welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, where we hope to inject the world with a dose of the Minnesota Nice that it desperately needs. Steve Brown, KG out, with the Cake Eaters in, Minnetonka. Steve, you had your class reunion this, this last weekend. Is that first on the topic today? I just, I'm curious how it went. Uh, it was, it was great. It was a nice affair. We'll say that. It wasn't a huge turnout. It was, uh, some nice faces, familiar faces from the past.
Um, a couple people that I've seen, you know, I hadn't seen in a while. It's kind of nice, but, you know, I always want that surprise grouping of people that You didn't expect to be there and like, you know, your locker partner from freshman year or something, you know, you just go like, Hey, yeah, where are you? I'm kind of in the mix of people through the band. I see a lot of people over the years. So, and I think Facebook changed a lot of class reunions as well.
So you can kind of, you can kind of keep in, keep up with people without having to, without connecting with them all the time. So you kind of know, uh, but it was nice. It makes it, Facebook makes it a lot easier to recognize. Yeah, that's part of it. It does make a difference. Uh, I'm. I'm Burnsville 85, John is Hill Murray 86. Yep. What are you? I'm Hill Murray 88. Just two years underneath you. 88? Oh, you're a young buck.
Yeah, he had a bunch of gals in the class of 88 that I kind of fancied. Yeah. And I, uh, he actually showed me a picture of some of the, uh, the, the people that were there. Careful. No, they've, they've aged quite nicely. Yeah. Beautiful. Yes. Very nice. Yeah. Good Catholic girls always do, John. Well, it's Jesus, you know, Jesus on your side. That's a part of it. So Steve, you have kind of a fun idea for today's program. I do. Yeah. Did you mean topic number two?
Well, it's just, let's just get, get into it. All right. Okay. So, uh, I, I had this idea and maybe you and I were talking last week, you know, it's a good idea if people like it, if it wasn't, it's your idea. Okay, that's fine. I'll take it. I I also here's the thing John you're out and about with people You talked to a lot of people that listen to the show. Mm hmm. No one that I know really listens that much I don't know. My family doesn't really even listen.
So well, maybe you should tell people about the show I do I do but what I'm saying is you get a lot of feedback Yeah, I I have very few people that I talked to there were people that at the reunion that were like, hey Yeah, I listened to you and John switch, which is kind of cool Which is the first bit of information. Do they listen to Kevin Gorg, too, or do they just sort of tune him out? Well, they don't, they didn't know Kevin Gorg. Ah, Yeah, I get it. I get it.
No, they said, they all had good things to say. People that they did talk to that knew it. So my idea was, you know, I don't get a lot of feedback. I don't hear about what we're doing. But I do have a friend. Who's an avid listener and he's, uh, he's, he and I have met over lunch and coffee and stuff, and he's got great ideas and great thoughts and great questions. And so I thought let's put together a segment. We'll have my friend join us. This segment is called. Check it in with the listeners.
Oh, right. So we could do all that. I could say checking in with the listener. Yeah. Yeah. It's the same guy over and over. Um, but so at this time I want to welcome on my good friend, Mr. Michael Dempsey, Michael, are you there? Oh my gosh, you guys, I'm, I'm serious right now. I've listened to so many podcasts. Like I need, I need the oxygen. Like Franco Harris in 1978, I'm on the sideline, you know, with the mask on. I, I can't believe it. Alright. This is this. Fantastic.
Get your breath, Michael. It's not, you know, it's just, it's just us, you know. We're okay. We got no serious format here. We just want to, we wanna talk to you because you and I were talking and you had some, some thoughts, some ideas, some questions, and, and. Kind of a cool story that relates to kindness. I want, we want to share that with these guys. Can I just ask real quick, Michael, do you have feedback?
Be gentle, let's first talk about, before we get into that, let's talk about Michael, tell us where you're from and how we know each other, how you're connected and blah, blah, blah. Who the hell are you? Yeah, right, right. Well, that's, it's a great way to start because that's a part of my feedback. So I'll, I'll start, I'll start by sharing a little bit about me. Thanks for such a kind introduction.
Um, actually, I grew up in central Minnesota, the rough, mean street of the west side of Little Falls. That's right. Oh, yeah. They're mean up there. I'm going to tell you, we had one paved road. The rest was gravel. It's just, it's mean up there. Yeah, it's tough. Yeah, you get, you get kinda, you get ornery. I bet you know how to change a tire like a man. I mean, you, you got, you gotta know that's right. You gotta know that's right.
I went to college in St. Cloud and um, Ironically, um, Steve, uh, knew my wife before I did. They, they, I think... You killed against. Yeah. That's right. Hello. She was roommates with someone that I knew. Yeah. Okay. That's right. That's right. That's right. And then, and then, and then Steve and I shared a class and we became sort of fast friends in our lives. Sort of. You know, it sort of go in and out.
I, I left Minnesota after graduating and started with a big technology company in Utah and then moved around the country with that technology company quite a bit. And they moved me back to Minnesota. Incidentally, uh, my, my, the, the, the woman I, I ended up marrying, um, is, uh, knew, knew Steve, uh, before, um, I knew Steve. We, we got back to Minnesota, man.
We settled in and I wasn't here that long and, and Steve's band was playing somewhere and, uh, we happened to stumble in and we all sort of celebrated with and seen Steve in a while and he said, Hey, hey, Dempsey, hey, uh, let's do some improv. Let's take improv class. Yeah. That was my idea. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Hey, let's let's do improv with the Brave New Workshop. Let's do that. And I mean, you know, I haven't seen Steve in 10 years, and I said, okay.
And, uh, yeah, so, so, so Steve and I did that for a couple of years. We did a number of levels of improv. Super fun. You know, since that point, yeah, we've, we've stayed in touch. Can I just ask? Well, how does one decide that they want to do improv on how old were you? I was out of college. I was, they came to see us assumed you were out of college. Um, yeah, I think we were in our thirties. Yeah. I think it was just, Oh, maybe you weren't out of college. You never know.
You go for a long time. I think I was tossing an idea around. And, uh, and then connected with Michael, he and I share a lot of philosophies and like fun. He's just a funny guy. We'd have, we could just roll together. We just get going. And as you notice, you know, he's that kind of a guy. You have philosophies. Well, we had some really great classes that had deep, you know, cool, uh, speech classes. And I don't know, we just, we just matched. Can I just ask KG, do you have any philosophies?
Yeah. Yeah I do. The first one I have is all the best of home dog on Monday night. That's step number one. Um, never spit into the wind. Uh, that's a good one. And don't tug on Superman's cape. That's a couple I've got for you. It's just a, it's just a callback, but I think the fourth one is if you're cooking, I'm there. I think, uh, That's a good one to have right there. If you're cooking and it's real good food, I'm not, I can promise you I'm there.
Sounds like this is all written on an apron somewhere. Yeah. Is this a, Yeah. Okay. Anyway, yeah, so we, so we, we joined, we joined this improv class just for fun. And I think I just asked him cause he was the right kind of guy that was, we could keep up with each other and just, it was a good bit for us to stay connected. So that's what we did. And we've have connected earlier. So Michael continue your story, whatever you're going to keep interrupting now. Yeah, that's okay. No, that's okay.
That's great. That's how it flows. It's good. It's good. So we did, we did improv for a number of years. I absolutely, I loved it. I loved, I loved improv. I loved what it represented as a, As a methodology, which sort of ties to kindness, you know, improv, improv isn't, isn't about sort of creating humor, you can do it with improvisation, right? You can create humor, but it's just being open to possibilities, right?
I mean, that's the thing about improv, like, you know, new ideas, you know, the whole yes and mentality is. You know, being open to different ideas, different personalities, you know, taking a chance when it comes to kindness, you know, stepping out and helping somebody out, maybe somebody that you don't know, taking that chance. I mean, those are all sort of tying to improvisation. I just loved, I loved it.
I loved it to create humor, but I just loved the methodology and, you know, just the sidebar and what that led to was working for a couple of years at the Second City in Chicago. Oh, wow. What? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He dropped his career and moved to say, you kind of took this improv thing sort of seriously. He did, he did. I'm like, geez, I was just joking. I just wanted to have some yucks. My philosophy fails. Yeah, man, it was great. It was great.
It was, uh, the president and owner of, uh, Second City at the time said, I need to keep my actors employed. I need to keep all of the great actors that you guys know today that you've seen on SNL. I need to keep them employed and we can't pay them anything if we're just getting tickets and paying from ticket receipts. So we have to get all these corporate gigs and commercials and videos and how are we going to do that? And so they hired a team called.
Second City works to basically use those actors to deliver leadership development courses for, you know, big corporations and, you know, do all kinds of stuff. So, um, they needed some help there. And so, yeah, I, I loved it. So I wouldn't help them there, but anyway, that's enough about me. So that's it. And, and, and I've been here in Minnesota, back in Minnesota since 2000, working, you know, with a number of different companies. I love big ideas.
And, um, you know, John, I, you know, some of the things that you've done. Um, with, um, the scholarship, and the bona fide, and just the, I mean, the ideas that you've come up with, but not just come up with, but executed on, that's amazing. I just, I, you know, I love that, and I love that Wow. I think, yeah. John's, John's blushing right now. I think we might be best friends. See? Step aside, KG. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Whoa, whoa. That's very nice of you, Michael. I, you know what?
I'm enjoying this conversation more than I am at it. Of course. Yeah. Well, listen, I'll tell you what though, it plays into one of my first notes. So I, I, you know, it's like every year, we've gotten together more often in the last six months. Yeah. Uh, Steve and I, but it would probably be, you know, a year we'd go by, two years we'd go by, we'd pick up the phone, we'd have lunch and it'd be like we saw each other yesterday. Right. So it was awesome.
I, I had Michelle and I went and had dinner with him, I don't know, six months ago, maybe a year ago. And he was talking about this podcast and I just jumped right in. See, I promote it. See, I promote it, John. Yeah. To the right people. And he lit up. He was like, That's my thing, too. Let's hear about it, I want to hear all about it. Maybe he should be on the podca oh, he is. He is, yeah. Go on. Ha ha ha. So, but after about every other podcast, I would text him with notes.
Because I'm all about notes. Like, let me give you these notes. Let me give you some notes, right? He would call me like, all right, what is it? And one of the very first notes that I gave him, which goes back to my introduction is I just, I want to know more about you guys. Like, like if I'm a listener, I want to get in there. I want to be invested. You know, I want. There's a richness in understanding what you guys are all about.
Like, you know, John, you know, we all know where you grew up because you mentioned it. Every other sentence. Oh no, wait a second. I said I'm gonna get feedback You. I'm just saying, I mean, you know, I felt like I needed to get out. Yeah, this is Michael from north of the border. You know what I mean? Because you didn't even know where the, um, what Fiesta Cancun was in Hudson last week for crying out loud to meet with the colonel. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Right? He's a listener.
So we, we, so we, so we know you're from Montenegro, but one of my notes was, um, You know, when you guys sort of delved into, like, you were talking about your son, I think your son's name is Jack, and the baseball tournament, and, you know, in a hundred degree heat.
I mean, that just gives me a richness as a listener that now I know a little bit more about you, and those callbacks are just become amazing, and I just, I want to, I want to, I always want to, I want to tune in because I feel like I know who you are. I feel like I know a little bit more about you. And so, one of the notes... This is good feedback. It's fabulous. Well, of course. Very good feedback, actually. I, I, I... All kidding aside... Yeah. We may need to make, and I mean this sincerely...
Like on a very regular basis, call into Michael for feedback. Checking in with Michael. I think that's a great idea, catch up with Michael. Executive producer, Michael. Hey, but he's also an honest guy, he gives you honesty too. I know, and I love talking about Mata Midi. I love talking about my children, and it's really... It's all I've got. I mean, who doesn't? Hold on, let me say something Michael.
So, aside from just being an entertaining guy, there's a reason why I really like this guy right here. He's got strong character. He doesn't have any energy. It's got no energy. Terrible speaking voice. No, I connect in that way. He's just, he's a true person. He's a good guy. He's got strong character, but he's fun loving. And this is why he's just a breath of fresh air. We get together and we just spark each other and talk about ideas.
We got all kinds of crazy promotional ideas for this podcast that he and I have kind of cooked up. Um, Oh, yeah. Well, I don't think we can go into them now, but there's some crude, we just have these wide, you know, cost is nothing ideas to what we could do. And that's, that's why he, we just inspire each other. So that's why he's so fun to talk to. Well, costing nothing would, would line up perfectly with our revenue stream. That's right. That's good. I mean, I, I did just take a quick peek.
I mean, I mean, you have a long, rich history in nonprofit organizations. So, I mean, you're used to that. You're completely used to not making money. Correct. I'm great at not making money. Yes. Yeah. It's, it's right, it's right in your wheelhouse. I, he's a giver. Well, he is. I mean, or he's going to find people who give, right? That's right. So you've got to feel there for sure. Yeah. I would, I would, I would, go ahead. Sorry.
No, I was going to say, um, so you've got, you've got some, do you have some suggestions or other more questions? You have kind of the overall suggestion, which you're saying you'd like to hear more. Your opinion is you'd like to hear more, um, backgrounds on us and which will lead to maybe better interviews for future. I don't know.
Um, but also I want to, before we get too far down, I want you to tell these guys a story about how you met your wife, which actually speaks to your character and your interesting person that you are. Yeah. Well, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm happy to share that. Absolutely. And because I think it plays into the sort of theme of the show, which wasn't by the way, I. No, it was not. Okay. So it's not hockey champs. I mean, all right. So you don't have to remind anybody that that's for sure.
They do not grow on trees. And I feel like this is kind of a Harry met Sally moment. Remember the outtakes at the end of that movie where, uh, the lovely couples that have been married for so many years. Talk about how they became a couple in the first place. This is going to be good.
Well, I will say, I don't know if it will be good, but It definitely plays into the theme of this particular podcast, which I, I've, I've, I've, you know, sort of tap danced around a little bit, is, is really amazing. And I, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart, I just think that there is so much room for love and kindness that we just need to make ourselves, we got to open ourselves up to that. We got to be open and available to it. And we got to exercise that muscle.
And if we do, amazing things happen, and this podcast is just, you know, one of the things that sort of will help us exercise that muscle, just to be open to it. And that's what I love about it. And I don't know where it comes from, but I will tell you to get to Steve's question. And I was thinking about this, um, the other day. I said, Hey, Steve, call Michelle and I. Um, we're going to be driving. And, uh, you know, like I said, you know, we both know Steve really well. And, um.
And let's talk about the show and, and I really wanted her to be a part of this and she did. Yeah, we had a pre interview, we had a pre interview call with, with the three of us. So, yeah, yeah, yeah, you see, I don't know why, why. Yeah, you go ahead, Michael. But in that discussion, I just shared that, um, it dawned on me. I met my wife. at a volunteer event.
So, so we, so in college in St. Cloud, they had an organization called Vanguard, and you were sort of the ambassadors of the school, and you'd go all around the state, and you know, you wore these red vests, and you know, you were representing the university at, you know, big events and whatnot, and it was the president of the college at the time, it was, it was his wife's project, and you had to interview and be selected, and The first time I met my wife was when they got everybody who was
selected together to meet each other. And so, here we are meeting each other for the first time at a sort of a volunteer event, something we were volunteering our time for. And it was a great meeting and, you know, I obviously was interested. Um, I didn't see her again for two months. And when I saw her the second time, it was outside of Coburn's grocery store as she was selling root beer floats, raising money for Big Brother's Big Sister. Oh, no kidding. She was falling through there.
And I was, and I was going there to relieve her and her little sister with me and my little brother. We were both in Big Brother, Big Sisters, right? And at that point I said, Oh my goodness. Yeah, so then I asked her out and uh, I mean that is karma right there. That's pretty cool. Serendipity on that salad for sure. Yeah, he didn't say no. But ironically, she's...
Right now, at this very moment, at a non profit called Kids First, I think they're based in their national organization, that gives school supplies to schools in need. So teachers go in, Kids first thing, and they basically go through this sort of shopping experience, getting things for their classroom. Is it kids in Need Free? Is it kids in need Kids First? Yeah. Kids. Yeah, kids, kids First. There's, okay. There's one called Kids In Need too. That's what I was curious. Okay. Go on.
Yeah. Yeah. I think it's, I, I, yeah, but my point is, um, this idea of giving back and being open, like we don't know people in these organizations. I didn't know anybody in Big Brothers, big Sisters. Um, you know, we didn't know anybody at a light. Uh, you know, previously, the American Revolution, we just were compelled to say, Hey, let's sort of let's step in. Let's, let's, let's learn about it. Let's see what talents maybe we can apply. Maybe we can't. Who knows?
But, um, that happens to people, I think, instinctively. And if you can remove the scariness, if you can make it safe and encourage people to just sort of going back to the improv, just sort of step in, don't overthink it, just step in. Thank you. There's a wonderful opportunity out there, and I, and I, so that's, that's how I met my wife, and you know, that's how it ties to, you know, the Kindness Chronicles. But I'm curious, I want to go to you, John.
You know, you, I was talking about, you know, Bonafide, and I'm talking about the scholarship, and, uh, is it, is it Masonic? Masonic. Masonic. Masonic. Masonic, thank you. Um. What, like, did somebody model for you this idea of giving back and being kind and being philanthropic? I mean, where did that come from? You didn't pick up a book in seventh grade. It's a really nice question. Um, he's turning the tables by the way. He's interviewing you. He's interviewing me. This is very interesting.
See, the short answer. So I started out my career working for Target and while I was working for Target, somehow I got put in charge of the United Way. Campaign in our, in our store. That's how they do it. And for whatever reason, I found it very easy to ask people to support something like this. Coincidentally, I left target and, uh, ultimately was working for the equitable, which is a life insurance company.
And after I sold life insurance and investment products to all the people I know, I. Couldn't do it to people that I didn't know. I just, I, I locked up and decided I was, I wanted to see what non profit life was like and I became a fundraising guy for the Boy Scouts. And once again, it was easy for me to ask people to support something that wasn't supporting me, if that makes any sense. You're an advocate for that.
Because it always felt like when I was selling the insurance, like it was as much about me as it was about them. It's like, if I sell you this product, I'm going to benefit. If I get you to donate to the Boy Scouts, I really don't benefit from it because I'm getting paid either way. It also allows you to speak differently, too. I'm an estate planning lawyer and I got so sick of kids fighting over their mom and dad's money.
It's just the, the charitable side of the estate planning and asking people to support organizations that are making a meaningful impact in the community just always came very easy for me. It's a better request. I was very blessed. Easier request, yeah. Blessed to land, uh, as one of my clients when I had, this consulting firm, the Masons of Minnesota, and the common denominator among Masons is just, there's this concept of meeting on the level.
And that means, you know, if you're the CEO or the guy who cleans out his garbage cans, you guys are brothers, you're equals, and it shouldn't matter. And I just have a funny story. So this weekend, I was asked to come and speak at the Norsky Torsky Kluban, which is a, it's also called the Norsk Torsk Klub, but Norsky Torsky Kluban, and it was at the prom center in Oakdale.
I was asked to come and speak about Masonic philanthropy in general, but our selfless scholar program specifically somebody had heard about this on Yeah, I don't know if it was this podcast or it was you know the garage logic where we do some some advertising for Masonic And I mean there are hundreds of of, of Norwegians and Swedes at this thing. The lunch, I'll just tell you, um, and I'll have Steve post a picture of the lunch. It was a big slab. Uh, do you know how to do that?
Mario's got a hold of Mario. Um, it was, you couldn't, you couldn't keep the intern on any longer. Yeah. Mario and bigger and better things. Yeah. It was a big slab of whitefish. Cod, but Torsk, and a boiled potato on a white plate, so it was all white. But then you also had a gravy boat full of melted butter. And, and what I, I'm like, what am I supposed to do with this? This does not look like an appealing meal, and they said. Mash it all up. Yeah. Pour the butter on it like it's gravy.
Yeah. It was amazing. Yeah. It was amazing. Sounds so good. KG just woke up. Yeah. Man, that sounds good. I saw the picture. I did too. And it reminded me of the drawn butter. With the, uh, either the crab legs or the lobster. Yeah. So, so good. But the difference is, you dip the lobster into the butter. Right. This is the butter gets ladled upon. It's like gravy. And then I, uh, had, uh, cardiovascular surgery. I've not heard of anything worse than that. I'm just gonna tell you right now.
That sounds so amazing. Just the butter, just having that much butter. Right. Oh, that sounds amazing. But there was a point, there was a point to you telling the story. You spoke at this, you were just talking about the food. We all want the podcast from six months ago. It was all about food. So there was That's every other week. Yeah. Which by the way, was damn entertaining. Anyway, go ahead. What would you say about this presentation?
what was great about the presentation is that these people, these Norwegian people were just so interested in the concept of a kindness scholarship that, they have big shots coming in and presenting to this group. I think it costs a few bucks to be a member of this Norske Torske Klub and the fish that they, that they had.
They claim was swimming off of the coast of Iceland on Thursday, and we're eating it on Saturday, and that's not an inexpensive way to prepare a meal, but the point is, there is so much interest. In kindness and interest in those kinds of stories. And we always talk about this idea that whoever tells the story defines the culture and we live in a world that is dominated right now with stories of divisiveness. And you're a Trump guy or you're a Biden guy. Right.
Or just overall, the crime's coming to get you knocking on your door. And if there's a lot of bad stuff happening, but yeah, there's way more people that want good things to happen than want. It's crazy stuff. Yeah, I can watch videos about kindness. The YouTube people clearly know that that's my, that's what I'm into. And I just get bombarded with them and I can stay up for hours watching those damn videos. And it's just, uh, I, I, I get the oxytocin, right? Have we ever mentioned oxytocin?
I don't know. Michael, what do you think? Yeah, yeah, I don't. Yeah. Maybe once or twice. Um, I, I, I was going to call it melatonin, but I'm glad that you, you didn't correct me before I go to bed. Yes. Oh yeah. A little, yeah, that's right. A little, a little melatonin. I think that's an amazing story. I, I, to go back to the original question was, you know, where was the seed planted? And it sounds to me like I sucked at selling insurance is what it really boiled down to.
Yeah. Yeah. But, but, but you really, you really got jazzed about, um, helping people. You really got jazzed about being sort of, you know, soliciting, uh, you know, resources in a way that didn't in an objective way, in a way that wasn't going to sort of, you know, in a sideways way, uh, benefit you. And I just, I think it, I think, I think people I think people are always looking to do that.
They, I think there are people out there, many people that want to behave in that way, that do want to give back in big or small ways. I mean, it may be just, you know, I packed meals for, you know, the homeless once a month, right. And I can give two hours a month or somebody that volunteers five days a week. But I think, I think everybody wants to, wants to do that. They just, they don't know how number one. And number two.
To your point earlier, this idea of being, you know, in a divisive culture and, you know, being, you know, sort of protecting yourself, sort of crossing your arms and putting your chin in your chest and kicking the dirt and I will tell you that, um, if you reach out, if you're authentic in your openness, in your questions, when you reach out to somebody and you really want to know how they're doing, Or you really want to know about them.
It's just amazing how they open up and I don't mean, Hey, tell me, you know, what side of the aisle you lean on or tell me, you know, how horrible it is to be a Packers fan. I'm not talking about that. I'm, I'm just saying like, when you're authentic, I'll tell you this quick story that, that, that, that I, that I had an experience I had, I was, um. Maybe I was 27 and I was living in Texas and I, you know, I was having some success. I've always been in sales and business development, right?
Big shocker. Um, yeah. Right. Some executive. Or improv some executive at, uh, yeah, right. Or improv. Right. Some executive at this big, uh, technology company, uh, uh, with, uh, you know, a three acronym, you know, that I work for, um, said, Hey, I, I need you to go lead a sales team in a different, you know, downtown, right? Different part of town. Will you go lead a sales team? And I, and I, and I, I looked at the track record of that sales team and they had failed for three years in a row.
And I was like the fourth. Manager to go in and I'm like, Oh my good. All right. I'll go. And I, and I remember the first meeting and you know, all of these guys were 20 years older than me and they're looking at me and they're thinking, what, what are you doing here? Like, this is the biggest insult. We've not, we've not been successful in three years. We've had four managers in front of you. And then they give us this kid and it was, it was like, this is ridiculous.
Two weeks later, there's no, no kidding. Two weeks later, we're at a sales kickoff. You know, the entire Western region comes together. We're in Las Vegas. It's the first morning. Everyone's going to get their breakfast. My team, the team I'm responsible for. It's not sitting together. They're all spread out and one of the guys is sitting by himself and I go and I sit down by him and I said, uh, you know, we had a little small talk and I said, Harold, um, how did you get into this business?
Like, where did you go to college? And in 15 minutes, Harold Busby tells me about how he was on the US national track team. He played football for UCLA in the late fifties, was drafted by the Oakland Raiders. And, uh, right. Harold Busby, he's telling me the story and I'm looking at him going, did nobody know this is incredible. This is like, are you serious? And he, you know, he's like, oh yeah, you know, very, you know, nonchalant about it.
I think he, he played a few years for Oakland, the Raiders, and then he, you know, went and got his master's and he tried to play with the Jets. Bottom line is what an interesting history, but you have to take the opportunity to be authentic and reaching out. And being open to that. And I will tell you that that story repeated itself, uh, many times over with that entire sales team. And by the end of the year, they were the top sales team in the, yeah, absolutely.
They were one of the top sales team. You know, they all made a lot of money. They all got along. So you just gave, you helped give them that opening to that. It's okay to, to dig in and you challenged them a little bit and that's all it really took. Well, but you have to be authentic at it. Like I'm not, I'm not engaging in this conversation because I want to get something out of it. I'm engaging in the conversation because I have an authentic interest in your humanness.
Yeah. And when that happened, You know, you sort of break up the cartilage a little bit, right? You start to, you know, Harold moves a little bit differently and then maybe Harold's gonna do that to somebody else. Speaking of Harold, speaking of Harold, we, uh, the, our team has put together some information on him on the fly here. Yeah, Harold Busby, you know, he was in the, uh, drafted in the 14th round. By the, uh, the Oakland Raiders in 1969. He, uh, What do you have played for John Madden?
He hails from Pasadena, California. Okay, alright. Hold the Rose Bowl, baby! Yeah. Yeah, he was, he was a, he was a top receiver for UCLA, but at the time, OJ Simpson was at USC, right? Yeah. You're always sort of competing for, you know, the headlines and mindshare. Yeah, at exactly the same time. That is so funny. It's a cool story. It's a really, it's an interesting angle to think about. It's really just about, like you said, being authentic and giving people the chance to be listened to.
And then it kind of opens up everything. Well, I have always told my children that it is more important to be interested than interesting, and I think that it has served them well, like my son, Ben. is he interviews everybody that he meets. It's almost it's like watching myself because he was young like he's done that yeah for a long time. I remember when I first met Ben, he was unbelievable. He was a little guy just interviewing me. It was fantastic. Private investigator maybe?
Well, you know, he actually he's going to be an auditor. By the way, I see you work for KPMG. Yes, I do. I don't think he wanted to say that. Yes, I do. Oh, you're not supposed to, to say that. Yes. No, that's okay. That's right. I can cut it out. No, no. I, I do, I do. Your son, is he interested in interning? No, he's, oh, no, here we go. He just got an offer from, uh, from Deloitte and pwc. He's going with pwc. The other one's already at pwc, but KP mg Oh.
KPMG offered him an internship early on and he just was more comfortable because his brother was at PwC. But that's a great company to work for. How long have you been there? Yeah. Yeah. Um, well, what was interesting is, um, I, when I moved back to Minnesota, I was, um, you know, I was at IBM and I was there for another three years. And then I went to work for an early stage, uh, technology company that was eventually acquired by Thompson Reuters. And, um, I went with that company, right?
It was Thompson Reuters. I was there as their global head of alliances for a number of years. And, and in that process, I met the guys at second city. I got to be friends with them and my time was up at Thomson Reuters and KPMG called me and said, Hey, will you come work for us? And I said, Nah, I'm going to do the Second City thing for a little bit. And I did that for about 18 months. Yeah. And then you also had a daughter in Chicago, right? So kind of it made sense, right? Yeah, I did. I did.
I have three daughters, right? Um, uh, one is, uh, in Chicago. One is in law school here at St. Thomas finishing up. Roll Toms. Roll Toms. Yeah, that's right. That's right. She's our kind of people. See? That's right. It's Madhubutai and St. Thomas, Michael. You just, you, you found the link again. Oh, wow. I just, I just, I just nailed it. And then the last one is, uh, is a junior. She plays soccer for Hamlin.
And, um, she, uh, she, she's on, uh, the squad with, um, With the Minnesota Aurora as well, which is a very interesting story. Yeah, she's, she's a training player. They have about two or three training players. You want to talk about an outfit that has got it together, especially when you talk about women's sports and giving back, they have got it together and to see these young women. Uh, come together and what they do, I mean, it is that watching that has been sort of amazing.
So yeah, my youngest daughter is a, is a training player with the Aurora. Yeah. And she, she plays. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I have another quick story. Really quick story that ties back to sports. Cause you guys are sports guys. We are. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. We are. Yeah. We are. We are. We are. We are.
Um, that I, again, about this idea of being open, and I didn't know the conversation was going to go in this direction, but I just think it's so key when you're talking about kindness, letting your guard down, being open, and being giving, you know, to, to sort of give, to, to listen, to be open in an authentic way, and to connect. We, we, there are so many, there are so many things that we're trying to... Put in the way of connection.
I mean, I like to always say this, like when, when texting first started happening, like, and you would respond and you say, okay. You had to start putting an emoji behind it because you, you, you, you, you, you had to denote what the okay meant instead of actually using your voice. It's very robotic. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's very flat. Yeah. Yeah. Yes, you have to use when we're trying to do that with technology. Anyway, um, the other story was about connecting.
I'm on a flight, late night flight from Minneapolis to Atlanta. And we're delayed, we're delayed, this is years ago, this is probably 10 years ago, maybe, maybe 15 years ago, we're just delayed, delayed, delayed, and, uh, you know, we're waiting for somebody to get on, and all of a sudden, last person gets on, and at the time, I had status. And so I'm in first class, right? And this guy gets on and you guys know what I'm talking about. He's walking in the seat next to me. He's open.
So I know he's going to sit next to me and he's a big tall guy and he's walking like he's a former athlete. You know what I'm talking about? You guys know exactly what I'm talking about. So he, he comes, he sort of lumbers over, he sits down and, um, I'm not a chatty on the plane kind of guy, right? Uh, you know, I'm not sure I believe that, but whatever. It depends on the flight. So he sits down. Okay. And we, we hit it off. We started to hit it off.
Um, the guy is, um, I don't know if you guys, have you ever heard of, uh, it was a former golden gopher basketball player played pro. His name was Walter Bond. Oh, sure. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, so it's Walter and I flying to Atlanta talking non stop, non stop, sharing ideas. He says, Dempsey, Dempsey. I want you. I got a, I got an event at the North Minneapolis YMCA next Wednesday. Can you go? I'm like, you just met me. Can I go? He's already called you Dempsey.
He's like, come on. I think Coleman was there. He was, you know, Walter was emceeing. And I'm like, I mean, I'll see what I'm doing. Yeah, maybe, right? And I thought... He was, I said, I'll tell you what, as a, as a qualifier, I said, give me a call tomorrow with the details. Cause if he doesn't call me, he was just being nice. Right. Like if he, so the next day he calls me, hey, here's this, here's the deal. So, so I'm like, all right. So I show up at the North Minneapolis YMCA.
I don't know anybody. I know nobody. They're raising money, right, for the YMCA. They have a bunch of, you know, NFL players there. I think, I think it was Greg Coleman was there. He was there, right? And, um, and I get my little name tag and it says what table I sit at. But I go and I sit at this table and it's Walter's wife and two kids. And some other people and they're all talking with each other.
Somebody looked at me and it was right next to Walter too, but he was up sort of emceeing and somebody looks at me. How do you know Walter? Wow How do you know Walter? I'm like, I don't I don't know we just were on a flight. It was really funny but my point is you know, you you just you you're open to that stuff and then you step into these opportunities where you Meeting people and you find new opportunities to give back. It's just so critical.
Well, I, I have, so, uh, Walter Bond was a player back KG when you and I were in college. I think he was almost, yeah, I think he probably graduated from high school. One Haskin era. Right. What about the, the really good teams that went to the Final Four and all the Yeah, he was, yeah, he had a, he had a cup of coffee in the N B A. I mean, he had a, yeah, he was a good player. Really good player. He was very good player. Do, are you still in contact with Walter Bond?
Yeah. You know, so maybe once a year we'll share a text. Like he, like, like for years after that, he would always be like, Dempsey, you and Michelle come down, we're having a Christmas party. Or, you know, he wrote a book and he said, I want you to look at my book and I want your notes. Right. Because I would give him notes. I would watch his, I would watch his, um, motivational speeches. Oh. And I would give him notes. Oh, cool. And I would ask him questions.
And uh, so for years we would kind of go back and forth. Now it's maybe once a year, right? We'll, you know, I'll send them something, like, hey, I saw this, it looked really good, or... Hey, I saw this. Would you think about that? You know, and he always responds. Yeah. So Dempsey, I'm going to send you one of my books, and I'm going to ask you to give me notes, and then I'm going to crumple them up and throw them in the garbage. No, not at all. I saw it. Listen, I saw the book.
I would be the wrong guy to give notes on it because it was about spelling and grammar, and I'm horrible at it. So, it's that one. Well, it's more about making fun of people who are bad at spelling and grammar. So you might, no, it's not. Well, sort of. Yeah. I read this book. Yeah. I'll get you a copy before you leave. I only have about 400. I want to sign one. Otherwise I'm going to throw it. I need it. I need a stocking stuffer. It's never too soon.
Yeah. So a hundred days away from Christmas. I don't know if that's good or bad for everybody here on the pod, but I saw that this morning. I'm like, Oh my Lord. I must say, this has been the most surprising, delightful guest that we've ever had on, and I want to have you on way more often. We have to do segments now with Dempsey. We have to do like, you know, maybe every other podcast we check in, yeah. I think it's great, even if it's for 15 minutes. Yeah, I, I like the idea of notes.
I, I understand the Matta Midi comments. I also say, I also say, ya know, a whole bunch. Cause I see it when I'm going through the editing, I'm like, what is wrong with me? Why do I keep saying that? That's right. Yeah. You know what? There's nothing wrong with saying it. The Monomini thing, I know I'm poking at it a little bit, but here's the deal. What you all are doing, and what you're, this podcast is all about, it's so big, right? It's so much bigger than Minnesota.
It's so much bigger than Monomini. That's the only reason I poke at it, because you're doing Amazing yeoman's work trying to make it okay to be gracious and respectful and kind. And it's just so, it's so big. And that's the only reason I noodle it a little bit because I want it to be bigger. I want you guys, I want your message to be bigger, I want more people to hear it. Well, that is awfully nice of you, Dempsey. Yes. Michael Dempsey, what a treat.
Thank you for joining us, this has been super cool. You are now a segment in our show. So on a regular basis, you're inspiring, you're an inspiring dude and I knew that you would fit in with this group, so thank you for joining us up and we'll have to meet up with you again. And off we go.