Great Leaders are Resourceful Leaders
So in 2020, pre COVID, the movie Doolittle releases. And, there's so much that goes into this movie that'll lose the fact that it's gonna be this dramatic success. The the main character is played by Robert Downey junior, which at that time was like a shoo in, right, and a household name. They have one of the biggest CGI houses in the world designing the movie and doing work on the movie. By all accounts, the production studio believed so much in the project that they basically said unlimited budget and unlimited time to which they ended up spending $233,000,000 on the film, and it releases in 2020, pre COVID, so no excuses.
Alex Judd:And the film proceeds to lose $76,000,000. It is a total failure, like absolute failure. And the reason why is not because anything about audience behaviors or anything like that. It's because it was awful. And if you go and look at the Rotten Tomato reviews on this, to this day, it has a 15% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Alex Judd:And I was reading the reviews this morning just as I was prepping for this conversation. There were a couple that stood out to me. There was a woman that wrote for an, newspaper in Ireland. She said this nothingness doesn't even have the good grace to be a bad movie. The low point of every single career involved.
Alex Judd:Oh, no. There's another one that said, which actually applies to our conversation, Doolittle should have done less. And then there were others that highlighted that this entire movie is just a bunch of, like, glitz and glam surface distractions, and there is zero story, and the acting is awful. And we can look at that, and we could spend it I mean, we could spend an entire episode saying, what went wrong? What happened there?
Alex Judd:They had everything you could possibly need to be wildly successful. And not only was it not successful, it was a massive money pit. It was a failure. And I think one of the key points that we should all take from this case study is it was a lack of resourcefulness. There was a lack of imposed resourcefulness because what is resourcefulness?
Alex Judd:It's the imposition to do what you can with what you have. And the principle that we all have to understand is we think constraints are a bad thing. In reality, constraints are the breeding ground for creativity. And the minute we get rid of all constraints, what we get is not this incredible free expression of creativity that creates tremendous value for others. You get nothingness that doesn't even have the good grace to be called a bad movie.
Alex Judd:So that's how I wanted to start today's conversation.
Ben Loy:Perfect. I didn't know any of that. So, like, how does resourcefulness apply to to leaders, and why why are we talking about this?
Alex Judd:Let me get your thoughts on this too. But what I would say is if resourcefulness, the functional definition we're using for this episode, is doing what you can with what you have, I think the reason why it applies to leaders is, like, the most simple truth ever, what you have is what you have. And so what are you gonna do what you can with other than that? Right? And so often, we get crippled or paralyzed saying, I need that to be able to do something, and that stops us from being able to lead.
Alex Judd:Or it causes us to overleverage and go borrow OPM, other people's money, to fund something that isn't proven When in reality, I just see, man, the most scrappy, intentional, effective leaders that I know, they do what they can with what they have. Mhmm.
Ben Loy:Yeah. I mean, I I would just say it's a reality check. It's like, what what do you have, and what are you gonna do with it, and what are the constraints in your current season?
Alex Judd:That's right. And to that point, it's almost a a conversation about stewardship as well because you think about the parable of the talents. Do what you can with what you have. Like, there's a version of all of us that says, my goal for what I have is just to sustain what I have. Like and I'm just gonna guard and protect that, but then, clearly, that's admonished in that parable.
Alex Judd:What is valued in that parable is the one that took the talents and reinvested it in service of others. And so that's what we're called to do is we're supposed to take account of what we have, maximize what we have, and then the why is really important in service of others and for the glory of God. Mhmm. And so that's what we're really focusing on in terms of accomplishing with our resourcefulness is maximizing what we have in service of others and for the glory of God. With that, this is an exploration episode.
Alex Judd:So like you and I kinda said, let's let's lay some base level context, tell a good story, and then jump into genuine curiosity questions we have about this topic. So how about we just jump into those? Does this sound good? I I'd love to hear one of your questions first.
Ben Loy:My first question was just what what is a picture that comes to mind when you think of resourcefulness?
Alex Judd:You go first because I my picture is too little. Yeah.
Ben Loy:I feel like I feel like you already answered this. The first thing that came to mind for me was when I was in the Coast Guard, would do, like, survival training because we did a lot of work inland and in the mountains as well. And so I remember this, one of the guys who'd a rescue swimmer for, like, fifteen years and had just a lot more experience in this area than I did. We have you know, we carry paracord with us and, we use it in different things. And so he he pulls out this paracord and in, like, a matter of a couple minutes shows us that you can both, a, cut paracord with paracord if you don't have a knife.
Ben Loy:And then in addition to that, once you cut it, you can pull, like, the gutting from the paracord and then you have, like, twice as much line as you would need Wow. Or as you originally had in this one piece of paracord. For whatever reason, that's the picture that came to mind is like, you know, one person could look at that and go, that's a piece of paracord. This is what I can do with it. And another person looks at that and goes, oh, I could use it for this or this or I could actually double the amount that I have if I use it this way, which is just really interesting.
Alex Judd:Yeah. So I think there was an original show called MacGyver. I've never seen the original show. I've only seen the SNL, like, parody of the show, but I've seen quite a few of these, and it was called MacGruber. And they would always have this, like, joke intro that was MacGruber making life saving and vengeance out of household materials.
Alex Judd:MacGruber. And it's like that would be the whole, like, shtick is he would be like this guy that's in this like horrible situation and he's like, we're we're the bomb's gonna blow up in ten minutes and there's 10 locks on the door and there's no windows and all we have is this toothbrush, like a a hair dryer, and, my mustache or something like that. And it's like, how is he gonna get out of this one? And and it's like but the whole, like, theme was honestly resourcefulness. It's it's but I guess the I and we could kind of maybe hit on this a little bit because I think it actually pulls out the truth that's in the example that you gave as well.
Alex Judd:I think there's a part of resourceful people that almost refuse to see problems as immovable. And they have, like, this, like, internal level of belief of, like, oh, we can figure this out. Yeah. Does that feel right?
Ben Loy:100%. That actually goes into one of the truths that I or, like, statements that I brought to this conversation too, which is resourcefulness has more to do with perspective than skill. And so the perspective that you have on your current situation and the resources that you have in any particular season has a lot more to do with how you're viewing those things and how you're leveraging those things than it does necessarily, like, any skill you have or any any re additional resource you think that you need. Yeah.
Alex Judd:So recently, Michelle on our team it was actually a little bit ago now. It was at the December. She called me and she said, hey. I'm gonna be submitting my notice. I am excited to be staying at home for this season.
Alex Judd:Like, I'm not gonna work for this season. And, like, it was it was a little bit of a teary eyed call for both of us. She, has been so gracious to our team and to our customers and just, like, honestly, I I think I'm not speaking, anything that's not true when I say she, like, loves the work, but she also just really wants to stay home and build a family, which praise god for that. I think that's great. She called me, and she said, like, I am gonna submit my notice.
Alex Judd:And, thankfully, she was down to stay on till the February, which we're still in the middle of right now as we're recording this podcast. But I finished that call, and I said a quick prayer. And then I was already planning to go for a walk with Aspen. I said, I I think this walk's gonna look a little bit different than what we had originally planned. And I shared with her Michelle's leaving and she she was so gracious.
Alex Judd:She said, I'm sorry. And then she just looked at me and she's like, you're gonna have to hire like nine people. I was like, oh my gosh. You're so right. And and honestly, she said it in a joking way.
Alex Judd:Right? But it was not out of the realm of possibility like four or five people. Michelle is such a high capacity individual that has been with she has worked with me for nine and a half years. She's been with Path for Growth for four and a half years. And so she just held so much.
Alex Judd:And so in my mind, I was like, we're going to have to hire all of these new people to be able to accomplish everything we're doing. And I was starting to do all this napkin math in my head of, like, payroll and and all of these different org structures and and the number of people that we're adding in a very short period of time and just it's certainly not insurmountable, but also, like, this is a lot. And, specifically, it was like, how am I gonna solve for this operations role? And what was so crazy is I was like, we're gonna have to we're gonna have to do something different. We're gonna have to do something new.
Alex Judd:We're gonna go I don't even know who this person would be. I can't think of anyone. I kept trying to think of people that I would know that I could call about this. And then literally the next morning, I'm making breakfast, and it just pops in my head of like, well, Bert could do all of that. Bert's a guy on our team that has been with us for quite a few years now and has just he has been absurdly faithful.
Alex Judd:He's a cultural rock star. And on top of that, he, like, has told me, like, Alex, I've just fallen in love with the idea of operationalizing a business. He's like, I love it. I I found that I'm good at systems. I'm good at processes, and he has aggressively pursued learning about all of that in a period of time.
Alex Judd:And it was so crazy. The minute the minute the the glimmer of an idea popped up in my head as I'm making breakfast, Bert could do some of this. It was like my entire attitude changed. It was like I was, like, conjuring up all of these negative images of the future, and I was like, oh, this is all super solvable. Like Mhmm.
Alex Judd:We've got this on the team right now, and I'm so grateful for that moment. Now Bert is already taking on the role, and he's crushing it. He's doing a great job. We're in early innings, but he's doing a great job. And and for me, I think that's a reminder of how easy it is to adopt an attitude of unresourcefulness, to to, like, have limits and lids and blockers to your visibility where you don't see everything that you already have that you just need to maximize.
Ben Loy:Yeah. The biggest thing that comes to mind for me is, like, I used to work, contract with the oil industry, and we would go out for two weeks at a time into the Gulf. And you're, like, you're hanging out in a trailer at an airfield in the swamp. It's like 100 degrees outside and you're just there in a four bedroom trailer with some other guys working shift work. And so it's not glamorous and you're on call and so you're just kind of hanging out.
Alex Judd:Wasn't there an alligator too?
Ben Loy:There was. There was an alligator, who we named Fred who turned out to be a female, only had three only had three legs. So There's
Alex Judd:a lot about that story. This is just like But one of
Ben Loy:the one of the things I always thought was so fascinating is like, a lot of those guys will just go out to the trailer and and they'll just like I mean, they it's kind of interesting to watch, like, they'll just kind of spiral for two weeks with like, I think partially isolation, partially the boredom, partially like just waking up in the morning, sitting on a couch and turning on the TV and just kind of like I mean, more or less, like, wasting your your day and just trying to kill time. And one of the things like, I look back very fondly on that season because I was like, man, I'm gonna go on a walk, I'm listen to these podcasts, I'm gonna spend time in the sun, I'm gonna read all these books. And like, I just had like a totally different perspective and like purpose behind what I was doing there and like, I was like, I'm getting paid to just hang out, like, this is incredible. Yeah. And it it is amazing.
Ben Loy:Like, I at one point, I spent six full weeks there. I did an overtime shift. And it was long, but, like, it was incredible to see, like, the life I got out of those six weeks and then, like, the the hole some people would dig themselves into in two weeks.
Alex Judd:All in some ways is a matter of perspective. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I think often about when I was in high school, I vividly remember thinking and saying, I'm just so busy.
Alex Judd:I'm so busy, and my schedule's so full. I look back at that version of me now. Cool. People are sitting out like, what do you mean you were busy? Are you kidding me?
Alex Judd:You had all the time in the world. What are you even talking about? But here's what I have to remember is I bet I'm not positive, but I bet there will be a version of me that's 44 that looks back at 34 year old me and says, you thought you were a fool then? It's less busy now. It's more like, you thought you were holding a lot of responsibility then?
Alex Judd:Are you kidding me? Look at what everything you've got now. And and it's like, in some ways, I have the most time right now than I will likely have for a very long time. Mhmm. And so how am I maximizing the time that I do have instead of complaining about the time that I don't have is critically important.
Ben Loy:Yeah.
Alex Judd:I think that brings me to one of the questions that I have that I wanna hear your thoughts on. And we've already hit on it some, but specifically, what are the blockers to resourcefulness? When we're not being resourceful, what gets in the way? What what comes to your mind?
Ben Loy:Oh, I think we touched on one. I think just I think straight up just perspective. Like, how are you viewing this this situation, and, yeah, what is your overall attitude towards it? Mhmm. I think that would be, in my mind, like, the primary blocker.
Ben Loy:I think, like, constraints and limitations are a part of life. Mhmm. And I think, like, one of the things about that is often we get so focused on our limitations and our constraints that maybe we get frustrated or we feel limited or we feel stuck. And oftentimes, like, limitations are a catalyst for creativity. Mhmm.
Ben Loy:And when you can view limitations as an opportunity for creativity and creative thinking and creative solution, like problem solving, which is really what we're talking about, I I just feel like everything changes.
Alex Judd:Mhmm. I agree with that. And that's one of the blockers that I was thinking about that's related to the Doolittle story from the beginning. I think one of the greatest blockers to resourcefulness is resources. Right?
Alex Judd:That, like, it's it's when we have much that we are often most at risk of becoming complacent or less scrappy or less forward oriented and more just stuck and stagnant and stultified where we are. Mhmm. And and so I think resources are a real challenge. I have kind of established a little internal rule for myself where I say I say I'm I'm not allowed to say I didn't have time to work out. I'm I'm not allowed to say that phrase.
Alex Judd:What I am allowed to say is I didn't want to do burpees for ten minutes straight. Because it's like the idea that you can't I mean, I always have ten minutes. Right? We all always have ten minutes. I believe that.
Alex Judd:And the idea that the reality is is I could have worked out. And if you do burpees for ten minutes straight, that is probably a better workout than I would have had at the gym if I had gone for an hour. So it's not that I didn't have time, it's that I didn't want to, which might even be okay. Just don't tell me you didn't have time because that's a limit. Right?
Ben Loy:Yeah. The limitation creates or inspires creativity. Like That's right. If you're like, oh, my only vision of working out and getting in shape is going to the gym and doing these things and you're locked into this set idea of what it means to take care of your body and be physically fit, you're you're you're being really constrained and you're just focusing on the limitations. Whereas you're like, I have ten minutes.
Ben Loy:What can I do here right now in ten minutes to get my heart rate up and move my body? And that opens up a world of opportunity, for the the same you're solving the same solution.
Alex Judd:That's right.
Ben Loy:Or solving the same problem.
Alex Judd:That's right. You said vision. I think lack of vision is also a blocker to resourcefulness. Mike Mike Valatin, is a mentor and friend of mine. He has this unique perspective in that for a period of time, he actually worked kind of in and with our team and supported our business for about six months.
Alex Judd:And so he had just enough context to know the people to see how things operate and run while he was still kind of on the outside advising me and giving me direction and support and all of that. And one of the biggest things that I learned from Mike is, like, he just sees things in people that I wasn't seeing. Like, I I honestly and and with we've talked about this. I was such a fool because I saw Michelle as an EA, and I I was like because that's what she had always been for me. Right?
Alex Judd:She was my executive assistant, and she worked ten to fifteen hours a week. I saw her as an EA, and I could not envision a future where she was anything other than an EA. Mike was like, that gal is unbelievable. She's like he's like, she not only can she do the EA, she can totally manage operations. There's nothing about operations that she couldn't conceptually understand and do an effective job of leading, and she can also run events like a pro.
Alex Judd:She can do those things. And it was just like, I just need someone to say, like, you need to have more vision for that person. You need to believe in them. And they might not even believe in themselves fully yet, but you need to believe in them. And it's like she did those things over the course of the past year and karushed them.
Alex Judd:Like, best experience we've ever done that she fully coordinated. Right? Our operations are humming right now, much thanks to her, and and has continued to work with me as an EA. My lack of vision would have prevented that. Mhmm.
Alex Judd:Right? The same thing is true of Bert. There was a period of time where I didn't even consider that he could fill the needs that he's now filling. Right? And it's it's not that I didn't have positive regard for Bert.
Alex Judd:It's just I was basing my decision making process on what is, and resourcefulness also factors in what could be. Mhmm. And I think lack of vision can severely block our ability to be resourceful.
Ben Loy:We we're talking about finding resourcefulness in your own situation. How do you call that out of others, like, in the instance of Michelle or Burt? Like, how do you lead others into moving or growing beyond the constraints that maybe they feel like they're in?
Alex Judd:Well, I can say what people have done for me. There there have definitely been times in my life that that I had other people believe in me and my capacity more than I did. And it wasn't like they said something, and then I'm like, okay. I agree with you. I can totally do that.
Alex Judd:It was I had to borrow some of their belief. Like, they had built up enough trust with me, and they I perceived them as people that were really competent and that really cared. And because of that, when they said, I believe this. You should do this. It wasn't like, I believe it as well.
Alex Judd:It was like, I I don't necessarily believe it, but I'll follow you. Like, I I trust you enough to follow you or at least to take a step. And so I think, like, us having for belief in people maybe before or more than they believe in themselves. But the one caveat I would give to that is I have seen a lot of really resourceful leaders that believe the best in people and for people, and I love that. I think that's a wonderful quality, and I think it's a trend among really effective leaders.
Alex Judd:But if there's not willingness in the person, but you pull the trigger anyway, and you say, I believe that person can be a leader. And they might not see themselves that way, but they can totally take on this role, but they're not willing or excited to take a step of faith, then you shouldn't do it. Mhmm. Because there has to be at least the seed of belief in them. Otherwise, I I've just never seen it go well.
Ben Loy:Yeah. No. It makes sense.
Alex Judd:Here's one. How should we think of resourcefulness in the age of AI? Oh. I I had hopes that that question would gender a reaction like that.
Ben Loy:Well, man. I mean, there's so AI, as a concept, I feel like there's just it covers so much and it's such a big conversation. If you're talking about resourcefulness, you're talking about stewardship. Mhmm. Really, at its root.
Ben Loy:And I think AI is is this new thing in our work and in our life. And it is constant I mean, on a daily sometimes it seems like hourly basis changing and developing, and it is something that I think we can't ignore and we can't, like, bury our heads in the sand about. Like, the world is changing around us rapidly Mhmm. And it's just something we're gonna have to figure out how to steward well. Yeah.
Ben Loy:I guess as far as resourcefulness goes, there's I there's, I think, the danger and the scary side of it, which a lot of people are kind of staring down the barrel of the gun with right now of like, oh, this is this has the potential to eliminate a lot of jobs Mhmm. In a lot of different areas. And so, like, when you think of resourcefulness, it's like, oh, from a from a business perspective, just on paper, it it probably feels like AI is gonna be the answer to a lot of problems that will, you know, increase profits, reduce waste, or reduce costs, things like that. I guess, like, I would Yeah. I I'd love to hear your perspective.
Ben Loy:That's the first thing that comes to mind with me in AI is, like, that reality. Mhmm. It it's gonna touch so many more things than that, but I'd love to hear your perspective.
Alex Judd:Yeah. Well, I I like the connection to stewardship a lot. I I think that I of was thinking down a similar vein. I I listened to something recently that it was referencing research that tracks, overall creativity output and, quality of creative output over time societally. And for quite a while now, creative output and quality is going down according to this metric.
Alex Judd:And I think this research is pre AI. I I don't know where it's at now post AI, but, you know, you think about everything that we have had access to pre AI that should theoretically make us more creative. Right? Like, we've got more access to information, the ability to connect with people around the world. You can Google anything you need.
Alex Judd:You can have any, you know, physical resource you need on your doorstep within twenty four hours. You would think that all of that would make us more creative. And in reality, what this study would suggest is that we're actually becoming less creative. And I think part of that is exactly what we've already discussed at length in this episode is more resources does not guarantee more resourcefulness. Mhmm.
Alex Judd:And in fact, with the more access we've been given, it's actually diluted our abilities in all areas. And one of the areas where it's really diluted our abilities is our focus. Yeah. We are putting our attention on a billion different things at all times instead of actually dedicating ourself to a few really good and beautiful things.
Ben Loy:Yeah. Well, I mean, you talk about constraints, like a AI, a lot of it does like, doesn't really have constraints. That's Especially, I mean,
Alex Judd:you talk about
Ben Loy:ChatGPT and and the the connection between, like, our creative thinking and decision and critical, thinking and decision making, and then our ability to use something like that to, in many ways, eliminate the, quote, unquote, need for it.
Alex Judd:I will say that I asked ChatGPT to make a picture of my one year old daughter wrestling an alligator to the ground, and it wasn't willing to do that. So it said, like, we are unwilling to put pictures of children wrestling wild animals. So there are some constraints.
Ben Loy:There are constraints. But I I do think I don't and I don't know I don't I think it was a different study that you referenced. I saw another study, recently of, like, brain activity and people using ChatGPT for creative thought processes. The result was essentially, like, people through the use of AI for creative thinking and creative thought processes, like, people who use AI excessively to think creatively actually begin to lose the ability to do it on their own.
Alex Judd:Which is not surprising to me at all.
Ben Loy:And the brain No. Yeah.
Alex Judd:That Yeah. Like, it's good to know that there's evidence of that now because that totally makes sense.
Ben Loy:And the brain activity was, I think, significantly reduced. And maybe we can find the link to it and link it in the show notes. But I I thought that was really interesting. I mean, goes back on, like, the original thing I said, which is, like, limitations, like, spur or inspire creativity. And when you start to remove limitations, the result often isn't more creativity.
Ben Loy:It's often, like, we we lose our ability to creatively think. And so, I mean, art is such an easy example of, like, you look at Picasso and he has all these different, like, periods and and styles in in which he approached and, like, there was there's the blue period where he only painted with blue. And it's, like, that is a constraint. Like, he put he placed that constraint on himself
Alex Judd:So well said.
Ben Loy:To develop art that we now look at.
Alex Judd:I didn't know he did that.
Ben Loy:That's amazing. You know, and I mean, really, I mean, I I went to school for art, so any art class I had, it was like, here is the project, here are your constraints, now go produce something. And that was pretty much the the, like, rubric for for every project was like, here is the medium you have to be in, here is maybe the subject matter or or or whatever. Like, here are your constraints, now go think creatively on how to solve this this problem with these constraints. And so, like, I mean, that that that's just such a I feel like an easy example of how constraints spur creativity.
Alex Judd:Yeah. We need to talk more about this, and I personally need to do need to do more work on this because we, like, we currently have more access to resources than we have ever had, and we are about to have way more resources. It's it's growing by the day, more access than we've ever had. And I think the need for self imposed constraints as a result will be as great as it has ever been. Mhmm.
Alex Judd:And when I say I need to do more work on this, I I already have in my mind my boundaries, like my red lines with AI of, like, I am not willing to go there. I'm not willing to do that even though that I know that I already can. I could have AI write a book with my name on it today and release it and make money. Mhmm. And I just said, like, I'm not going to do that.
Alex Judd:I've got a lot of these boundaries in my head. Right? But I think actually codifying them as line in the sand standards for where we're going. Because I think if we don't establish self imposed constraints for ourselves, that's our responsibility, we are going to get walloped. Yeah.
Alex Judd:Because because the change is coming, and it's coming fast. And we know that constraints are what actually help us thrive and flourish, but the world is already there where you have access to to infinite possibilities of where you could spend your time, energy, and money. And, if you're not ready for it, I don't know. It's just not gonna be good. And and my fear, I think, is and I would say I have a faithful fear.
Alex Judd:Right? Like, I'm not I'm not I lose zero sleep over this, but I just think we did not do a great job with social media. Like, we we way missed the mark. It's it shouldn't be this massively shocking thing that, oh, man. It has a horrible effect on teenagers, particularly teenage girls, because they're posting images of themself every day online.
Alex Judd:Like, we're releasing all this research now that suggests that, and it's like, I like, how on earth did that surprise us? How on earth are we is it taking us ten years to catch up to that? And I just think the ramifications of taking ten years to realize the cost of how we use this new technology will be way worse if we don't get ahead of it. And and I don't know what the society's gonna do with it. What I can control is what happens in my heart, and and hopefully, can influence what happens under my roof and within my team and within the Path for Growth community.
Alex Judd:So that's where I wanna spend my time. Yeah.
Ben Loy:Don't I know if it was The UK or Australia recently, but they I think they just put up a law in place where you have to be over the age of 16 to use social media. Australia. It was Australia. Australia.
Alex Judd:So here's what's crazy. You know what's crazy about that? 5,000,000 accounts deactivated. Bam. Gone.
Alex Judd:It's insane. Parents are actively working to get their children back on social media in Australia right now because their account was deactivated. Like, using their login information to make sure they have access.
Ben Loy:I mean, it's it's our generation's cigarette is really what it is. That's right. Like, you know, it's it's it's, oh, yeah, like, this thing that we we People were smoking on planes at one point and now we're like, oh, this is actually really bad for you and the people around you, We should should put some limitations around this. I think I think the aviation industry is a fascinating case study of where, like, tech A piece of technology that literally changed the world and the way that we operate and how rapidly it developed, but then also, like, the dangers of it and how many lives were lost in the pursuit of that technology developing and how as lives are continued to to be lost, safety constraints and things are just continually improved and developed through the study of of those accidents. Like, I think AI is is gonna be very similar in the way that it plays out.
Ben Loy:It's like, oh, we're not really gonna know the danger of this until something catastrophic happens, then we're all gonna go, oh, no. And then, like, what are the what are the rules we need to and the constraints we need to put around this? I think what's scary is is that, like, is that even possible? Yeah.
Alex Judd:But in the thing that I would stand on is individually, I can put constraints on myself right now. Sure. I do not have to wait for the writing on the wall to take place for my life individually. Like, I can do that, and I think I should. And if enough of us do that, it it will actually affect the overall trajectory of how things go.
Alex Judd:But I I also love the cigarette example because my my dad works at NASA. Right? And he remembers the time and tells us stories about the time, like, in the Apollo program when you would go observe mission control, and the room was filled with smoke. Like, mission control while men are in space is filled. Like, those men are in a cancer box directing this this, space crew.
Alex Judd:Right? And now literally, you tour NASA and you're like, that is, I mean a foreign idea like it's laughable that that would ever be a thing because of how intense they are about what goes on in that room and all of that and we have progressed so far. Yeah. It can be really easy to look at the current reality of addiction and be like there's no hope It's already gone too far. Cigarettes would suggest otherwise.
Alex Judd:Cigarettes went from celebrated to somewhat normalized to talk bad about to now almost entirely absent to hear positive conversations about cigarettes from my experience. So there is hope. I think we have individual responsibility that we should play in our use of these things. Mhmm.
Ben Loy:And I I think in many ways yeah. As time goes on, imposing constraints is just gonna become more and more important.
Alex Judd:That's right.
Ben Loy:And and in many ways, like, is gonna help us continue to think creatively and and probably make a bigger impact.
Alex Judd:Yeah. Well, my takeaway from this episode is, like, our resourcefulness is often the result of our limited thinking. And it's actually when we lift off the cap of our thinking that we can see there's way more possibility with what we already have. My second takeaway is we need to do further thinking work and discussion on the topic of AI and leadership. Absolutely.
Alex Judd:Whole vein of discussion that would be really helpful. Thanks, Ben. Yep. Well, there you have it. Thanks so much for joining us for this episode.
Alex Judd:If you want any of the information or resources that we mentioned, that's all in the show notes. Hey. Before you go, could I ask you for one quick favor? Could you subscribe, rate, and review this podcast episode? Your feedback is what helps our team engage in a sequence of never ending improvement.
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Alex Judd:Hey, thank you so much to the Path for Growth team, Kyle Cummings and the crew at Pod Circle, and the remarkable leaders that are actively engaged in the Path for Growth community. Y'all are the people that make this podcast possible. Y'all know this. We're rooting for you. We're praying for you.
Alex Judd:We wanna see you win. Remember, my strength is not for me. Your strength is not for you. Our strength is for service. Let's go.
Alex Judd:Let's go. Let's go.
