Cory Carlson - Author of Win at Home First

In this episode of the Biblical Leadership at Work podcast, host Jason Woodard interviews Corey Carlson, an entrepreneur and former executive. Corey discusses his journey from corporate America to executive coaching, emphasizing the importance of balancing work and family life. He shares insights from his books, 'When at Home First' and 'Rise and Go,' and offers practical advice for new leaders on maintaining integrity and integrating faith into their leadership roles.

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Win at Home First Book 

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Jason 0:00

Welcome to the Biblical Leadership at Work podcast. I am your host, Jason Woodard. On this month's episode, we will meet Corey Carlson. Corey is an entrepreneur, former executive, husband, and father of three. And Corey understands the pressures working parents face. He is passionate about helping business leaders win at home and at work. With 20 years in corporate America, Corey worked his way up to the executive level, but also witnessed challenges such as work without purpose, burnout, and strained relationships. Discovering coaching transformed him into a better leader, husband, and father, which led him to lead, leave his corporate career to help others achieve success, both professionally and professionally. He does this through executive coaching, speaking, and writing. Corey holds a civil engineering degree from the University of Missouri and an MBA from Rockhurst University. He is the author of When at Home First, an inspirational guide for work life balance, and Rise and Go, a resource to help leaders recover from challenges. He also hosts the leadership podcast, when at home first, which is recognized as a top one and a half percent global podcast. Today, we'll explore Corey's journey, his insights on integrating faith into leadership and strategies for striving both at work and at home. So Corey brother, welcome to the show, man. Thank you.

Cory 1:24

Jason, thank you very much for having me and just the opportunity to talk about faith and work. It's pretty awesome. So, thanks for doing what you do.

Jason 1:32

Yeah, no. Hey, thank you. Uh, you're putting out some great content as well. So Corey, tell us a little bit about your background from kind of University, career, right up to where the Lord has you now and how he got you there. Give us a 30, 000 foot summary.

Cory 1:46

Yeah, I was a, as you mentioned, civil engineering degree out of college and went to a company, awesome company, in Kansas City that I worked for and great company, it's just, I didn't enjoy what I was doing. It kind of sit in a cubicle designing pavement, how thick the pavement need to be. I was like, I, I don't want to do this and not, not to go all deep end really quick, but you know, it was, I was also taking my identity to my job and I wasn't getting satisfied at the time of my life. I didn't completely understand, you know, about the problem with taking your identity to temporary things like your job or your money or car status, house, any of those things. I didn't completely understand it. I was taking my identity in my job, which, you know, was not a good thing. And then, but I ended up finding another job at that time where I sold cylindering products, storm sewer bridges,

Jason 2:47

Okay.

Cory 2:48

and, and I loved it. It was sales, which is something I enjoy doing mixed with. products and construction industry. I did that in Kansas city, had success, got promoted, moved to Denver, Colorado, where I managed a bunch of states and people. I think it got promoted to Cincinnati where I was vice president of 120 million division and over, you know, overseeing a bunch of people throughout the country. And that's really when. I, I kind of faced some real ups and downs of leadership, you know, and kind of come back to that. But then I took a, another corporate move where I went to be president of sales, which then got me into coaching, which is what I do full time,

Jason 3:36

Okay.

Cory 3:36

but kind of rewinding when I was vice president of 120 million division, I just leapfrogged my boss. I was now managing him. I was managing people older than me. I was man, managing people that had been the industry longer. And so Jason, what that meant is like, I showed up with like imposter syndrome. Like I'm just waiting for them to knock on my door and say, Corey, uh, you need to go back out, out to the field. We screwed up. You should not be here, you know, in the corporate. And so that caused me to skip the gym, skip quiet time, kids playing on the floor. And you know, my face was stuck in my laptop on the couch and I just, there just, I knew there had to be a better way. I didn't know what it was. I went to my boss, who big fan of, and he just said, Hey, get an executive coach. I've always had one. And

Jason 4:27

Okay.

Cory 4:28

I was like, okay. So I went and hired an executive coach and. It was a game changer. And I know that sounds extreme, but it's now what I do for a living. So obviously it changed my career, but also was a game changer because. I immediately was able to zoom out. It wasn't just about a clean email inbox or a good looking P and L. Those have their importance, no doubt about it, but instead it became about purpose. It became about priorities. And so I just started leading differently with my team. And then I, as I mentioned earlier, I took a corporate move where another move where I was president of sales for national contractor, I had 30 sales folks throughout the country. And Jason, as I traveled the country to meet with them, I talked home and work. I just knew for people to have sustainable success that you got to work on the whole self. So as I went to like, you know, Nashville to talk to the sales guy, or I went up to Seattle or New York, I would basically with the, with the sales individual, Hey, are you dating your spouse? Are you being intentional with your kids? Are you getting to the gym? But then also on the work front What's your hit rate on your proposals? Are you blocking out time in your calendar, you know for business development? What are your three key initiatives for this quarter? So I was leading both home and work and when they got better and I knew I had gotten better I was like, I want to do this for a living and so that began the journey of me leaving corporate Into coaching and thanks to god's provision Uh, it'll be Here, March 1st, it'll be five years that I've been coaching and speaking full time.

Jason 6:10

so that's a big leap. Corey, when you did it, did you just go cold turkey on the career and a regular steady check and moved into coaching or did you kind of bridge it with ramping that up?

Cory 6:20

No, there's a whole story there. Um, but it may be helpful to somebody listening. When I was president of sales, I had this burning desire, this itch, this prompting, whatever you want to call it to go do coaching, but I didn't have the guts.

Jason 6:40

a

Cory 6:40

I didn't have the guts. I made good money and I didn't want to go from good money to zero.

Jason 6:48

Yeah. Yep.

Cory 6:50

had a little identity tied in my job title. I was president of sales. That sounded a lot cooler than brand new coach,

Jason 6:57

Yeah.

Cory 6:58

And so I didn't know really kind of what to do. I kept feeling the nudge, go coach. I would listen to podcasts and people talking about that bold, courageous moves they made. And I was like, that sounds cool for that guy, but I don't think I can do it. I've got three kids and, uh, you know, a wife and anyways. Fast forward at this time is 2016. Fast forward to August, 2016. We were owned by private equity. We had just been through a many month process to try to sell the company. We interviewed with a bunch of private equity companies, narrowed it down to three. Then went and signed on the dotted line with one of them, 45th day of the due diligence period, of the 60 day due diligence period, they got cold feet. So they backed out. And when you back out from a private equity sale, you're pretty much known as a re trade and no one wants you because if they're like, well, someone else saw something bad,

Jason 7:53

They

Cory 7:53

we're out.

Jason 7:53

out. Yeah.

Cory 7:54

And that caused our ownership to be like, well, We're changing things. We're going from national to regional, and you start chopping things off. You don't need a president of sales anymore. So August 2016, I was terminated, and I made a, my first call was to my wife, and I said, babe, I got good news, bad news. Bad news is, I just got fired. The good news is, I have a four month severance package. Can I try coaching? And she says, yeah, you got four months and then get

Jason 8:25

And you guys, so she knew that was on your heart

Cory 8:28

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. She knew it. And you know, as God was working on me and my heart and kind of softening and preparing me from provision of, you know, set salary, although we all know corporate America, it's not very secure. Cause you can get fired any moment, just like I did, but it is, um, I, some provision, like I kind of thought, Hey, corporate America is my provider. And I kind of was realizing, Hey, you know, God's my provider.

Jason 8:56

Yeah.

Cory 8:58

My wife was really hung up on the insurance, kind of like, because corporate does a fantastic job of brainwashing that, Hey man, you got to have this, this insurance. Cause if you go out, you know, you can't get it. Uh, it was not near as bad as we thought it was. It's not amazing. It's, it's crazy expensive, but it's doable for some listener listening. Uh, so anyways, over before I got terminated, God was working on both my wife and my heart. of making this transition, right? God always prepares us before something happens. And he was doing just that those months leading up to he was preparing us. I didn't I didn't anticipate getting fired And so I would have never thought that's what was happening But he knew he was preparing both of us for when we got fired. So when I made that phone call to my wife She wasn't scared. She wasn't the idea of me going coaching wasn't Red alarm panic anything like that. So I stepped into coaching And I had the four months as I mentioned, and I was able to get my coaching up to about 50%, not 50% of what I made, but about 50% of, Hey, if I could find another 50% I'm in. And thanks to God's provision, there was a guy in Cincinnati, which is where I live. I did not know him, but we had the same executive coach who lived in South Carolina. So just cool. I mean, it's a cool story. Anyways, this guy needed help with sales and marketing for a man. He's a manufacturing company.

Jason 10:30

Okay.

Cory 10:31

So I helped him and he brought me on and it ended up being about that 50 percent number I wanted. And I did that, I did 50 percent coaching, 50 percent helping this manufacturing. I did it for a while. Then I went 75 percent coaching, 25 percent helping the manufacturer, eventually then 90 10.

Jason 10:51

Nice.

Cory 10:52

March 1st, 2020, which is not the best time to launch

Jason 10:56

a, that's a worst

Cory 10:58

a whole nother story. We went all in as a family into coaching.

Jason 11:03

Okay. Nice. So you're just on five years in a month. Yeah. That's awesome. That's a great story because one of the things I always like to hear from people on these podcasts, Corey, is events like that, that in the moment, were not great and were, you know, can be kind of fearsome and shake your foundation a little bit, but then knowing you're, This far through it and how things have went, you know, people get fired, bad things happen. And, you know, how does God work in those to sanctify us and he provides for us and our family. So I love those stories. I appreciate you sharing that. That's really good. Tell us, tell us, Corey, a little bit about your family. You've hinted on that. What's that look like with your wife and children?

Cory 11:49

married, married 26 years this summer, which is awesome. I mean, my wife supported me through some good decisions, some bad decisions, uh, three different cities we lived in three kids, uh, going from, you know, corporate to entrepreneurial. It's just been super supportive. It's, it's, it's been great. And you know, part, part of our story, my story, my first book's called when at home first, wrote that book cause I lost at home first. I was so focused on my, you know, myself and climbing the corporate ladder and doing all those things that I, you know, just, you know, you made bad, you know, made bad choices. And in that, uh, you know, she stuck with me through the whole thing. So my first book, when a home first talks about. Hey, what's it take for that leader to win at home and work? And that's why I'm passionate about it. I have three kids, 20 year old daughter, 16 year old daughter, and a 12 year old boy. So we are, we have conversations from, you know, what are you gonna do for your career? And, you know, please pee in the toilet. I

Jason 12:54

Right. That's right. Yeah.

Cory 12:55

all of the extremes.

Jason 12:57

Yeah, that's great. No, that's an interesting. We had that range for a while. Now we're 30 down to 19. So we're just about, just about done and we're enjoying grandkids. So that's a,

Cory 13:09

Man, you look good for being a grandpa.

Jason 13:12

we started, we started early and then our kids, you know, they, they had children early. So it is, it's nice. Cause I can keep up, keep, I got two granddaughters so I can keep up with them.

Cory 13:22

That is awesome. Yes. Yeah, that's that's my hope too as well to be an active healthy grandpa when that time comes

Jason 13:30

That's an incredible joy. What about your faith, Cory? When did you come to know the Lord? What's that look like?

Cory 13:36

Yeah, I came. Um, uh, you know 48 years old So I came to faith with like a lot of people my age to amy grant and michael w smith concerts and music

Jason 13:46

grow up in the church,

Cory 13:48

grew up in the church and uh, yeah, you know faith was great, you know great. Um growing up My mom battled a seven year, battled cancer. Ended up passing away when I was in high school. And, and so that didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth towards God, but anyways, it definitely was part of my foundation of having faith, seeing my dad rock solid in his faith, seeing the church support us come over on Wednesday nights and pray and all cool stuff. So that, that happened. But then when I went to college. I drifted early twenties, drifted, just went, went through a season of selfishness and that all took place. I mentioned I went to Mizzou, then we started in Kansas city. When I moved to Denver, that's when things started to change. It was kind of almost to the point of like, not that my wife was as direct, but it's kind of like, Hey, you know, Let's go to church. I thought you were, you know, a good Christian guy, you know, that's kind

Jason 14:51

that's who I married, right?

Cory 14:52

Yeah, I mean, she didn't say that, but it was kind of like, let's go. And what, the coolest part, Jason, is we went to this church in, uh, Denver. It was called Arvada Vineyard. Now it's Mile High Vineyard. And I just started getting around a cool group of guys that were real. And they talked about the ups and downs of their marriage, the ups and downs of, you know, maybe a porn addiction they had or, um, burnout at work or like, it was real deep conversations as opposed to sports and weather.

Jason 15:28

yeah, yep,

Cory 15:29

that is kind of when God just started working on me through these guys of, I'm just kind of deciding to come clean of some of my darkness and live, just living better. And so it, that's, that is when my faith got stronger. Then we moved to Cincinnati, got even stronger. And that's just, it's kind of been up into the right sense. Not that I'm perfect. I mean, I'm still trying to figure out kind of better ways to fine tune it and get better and,

Jason 16:03

it's a process. So you wrote, so you wrote a book on this whole idea of winning a work and home, and I think what you talked about earlier, Cory, is. You know, the, the focus and drive on our professional careers. I've been there. I, I like to think that I've learned how to balance that better, but I did not do it well. You know, at one point it was my entire identity.

Cory 16:27

Hmm.

Jason 16:28

What, and again, you have a whole book on it, so it's hard to summarize, but like, what are, what are the main principles and approaches that you take when you're coaching someone or even in the book? for believers who are in that position to, to say, you know, you gotta, the work life balance has been overused, but you know, like tools, principles, like where do you start?

Cory 16:53

Yeah. Yeah. And you know, I, I mean, I even agree the word balance is not, I mean, when I wrote the book, uh, went on first are the subtitles, inspirational guide to work life balance. And I, and I told the, the, the publishing consultant, I don't want that word. I want something like work life harmony or something.

Jason 17:08

Yeah.

Cory 17:09

lady was so kind, uh, cause I was like, it's not balanced. And the lady was so kind. She goes, listen, you're not Jeff Bezos or somebody you can't just go make an upward

Jason 17:19

You can't make your own thing up, Corey. Not yet.

Cory 17:21

need to work life balance. I said, okay, I get it. I get it. I, uh, we'll, we'll do that. And I think a couple of things when I work with clients and also what I had to come to grips with myself and, you know, still remind is realizing there's a couple of mindset shifts. One is. There is no work wins that are going to counterbalance home losses. You know, you may be crushing a work right now, but if things aren't well at home, it's going to catch up to you. It could catch up to you and you get divorced and you now split all that amazing money made 50%.

Jason 17:58

Yeah.

Cory 18:00

You know, you could get to a point, you mentioned you're involved with your kids and your grandkids life, but that's pretty awesome. That means you must've been loving and around with them and therefore they want to be with you now. So, I mean, if people don't come to grips with, you've got to have success at home and work. Otherwise it's, it's, it could be divorced, absentee parent, uh, bad health, you know, whatever that, that piece may be. So I, that's, that's the first thing, just having someone recognize that, Hey, if you really want to have sustainable success, you've got to win at home and win at work. And so that's just a big thing to think about. What I'll also share with, you know, clients is over my career. I've had over my 20 year career, I've had 18 bosses in one family.

Jason 18:47

Right. Yeah.

Cory 18:48

I said yes to some of those bosses at the expense of my family, and I don't even know where they live right now. I don't even know if they're alive right now.

Jason 18:56

Yep.

Cory 18:59

And it's, it's just, you know, it's just so sad how, how we will do those things. And you know, no one remembers that you worked late except for your family.

Jason 19:07

Right,

Cory 19:07

Or you worked hard on a Saturday except for your family. So I think, you know, the first is that mindset shift of, hey, We're here on earth. We're not just here to be a great CEO or great manager or a great sales person That's just one of our titles

Jason 19:23

Yeah, one of our roles.

Cory 19:24

Yeah, husband, father, you know, or spouse, mother, you know, whatever it is, and then, you know, friend, and, you know, just so much. And so anyways, it's helping people realize all those pieces. Inside the book, the book has four parts. First part is you, understanding your own self. Like, do you understand your identity? Are you not taken into temporary things that I talked about I did in my 20s? Instead, you understand that you are beloved son or daughter. It is about understanding your purpose. In the book, I talk about how to put together a purpose statement. That was a game changer for me when I did that.

Jason 20:02

Yep.

Cory 20:02

you know, cool story that goes alongside with that. Understand your priorities. If you don't know your priorities, then someone else will make their priorities become your priorities. And so there's a five capitals framework I talk about in the book that is very helpful. So that's part one. Part two is about marriage, which is the most important relationship in the home. And what I find so often Jason is business leaders stop dating their spouse. As the career takes off, as kids get old, you know, grow up and we got activities come Friday, Saturday, people are tired, people have headaches and, or, you know, whatever the thing is, they don't go on dates. And so part two of the book is about pursuing your spouse. It's about serving your spouse. It's about forgiving your spouse. And so I talk about each of those pieces. The third part's on parenting, parenting about having a relationship with them. That is both one of inviting them into relationship, but also challenge them into responsibility, right? Truth and grace. Just how Jesus led the disciples, the woman at the well, all of his encounters were both truth and grace. We need to lead our kids away. And, and many of us can err on one way or the other where we're just challenge, make your bed, get good grades, go, go, go. What would, then you got the other people who are cozy and they have spoiled brat kids because it's yes to everything. They want to be their friend. They may even buy them, you know, beer on the weekends on, you know, when they're in high school to be cool.

Jason 21:45

Yep.

Cory 21:45

And so that's the idea of the third, part three, the parenting. And then part five, part four is on work. How are you equipping and empowering your employees? How are you managing your calendar so that you can go home and not work in the evening?

Jason 22:01

That's

Cory 22:02

So it's about time management. It's about delegation. So anyways, those are the four parts. Hey, I wrote the book and a buddy of mine the day before it got published, he just sent me an awesome letter. to Nick, but he just sent me an awesome letter that just said. It is not about how many books you sell. It's about just being obedient. And that was a big step for me because, you know, I, I can be results driven and just think about, so anyways, it's been, it's been a fun ride. Uh, it's been just pretty cool to hear how it's helping people. And luckily a guy at Forbes magazine said that's one of seven books everyone on your team should read. So it's been, it always is significantly helped. So that, that, that was pretty cool.

Jason 22:48

One thing that I've, and I love all those principles all the way back to, uh, having a, your own mission statement. When I finished my, um, my MBA, which was at a Christian university at Cornerstone university, I was one of the capstone projects was like, okay, so you've done this now what? And we, and we wrote this and I still have it and I still look at it, not a lot, but every year or so and reflect on that. But something that I've. I think I'm learning or I've learned and I'd be curious your thoughts on this around I call it that work life balance Is there came a point when I had to realize that it was okay? to bring My work home and I'll explain a little bit of what I mean about this But in my personal life to work and let those start blending over like who I am comes everywhere like everywhere I go You know what my spiritual life like I have a prayer list and on my prayer list One of the things on there is work, and people I work with, and the business, and our owners. And, and when I'm at work, I want to be able to talk to my teammates about my family, and show them pictures of my grandkids, and bring like, my whole self. A lot of people talk about, you know, bring your whole self to work, and I want them to do the same. And when I'm at home, you know, I want, and my kids don't care. My kids barely know what I do, right? They don't care. Whatever. But you know to be able to have those conversations and say this is a role that I do that I'm passionate about that I like that. I like to bring it. It's part of who I am And so there's been a piece of me that you know for some point I guess in my life I thought they were very, you know, you keep keep work here. You keep your spiritual life here and your family It's separate but there became like this. I don't know this freedom. I felt like or it was just being more true to who I am You When I just, I'm me wherever I go and all those pieces kind of come with me. Does that, does that make sense at all? You see, do people like work through that or have to?

Cory 24:43

Well, 100%, it makes sense. It is a lie that people are telling themselves that they think they can separate the two. Maybe you could in the 50s. I, I don't know. But when we have smart watches. Smartphones, you know, the computers with the email and everything like it's integrated throughout the whole day

Jason 25:06

All the time.

Cory 25:07

Even if that's not the case, which it is, but you get in a fight at 7 a. m With your spouse as you're walking out the door. It is going to affect your workday You will not be the best version of yourself at 9 a. m. Because you're thinking about the fight you just had

Jason 25:23

Right.

Cory 25:24

I should have said this dang it. I you know, and then as the day progresses There may be a text back and forth still with the fight continuing, but let's just say there's not come three o'clock You start thinking about when I go and re enter into the house I'm gonna say this and then they will probably say that and then i'm gonna say this And so we end uh, it just starts to happen So back to why home is so important if we went home first, then we can be the best version of ourselves at work So I completely agree that Yeah They do get integrated between the two.

Jason 26:03

Yeah. And I, and I would even say to go piggyback on that as a leader, I've had to, um, remind myself. That the, the, the culture that I'm developing and the way that I manage and lead is having an impact on the homes where those people are going. Because you and I have both had the experience of managers where maybe home life is rolling good, but work is awful. And you bring, right. And you bring that home. And so as leaders, I think we have to realize that impact that we can have positive or negative even on people's home life. So, and that's just the, again, some of that, it just bleeds over. It, it bleeds over. So yeah.

Cory 26:43

I, I was in that season, well, a few different times throughout my career where work was affecting, uh, home in a negative way. And one of the parts of went home first, put together a vision statement. The reason that kind of was bird this, when I was president of sales, I was at this dinner table. And we were in Florida with private equity group. And this guy chose his phone to me about how loud his brand, brand new Mercedes is. And I have no problem with rich people. I've got some really wealthy friends that are amazing and are so kind and so generous and awesome, awesome, awesome people. This particular situation, what bothered me was his energy was so high. When he talked about how loud his Mercedes was. Then we start talking about his spouse. The energy goes down and his home life and his kids. And I was like, Dude, this is crazy. Like, all he cares about is money and status and, you know, position, power, and not his family. And here I am, away from my family, on a work night, in Florida, where it's like, Ah, what am I doing? So, dinner's over, I go outside waiting for, you know, my ride to show up. my, I call my coach. And he picked it up as after hours. And so it just worked out. He was able to pick it up. Uh, I think he was traveling too or something. Anyways. I just said, man, is this really my life? Like I'm, I'm just as a president of sales, I'm just going to go help people make lots of money. Is that really my role in life? And he just said, he said, listen, come up with a, a purpose statement or a vision statement, and it'll make each day more redeemable and help you stay focused. I was like, what? What is a sentence going to do to help me? That sounds dumb. And as some listeners are probably thinking about right now, like Corey, that sounds like the dumbest idea ever. He said, just trust me. So I said, fine, I will. Cause I've been with them on for whatever it was at that time, a four year journey together, and I'm like, all right, I'm trusting you here.

Jason 28:54

Yeah.

Cory 28:54

You using a 5P framework. You just do a brain dump on these five P's, passions, provisions, uh, potential problems and, um, personality based on those five P's, just do a brain dump of everything about you, throw it on there, look at the paper and see if anything pops up of, Hey, is there a sentence there? Is there something that gets you motivated of how you were uniquely wonderfully made for me as I did that exercise, the sentence that I put together then. Is the same one I still use to this day and is to connect people to greater performance, even more significant purpose.

Jason 29:33

There you go.

Cory 29:34

So wherever I go, I can do that. If I'm around a fire pit with guys, how can I think about helping them perform better at work and home? How can I help them connect to a greater purpose? God, if that's part of the conversation, if I can, if it was an anti faith conversation, whatever, it's like, just serve others.

Jason 29:55

Yeah.

Cory 29:56

When I'm with my kids showed up different, but how this worked Jason for that time was When I traveled, I was thinking of that phrase. How do I connect people to greater performance and even more significant purpose, and it helps significantly. Year ago, I have a CEO of an excavating company reach out to me. Burned out, home life's great, burned out. I went through this process with them, same things, like really a sentence is going to help. And he, he landed on, uh, to excavate. To excavate, uh, well, excavate people and buildings to build stronger foundations, something like that, because it's excavate, he was an excavator

Jason 30:41

Yeah. Yeah.

Cory 30:42

he was a man of faith anyways, that, that gave him traction for a while, for a long while, probably still uses this to this day, but it's one of those deals where if you are a listener, if you are struggling, sometimes just. Zooming out and thinking about, Hey, what is your purpose? How uniquely one of them made and how does that apply to your job? Whether you're CEO of manufacturing company, whether you're a coach, whether you're a sales guy or gal, wherever you're at, it can give you some additional momentum and juice as opposed to just grinding through emails every day.

Jason 31:19

Well, it gives you focus, right? It's why businesses write mission statements. I mean, this is what I'm going to get up and try to do every day. This is my thing I'm trying to do. So I think it is important. And again, I go back to mine's a paragraph, but it talks about professional. It talks about my relationship with the Lord. It talks about my relationship with my wife and my children and serving the church. And those are still things that I, when I stop and think, okay, What am I doing? What am I spending my time on? You know, am I hitting on those areas? Like today, I was thinking about this morning. I got up early. I tried to get up early every day, spend time in the word, spend time in prayer. And I was like, all right, it's a fairly busy day. I got work scheduled, normal work schedule. And then I'm going to come and have this interview with Corey, which to me is a ministry that I do this work to send out to other believers. And then this evening I'm meeting with, Um, you know, someone about a board role. I serve on a, uh, uh, the board, I'm a chair of a board for a crisis pregnancy center, and I'm going to go have dinner to recruit a board member. And I'm like, that's a, it's a busy day. I'm not going to have a lot of sit down and not do anything, but it's all, I'm like, yeah, it's exactly what I should be doing today, today, not every day. But I'm like, okay, this is, you know, this is good. So it ties back to that mission, you know, of,

Cory 32:34

I love it. One thing I do encourage clients to do, and I'll encourage you, is to get it down to like 10 words or whatever to make it memorable.

Jason 32:42

Yes,

Cory 32:42

I've got a longer version like you do, so maybe for you just grab your paragraph, throw it in a chat GPT, and just say put this in 10 sentence, 10 sentence, 10 word sentence, and just see what it does, and you may

Jason 32:58

Oh, it'll do it. It'll do it. I hadn't thought of that. I use chat GPT. Don't even get me started. I love it. I use it all the time, every day. So that would be a great, that's a great idea.

Cory 33:07

give it a go, and then let me know what you come up with.

Jason 33:09

Oh, I will. Hey, Corey, I always like to ask people, like, what are your spiritual disciplines, man? What are the things you do to stay close to the Lord and grow in sanctification?

Cory 33:20

Yeah, this, um, the routine I'm in right now, from a daily standpoint, the routine I'm in is, I got myself a five year prayer journal, this big old thick book. It is awesome. You can get it at Hosanna Revival. You open up, it's pretty much blank pages, except it has the date and you put in the year, because it's five years. And, anyway, so every morning I am reading, uh, daily devotion from daily wisdom for men. I then will read a chapter of the Bible that usually ties with that. And then I will write out my prayer in the prayer journal. So that is what I'm doing, uh, minimum. And I've been pretty darn consistent at this year, which has been pretty awesome because I want to double down on prayer. I think for all of us, that's a secret weapon that we underutilize. And

Jason 34:16

I totally agree.

Cory 34:17

so I'm trying to lean into it more. So that's my daily routine. Um, yeah, that's the daily routine. Fast forward and then take a look at weekly. It is, I've been doing a digital Sabbath for a couple of years where on Sundays, it is zero social media, email. And for some listeners are like, uh, I've been doing that my whole life or whatever, it's like, Oh, I'm late to the party. I've loved it. So, uh, it has just been pretty darn awesome to do. And then here in this last year, I've incorporated some silent retreats.

Jason 34:53

Okay. I just talked to somebody recently who's doing that.

Cory 34:56

I did a day retreat last year at a cool place in Indiana. And then I also did a five, no, four or five day. I think it was four, uh, retreat at a monk monastery. And that was awesome. You don't, you really don't engage with the monks. You're it's just, they got a great facility down in Kentucky. Um, but it was great. I'm doing it again in, in, uh, April.

Jason 35:21

You just go on your own to

Cory 35:22

go on your own. And I think they call it unguided silent retreat is, is their terminology they use. So you just go down there and you do whatever you want. I mean, you can't, you can't talk on the, in the building, but other than that, I mean, I think if you just want to go there and nap the whole time, you can nap the whole time,

Jason 35:37

Wow. And this is at a monastery.

Cory 35:39

it's awesome. It's gorgeous.

Jason 35:41

what's it called? I'm

Cory 35:43

Uh, actually the, uh, Gethsemane, Gethsemane, uh, Abbey of Gethsemane, I

Jason 35:50

Okay. In Kentucky. Bardstown. Oh yeah. I know where Bardstown is.

Cory 35:55

It's awesome.

Jason 35:56

And they have, yeah, that's a little bit of income for them. They let people come in and just get away from the world for a little bit. Wow. That's interesting. Yeah. I literally just interviewed another brother in the Lord, uh, for the podcast. And he talked about that, that that's something he's recently, you know, last I think year or two started doing is a retreats like that. All right. Um, another question I have for you, Corey, when you think about leadership, uh, which I know you do think a lot about, What are the like core principles that you always go back to those fundamentals of leadership for you?

Cory 36:34

You kind of, you kind of mentioned a piece of it earlier, which is making this, you know, come to mind as a, you know, who are you at home, who you at work and it's, it's integrity. Like don't just talk about it, be about it. I mean, so the same person at work as you are in home. If you know, you're trying to be all cool, calm and collected at work and then at home you're yelling cause kids aren't brushing their teeth. I mean, that's, that's, there's a disconnect there. You know, what can you do to be more of your true self at all places that you go to? Because people want to follow leaders they trust, and they trust leaders that are like, yep, he's the same person whether we're traveling in Phoenix or we're back, you know, home at the, at the plant. He's the same person when he's with his family or when he's with the coworkers. And, and so I think of leadership as a, you know, check yourself, integrity, our

Jason 37:33

Yeah.

Cory 37:33

whole self, are you the same person everywhere? I think that's a big piece.

Jason 37:37

Yeah. That's huge. I mean, that's the foundation that trust is built on. Like you said, you know, I think about that cause I'm not perfect at that. There's times. Yeah. That I, uh, you know, for me it's getting frustrated and angry, especially at work. I get pretty intense and I'm like, man, that's not, that's not, you know, who I want to be. I will say this. I've had a couple of, uh, people I've worked with who became close friends who even became, I had one who, uh, came to attend church. And so this guy, I've had a couple guys who knew me at work, spent time here with me, with my family and in my church. And I'm like, That's good because you know, those guys have now seen me really in all my three major realms And you know for accountability, that's healthy for me and I pray Um, and I think they would say nah, he's the same guy Yeah, I mean he's maybe not as intense at home as he is at work But overall, you know, it's the same guy same things that you're gonna see and hear from him So yeah, I've had two experiences with that with a couple of

Cory 38:43

Oh, that's awesome.

Jason 38:44

close friends of mine Yeah, so hey cory Who are some leaders that you would recommend other authors, podcasters, I know you're a podcaster So certainly we'll link to your show In the show notes and your books, but who else who do you love to follow and read and keep yourself sharp?

Cory 39:06

Oh, man, I could go on you and I tell you this top of mind right now Because we talked about before we hit record since you're in the manufacturing of the mining space a client of mine who I love following Because he's got his own podcast. It's solo. It's a solo show And he just sees fun to follow on LinkedIn. That's Keaton Turner so he He's not written a book yet, uh, but, uh, he, he, he's a wealth of knowledge on LinkedIn and his own podcast. Uh, you know, I mentioned, uh, the, the devotion I'm reading the daily with daily wisdom for men, Dan Britain and Jimmy Page, they wrote the book. I think it's a fantastic devotional to do

Jason 39:44

not the Jimmy Page

Cory 39:46

not, not, not the guitarist or whatever he was, I didn't know. Uh,

Jason 39:50

Led Zeppelin, I think is the Led Zeppelin guy. So yeah,

Cory 39:54

we talked about spiritual disciplines. We're working on, uh, you know, another book I'm reading right now lead with prayer. Um, I'm loving this one just cause I, like I said, I'm trying to double down on prayer, get better there. And so that, that's a piece. So I mean, I, I kind of keep going and just like different books I'm reading and what I'm enjoying.

Jason 40:15

are good. Those are, you know, a lot of, no, I appreciate those Corey, because a lot of times, um, my, uh, guests talk about the same and not that that's bad. I mean, we all love Lencioni and Maxwell, you know, and some of those, uh, so these are the ones you just talked about. I've already followed the gentleman on LinkedIn, so I'm going to check him out and add the books. I had not heard of the books that you mentioned, so that's good. I appreciate that. Some different material than what I've seen before.

Cory 40:43

well, I'm sure all those same books you mentioned are behind my, uh, behind me and I've read or whatever it is. Cause those guys are awesome, but yes.

Jason 40:50

Now you wrote another book we haven't talked about yet. You want to talk a little bit about what that

Cory 40:55

Yeah. So rise and go basically the whole idea of rise and go is all leaders get knocked down, whether it's a big or small setback and big could be a health scare, a small setback could be a loss of prospect on a sales call. All leaders get knocked down. It's just a great leaders get back up quicker. So what could it look like in your life for the next time you're knocked down, you get back up quicker.

Jason 41:19

Yeah.

Cory 41:20

I believe rise and go is a resource to help you do just that. It's, it's, it's helping, uh, you know, thousands of people already. And so it's a book to help. The reason I wrote the book, unfortunately, unfortunately, anytime I write a book, that's usually there's a problem.

Jason 41:36

Yeah.

Cory 41:37

and my, with rise and go, I mentioned, I launched into coaching full time March 1st, Which was a bad time to launch anything because that was COVID.

Jason 41:49

It's worse time. Yeah.

Cory 41:53

happen or what was gonna take place, but on March 13th, 2020, that's when the world shut down, especially the United States and stay at home mandates, wear a mask, all that took place. I 13th, Workshops and speaking was canceled. So in that moment, 35 percent of my revenue vanished. And I know there's listeners who had worse COVID experiences and even involved deaths in the family. And I'm sorry. Yeah. Sorry for that for us and my family. We just left the whole corporate deal. Went all into coaching. March 1st, and here we are two weeks, not even two weeks in, and 35 percent of the revenue is gone. So we were scared. We were like, what's gonna happen to the other 65%? But Jason, I was also frustrated. Like, I was mad at God. Like, hey, I, I didn't, I did my part. We did 50 50, then 100 0. I, I did my part. What's going on with you? And so I just went in those next few months, just into a valley of just frustration of fear, not, and then, you know, not only you throw in the COVID elements of wearing a mask, which is no fun and can't hang out with friends and all that stuff. And we know all those things mixed in with that of, I just was frustrated. Well, I, I look, thankfully I started, you know, I just got in the word and God took me on an amazing journey. Um, during that, that summer, 2020, I just started reading different scripture and Acts 8, 9, and 10. Three different individuals in the ESV, you know, English Standard Version translation are told to rise and go.

Jason 43:40

Um,

Cory 43:41

And each one of them, it's a big bold move that was significant. In Acts 8, Philip was told to rise and go to go speak to a eunuch who worked for the Ethiopian queen. So now, and then he ends up sharing the gospel. So what happens is, that's when the gospel starts going into royalty and into another country. Acts 9 is A guy named Ananias is told to rise and go to go meet a man named Saul. Well, this is the conversion from Saul to Paul. I mean, God probably could have used somebody else if Ananias didn't say, yes, put me in, coach. But instead, he went and then that began the conversion from Saul to Paul, who went on to write the rest of the, you know, majority of the New Testament. And then in Acts 10, Peter was told to rise and go to go meet some men that Cornelius sent. And so now it gets into the Gentiles. So it's just crazy how three different individuals were told to rise and go. So here I am reading all this and like, I gotta get out of my pity party. Like I need to rise and go and go create new opportunities. How can I go be bold and courageous? And so I began this journey of, of getting back on my feet and climbing up. And I just read scriptures. I was getting inspired by cool stories of resilience on podcast. And I would just start writing like maybe a blog or something. And I'd have a client call me and say, Hey man, I'm struggling with this today. I'm like, I just wrote about this this morning. Why don't you check it out? So it got battle tested over that next year. And then basically I put together the book and the book is. 20 chapters, first 10 are give you the courage to get back up. The next 10 chapters will give you the confidence to move forward. And it is, yeah, it just, it's been a fun book to, you know, send out into the world and see how it's impacted some people because the reality is we all get knocked down all the time.

Jason 45:47

Yep.

Cory 45:48

Whether it's something done internally and our own thoughts and beliefs, whether it's something done externally. And so that's the, that's the second book rise and go.

Jason 45:57

That's great. Ah, I love it. I love the fact that the books came from you going through, you know, some challenging experiences.

Cory 46:04

If you see, if you see that I published the third book, you may just say, Oh crud, what happened to

Jason 46:09

know what's going on with Corey. Hey, one last question. Let's say that someone comes to you, maybe one of your, might be one of your daughters and they say, I have got a chance to lead a team. First time ever. My first job is supervisor, area manager, whatever you want to call it. I want to get your advice. Let's say our kids are going to come to us, Cory, and say, I want your advice, dad. But maybe that's a stretch. I don't know about your kids, but what, what's advice that you would give a first time leader? Some things that you would say, here's, we talked about integrity and the importance of that. What other things might you give them for guidance?

Cory 46:45

Ask questions. If you're a first time leader, you're getting into a new team, ask questions to the, your new direct reports. Hey, what's working, what's not working. You know, how can I help? I mean, basically as leaders, part of our job for our teams is to provide resources and remove obstacles.

Jason 47:05

Yeah.

Cory 47:06

And the best way to know that if you're new in the leadership or new to the company, just join is ask questions. And just learn the landscape, learn, learn your team's needs in there. The way they answer questions, they'll kind of, you'll see some of their wiring come out. You'll see what motivates them. You'll see what's holding them back. And as the leader, if you can acknowledge your team. And inspire them, like, to go after it, you're going to get the best results out of your team.

Jason 47:40

Yeah. And I would say too, on that, I think you would be, as a new leader, you may be shocked At what little things you can have some early wins that they might need for you to break down that barrier to get them. I've just been so, I've been surprised several times. That's it? That, that would be a big deal for you if I get that for you? And you just go get it done and there's, you know, some early wins and early trust built up and

Cory 48:05

Which is the next part. If you ask questions, you better deliver on at least one thing. Because if it falls on deaf ears, then they're going to be like, you're just like the last leader I had.

Jason 48:14

Exactly.

Cory 48:15

yes. Ask the questions, but go deliver on at least one thing.

Jason 48:19

Yeah, that's absolutely right. Hey, Corey, uh, before we wrap up, how could, uh, what's the best way for people to get ahold of you and get in touch with you and follow you?

Cory 48:28

Yeah, thanks. And, and Jason, thank you for what you do and for getting this message out there, biblical leadership, uh, you know, for work and just in helping people.

Jason 48:38

Yeah, it's a joy, man. Thank you though, for saying that.

Cory 48:40

Uh, for me, anybody, any listening, uh, listeners who do LinkedIn, I love LinkedIn. So right there, Corey Carlson, uh, my, I've got a website, coreymcarlson. com and there's coaching information there, speaking podcast books, books are on Amazon and Audible. Uh, and then for the men, if you're listening, I run a community. called rise. It's, we just launched January 1st. I know by the time this will be out, who knows where the number is. So at this time in just six weeks, we already got 60 men in there. We're talking homework and faith. And it has been, it's just been inspiring actually to see the challenge, the, the breakthroughs. And the challenges people are overcoming already. And we just launched. So it's fun. And by the time this, this airs out, who knows where rise is at, but anyways, rise community. com you can check out that as

Jason 49:38

Yeah. And we'll put links, uh, we'll put links on those so people can connect with you and I follow you on LinkedIn and you put out some good content. So, and your podcast as well that you can find you on their podcast app and listen to that. I was actually listening to one, uh, this morning. That you recently did the lazy CEO. I think you're talking

Cory 49:55

Great book right there. Yeah. Go get DJ, DJ Moore's his name. He's a business owner. Get him on your podcast. Yeah,

Jason 50:03

Yeah, he was the author of the book

Cory 50:04

no, no.

Jason 50:05

He was talking about he read

Cory 50:07

Moore's the guest. Yeah. I can't remember who wrote that book. Uh, but anyways.

Jason 50:12

Yeah. Well, so yeah, so thank you Corey. Uh, it's been great man. I'm glad we connected and I look forward to maybe we can Stay connected and do some do some stuff together Um, also want to thank our listeners for joining us again this month. Uh, if this discussion resonated with you, I encourage you to connect with me. You can leave a rating on your podcast app, which I really appreciate. And on the YouTube channel, uh, subscribe there if you're watching this there. And uh, you'd be able to get all the latest content that we put out. Uh, and be sure to return next month when we engage with another faith driven leader striving down a crisis in their work and until then continue to lead with purpose and integrity.