it and then you have to do a physical fitness test. And it’s very competitive, a very competitive process, comprising of quite a few interviews as well, but certainly just a step-by-step process. Anybody who’s interested, I think exploring that process early will help them be aware of what they’re up against. And so, they get their ducks in a row, so they’re ready to go at the right points in time. Being well-rounded is important, but it’s not the only requirement to get into one of the military academies.  

Steve Shallenberger: Okay, perfect. Well, good. Well keep giving us the background, this is great. 

Steven C Shallenberger: So, I went to pilot training, and my brother Rob – as any listener can probably appreciate – was an F-16 pilot and he graduated from pilot training three years before me. And so, the standard was set really high. And I don’t think that I ever in any way rose to the same level that he did as a fighter pilot and certainly not in pilot training. And so, I was worried the whole time that I wasn’t going to get into an F-16 and uphold the family name. Especially early on, I had issues throwing up in the jet, I would get airsick. And I came down from one particular flight and my instructor looked at me and he said, “I’m not going to pass you on another single flight if you throw up again.”. And I thought, “Oh, no, this can be it.”. And so, on my next flight with him, sure enough, as we’re coming home, I felt it coming nothing came again and I had to make a decision right then and there, “What am I going to do with this?”. And I made the very distasteful decision to go ahead and swallow that and move on. And that instructor never asked another question. He never knew it, never had a problem with it again. And so, went ahead and moved on. And I was fortunate enough to get into the F-16 and a half all over the world flying that jet, which was in every way the fulfillment of my dream far above and beyond what I could have ever dreamed and hoped for with that. And I think through that process, three things stick out to me as a whole about the airforce experience. That was the purpose of it, I love the mission of it. And I love the idea of going to fly this incredible piece of technology in the defense of freedom. That was a very clear mission and it made it very easy for me and a lot of the other pilots to line up behind it and do it with full intent and with all of our faith. I also really appreciated the camaraderie in the Air Force and the brotherhood that I had among my fellow fighter pilots. In fact, that’s the thing that I miss the most. It is that camaraderie that there was a group of people who shared a very similar vision and poured their hearts and souls into it and blood sweat and in some cases died together, and that was really a special thing. And the last thing that was meaningful to me, as I reflected back on it is it was an adventure. We did a lot of things and a lot of places around the world that I wish that I could tell my kids about over and over and over and they probably will hear about it over and over and over. So, that was pretty amazing.  

Steven C Shallenberger: And you asked a couple of questions about this not being an easy journey, and as I thought about that none of these things are easy. When you have a real purpose that you’re lined up behind, it’s not going to be an easy path, there’s always opposition. That was true in the Air Force. And you don’t develop a sense of camaraderie with people that you play video games with. You develop a sense of camaraderie with people who you work really hard with and who you support, and who you help and who helped you and lift you up when you’re struggling. That is how you develop camaraderie and that doesn’t come through the easy times. And adventure is not easy, either. I can remember vividly – I had about six months left in my flying career and I knew that and I was at the Weapons School where you do a lot of high-end flying – and I was working on a particular tactic in down flying where I was going to go at a very high G, nine G’s or so and do a maneuver down towards the ground through the vertical. So, fly straight down and kind of come underneath to outperform another jet. And I looked up to each sight of the other jet that I was fighting and at a particular moment, I had to shift my head one or two degrees to keep sight of them. And when I did that under G load, there was like a shot of lightning that went through my mind – and mind you I was still pointed straight down at the ground – and all of a sudden my world, not the aircraft, but my visual world started tumbling and doing somersaults. It was shocking and scary, and I recovered the jet to straighten level and I set it on autopilot. I just took my hands off the controls and my mind continued tumbling for about one or two minutes. And finally, I gain control of myself and by then I wanted to throw up again because I was so nauseous from that vertigo. And at that point, I just said “I’ve had enough, I gotta go back and land.” and I did and thankfully I was able to keep flying for those last six months. But when you’re operating in those kinds of environments and doing those kinds of if you will, high adventure things, a lot of it is still an untested territory and things happen that you don’t anticipate. And I guess that’s part of the adventure is learning to deal with that handling and persevere through.  

Steve Shallenberger: Okay. Well, thank you for that background. And I know that you served – you can correct me if I have any of this wrong – two different tours in the Middle East, a tour also in Korea. Two tours in Korea, is that right? 

Steven C Shallenberger: That’s correct. Yeah, I did. I went in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom two times in 2007, at the height of the troop surge, and then in 2009, as well, as we were starting to get control of the situation there. And in Korea in 2006 when they lit up their first nuclear bomb. That was interesting. And then back in 2012, there was a strong sense at that time that they might end up entering a conflict again. Fortunately, they didn’t. But yes, I did. 

Steve Shallenberger: Yeah. And I know you were right in the middle of that. What was it like to be in that kind of environment? 

Steven C Shallenberger: There’re two sides to every coin. There’s this numbing sense of an alternate reality when you’re in Iraq and you start to think that this is reality. There’re these bad guys down there who might consider because of their conduct and the things that we’re trying to do bad guys, you’re fighting them and you’re trying to stop what they’re doing, you start to think that’s reality. And for sure, in that instance, in that sliver of time, and with those people that was when you start to think in different ways about how to stop them. And that’s an interesting thing. In Korea, the second time I was back there were some indications that the conflict could kick off and it became very real. And all of a sudden, the training and with people under your scope of responsibility you start to think a lot about them and are they ready and have I been diligent enough this time, that I’ve had to prepare to be successful with this death kick-off and to be able to feel confident about that was great. 

Steve Shallenberger: Well, Steve, I don’t think we’re divulging any confidences and if we are you don’t have to answer this question. But if there has been the initiation of conflict and attack by the North Korean on the South, what would you have done? What would your assignment than as a pilot? 

Steven C Shallenberger: It would depend on the capacity. In 2007 I was a wingman and my role, my only job at that point was to stick with my flight lead and put my bomb exactly where we’re supposed to go. Don’t get lost. That’s about it. But as you grow on responsibility, things change. The second time around, the scope of responsibility was to make sure that the pilots were trained fully and completely, that they were executing sound tactics – and we’re talking 110 pilots – and that they’re executing the right tactics, and that we have the right weapons on station to defeat the North Korean weapons systems. And then we’re ready to execute on that. And then to put the plans together so that these guys are executing exceptional plans to minimize casualties in Seoul and in South Korea and to prevent the North Koreans from being successful. And so, it’s funny what six or seven years of training and responsibility can mean in your scope of responsibility. 

Steve Shallenberger: Yeah, good point. Yeah. Well, thank you for sharing that. These are all lessons we can learn across the board as we exercise leadership. And so, you talk about some of the adversity that you had. How are you able to overcome adversity and setbacks? 

Steven C Shallenberger: I love that question because it hits at one of the things that I’ve adopted as one of my most important virtues in life. Certainly, something that I don’t claim to be exceptional at practicing or to have a great command of and probably something I struggled with early on. And that’s ego versus humility. And a lot of times when we suffer adversity and setbacks – there are external influences that caused that – but a lot of times, I believe it’s our own doing. And when we really step back and look at ourselves in the mirror, it’s easy to recognize our contribution to some of that adversity and those setbacks. And again, that’s not all the time but certainly, that’s the case. And I reflect on a particular time in Iraq when – this is my first tour in 2007 – and I was a little bit lost a fair in my attitude but I did want to be engaged and I did want to be flying. And one of the things that people would look at is the amount of flight time they had. And there was this particular girl pilot, a female fighter pilot in my squadron who somehow had a lot more flying time to me. And as I thought about that, I talked to her and I sat back and realized I had made a big mistake where I had assumed that sitting alert wasn’t a very good thing and I would leave that to kind of lesser pilots, that I was just going to focus on the flying plan and can missions. Well, this particular girl had embraced the opportunity to sit alert and respond to conflicts that nobody anticipated.  

Steve Shallenberger: What does sitting alert mean?  

Steven C Shallenberger: Sitting alert means that the jets are parked and ready to go when you need to get airborne within five minutes of a phone call. And so, you go and sit in a shack and you study, you might watch TV, you might take a nap, but as soon as the phone rings, you sprint out and you get in the jet and you’re airborne within five minutes.  

Steve Shallenberger: Wow, okay.  

Steven C Shallenberger: It could be a variety of different situations that would be an alert launch. It’s not for sure, it’s never guaranteed that you’re going to fly when you’re sitting alert. A lot of times, you just sit there and get bored out of your mind. But I realized that I had had a bit of an ego about that and that had stopped me from flying and from gaining learning experiences and being involved in the opportunity to push the world forward. And so, that, for me, opened my eyes to this concept of humility, which is really recognizing that there’s always more for us to learn, that no matter how good you are there’s still a lot more to learn because you haven’t consumed everything. And there are experiences to be had, and knowledge to be gained that is yours to have if you’ll simply recognize the need to do that. So, as I think about adversity and setbacks, instead of letting them consume me – and of course, they’re difficult and upsetting and very emotional – but I think the one response that has really helped me to continue to progress is taking a step back and trying to be humble about that and say, “Hey, what did I do that was good in this situation? What did I do, that contributed to a poor outcome in this? Sometimes that involves talking to people who might have information on it, sometimes it was just self-reflection and sometimes it involves reading literature, or watching videos to help illuminate that particular circumstance so that I could understand it better. So, I would say that humility is one point. A second point is having a community of people around you who care and have your back because sometimes when adversity and setbacks happen, it can be a real emotional trip. Sometimes we as human beings are afraid and if we don’t have people who are close to us to help us through those difficult times, we might get defeated a second time or a third time and struggle to bounce back. And I think having great friends, great family, and great fellow fighter pilots have always been a huge benefit to me and bouncing back from adversity and setbacks. 

Steve Shallenberger: Okay, well, thank you for those thoughts. Those are very helpful. And from your experience, what are the traits of a successful leader within the fighter pilot community? And how can these be applied in everyday life? 

Steven C Shallenberger: Yeah, thanks. I appreciate that as well, it’s a good question. There are three key traits that I would suggest one is humble, the second is approachable and the third is a mix of credibility and excellence. And so, back to that humble point, again, that is one of the mantras at the Weapons School, “Humble, approachable, credible.”. And so, a great one to cite that can be applied in everyday life. 

Steve Shallenberger: So, Weapons School, that is the Air Force’s top gun school and they have their very best pilots there. Don’t just kind of glaze over that, tell us a little more about the environment at Weapons School, and then I’d like to have you go over that mantra again. 

Steven C Shallenberger: Sure. Yeah. I loved the Weapons School, by the way, that place is incredible. You’re talking about a repository of knowledge and excellence and big thinking that is it in world-class form. I would have to say that the Air Force, the US Air Force Weapons School is the envy of every Air Force in the world, and quite honestly, even the Navy. Some Navy top graduates may contest that but I think we can have a hearty discussion about it. It’s a really great place, there’s a lot of resources that are put into there. You have every airframe in the Air Force and the Navy and the Marines that come together, and honestly, the army. They come together and bring all of these capabilities together. And you have a group of people who are at the very top of their game, working to solve some of the most complex combat scenarios that we could possibly face in the future, and so it’s a very exciting place to be because of that. And there really is nobody is stuck in the past, everybody is thinking about the future. And the path to the Weapons School is challenging, very few people actually get selected to go to the Weapons School. I felt like I got in it was very lucky that I was able to go there and train at the Weapons School and go back as an instructor. But it’s probably on a percentage basis, less than 1% of the cognitive Air Force pilots and technicians who get to go to the Weapons School. And one is a student and then an even smaller percentage gets to go back and try to instruct the next generations of weapons officers at the Weapons School. Definitely, a place that I think our country can be proud of with what we’ve managed to produce with the Air Force Weapons School.  

Steve Shallenberger: What’s the mantra? 

Steven C Shallenberger: So, the mantra is “Humble, approachable, credible.” That is the expectation of weapons officers coming out. And so, just to paint that the picture a little bit more clearly, a weapons officer after graduating from the training program, they go out to the operational units around the world and join those units for one, two, or three years and they become the tactical Zeus in that unit if you will. I mean, these are the guys that everybody looks up to for tactical prowess. And everybody thinks they need to be like the weapons officer, which is a pretty mighty responsibility. And quite honestly, if everybody understood that you’re just another person too, they wouldn’t think that way but you really are that repository of knowledge. And so, the Weapons School teaches a weapons officer, when you leave and you jump into this leadership position that you may or may not be ready for, these are the three things that you need to get right to be successful and to prop up the Air Force. That’s you need to be humble. If our cadre of operational pilots see the weapons officer being arrogant, they’re going to stop learning and they’re not going to be ready for that conflict. You need to be humble. You need to be approachable, meaning these young pilots have to be able to come up to you and learn from your tactical knowledge and learn from your experience. And if you’re not approachable, if you don’t keep an open mind, keep open arms to everybody, then you’re going to turn people away. And there are really big consequences to them in their flying and in their fighting if you do that. And the last piece is hard to say the most important but certainly essential, that’s the credibility piece. That if you’re going to show up at a squadron as a weapons officer, then you have to walk the walk and talk the talk. If there’re cases where you can’t walk the walk and talk the talk, then you have to be honest about it and you can’t hide it. Because the second you start hiding your weakness in the closet so that people can’t see it, that’s the second they stop trusting you. And so, it puts a lot of responsibility on a weapons officer to be a master of the craft and to be able to represent that to the squadrons. And so, I love the question of “How does this apply in everyday life?” because I think it really is transferable in an amazing way.  

Steven C Shallenberger: I heard or read rather, the book Good to Great that some of the best CEOs that he reviewed in his book had the trait of humility as one of their key attributes. And to me, that was shocking and interesting but yet, I think, at the end of the day, it makes total sense. Because you have somebody, if they’re humble, who recognizes the value in everybody and they recognize that everybody has something to contribute. And they’re there in that position, they can learn from everybody and that we’re never there. And I think that kind of that level of self-awareness and that way of thinking really create successful organizations and prevent a lot of problems from popping up. That second piece of being approachable, I think is also very important because we’re a community, we as people, don’t operate in vacuums. And in fact, people who do operate in vacuums or silos really struggle to be successful. And I think it’s important that we recognize the value of human beings and the connections that we need to have with human beings and how that can create healthy and successful and thriving organizations. And that really is what approachable is all about. It is recognizing the value of human beings and being open to relationships, and to be able to listen to people. So, to this last point, how does that transition to everyday life, this credibility piece, I think in talking about how it applies to everyday life there’s an important word to add to that and that’s excellence. Credibility is important for people that I think also this idea of striving for excellence. And that entails a significant amount. It entails hard work, it entails diligence and entails focus, and it entails this drive that pushes you to reach the next level in whatever your craft is or whatever your business is, or whatever you’re trying to accomplish. And credibility and excellence don’t come overnight, it takes patience and it takes time. And I personally believe that credibility and excellence are a function of grit. That ability to have a purpose and persevere and overcome trials, it’s that cross of grit and talent. We, each and every person – it doesn’t matter the home, the organization, the entity, the nation – every single person has some talent that they’re really good at. And I really believe that credibility and excellence come when you cross and bring together grit and talent. And that’s when someone can find what they’re good at and they’re able to develop themselves in that particular area. You become very good at it and when you do that and you combine that with humility and approachability, I think that you have someone who’s ready to be a great leader, and be very effective in life. 

Steve Shallenberger: Okay, good answers. I love that perspective and your experience and sharing it and the application of it. So, Steve, what is situational awareness? And why is it important in life and business? 

Steven C Shallenberger: What an awesome thing to talk about.  

Steve Shallenberger: SA, right?  

Steven C Shallenberger: Yeah, SA. Every pilot wants it, almost nobody gets it totally. Situational awareness is nothing more than awareness of the world around you. And that can carry again, a lot of meaning, so I want to paint a picture to help you understand a little bit about what that really means. And so, we’ll use flying as a little example here. And please let me know if I get ahead of you in this description, I want everybody to really be able to build this mental picture in their minds because it’ll help communicate the importance of this. We would execute a mission set in the F-16 called defensive counter-air, where you have a point that you are protecting on the ground, for example, a base, that you thought might have the potential of being attacked by enemy air forces or something like that. But you’re in the air and you’re using air missiles to defend a particular point on the ground in the air against a threat who might be coming also in the air. So, a person with situational awareness would know the enemy, but they wouldn’t just know the enemy, they would know everything about the enemy. They would know where the enemy’s airfields are, where they might launch to put together an attack. They would know the kind of aircraft that those airfields and they would know the kind of missiles those aircraft carriers. They would understand the specific radar that is on those aircraft and how to defeat that radar and what ranges that radar is capable of. And then that person is going to have a very sound understanding of the enemy’s tactics so that they know what to expect and they can anticipate that. A person who has situational awareness is also going to know their own forces, how many aircraft do I have, who is providing our radar awareness as an overall airspace contribution. And not only that, after I get airborne, what are the malfunctions going on in the other aircraft in my flight? Do I have a guy who can’t use his radar? Do I have a guy who can’t go above 30,000 feet? What missiles are they carrying? If they have infrared missiles or radar missiles, how far can those missiles shoot? And as the light propagates, as you start using missiles, guess what a person with situational awareness is keeping track of how many missiles each aircraft has shot. And I would venture to say, potentially even on adversary aircraft. But it doesn’t stop there. A person with SA is going to know the airspace you’re fighting in, you’re going to know the points of entry, if the enemy is there, a range that they’re going to try to hide behind, they’re going to try to come up a canyon, or they’re going to try to spoof you with jamming and then come around the side to get an unobserved entry on. You’re going to know the weather, where the clouds that day, where’s the sun at. Is somebody going to try to dive out of the sun and attack us? How can I use the sun to my advantage? Where’s the wind coming from? Is our formation going to get pushed South because there’s 100-knot wind at the altitude that we’re feeling it? There’s a lot to know. And as you can probably appreciate, a pilot who has total situational awareness like this is going to be much better at making the one, two, or three, or 4000 decisions that you have to makeover a 20 minute period to be successful at defending that point. And to be clear, we often train to scenarios where you have a four-ship, four fighter aircraft on your team and you’re fighting 10, 15, 20 aircraft on the other team. And they can saturate you and overwhelm you. The sky is a big place and there’s a lot that happens that makes it very difficult to make decisions. And so, having that kind of total awareness puts all of the advantages on your side and helps you to be successful. The truth is that no pilot has that kind of total SA, that you can work really hard to get the information ready and to build that into your mind but nobody is going to have total SA. And in fact, the truth is that the victory is going to go to those who can piece together the best situational awareness.  

Steven C Shallenberger: And I think that really does apply to business specifically because in business you have a purpose, you have a goal, you’re trying to accomplish an objective, you’re trying to deliver value to the market. Well, it just so happens that in most cases, there are other people that are trying to deliver mountain value in that very same market. And so, of course, in an ethical and good-spirited way, the goal of a business entity is to be most successful in delivering value to the market. And so, this same principle of awareness applies. What’s going on in the market? What’s going on with the supply chain? Is there a pandemic that’s going to affect us? What is our financial stability? What’s going on in the financial markets that could make it difficult for us to access capital? What’s going on internally to us? How are our employees doing? Do they have high morale? Are they ready to respond to a shock or are they ready to respond to a crisis within the business? How about our network, is our network protected? Are we protecting ourselves against a ransomware attack? Are we protecting ourselves against cyber intrusion? Are we developing new products to stay relevant in the marketplace? And so, having this kind of situational awareness for your business and for whatever entity it is that you’re operating in if you have that perspective, that you need that situational awareness you’re going to be much more successful than somebody who doesn’t really recognize where they’re operating or what needs to be done to be successful. And I really believe that just like the flying world, that person or organization who can maximize their situational awareness by a longshot is in a better position to be successful at accomplishing their objective than somebody who doesn’t do that. So, I hope that answers the question on situational awareness and it paints the picture. 

Steve Shallenberger: That was an excellent answer. Great job. Well, I can’t believe it, the time has flown by our interview is over. It’s been great, so many wonderful ideas. I’ve been thinking of all the possible people that – men and women – would be listening to this in so many different assignments, professions within the organizations. Whether they’re technicians, or coaches, or CEOs, or teachers, or stay-at-home moms or dads, these are all things we’ve talked about today that can help them in their responsibilities. So, any final tips today, Steve, of things you would like, any final comments you’d like to share? 

Steven C Shallenberger: Oh, it’s been such a pleasure to get to talk with you. I don’t have anything to share. What I would share if there were a final tip, would be that there is great pleasure in being in the ring and making mistakes and running and growing and striving for that victory. That often the victory doesn’t come right away, but it’s worth it. That really is the essence of life, is the struggle, and ultimately the achievement. So, thanks for the opportunity to visit with you, dad. And for the audience, thank you for the opportunity to be here and communicate. I wish that there was a way to make this reciprocal with everybody listening so that I could also learn from their backgrounds and experiences and knowledge. 

Steve Shallenberger: Yeah, wouldn’t that be the best? That’d be great. Well, we keep trying. And that’s why we listen to each other. But thank you, Steve, for being part of the show today. And I can tell you as your dad, I’m grateful for you and proud of you. We have a wonderful family and we’ve always been grateful for your part in it. And thanks for joining us today, a special privilege for me as your pa.  

Steven C Shallenberger: Thank you, dad. Thanks for the opportunity. I love you, and appreciate you, and admire you as well.  

Steve Shallenberger: Well, thank you. Sure love you. And to all of our listeners, never forget, you too are making a difference every single day through your efforts and your example and your desire to become your best. This is Steve Shallenberger with Becoming Your Best Global Leadership, wishing you a great day.