SPEAKER_00: 0:02

Hey, he's back. Our boy Kriggers. Excuse me, I'm I'm uh stroking down the stash. Yeah, I want people to realize we are in the height of Movember. And Bruce is rocking a stash, a stash and a half, and he is just patting that thing down. He's raising one eyebrow. I'll be honest, you look good with a stash. I think you should do an all-year-old.

SPEAKER_02: 0:27

So I uh I actually went to an event in Tampa yesterday, which is about a two-hour drive from where I live, and I had to give a presentation. And it was kind of weird because there was this camera that kept showing my face as I was prevent presenting. I could see myself, and I'm like, dang, I really do rock this stash. Like it is a look for me, and I I enjoy it. I feel like it actually makes me look more approachable. Like in in some ways, the mustache can be a deterrent. Like, don't talk to him. He's got a mustache. But I feel like in my case, it makes me look really goofy and safe.

SPEAKER_00: 1:02

So oh, that's incredible. Well, no, I think I think the reason it worked for you is it's it's full, it's thick, it like rounds down on the on the lips a little bit.

SPEAKER_02: 1:17

It comes past the corners, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 1:18

So it's not the corners, but you're clean shaven around it, no sole patch.

SPEAKER_02: 1:23

I think it just looks clean. So when I uh because I kind of I wanted to grow a full beard this time, yeah, and I tried to, and I learned my the left side of my face has no hair, and the right side does. So I looked like freaking Jekyll and Hyde. So when I started to shave it down to get back to the mustache, which I can grow, I did leave a little soul patch there, and I look like the most 1920s English gentleman you've ever seen. And I was so tempted to keep it. But I'm like, you know what? Nothing beats the classic stash. I'll keep the stash. Let's go. Let's can't remember. Did you say you're a side sleeper or not? Uh I am a everything sleeper.

SPEAKER_00: 2:03

Okay, so you're just all over the place. I was gonna say, you know what they say, if you sleep on that one side, you just don't grow hair there.

SPEAKER_02: 2:09

Um that might actually explain it because I do that's not true. My left side. That's not true at all.

SPEAKER_00: 2:17

Because then you're heavy. You know, I mean, maybe I can't prove it wrong for you. You might be right, actually, though. I got a couple like empty spots. See, the problem with my stash, I don't I just gotta shape it. Like I gotta go to like a mustache groomer because mine just gets unwieldy and I can't groom it. I'm bad.

SPEAKER_02: 2:36

I I just use a trimmer and keep it from touching the actual lip skin and keep it from going past because I have a little bald spot uh right below the corners. So it's very easy for me to kind of keep it groomed and in line. The problem is, and you'll kind of you'll kind of see like right here, it looks like there's no hair. It's blonde. It literally goes from brown to blonde. You'll see when you see me next week. It is literally blonde. So I have like eight inches of blonde in my stash, which is super interesting. Yeah, I have gray in my beard now. You know how old I am. That's unacceptable. I mean, you were you were in the coal mines when I was but a baby, so it kind of makes sense that you'd be graying as you are. It's true.

SPEAKER_00: 3:17

Yeah, it's it's crazy. Like I even talked to my dad, and he's like, I asked him, like, I don't remember you being this gray when you were my age. And he's like, I was not. I was not gray at all when I was your age. Like, what happened to me? You know what does that to you?

SPEAKER_02: 3:31

Oh, what's that? Welcome back to Corporate Strategy, the podcast that could have been an email. I'm Bruce.

SPEAKER_00: 3:36

And I'm Greg Clark.

SPEAKER_02: 3:39

Clark! Clark Ray? Clark Ray. Yeah, Clark the Great. Uh dropping uh, you're not dropping a ring in a mordor, you're dropping your what is it, the uh the AARP check off at the bank. Uh can't wait.

SPEAKER_00: 3:57

Can't wait to roll up, get my McDonald's coffee, roll up the check on the early bird special at the iHop.

SPEAKER_02: 4:07

I was once told by one of my mentors as I was chewing a not chewing, I would plopped a hard cinnamon candy in my mouth. Uh, I was like, I don't care if this makes me look elderly. And he said, You're not an elder for liking hard candy. You're an elder when you find them in your pocket and you don't know how they got there. I was like, Oh, that's good. That's actually really good. Okay.

SPEAKER_00: 4:26

Thanks for making me feel better today. I love that so much. Yeah, I love uh Werther's originals. We have a lot of international people. I don't know if this is an international thing, but people who don't know what a Werther's is, it's just a hard piece of caramel that you just sunk. You can just suck on them. My my grandma used to have them all the time. We'd go to what do you do with them? Church, you just you just suck on them. You just go to church and she would just have them in her pockets, like, hey, here you go, kid. Take some Werther's originals, and honestly, it make it makes me really nostalgic and I love it.

unknown: 4:58

Yep.

SPEAKER_00: 4:58

Yep. I I mean they're they're delicious.

SPEAKER_02: 5:01

Delicious candy. I you know, I'm not if I had to choose, my candy preference is gummy. I always like gummy over everything else.

SPEAKER_03: 5:09

That's a texture you like.

SPEAKER_02: 5:10

Flavorful hard candy, that's I'll take it. I will take it. Like a sour hard candy, a Werthers, a cinnamon hard candy. If it's got a good extreme flavor to it, I'm into it. I'm a chocolate guy. Ah, see, that's my bottom. I don't I don't really care for chocolate all that much.

SPEAKER_00: 5:27

Like I put chocolate, like a Reese's cup. I'd put that over anything. Rolo's. Oh, Rolo's so good. Underrated.

SPEAKER_02: 5:36

See, I'm I I do enjoy chocolate, but unfortunately, I've been Bruges-pilled uh or Belgium pilled. So I will only eat chocolate if it is like of the highest of quality. So I'll you know, go to these little boutique shops and spend like$30 on six tiny little chocolate pieces. And I wish I was exaggerating, but I just did this last week, and I'll eat that. Uh you're out of control. Uh delicious though. It's delicious. And you know what? I can't eat like a Hershey's or a you know, I could pop a peanut butter cup. I can pop a peanut butter cup, but it's not it's not by choice. Like I'm never like, I want to go buy a peanut butter cup. It's like it's around. Okay. I guess I'll eat this because I'm kind of snacky.

SPEAKER_00: 6:25

A peanut butter cup is like at the top for me. But what's above that is the seasonal peanut butter cups where it's like an Easter egg, an Easter egg peanut butter cup. You know, they just put them in different shapes. Yeah, they just put them the Reese's just puts them in shapes, they make a bunny out of it. I don't know why. Those are way better. Every time I eat one of those, way better. Interesting.

SPEAKER_02: 6:46

Interesting. Exactly. It very well could be because of the mold. They have to do it in a different factory. Yeah, because it's a different factory, they're importing ingredients from like better sources, maybe different locations that have better quality ingredients. So that I mean, that's an interesting little bit.

SPEAKER_00: 7:02

I think they have notice that you've you've picked up there. Like, I think the peanut butter Reese's cup has like a very thin layer on top and on bottom. No, no, it's got a thick layer on the bottom and like a very thin thing on top. But when they do the seasonal ones, it's just a ton of peanut butter in like very light chocolate. I just love biting into a little crisp, you're right through the chocolate, you're into the peanut butter. Ooh, ooh, I want one right now. I'm craving a peanut butter. I mean, are they are they gonna do them for Christmas? I don't know. Maybe they do trees.

SPEAKER_02: 7:30

I feel like I think we might need to do like a live uh tasting. If if you find some, let me know. I'll go to the the local grocer and get one for myself and on a on the screen or on the on the pod, we'll do a live. Does this taste better than a Reese's cup?

SPEAKER_00: 7:44

People have to listen to this because they can't even see us. Great radio.

SPEAKER_02: 7:48

Great, great radio.

SPEAKER_00: 7:49

I'll make sure to chew into the mic just so you can. Just so you guys can hear it. Yeah, I want you guys, I'll turn noise cancellation off, and I want you to just hear every single part. ASM ASMR is a thing. Yeah, it can be a thing for us. Who doesn't want to hear my chompers going wild on some chocolate and peanut butter? Uh speaking that vibe check for you. Hey, you're starting. I haven't vibe checked with you in a minute. You're starting. Last time you did it.

SPEAKER_02: 8:15

It was a bad idea. It was a bad idea. It was a really bad idea. So I've been sick for a month.

SPEAKER_03: 8:25

Starting so strong. You're starting so strong.

SPEAKER_02: 8:28

Remember like four weeks ago when we potted, and I was like, my voice is gone. That was like a virus. Uh I went and got tested. I think I mentioned this. It was like, it wasn't COVID, wasn't strep, but I literally just had this hoarse cough, sore throat, fevers, hallucinations. You know, it was three days of real bad, and then it slowly started to taper off. I have continued to cough on and off uh since then, and I have a consistent sore throat. And like I look at the back of my throat, and the back right of my throat is like still red and inflamed. It's been a month, man. It's been a month.

SPEAKER_00: 9:03

Yeah. We talked about before on this podcast, like how you take just being a healthy human being for granted, and then you have like an inconvenience, like a sore throat for a day, and you're like, this is the worst. The worst. I don't even and you haven't had it for a month.

SPEAKER_02: 9:17

I can't even imagine. It it's wild because you know, I've this this year, um, my wife and I have actually tried to do a little bit more physical activity per day, either go for a 30-minute walk or exercise. And we've been really big into Apple Fitness, uh, specifically strength. And I've got a whole like dumbbell set now, and we'll do strength training. And it's been it's been such a a burden because I'll start to exercise and I'll just start hacking and coughing. It's like, well, I don't want to, I don't want to lose my gains. I gotta keep going. But like, dude, it is, I am so ready for this thing to be over. And the funniest thing is, you know, talking about it today, I was like, you know, I've been sick for a month. I literally gave a presentation to like a room full of people yesterday, and like my voice is killing me, I'm dying. Um, I should go to the doctor, but like next week's Thanksgiving, which is a big US holiday, and there's I there's no way. So like now I'm in the phase where it's like, well, I guess I'll just wait two more weeks and see if I'm better then. And then if I'm not, maybe then I'll go get checked out. And by then they're gonna say, you're dying. So that's yeah, that's where I'm at. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_00: 10:23

Great start, awesome vibe check. It's so I'm always just so happy, like how you're hearing. I am hearing about you thriving and prosperous and just doing so well. So thank you for sharing that and bringing up everybody. Absolutely. It's what I'm here for. Uh I also have an ailment. I hurt my back. I hurt my back, and it's it's bad. It's bad. So I I've had like an on and off ever since I was an athlete, so I played college sports and I hurt my back. And like over time, when you're young, you bounce back, you know. And as I got older, I would occasionally like re-injure it if I'm lifting weights that are too heavy, like squatting too much. And I'm like, okay, I did it. I did it. Like, I'm gonna stop. In a month or two, I was like, okay, I'm back, like I can gain the strength up. And it happened like once every year or so. I would like really throw it out. Yeah, well, we were uh moving, as I think I talked about, I moved into a new house, and I did it. I threw it out. I knew exactly the feeling. I was like, okay, it's gonna take me a month to bounce back from this. It's been three months, and no, it still is a problem. Like, I can't pick up more than like I I did go to a doctor, I can't pick up more than like 20 pounds off the ground. And I went to the doctor, I got an x-ray. Turns out, my I'm gonna say it all wrong now. You have like your S1 joint at the bottom of your spine that connects to your L5, and you're supposed to have like a good amount of cushion in you know, in the cartilage in between those two things. And basically he showed me the X-ray. He's like, You see how these, these, uh, your spine is actually like you have like half an inch of cartilage between each thing, and then let's take a look at this one. And he's like, there's like two millimeters of cartilage between these things. He's like, What? This is pretty bad. He's like, You're gonna have to take like two months off, rehab every single day, do this list of 30 exercises, and just hope that helps. And if it doesn't, we'll get an MRI, we'll take a deeper look at it and see if you did some like serious nerve damage. I'm like, oh boy, here we go. So it's been like it's been like four, this was week four, but I was stupid last week and I moved something in my yard and I did it again. I'm like, gosh dang it. So now I'm just gonna give it like two more or three more weeks, and then I'm gonna go back in for a checkup. We're gonna talk about it, and I think I'm gonna have to get an MRI because it's not getting much better. Dude, we're gonna have to rename this podcast to getting old. Mm-hmm. Well, it's funny you say I've got a topic for you today. Oh no.

SPEAKER_01: 12:51

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00: 12:52

But anyways, I want all of our listeners to be really happy. Protect your back. Um, yeah, well, you protect your back for sure. Word of the wise. Don't do stupid things like I did. But two, also, we're doing this for you, injured, sick, we're here. We're here over and over every week.

SPEAKER_02: 13:08

I want to ask you a question, uh, since you know, we're we're here before we get into the topic about dying. Um, I want to so one of the things, you know, I mentioned the Apple Fitness and the strength training. One of the things I've noticed they really go hard on is the hinge, which I've never really done before in exercise. But it's like every every other freaking exercise they make you do in their strength training is some kind of hinge. And like at first, I'm like, my back just hurts all the time. It's sore. But now I've I feel so strong in the back. So just a shout out to hinge exercises. And if you're not doing them, do them because your posture will improve. Your just level of sit seated standing comfort improves. And I feel like you get a nice uh just reinforcement to your core. Everyone assumes core is front, but core is also back, you know, and like shout-outs to the hinge.

SPEAKER_00: 13:58

Yeah, it's it's so interesting. Like as you get older, how much more you need to like warm up and focus on that, just because like your core like you can lift a lot of weight, but your core can just not be strong, even though you can do a bunch of crunches. Yes, it's your back, it's your stabilizer muscles in your lower back and like the top of your glutes that you have to really work on, and that's what gives you a solid core. And I never thought about that. So now I'm doing all of that.

SPEAKER_02: 14:22

Shout outs, Pilates. Uh, you think they're you know an exercise that is just for women? Absolutely not. Fantastic. Uh, 30-minute floor. It's great because you're laying on the ground, it's almost like a nap where you're moving uh and you're sweating and sometimes screaming because your body hates you. But uh Pilates, great shout outs.

SPEAKER_00: 14:43

I I think people people who make fun of it for like not being that hard of an exercise have never tried it.

SPEAKER_02: 14:49

Yeah, dude. Like if you tried it, do a minute of clamshells on both sides and then come back to me and tell me how easy it is.

SPEAKER_00: 14:58

Well, even the rehab, because I consider myself to be pretty fit. You're you're very fit. I was like, dude, rehab, gonna be easy. Like these exercises, no big deal. Like three sets of 15 body weight squats, no problem. And then I'm doing them all in uh in sequence. And it is just sorry, I'm showing my cat to Bruce here. She's right up on my standing desk, climbed all the way up here. But um, I was uh I was doing these exercises, and I'm like, holy cow, I'm like sweating buckets, my heart rate's going through the roof. I'm like, I'm just on the warmups, I haven't even gotten to the real deal yet. So now after a couple weeks, like it's starting to get easier, but to your point, it's like don't mess around with the core, don't mess around with the core. Yep.

SPEAKER_02: 15:38

It's uh it's it's an important set of muscles. And and you know, truly, Clark, I do hope you have a rejuvenative healing journey through your rehab and you get back to that sweet, sweet, solid back that you once had that I admired so fondly. So good luck.

SPEAKER_00: 15:56

Good luck on your recovery. I hope when I see you on Tuesday, I can scare the sickness right out of you. Oh, I hope so too. That'll be just magical. We'll do an exorcism. It'll be great. I can't wait. I can't wait till we do that together. Well, speaking of getting old and things happening to your body and us just falling apart at every single angle. Um I have a topic today. I want to hear it. And it's about what is the peak of your career? Oh, like are we are we in the peak now? I was thinking about this. I was like, like what part we haven't got we're we're relatively young, but we're not new in our careers. So we have a long way to go. Like, if you consider retirement, we got decades to go. And so I was trying to think, I'm like looking around the people that I work with, the different age groups, the demographics, the different positions, the titles, and I'm like, what's the peak? Like, when are you at the peak?

SPEAKER_02: 16:53

I I do want to stop you uh because what you just said freaking horrifies me. I've got less than two decades, so calm yourself. I'm counting down the months. I've got it. 54. I can piece right the F out and never work again.

SPEAKER_03: 17:11

I'm on a plan.

SPEAKER_02: 17:12

I'm on a plan. It's not that far away. That boo-doo on me. Uh, but I love this. I love this because uh interestingly enough, I was thinking about this. Like, it's weird you bring this up because I was thinking about this just in regards to upper management, right? I'm a director, you know. I I mentioned in the past I applied for a VP role this year. I was thinking about like, do I want to be a VP ever in the future? Looking at what my boss does now, looking at his workload, uh, considering, you know, do I want to go into executive? And no, is the answer. So then I thought, well, is this actually where, you know, my last stop basically? And then do I go to uh a lesser job or back to like an IC, get out of management, get out of directorship, more focused work? And yes, is is is likely the answer. So I I do think this is probably my peak from where I go from a hierarchical perspective, but this is not my peak on the journey of cool things I get to accomplish in my job. I absolutely believe that there are some way cool things I'll get to work on in the future that have nothing to do with title. Waiting for my clock to finish. Yeah, I can hear it very slightly. But it's nice, I like it. Okay, so the the chimes have come in. I am old now, I am dead now, and uh, I I I think you gotta separate the two because for me, no, but also yes.

SPEAKER_00: 18:40

You know, when I hear those bells, I just think of like the the ghost of Christmas past or present coming in or future. Yeah. Like I just imagine that's the transition. Like, is I think that's from like the what the Disney movie. The Muppets? The Muppet Christmas Carol? No, no, no. No, no, the one where uh oh man, maybe it is the Muppets. It might be the best one.

SPEAKER_02: 19:02

The Muppet Christmas Carol is actually one of the most accurate uh retellings of Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol.

SPEAKER_00: 19:08

Really? Okay, huh? Yeah. I I think it might be that, but that's what it brings me back to every time I hear your bell. I'm like, all right, we're transitioning. Time to go go to the ghosts of the future.

SPEAKER_03: 19:17

And Gonzo's like, you will be visited with the battle tolls won!

SPEAKER_00: 19:22

That was actually really good. I was probably yeah, no, I didn't do I'll do a little gonzo here and there. But yeah, I'm I'm right there with you. I was thinking today, because I was talking with someone who's relatively new, but they're my peer on the team. I'm also at the director level, so I also applied for VP role, and I did a lot of the same things. I was like, huh. You know, looking at what they do, looking at the age they're at, like, is that where I want to be? Right, like for so long you go through that, we're like, of course it is. Like through through the last decade of working, I'm like, yeah, of course. You know, I want to be like the CEO, I want to be the top dog. And then, like, as you get older, perspective and life comes in, and you see the work that happens, and you're like, yeah, but are they happy? Like, are they fulfilled doing the work that they're doing? And the person I work with that just came in, they're like, hey, this is like the peak for me. Like, I have no aspirations to go above this, but I'm really good in this position. Like, I'm happy where this is at. I've kind of mastered it. I love building teams, but not being directly working day to day with smaller teams. They're like, not individual contributor in a level of management, but not big enough of a team to like be working 24-7, 365. So, like, that's the sweet spot for me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 20:32

They know what they want. I think that's perfect. And interestingly enough, I feel like you and I are probably figuring that out right now as we're hitting this sort of moment in our careers where we could go up or or other directions.

SPEAKER_00: 20:47

Yeah, yeah, it's it's an interesting topic. And I was trying to think like, okay, early career. You don't really know anything. So, like, you're walking in, you're like, I don't even understand how corporations work. Oh, you're a you're a manager, you're a supervisor, like you're a lead. What does that mean? Like, what do I do? Where do I go? And like, I think fondly back to those times because it's almost like the naivety makes the work more fun. Because you're just learning so many new things. You're like, the world is my oyster. I go left, I go right, I go down, I can do a spin, I can, I could go all these different directions, and you don't know what what to do. So, like that that time, while you're not getting paid a lot, usually, you're learning a lot, and you'll never be able to go back to that time. No, I know it sucks. Isn't that crazy?

SPEAKER_02: 21:36

I was thinking about that. So I I agree, but I do think there's when you start out, and I think this is important for anyone who's who's younger listening to this podcast. When you start out, you don't have industry knowledge. And a lot of, and I see this when we we hire young people at my company, a lot of what they butt up against is not the responsibilities of the role, but it's industry knowledge, not understanding industry acronyms, keywords, phrases, yeah, ideas. Like there's a lot of things tied to the field that is not directly related to your job and your job responsibilities, but it does hinder you from doing them because you don't know that industry knowledge and expertise. I do think though, you know, yeah, we know everything about our respective industries. So it doesn't matter where we go, what position we're in, we're not gonna be learning that again unless we truly do a radical shift. Like if I become an art dealer, I'm in for a just rug pull of emotion and and life experience because I know nothing about art, I know nothing about selling art or collecting it, etc. But that doesn't really happen. People stay in their their sort of industry of comfort, but I do think there is learning and exploration that can happen, like what happened with you and me. It's like go from development to sales to marketing to product management to whatever. You get to learn a little bit of a different set of functional skills, uh, being an individual contributor, being a manager, you know, being an upper level manager, right? But all of that is still nuanced and an opportunity to grow and learn. And then there's also just the idea that industries change, grow, evolve. So you're you're keeping up with trends if you're doing a good job and you're trying to stay ahead of your customers' wants and desires. But you're never gonna be in that deer in the headlights. I don't understand what any of this is ever again. That's for sure. Yeah.

unknown: 23:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 23:37

You are definitely in your like peak. I think we're in our peak productivity right now for sure. I don't think that we become more productive as the years go by.

SPEAKER_00: 23:46

Yeah, I look at even the last like three years, and I'm like, I think I already hit my peak peak productivity. I don't know that I could be more productive than I was in the last three years. I'm like, I'm more tired now. I'm my back hurts. I'm like, maybe that was it. But going back to what you said, before we go younger than me. Before we go into that, I do want to touch on like early career and the early career and like the things that you should be doing. And it's exactly what you just said. It's like learning, trying different things, and finding what industry you like and what type of job you like doing. Like that's your time. Because I feel like after that, you kind of have to choose if you want to earn more money or go up the ladder. Like you have to decide what is that role or what is that industry I'm gonna focus in on for the rest of my career. Because if you decide, hey, I'm gonna spend 10 years in this industry and then I'm gonna switch and spend 10 years in that industry, very likely you're gonna be starting over. Salary-wise, experience-wise, gear in the headlights, acronym-wise, like you you think that's possible when you're young, but then when you get older, you're like, I can't do that. That's not economical for me. Yeah, I don't have it in me, but also what's the game? Like, yeah, I lose everything by doing that, and I'm gonna have to restart. Like, that doesn't sound fun. So, like, that is the peak time to be doing that. It's in your early career, maybe five to ten years, starting off as like try different things, find out what you like, find out the industries you enjoy, and pick one. Pick one to focus your middle career on, of like, this is where I'm going to get really, really good industry domain knowledge, skill set wise, and then also, you know, finding what kind of company I want to work for, what kind of company I want to build.

SPEAKER_02: 25:42

And I I do think, you know, to to your point and to my own, there is an opportunity if you feel like you're you hit your mid-30s, you might be a little burnt out, you might feel a little tired, or like, is this it? Is this all there is till I hit 54 and I can retire comfortably? No, um, you absolutely can change jobs or you can change industries, you just can't do both. Uh, and that would be good point. I think that is really where you have to decide. Like, do I not like the folks around me, which is that that's your industry, right? Or do I not like what I'm doing? That's your job. And I think you are able to kind of deftly do that because you have experience. Once you hit your mid-30s, you know a lot about your job and you know a lot about the industry. Whatever you take with you to the next location is valuable, but you will have to learn something, right? So if you're staying in the industry, you could you could swap jobs at a different company, potentially, you know, I gotta learn a little bit new process, a little bit new technology, a little bit new functionality, but you could do it. Or hey, I'm gonna go be, I'm a marketer today, I'm gonna go be a marketer, you know, I'm in I'm in storage today, I wanna go be in security tomorrow. I'm gonna go take the security course, learn some security, and then I'm gonna go become a marketer there. You can do that.

SPEAKER_00: 26:55

Yeah, that's absolutely good point. That is a really good point. It's like if you manage, if if you build expertise in the function of your role, you can change industries and probably be okay. Yeah. In in most industries, I would say some, probably not, but in a lot of industries that'd be the case. You can't go from like, you know, storage to healthcare, right? Like, yeah, yeah. But then yeah, if you're changing industries and your functional piece, like that would be just a recipe for you're literally starting over.

unknown: 27:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 27:31

And while you might be capable and be able to do it quickly, you're still starting over, and it's gonna be a learning curve. And that's okay. To your point, like you might have to do it. Yeah, take a pay cut, find out, and be like, oh man, I really found something else that I enjoyed. And that is interesting because it's like you get into the middle career, and I think both you and I have found, would you say the well, I mean, you picked an industry. Yeah. I picked a function. Yes, yeah, we we did the opposite, really.

SPEAKER_03: 27:58

Yeah, we did the opposite. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 28:00

That's interesting. So either of us could still jump into like a tangential either function or industry and probably be okay. And I don't know that we would switch both.

SPEAKER_02: 28:11

I I do think that is my next jump, though. I've thought a lot about it, is I I don't want to be in the industry I'm in anymore. Uh, so I will I will probably do one of the jobs I've done in the past somewhere else. Um done.

SPEAKER_00: 28:25

Yeah. That's like the I think there's a fork in the road once you get to like the second stage of your career. I won't say half because it's not half yet, but it's like the second stage of your career, you've learned. It is. Yeah, you're yeah, that's true, actually. Like you get to this fork in the road where it's like, okay, during the stage after your early career where you've kind of solidified yourself, you've got the experience, you've got the knowledge, you've got the expertise. You're probably earning good money, depending on what you do. Now you've set yourself up financially. You've solidified your life in a lot of ways, like where you're likely going to spend a lot of your time, the people you're gonna be spending your time with, maybe you got married, whatever. And so then you kind of hit that fork in the road to say, okay, I've solidified that. Before I jump into this next arc of my career, I hit this fork in the road of, is this what I want to do for the rest? Or do I want to split and do something else? Like I think there is a fork in the road there to be like, do I make a big jump and just do something function and industry different just because I truly am burnt out and I've been hating what I've been doing? Or do you just decide to go something completely different where you're like, I'm gonna go be an entrepreneur instead of a career person in a company?

SPEAKER_02: 29:40

There's, I mean, there's definitely a time window and a uh sort of finality of life, right? I wouldn't say when you're 45, that's the time to strike out and take a big risk, right? Because you, you know, you might be 10 years from retirement, and that could totally throw off your investments and your ability to hit. That unless you're okay with that level of risk, I would say it's probably better to stay in a somewhat safe bubble of career growth. Whereas when you're in your 20s, there's literally nothing you can't try because you're poor and you're going to be poor for a long time. So go be poor doing something wild or something interesting that you might strike it big with. I do I do think 30s is kind of like that's that's the end of the experimentation uh for the wild risks. Uh if you want to retire comfortably, uh otherwise you do whatever you want, right? Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00: 30:37

I agree. Because like during your 30s, you could be starting a family, and you know, your your ties to other things and your responsibilities have grown quite significantly from being a kid, you know. So it is kind of your limited window to say, I'm gonna go try something else, maybe, or I'm gonna stick with what I know and continue growing in that. And that's an exciting time. It's also a scary time. And I feel like the stage after that is when you're in your peak. It's like you've known enough, you've set yourself up financially, you've gained the skill set to actually say, okay, I kind of know whether I want to try something new or whether I want to stay with what I'm doing. I've got some clarity. And then from there, it's like, okay, now maybe I need a jump and a wrist to try to course correct a little bit and make myself a little happier or get myself financially in a good spot or whatever my goals are. And then I feel like the next stage, like in your 40s, is like the peak. It's like I've learned, I've got all this wisdom from things I've done, things I've seen, people I've worked with, uh, skill sets that I've achieved, and I know I know what I want, and I've got clarity over where I want to go.

SPEAKER_02: 31:44

I got feeling that's the peak. 40s is definitely when if you are executive bound, you can do that comfortably in a corporate ladder climb, right? Like this is a I didn't go get an MBA and start my own business, I'm an exec. This is a I have climbed the ladder. I know everything I need to know to be a CPO, a CFO, a CMO, whatever it is. You have that knowledge, you have the industry experience. You've been you've been working 20 years, right? Like you actually have 20 years of experience. So that is when you can really set out and achieve those executive goals if you want them. And companies will hire you for them because you have all that domain expertise.

SPEAKER_00: 32:23

Right. Absolutely. Yeah, I just feel like that's got to be the peak, right? Like you've got things figured out, you know what you want to do. I feel like the next arc is like when you're starting to fade out, you're focusing on the bigger picture. You're like, okay, I worked hard. Like, I think now it's time for me to relax a little bit and like step. Maybe not. Like maybe you continue to challenge yourself, but at that point, it's like, yeah, I'm not gonna kill myself like I was before, and I know the path that I'm taking to get to retirement.

SPEAKER_02: 32:49

That's when you have peak wisdom and life skill. Like you're no longer peak productivity, you're you're peak living your best life, I feel. Uh, because you know, I I I'm serious here. Like, I spent a lot of time talking to my five guy and putting money away and making sure that I can get to retirement as early as humanly possible. And that that has been my goal for a long time because I hate work and I don't want to work. That's you know, that's always been the goal is to not work. So, you know, uh planning my path, charting my course to get there, that is my peak, is when I don't have to ever work again, right? And I can just sit at home and do whatever the hell I want all day. That sounds magical to me. So you you do have to kind of evaluate like maybe I don't want to retire early, maybe I want to keep playing the game, maybe I want to be a CEO. Well, you know, that a lot of CEOs are in their late 40s, early 50s. So you can you can go that route too. It's it's all about the experience you have and the ability to delegate and manage that experience downwards for those that work for you.

SPEAKER_00: 33:57

Yep, 100%. Like at that point, you've built, hopefully, if you haven't made a bunch of jumps from industry and function because you can't figure out what you want to do. Hopefully, you've made enough money where you're sitting pretty comfy. Yeah. You're like, I could I could get laid off next week and I'll be fine. I'll find another job in the industry. I'll use my network. I've built a strong network. I know people, like I can just find another job. You know, worse comes to worse. Yeah. So I feel like that's some of the benefit of being at that stage. It's like you've built all these connections and now you're able to leverage those too.

SPEAKER_02: 34:30

I I will say, and just a cautionary piece of advice for the older listeners out there, um, because we've seen this. You and I have seen this in real scenarios. Don't be too comfy, right? Like continue to learn, continue to push yourself and experience new technologies, learn new things, don't be complacent, don't be easy to replace, because it is gonna be much harder for you to get a job if you are laid off and you are comfy than if you are scrappy, resilient, staying on the cutting edge of things. You will get rehired. But I do think comfort does lend a little bit of uh difficulty, especially as you get up there in age, because companies are like they're gonna retire in five years anyway. I'm not gonna hire them. They they bring nothing to the the org. And like they're not supposed to do that, they're not supposed to profile, but I promise you they do. So that's something to consider.

SPEAKER_00: 35:24

Yeah, I 100% agree with you. Well, yeah, that's the main topic I want to talk about. You know, we live it every day, and I I've just been looking around and I'm like, when is the peak? Like, am I in it? I don't wanna I don't want to realize it's multiple times. I don't want to realize it's the good old times when I'm in when I'm out of the good old times. I want to be in the good old times when I really happened. I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02: 35:46

Those were in our 20s, Clark.

SPEAKER_00: 35:48

We're we're never going back. Yeah. For us, that was pretty incredible. I mean, we weren't making good money, but it was pretty incredible. Those were the golden days, those were the good old times, they're dead.

SPEAKER_02: 35:58

Uh so now we have to deal with the at least we're paid well times. And then we get to go to the at least it's only 10 years till we retire times. So there are multiple peaks. There are multiple peaks, and it's all about how you summit them. I love it. Well, that was my discussion for today. Thanks for hearing about it. We've not talked about that before. So good job coming up with one that's uh a little bit different.

SPEAKER_00: 36:21

Yeah, almost 200 episodes. We haven't talked about that, which is wild. So we we had uh we had to find something new. People are sick of us. Hundred episodes. Can you believe it? I was hoping we'd hit 200 before the end of the year. We're 10 away, there's no way that's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_03: 36:41

Yeah, it ain't happening.

SPEAKER_00: 36:42

I just I just looked at the calendar no, no, there's just no way through the holidays, no, unless we just start sneaking in randos here and there, like Discord only. Well, actually, now our account's all screwed up because we did a Discord only episode that we released to our members. I still counted it. Oh, did you? Okay, so you still up the number.

SPEAKER_02: 37:01

Okay, I have the number, yeah. You just you if you're not in the discord, you didn't get to hear it. It's like, why did they skip a number? Man, can they not count? No, it's in the discord. It's in the discord, but you know what's sad is there are folks that listen that don't know how to get to the discord. They don't? No, they don't know how to get to really is it is it really difficult or something? I just checked uh and uh someone said this Discord is the most difficult thing I've ever seen in my life to get into. Wow, it's challenging. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_00: 37:28

Well, I've got a tip for you. Oh, oh. We built a super easy way to do it. What? It's pretty hard to keep the riffraff out. I know you would you would think it would be, and you'd think everybody would be in it with what I'm about to say, but they're not, and you're missing out on exclusive concept, on great community, on a Danish sailor, a marine engine engineer. You're missing out. He's there.

SPEAKER_02: 37:51

Well, he he is there, but I mean, do we want people to know how to get there? Is that something we want to share publicly? This sounds like a secret that's too good to be true. Yeah, you're right. Maybe we don't tell him.

SPEAKER_01: 38:02

Okay, yeah, good call. Good call. You can give us money though. You can give us money.

SPEAKER_00: 38:10

So so should we tell them how to do that? Should we keep that? Well, okay, so for the people, I won't tell you how to do it, but what I will say is all you gotta do is scroll down and tap a link with your butt with your with your thumb. I was about to say button, and then just tapped a butt. So tap the link with your butt.

SPEAKER_02: 38:32

Un uncheek, roll down your pants so at least one cheek is exposed. Please don't. Smash the cheek with the face of your phone. That's the only way to get into the Discord.

SPEAKER_00: 38:43

That's the only way. Immediate. Immediately you will be entered into the Discord. It's crazy. It's crazy how that works. This requires a cheek smack, that's all. Yeah, there's a link. Scroll down, hit the link. All the stuff is there. You can buy us a coffee, you can go join the Discord, you can have a chat with a marine engineer, you can see Bruce's mustache. You actually can't do that. But maybe if you join, he'll post a pick. I'll post that's what I'm talking about. Yeah, you know, if you just flip your head upside down now that you have a mustache, how do you think that would look? It looks weird. I'm trying. I need like a side by side. I need a Bruce head upwards. The blood flowing my brain. I need a Bruce head downwards, and I wanted them side by side.

SPEAKER_02: 39:24

Okay. I will post a picture of me upside down so everyone can see my mustache. Good. That's an incentive to get there, get in there right now. Oh, yeah. Join. Uh, and do and shout outs for those again. In case you didn't hear our last episode, uh, we did fail to notice that some of y'all did spend money and buy us those coffees to support the show. And you've actually given us like over three months of uh essentially what is our ability to host this podcast. So thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And Clark will do a better job of reading the email for when you do uh give us those bias of coffees in the future. So thanks, Clark. Yeah, you wonder how many other people have emailed us, so we just haven't looked. We just have no idea because I don't know how to access the email anymore, and you have the ownership of it. So I'm doubling this one to you.

SPEAKER_00: 40:11

I get the questions. I get questions at corporate strategy.biz, but I don't get I don't get Bruce or Clark, which is an issue. So we're gonna have to fix that.

SPEAKER_02: 40:20

It's not Bruce or Clark, it's the other one, it's the one we use for the accounts. Oh boy. Okay, I'm gonna have to check it.

SPEAKER_00: 40:26

I gotta pull it down.

SPEAKER_02: 40:27

Okay, we'll we'll figure that one out. We'll take it offline. We'll double-click into that later. Uh but until we do that, deep dot double-click, check out that link tree, join the discord, give us money. Uh, share the podcast with your friends. Really, that's a that's a big thing, right? Like, I've noticed we set a goal this year that we would buy you all baby onesies if we had like 15,000 listens. We ain't getting close to that. So none of y'all are getting the baby onesie. But truly, we don't market this podcast. I don't pay a damn red cent to put this thing anywhere. So if you wanted to share on LinkedIn with your friends, with your family, with your neighbors, with your coworkers, please do so. Uh, we have heard stories of folks that share the pod with people they work with and they're all like, This is great. Thank you so much. Like, I need this. So it's the least you can do to help us out. If you can't do anything else, we would really appreciate it. So thank you in advance for that. Uh, and uh thanks for being a listener as always.

SPEAKER_01: 41:22

That's all I got. I miss when we used to have Pepsi facts. Do you miss Pepsi facts?

SPEAKER_00: 41:29

Those were fun. I'll be honest with you. I could drink a Pepsi right now. I could eat a Reese's cup and drink a Pepsi. I want both at the same time? At the same time. Do you want to be sick? That's how you get sick. All right, next episode. Pepsi and Reese's, here we go.

SPEAKER_02: 41:44

Pepsi and Reese's. Let's make it happen. All right. Next up. That should be the Halloween app, but we're well past that. So we are well past. We're almost going to turkey week. Who who doesn't think about Reese's Cups and Pepsi for Thanksgiving? Who doesn't think about it? Could you imagine a turkey stuffed with Pepsi and Reese's? Oh, how would that be a lot?

SPEAKER_00: 42:06

I'm in. You know what? I'm in. Why not? I'll take a bite. I'll take one bite. Why not? I'll take a bite. You gotta try everything once, you know?

SPEAKER_02: 42:14

Ooh, ooh, you're giving me an idea here. Okay, so so you know how stuffing. Turkey has stuffing, right? I'm I'm with you, I'm following. So they say. Uh so the the stuffing is very similar in texture to the stuffing of a Rihe cup.

SPEAKER_01: 42:29

Can you imagine if they took a turkey-shaped Rihe cup mold and just stuffed that bad boy with crumbs? Ricky peanut butter?

SPEAKER_02: 42:42

Ooh, that would be I mean, I think. As you knop on that Rihee turkey, mmm, buddy.

SPEAKER_00: 42:54

See, the chocolate outer shell needs to be with the right ratio with the peanut butter. That's the only issue. If it's too much one, too much the other, I'm out. But if you can balance them right, I'm in.

SPEAKER_02: 43:06

So we basically need to make like a turkey-shaped Rihee cake. Yep. Yeah. Served with peps. Served with pepsy on the side. Bet. Next week we'll do it. Uh until then, thanks as always for listening. I'm Bruce. And I'm Clark. And you're on mute. We'll see you next week.