SPEAKER_02 0:04

You're listening to the Hanging with Lady Podcast, where we break down hot topics in athletic administration and lessons learned through leadership. Now, here are your hosts, Josh Matthews and Don Baker. Today we head north and meet with Dr. Troy Erdoll, who serves as the Director of Athletics Activities, Facilities, and Transportation at St. Anthony Village High School in St. Paul, Minnesota. We talk about how to get better each and every day and defining our leadership purpose as we guide those we serve. Let's settle in and get to know Dr. Troy Urdal.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Coach, we're so glad to have you joining Don and me for this episode of Hanging with the AD. Thanks for taking time to join us today.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

This is a fantastic podcast. I'm honored to join you today. Thanks for having me on.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

Yeah, so for our listeners, Dr. Troy Urdal is Director of Athletics, Activities, Facilities, and Transportation at St. Anthony Village High School in St. Paul, Minnesota. Basically, he does everything there except principal, right? So uh Erdal is a state championship baseball coach, an instructor of LTI courses, and past president of the Minnesota High School Coaches Association. He completed his doctorate uh years a years ago, I guess, by studying the participation effects of high school athletics on student and student athletes. So a great topic there. Uh we'll stop right there, though, and let Dr. Urdal tell us a little bit more about his journey through the world of athletics. Troy, you know, we call it the back of the baseball card bio. So being a baseball coach, that's right up your alley. So take a minute, tell us what the back of Troy Urdal's baseball card would look like.

SPEAKER_00 1:53

Well, he's a righty righty, 6'1, 200 pounds. Uh no, that's a that's a fun question. Uh new for me. Uh, I've done the what would your epitaph be before? Uh, but back of baseball card or back of the card, I like that. Uh it'd probably say he outkicked his coverage, quite honestly. Uh, I've been really fortunate and really blessed in my life, including a wonderful family. Uh, but if I had to give a more serious answer to that question, the back of the baseball card or sports card usually talks about where a person came from. And that's a big part of who I am. I came from farm country in the middle of Minnesota, and it's where I grew up. It's where I learned the core values that are still with me today, you know, the importance and significance of hard work, integrity, service. Uh, back of my card would would talk about my family for sure. My wife, who is a wonderful partner in everything that I do. Uh, four kids that uh are starting to grow up on me that have kept us incredibly busy for the last 19 years. I suppose that that card would probably have um some type of quote, or it'd have my purpose. Um, I show up every day, I serve to use the power of sports, to use the power of school activities to make the world a better place. Because I think we have that opportunity between um the AD leaders and the coaches that we've paired together with a fantastic opportunity to to really make the world a better place.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

Now, Troy, let's start with your book. Uh we that's part of the reason why we we want to sit down with you today, chasing influence to build champions for life, those two pieces of that title, right? Uh, I kind of want to break that down and I want to start on the back end before we work to the front. What is your definition of champion for life? Uh, what determines if we end up hoisting that trophy at the end of the day, so to speak?

SPEAKER_00 3:54

I think it's the the pursuit of mastery or always trying to make yourself better. Um, and I think you can go two ways with that. Uh for me, and it's how I define success for myself is am I getting better each and every day? Um, am I am I helping another person? Um, am I helping another person grow? And that's who I show up uh as a leader. Um, but I think for all of us, whether it is in our personal life, whether it is in our job, whether it's in the world of sports or in business, um, we have a wonderful opportunity to not only grow others, but to grow ourselves. And each and every day to show up to be that best version of self and know that tomorrow's over. And we may have slipped and failed the previous day, but we get a new opportunity to represent and reset and reboot each and every day. And so all of us are different. Everyone has different skill sets. Uh, everyone might end up in a different spot, but to continue to seek and work toward that best version of ourself and toward mastery, that's success in the end. That's a champion for life. Uh lifting yourself up and uh and doing so, you're building those connections and relationships to make other people's lives better.

SPEAKER_02 5:11

I I couldn't agree more. I think that people get caught up in that word champion too much and they think of champion, right? Well, there's only one of those. You know, per per season, let's look at our world for a minute. Only one team is going to pick that trophy up at the end of the day. That doesn't necessarily mean that you can't have championship elements in your program, in your kids, in your life. You you know, you you talked about being best version. I think, I really do. I think that people are doing the best they can do on any given day. I think most people are just doing the best that they can do. And that's going to look different. And what a win is for one person isn't necessarily going to be a win for another person. And that kind of gets me on this. I'm I've got a a personal debate going on with that word greatness in my head. That I think that word gets thrown out a lot. Uh, I think that I hold greatness different than a lot of other people. I think it's pretty it's closer to elite more than anything else. But in your opinion, is is greatness more attainable now more than ever? We've got podcasts, we've got books, we've got access to YouTube where we can watch great speakers. We don't have to pay hundreds of dollars in order to see them. Is greatness more attainable now than ever, you think?

SPEAKER_00 6:24

I think it's both. I think access to greatness is more attainable than ever. I think to the list that you just mentioned, we have so many incredible resources available to us that I mean, just a decade or two ago, you might have been having to pay hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars to access that information. Um, but I don't know that we're all capturing that opportunity. I I think we live in a really, really busy world and we have a lot of distractions and a lot going on around us. And so it's it's there. We have that opportunity, whether it is through technology, whether it is through videos, whether it is through, you know, the number of different ways we can access information and books and others' ideas. Uh, never before in the history of the world have we had this type of access to information and ways to improve. Part of it's sifting through all that to pull out what's valuable. And then the other part is eliminating and avoiding those distractions that pull us away from that self-growth and journey.

SPEAKER_02 7:24

Now, okay, you teed it up, okay, because that gets into the actual title. With a title like Chasing Influence, I can't help but notice the intentional effort that you are requesting of the reader, right? Uh, that that chasing, that intentional effort that you've got to put in. Maybe talk about what our role is when we look to become more influential.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

And that is the choice. And as we talk about our profession, um, as leaders, and then those that we work with and that we lead, um, what is our legacy? Uh why do we show up each and every day? I mean, is it for that fleeting moment of a victory or of a win? I think for those who have reflected, for those who have had that opportunity experience to positively influence others, they know that's that's our legacy. Our legacy is really about that opportunity to have that impact on others. Is as you think, you know, what will that class reunion look like in 20, 30 years from now? You know, the the final, the final banquet. Do you want that final banquet um to be filled with trophies and people just kind of looking around at all the metals and all the hardware? Or do you want to be laughing and and and giving hugs and and telling wonderful stories that bring you back in time, uh, that connect you to others? I think life is all about those relationships and the opportunity that we have to make a positive difference on other people. And we do that through our influence. And it's why I believe that uh in purpose-based education-based athletics and in sports, we have the greatest opportunity that exists in terms of having an impact and influence on the lives of other people. I imagine there's other wonderful jobs that can say that, but we're right there at the top of that list, and uh it's a choice, it's an opportunity for all of us to capture that moment and to be dedicated and committed to really influencing, positively influencing and changing the lives of others. And that's our priority and that's our focus.

SPEAKER_02 9:27

You know, I think that you bring up a good point. The the idea that I think you you hear the phrase pound for pound, like pound for pound, that's the best kid on the team or whatever. I think for the best, when you look at a kid in general and you look at that the lifespan of a kid, we get the the best part, right? We get that part where it's still there's they're kind of like a lab puppy, right? Like they're trying to figure it out, and we are the ones that kind of play a role in helping them get ready for that next step, which then lays the foundation for everything else. I think that that is perfect. Now, you touched on this already, but you drop a phrase in the introduction of your book when you say leadership purpose, uh, and you you outlined your purpose just a second ago. Why should every coach in AD identify his or her leadership purpose? I feel that we're lucky when our passion and our purpose meet and they align, but that's not always the case, right? Sometimes it takes one before the other, and sometimes uh you you may never get there. But how can finding your purpose kickstart one's leadership journey?

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Makes your life better. It's as simple as that. It makes your life better. When you have a purpose that you work toward each and every day, and like in my own experiences, I can speak to it, it's made me a better husband, a better father, a better friend, better co-worker, better leader, better coach. Uh, I show up each and every day. And like I said, very human. I fail. I mean, I stumble and fall. Uh, and and um, I'm like no other person in that. But when I get back up, it is to live that purpose. And um in my work, I'm able to show up and use uh a fantastic coaching staff, wonderful student athletes, and use the platform of sport and pair those two together to make people better, our community better, and ultimately the world better. I mean, if you just think about how lofty of a calling that is, that opportunity that we get, I show up excited for work each and every day about the opportunity of what we're able to accomplish. And so it's not hyperbole at all for me. Um, and and that's the part that I always like to remind people like this is real. If you are able to discover that purpose and really dig in on why you show up, why you do the work that you do, it'll increase your job and life satisfaction.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

That's really good. I I think if I'm listening right now, I would encourage you, um, or as the listener, I would encourage you to hit stop, hit pause. Don't go away from us, but just hit pause and either repeat your purpose to yourself. If if you have a uh an individual leadership purpose, uh individual purpose, I know I do, I would repeat that to myself. If you do not, and you're you're sitting at a desk taking notes, maybe scribble down some notes on what you think your purpose could be, and you can go back and fine-tune it later. Um if you're driving, you know, maybe you want to voice text yourself or voice uh put something in your notes or something like that, or maybe just even ponder it for a few minutes before coming back to this uh this uh podcast here. But I think Troy leads us to a great opportunity to either uh reinforce our purpose to ourselves or start the wheels turning in our mind of creating that purpose in whatever environment you're in. Now, I think uh, like you said, it makes you better. If you want to get better, that's a way to start right now. So um if you didn't hit stop or if you hit stop, pause, and you're back with us, we're gonna go on to our next question here. So, Troy, just the other day, I was having a discussion about dealing with students and talking about students in our school, that that kind of stuff, just like you do. And it hit me that a lot of times we look at policy that is written on a piece of paper rather than looking up at the person who is sitting in front of us, right? Especially when we're doing discipline, we're having to do deal with things like that, that a policy guides our discussion, but we're also trying to mold a young person, right? We let so a lot of times we let the paper supersede the person because it is policy, right? We want to go by the policy in your chapter on relationships, you say it a little differently. Maybe not the same line, but you say it a little differently. Your line is you can replace structures, but you cannot replace people. Talk about the leadership credibility that is built when we elevate people over policy, paper, resources, structures, etc., especially when we're dealing with students and the young minds uh that are in front of us.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

And there's a double meaning in that phrase for sure, because um, what's most important in life? It's the people, right? So whether it's our our fields, our facilities, or whatever else, and sometimes catastrophe might happen. Um, and and we might have obstacles. And as um ADs and as coaches, from time to time we need to adjust to that. But ultimately, we're here for the people. This is a people business. Uh I think that we paint ourselves into a corner too often and sometimes even hide behind policy, right? We want to have the same exact rules in order for every last situation and every last person. There is value for sure to procedures. There's there's value uh in times and having some consistency. Um, but I loved how I like it, I liked how Coach K at at Duke um phrased it. And he only had, you know, in terms of rules, he had one rule. Um, don't do anything detrimental to yourself or team, right? How simple is that? Uh now he's working at Duke, a little different situation than many of us, and maybe he can have that one simple rule, and that's it. We might need a couple, uh, but I think we paint ourselves into a corner when we forget that we're dealing with people. And and how different people are coming to us in 2024. I mean, uh, I just can't imagine a world right now where we're coaching. There's that age-old question: do you do you treat everyone the same, right? Do you treat everyone the same? I think this is true with our coaches, I think it's true with our athletes. I think it'd be foolhardy to answer yes, we treat everyone the same. You know, and there's the devils in the details probably of how you define the same and what equitable and fair and everything else, but everyone is coming to us from a different place with a different situation, and we need to see them at the heart level and understand their situation. I have a sign right above my door in my office, and it says Sisu. Uh, Sisu is a Finnish concept about having um unrelenting determination, strength, guts, perseverance. And for me, it really means finding a way to get it done and finding a way to say yes. I think so often the easy answer is no. And really, where the work is is to figure out how to find a way to help others and to say yes. And sometimes that means work. That means work. Um, and then that's our job as servant leaders to do that.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Yeah, that's good. Don't real big on recognizing when people find a way to say yes. Uh, he he he always elevates that, and we have discussions about that a lot. I I did want to say something. You you talked about how kind of our society and and the people who go by policy think we have to treat everybody the same, right? That's kind of their their mindset that that's where they align themselves. And and I would argue we we can treat everyone the same, at least with the same mindset, but also handle every situation individually and and and on its own merit, right? I'm gonna treat everyone the same. And what I mean by that is when you walk in here, I'm gonna I'm gonna recognize that your situation is different than the one before it, and I'm going to use all the resources and all of my experience and all of my pieces of information that I have and my experience combined with that to put you in the best situation I can. A lot of times that's not a good situation. It's got to be a consequence, but we can modify that based on the situation there, right? And the the treating everyone the same is yeah, I'm gonna have an open mind when you come in here with your individual issue before I go straight to some policy on a piece of paper that I could uh uh I could implement the same across the board too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

That's good stuff. Now, building on that for a minute, we're talking about relationships. That's what we're talking about, right? That ability to connect with people and build relationships. It is a vital role in what we do, regardless who it is we're talking to, uh, whether it be student athletes, people we lead, parents, the community, whatever. But let's talk about the importance that it plays not only in reaching today's student athlete, but also all of those parties that I just mentioned. I think that kids are more resilient and smarter than we give them credit for sometimes. Uh, and if they don't know where we stand in leading, they're not gonna want to buy in, and nor are the adults that we serve. Nobody wants to follow a self-serving leader. Uh, and I think that they can see that. Uh, I'm sure that we all can think of leaders that we have worked for or worked with. They had a very strong skill set. It wasn't that they didn't know what they were doing, right? It was just that we pressed that pause button when we decided if we wanted to follow them or not because we had questions about their heart and whether if they were, you know, self-serving or not. Uh, maybe talk about how relationship built building is necessary to be an effective leader. I know that that sounds like a softball question, and everybody listening to this is going, of course it is, but I think it's easier said than done, right?

SPEAKER_00 19:11

Well, and I love how you set that up because we say we know, but do we do anything about it? You got it. Right, and and I think that's one of the greatest challenges for leaders and for coaches, and to our earlier discussion about the information that we have available to us. That's wonderful. But what are we doing about it? Uh, and we know, and in in my own research and and um in the research will support this. Athletes are looking for today's athletes, 2024, right? They've changed the old autograph, the old autocratic model of days gone by won't work for today's athlete. Today's athlete is looking for a coach who they can connect with, someone who's approachable. That's something that they're looking for. And research will show this to be true time and time again. They want a coach who is motivating and encouraging, someone who will lift them to that next level to get them to that next place. And they also want a coach who's competent, they want a coach that they believe knows what they're talking about. Uh, and so those really are the three pieces that today's athletes are looking for: someone who's approachable, relatable, that they can connect to, someone who will motivate and encourage them, and then someone who knows what they're talking about, that they're the that they're an expert coach that they can coach the exes knows. You know, and as we talk about the differences between maybe how we were coached and today's coach and and how that's changed so much, you know, that the old idea of sending a message, coach sending a message. Well, in 2024, if you're a coach sending a message, your athlete's not getting it. Like they're just making up their own story in their head about why the coach hates them. That really is what it becomes. Uh, and so it's only a message, you're only sending a message if the athlete knows. And the same's true for us as leaders, working with our coaches or working with our parents or whoever it might be, that significance and importance of relationships, connections, and how communication plays a vital role into that. Uh, just a great practice for leaders and for coaches is the simple act of how we greet the people that enter our space, whether it's coming to a practice or coming into our office. Are we present, engaged? Are we making eye contact? Are we making the time and space for them? Um, as someone leaves, are they affirmed? Do they know that they were listened to? And again, it doesn't matter if we're working with adults or working with kids, there are things that we can do to show that we care and that we value someone as a human being, not as a human doing, just someone who's doing something, but rather they have their own unique value and that we care for them.

SPEAKER_02 21:52

You know, you you mentioned words that are connecting, caring, greeting, engaging, present, affirmed. I think that. When you hear words like that, they can come across as softer words. And I'm using quotation marks when I say that, right? Softer words. Everything that you just said does not change the fact that you can still coach a kid hard, right? You can still have expectations for employees, correct? Maybe speak to that for just a second.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

And um to that even point on those difficult conversations we have when it's maybe a policy or a rule violation. Uh I believe, especially, especially today, that the role of the purpose-based leader, of the coach of the AD is to push people to be the absolute best that they can be, right? We talked about that in terms of um how that ties into success. But for us as leaders, we have to have high expectations. And with those high, high with those high expectations comes high accountability. There are other places and even education today. I I'd argue, and um, this is not meant to be in us versus them, what we do in purpose-based sports and um and education-based athletics, we're can we're connected to the school day. We are an important part of the school day. We are teaching and learning just like any other hour of the school day. We are able to hold our student athletes to those high expectations and to those high standards and hold them accountable in ways that might be more difficult in the classroom today. And so for me, you have to have high expectations and high support. You have to have both. And that's what a transformational expert coach is. And I argue the same is true of leadership. An expert leader, a successful servant, transformational leader will hold those that they have the honor and privilege of working with to high expectations. And at the same time, they will have the support and care that's needed to help that person succeed. I believe if you only have high expectations and only high accountability, you might just be mean. And if you only have high care and high support, you might just be nice. It's okay to be nice, but at the same time, I think it's incumbent upon us to push people to that next level of life. How do you do that? High expectations and high care, high support. You need both. It's not just one, it's not just the other, but you absolutely need both.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

That's great. Yeah, a lot of great lessons in leadership right there. Just simple acts and uh simple mindsets. That's really good, Troy. Appreciate that. All right, one of the best lines I've ever seen written in a book. Uh Don and I like to think we read a little bit, uh, but the one of the best lines I've ever seen written in a book comes in the introduction of your book. It comes from uh Joe Ehrman, uh Coach Joe Ehrman. He says, Your wise should direct the expenditure of your time, energy, and effort toward a clearly defined destination. I love that. That's a great, great quote, great, great line in the book. That's it's really strong. Talk about how that statement summarizes your book, Chasing Influence.

SPEAKER_00 25:11

And I a big part of that is how we create and define our goals. You know, in in our work, we have both management and leadership. Uh, any leader, any leader needs to be able to manage well. I I don't know that you can be a great leader without being able to manage well. For me, that management piece is really about defining and setting goals to support your purpose. Your purpose is what's going to give you that direction. Uh, it's what's going to be that north pole or that grounding rod for you, that your sights are set on that purpose. And then you you manage, you set goals to help you achieve that purpose. And so it's a both and for me on that. Your purpose will give you that direction. And how will you get there? By by managing well, by setting goals and having manageable steps to keep moving toward that direction in place. And really, it it's a journey. Uh, it's not as much a destination because I don't know that we ever achieve fully that there's not like there's an end to your purpose, your purpose will continue your entire life. So we're always on the journey and always working toward that. And that's what Joe is saying uh in his fantastic uh foundational book for me, Inside Out Coaching.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Yeah, man, that was a great uh great line he put there in the introduction of your book. It was really good about like you said, he gives you a compass and a destination, and it's really, really good. I I love that. Troy, the premise of your book centers around having a very influential mentor. Uh, don't want to give your book away, want people to go read it, right? Uh it's well written. It's uh uh I will say it's a um I was surprised once I got in it to realize you wrote it from a fictional character standpoint, right? So that was really good, makes it easy to read. Um, really, really good. But uh before we finish this conversation, talk about the value that a mentor brings to the day-to-day trials and triumphs that we experience as a leader. Why should everyone, regardless of age, seek out and capitalize on a mentor mentee relationship? You know, maybe stop right now, drill down for a moment on your relationship with your mentor, Coach Clinton, stick Olson.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

Yeah, and um that was a fun way to write the book. You know, it it's fiction, but it's nonfiction. It's meant for any person who wants to positively influence others. And so whether it's business leadership, um, schools, coaching, it's perfectly targeted for activities directors, high school coaches, uh, we all need a mentor. And I've been lucky enough to have some fantastic mentors before. You know, as we are our true, authentic, vulnerable self, that can be hard sometimes in such a public space, the waters that we swim in. And so to have that person where you can ask those honest, deep, sincere questions, especially when you start to doubt yourself. You know, um, mentors are wonderful for affirming and and patting you on the back when things are going well. But that and we need that, we need affirmation because they those affirmations aren't always free-flowing in in sports, right? Sometimes the criticism is flowing a little more freely uh than the affirmations are. So it's good to have a person for that. But really, when times are tough, who is that person you can go to and and ask that difficult question? Hopefully, we have family members that we can do that with. But as we talk about um coaching and leading, sometimes you need someone who's been who's who's um walked in your shoes before. And and for me, for sure, Stick Olson. Uh and and Stick Olson's a fictionalized character largely built from those transformational figures in in my life. Uh, so the the coaches I played for, the transformational coaches I've worked with, experiences from my own life, and then in particular, uh a transformational coach from southern Minnesota who's um got an incredible life story, and he has been that mentor for me, whatever the question is, I'm able to ask. And he's probably been through something like it before. And even if he hasn't, he has that wonderful skill of empathy where he can, you know, sometimes we're not looking for answers. Sometimes we don't need that wise sage on the mountaintop to pontificate and to give us. Sometimes we just need someone to listen. And and that to me is really what a wonderful mentor is is not only someone who espouses wisdom, but someone who is also an incredible listener. Uh, because that's that's a really important trait and sometimes hard to come by.

SPEAKER_02 29:58

Yeah, I agree with that. My mom does has a tendency to do that. I'll call her and just kind of as a sounding board, and she acts like she wants to fix everything, right? She yeah, she's my mom. I mean, she she wants to kind of calm the waters, and I'm like, I don't want you to do anything. I really don't. I like I just need to kind of just do this right now, and so I don't want you to fix it. I just want you to listen to me. You know, I think that that's a home run.

SPEAKER_00 30:21

And what a lesson for all of us as leaders as well. The people that are presenting to us, sometimes they just want us to listen.

SPEAKER_01 30:28

Yep. Absolutely. All right, Troy, one last question before we get to our two-minute drill, have a little fun. Um, it's it's kind of a newer question for us. It's a double fill in the blank, and we're gonna ask you to fill in the blanks. You can take it anywhere you want to take it. Um, and I'll read it a couple of times so you uh you you have time to think about it there. So here it is. Here's the statement the best way to become better at blank is to become better at blank. So here it is again. The best way to become better at blank is to become better at blank.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

I love that question. Um, and you know, I I've heard Joe Ehrman, we talked about Joe a moment ago. I've heard Joe say this a million times. To be a better leader, you need to be a better you. And how powerful but simple that is. To be a better leader, and you could probably change the words around in in a number of ways, but to be a better leader, you need to be a better you. And that's why um, especially talking to a couple servant leaders right now, we spend so much of our time, effort, and attention serving others and helping others. But really, we also need to prioritize self and and we need to carve all that time to make sure that we're sharpening our own saw and we're the best version of ourself. Because if we want to be a better leader, we have to be a better you, a better us, right? Are are we serving and living with integrity? Are we helping others? Are we living with C Sue and finding a way to say yes and to get it done? Are we a good spouse? Are we a good parent? What is the model that we're that we're setting? Uh so I love how you how you phrase that and set that up. Um I I've heard Joe say it a million times. If you if you want to be a better leader, you need to be a better you.

SPEAKER_01 32:23

That's really good. So I I'll put it in our terms, just for our listeners, the best way to become better at being a leader is to become better at being you. That's that's really, really good. Uh, great, great thing. Sharpen your own saw. That's what I heard there. Uh Troy, thanks for all the why wisdom, leadership wisdom. Thanks for the book. Uh it's a great read and and to help us be better. I think there's about 21 different uh ways you can look at your leadership and you can um you know focus on one of those individual aspects as you go through the book, and it's really well done. Uh, like you said, in that fictional space, but it's really not. It's it's storytelling, right? And that we love a good story and you wrote a good story. So thanks for doing that. So we'll we'll do our two-minute drill now. We'll let Don start us off with that, have a little fun, and uh get to know you a little bit better.

SPEAKER_02 33:13

Okay, Troy. Here we go. We're gonna hit you with some rapid fire questions. You just tell us the first thing that comes to your mind, okay?

SPEAKER_00 33:18

All right, I'm ready.

SPEAKER_02 33:19

All right. What was the first job you ever had ever in your life?

SPEAKER_00 33:24

Ooh. My first I don't remember which one was first. My first jobs were two of the most difficult, awful jobs. Um uh corn detasseling and rock picking. Can't remember which one was first, but I I picked rock uh and probably got about 25 cents an hour. Uh farmers need the rocks taking out other fields, and so they'll hire kids to do that. Uh, and then the other one's corn to tasseling. It's part of the pollination process. They'll have you walk through a cornfield just filled with bugs and mud and sharp corn leaves that are cutting you, and you pull the top of the tassel off and drop it on the ground. Uh, I learned a lot about what it meant to farm, and also a lot about what I wanted to do in the future uh after that summer of corn detassling.

SPEAKER_02 34:14

Yeah, I tell I tell you, I I had a cousin, they they had an uncle who was a farmer, tobacco farmer, and I went over the summer, and for one day, one shift, I helped them in the tobacco barn, and I realized really quick that that was not what I was gonna be doing. And I go back to school, young man, because it was what gonna happen. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:34

And and hats off to them, because salt of the earth folks, and we need them, and it is hard, difficult work.

SPEAKER_01 34:42

Troy said two things. He learned a lot about farming, he learned a lot about the future, and in case you missed the opening paragraph, Troy is not a farmer, so you can you can see where he took that, what he learned in that one day or that one uh those two jobs here. That's good. Hi Troy, what was your favorite age growing up?

SPEAKER_00 35:02

My favorite age growing up?

unknown 35:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 35:07

I'm trying to do this in terms of um twins' World Series wins. Uh so probably like 9 and 11, 9 and 12, somewhere in there.

SPEAKER_02 35:16

The Atlantic failed to hear that.

SPEAKER_00 35:18

91 was the the highlight of my life. 1991. We'll go with that. 1991. Um, and in part, you need to have a little sympathy for me. We haven't one cent in any in the in hockey, in um the Timberwolves haven't, the Vikings haven't, so that's a long drought since 1991.

SPEAKER_02 35:38

Alright, let's play a little game of this or that. So we're gonna give you two things, and you pick one. So this or that, okay? So this or that, sweet or salty?

SPEAKER_00 35:48

Sweet, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 35:49

Alright, this or that, Coke or Pepsi?

SPEAKER_00 35:52

Coke. Hey, I answered that one right.

SPEAKER_01 35:55

You did. I was about to say he's about to be over two, but you didn't get that one right.

SPEAKER_02 35:59

Okay, run or walk.

SPEAKER_00 36:05

Run short distances? Can I say 90 feet? I'll run 90 feet.

SPEAKER_01 36:09

All right. Fair enough. Alright, last this or that. Instagram famous or infomercial famous.

SPEAKER_00 36:19

Ooh. Not likely on either. We'll go infomercial because I'm the guy on that ladder that probably collapses.

SPEAKER_02 36:27

Yeah. I the I love the what's the guy that flex seal or whatever, you know, you think that that gets collapsed. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're more of a you're more of a cartoon if you're infomercial famous. I can I like that too. All right. What activity instantly calms you? So something that, you know, you're you're in the hustle and bustle of the day, but this happens or you do this, and it's a way to kind of settle you.

SPEAKER_00 36:50

You know, I don't know have a awesome answer for that, um, other than breathing. Um, I love practicing the 4.78 technique. And so if anyone hasn't a quick Google search on 478, um, and then and then reading. Reading will get me to a good place too. And actually, whether it's an audiobook or or reading, uh, hard to stay wound up when you're reading. A lot of times my mind goes to that place of self-improvement of how can I take what I've just read and apply it to my own situation.

SPEAKER_01 37:20

Yeah, that's good. Alright, who or what never fails to make you laugh.

SPEAKER_00 37:27

Scooby-Doo. I'll go back with childhood. Um I there's some fantastic comedians like Jim Gaff again, that might be a little easier, but uh I'll just go with the innocence uh and the joy that Scooby-Doo brought me through my childhood, and then being able to share that with my kids when they were that age.

SPEAKER_02 37:44

That's good. I I I'm I always want to make sure everybody's safe. Let me say that before you at me. But seeing people trip or just like a little a little trip where you almost fall, but then you catch yourself, lesser athlete would have been in trouble, but you're okay. Yeah, a little little trip is is always a good one too. Um all right. If there was a draft for your favorite candy bar, what would be your number one draft dick?

SPEAKER_00 38:09

Candy bar. I mean candy, I might go hot tamales. Um I probably would. There might go to uh in the in the dugout, we'll have Swedish fish, we'll have some hot tamales, we'll have bubblegum. If I went candy bar, it would either be a I'll go butterfinger. I'll draft butterfinger.

SPEAKER_02 38:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 38:27

Yeah. Hot tamar. The underrepresented candy bar. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 38:30

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You uh you're the first Butterfinger guy we've had. That's good, yeah. Sweet. Okay, let's finish with this. It's our trademark question. Today, Dr. Troy Ardahl, you've been hanging with the ADs, but let's say you can hang out with anyone, who would that be and why?

SPEAKER_00 38:46

After my family, um I'm a history guy. And so I was uh history teacher before I became an activities director. And so I I'd usually answer Lincoln or Roosevelt, uh, especially because I think we could use Lincoln or Roosevelt. Uh and when I say Roosevelt, Teddy. Teddy's a hero of mine in Lincoln. Um but let's I'll go Ben Franklin. Uh Ben Franklin, not a president, right? Not um not someone we we necessarily know for elected office, but because of service. Brilliant, the number of things he invented. Um he was a diplomat. He he was uh in France, the Netherlands, England during the Age of Enlightenment. So I'll go Ben Franklin.

SPEAKER_02 39:31

That's good. I I I know that you can't, you guys that are on YouTube, but right behind me, I have a bus. I have two bus on my shelf behind me. One is of Lincoln, one is of Teddy Roosevelt. So we didn't plan that, but you served it up. So uh Troy, thank you so much for the time today. Best of luck with the book. Uh, we know that both it and your words uh are going to help a lot of people, helped a ton of people today. So thanks again.

SPEAKER_00 39:55

I appreciate the time. I had a great time, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 39:58

I tell you what, it is refreshing and convicting when you hear a leader speak with conviction of his or her purpose. Troy Ertal was that guy today. He was able to tell us his passion, his purpose. He wrote it in a book. The book's called Chasing Influence. Check it out on Amazon. It's a really great read. It's a uh a fictional slash storytelling uh encount uh of his relationship with his mentor, uh, but it but it gets away from him and gets into characteristics that we need as leaders, and it helps you build those characteristics in a real world uh type of story. So, Troy, great job with a book, man. We're glad we were able to promote it for you. But the even better job today with us, you made us wiser, you made us more knowledgeable, and I believe you made us better leaders. You gave us simple acts of leadership. One of those was it how we greet people coming in and how we affirm them when they're leading. It hit me right off the bat when you said that. What do I say to my coaches when we leave a coach's meeting? What's the last thing I tell them on the way out? What do I say to them when they come in? What do I say to them every morning when they come into school? I can do better than that. Uh I imagine we all can. You know, Coach uh Coach K talked about don't his only rule is don't do anything detrimental to the program. I thought Troy bringing that out in a discussion of how we look at people over policy. We can have all the rules in the world, but the more rules we have, the more we uh convolute things and and muddy the waters. Maybe we need to think about what Troy said about Coach K having one rule. Make that rule impactful, but make that rule where it sets the standard, and the standards lead to the expectations. And Troy talked a lot about expectations, purpose-based, uh, being a purpose-based leader, purpose-driven expectations, and having high expectations, as well as as well as giving high support to your people, uh, was some great lessons he taught us there. Thought it was funny at the end talking about uh the thing that makes him laugh as Scooby-Doo. He went back old school on us, and um you see Troy's uh is a uh has a wide variety of leadership tools, and that's why he's uh done so well. The last thing I leave you with is what he left us with. The best way to become better as a leader is to become better at you. So help you get better. I need to help me get better, you need to help you get better. Let's sharpen our saws today. You've done that through listening to this podcast. We would love for you just to uh leave us a rating or review on the podcast platform you're listening to. And as always, thank you for spending your time hanging with the ADs.