A Conversation Every Leader Needs to Hear ft. Matt Pivarnik | Season 2

In this episode of the Authentic Media Podcast, I sit down with Matt Pivarnik, former CEO of the Greater Topeka Partnership. We recorded this conversation while he was transitioning out of Topeka and into a new role in Myrtle Beach. Even though we’re airing it later than planned, his reflections on leadership, community, and legacy are as timely as ever.

Matt opens up about:

•  The bittersweet process of leaving Topeka after nearly a decade of impact
• What it really takes to shift a city’s brand and mindset
• The power of radical collaboration and building the Greater Topeka Partnership
• Why metrics like poverty reduction matter more than recognition
• His vision for the next generation of leaders

If you’re an entrepreneur, a leader, or someone passionate about building a lasting impact where you live, this episode is for you.

Subscribe to the channel for more faith-driven conversations on branding, leadership, and purpose.

#AuthenticMediaPodcast #Leadership #CommunityImpact #Topeka #BrandWithPurpose

Transcript

[00:00:00] This week on the Authentic Media Podcast, 

young Talent, I think their voice matters more than my voice matters. I'm 56 years old, I'm gonna see the fruits of a lot of the labor that I put in, but I'm really building a community for them. Yeah. Not for me. 

The mindset of topeka's, like it's very negative.

Topeka's not fun. Mm-hmm. And I know you are very hardcore. Like we've gotta change this mindset. Set. 

It is kind of a national pastime to bag on whatever community that you live in. Right? I told Wendy, there's gonna be a day I'm going to be reading about Topeka, Kansas and the Wall Street Journal, and now we are.

Mm-hmm. If what we're doing is helping people have a more prosperous life, that's when I'm most fun.

Hey, what's up you guys? Welcome into Authentic Media Podcast. It's your host, Danielle J. Martin. Joining me today is a really good [00:01:00] friend and mentor of mine, uh, Matt Brevard, CEO, and President of the Greater Topeka Partnership located here in Topeka, Kansas. Matt, welcome to the show. 

Happy to be here. 

So we are talking about what it's like to build an authentic brand, but essentially I told Matt, I said, I know you essentially, like you do own a business, like you own the whole chamber in like Topeka.

So I know it was weird having him on here, but we're gonna get into that. But first I told him, I said We have to address the elephant in the room. Sure. The elephant in the room is that, um, he recently is gonna be starting a new chapter, um, at Myrtle Beach. Mm-hmm. And he's gonna be taking on the same role as CEO and President there.

Mm-hmm. First of all, congratulations. Thank you. I'm super excited for you, but also, um, surprised and sad. Mm-hmm. I know before we started, I said to you, I said, I didn't know if this was like. A prank or not. I'm like, is this April Fools? Yeah. Like, what's going on? But no, congratulations. So I first wanna ask you, how are you feeling about this [00:02:00] transition?

Yeah, 

it is, uh, it's, it's the most mixed emotions that I think I've ever had in my career. And, um, the, the last nine, nine and a half years in Topeka. Definitely has been the highlight of anything I've ever done in my career. Bittersweet. I've used, I've used that, those words a lot, uh, in the last couple of weeks.

These things happen really fast. 

Mm-hmm. 

And, uh, so it's been, it's been an emotional roller coaster for Wendy and me. I. Um, you know, one of the things that I, I'm excited for the new opportunity, obviously, but it's not that season yet. Right now, it's the season of reflection. It's the season of just thinking about what we've all accomplished together and, um, I.

And so I, you know, and I, I love your authentic, you know, the, the word authentic. And so, uh, I wanna be super authentic with you. Yeah. But one of the things I would just wanna say is that these positions that I'm in, they're not made to last forever. They're you, they're not [00:03:00] made to, to, we're not made to be in these positions forever.

There's a season for them. And sometimes, you know, self-reflection, self-awareness, looking in conversations with my wife and with God and me is, uh, sometimes you look and just say, you know what? I know that it's time for somebody else to actually lead. Right. Um. I mentioned last week that I've always been fascinated by the V formation that geese fly in.

Mm-hmm. And, and I love, I love the way they work together. And what's cool about the way geese fly is that Goose in the front is doing a lot of the work. Mm-hmm. And they're, they're, they're taking on a lot of the, the. Draft and the, the heavy work. Yeah. But there comes a time when you will always see that that lead Goose will take out, they'll get out of formation, they'll go back and they'll let somebody else lead.

Mm-hmm. And so really, I just feel like it's a season for somebody else to come in and take the helm and carry the momentum forward. 

Well, another reason why I also wanted you to be on this, um, podcast is I said, Matt, I know this is [00:04:00] interesting because we always have like business owners on here and we have them share like what it's like to build a business brand.

But I was like, I think you speaking on strategic leadership and how you've branded Tope as a whole, even the greater Topeka partnership mm-hmm. Um, is very intentional. Mm-hmm. And so I, I told you before we started, I said it's interesting because there's a lot of business owners that have. Teams that have to lead strategically and have to have like the brand mindset.

And so when it came to, you know, putting your foot forward and branding to peak as a whole, what was some strategic, um, like thoughts that you had to go into? Um, when it came to making sure. Even like the whole mindset around Topeka. Yeah. That's, 

that's really, you know, like the 

mindset of Topeka is like, it's very negative Uhhuh.

It's very, you know, like daunting topeka's not fun. And I know you were very like, hardcore, like, we've gotta change this mindset. 

Yeah. It, it is kind of a national pastime mm-hmm. To bag on whatever community. That you live in. Mm-hmm. [00:05:00] Right. The roads, I mean, go to any city in America. Yeah. And ask anybody about their roads.

Ask anybody about their weather, ask anybody about what there is to do. I've lived in major cities, right? Yeah. I mean, I spent a, I spent some time in Houston, right? Yeah. When I was in Houston, I, I. I bagged on Houston. Yeah. You know, and now that I'm gone from Houston, I look back, I'm like, those were great days.

I had some amazing things that happened in Houston. The self-loathing though, I think it's, it's, it's pretty common. 

Mm-hmm. 

Uh, I think it was a little bit more common here. Yeah. Than it was in a lot of communities that I had been in. And I always use Texas as my example. Yeah. I'm like, if you go to Texas, you can go to the SST town in Texas.

Mm-hmm. And if you say. Anything negative about them, they're going to fight you. As a matter of fact, they're so, they're, they're so passionate about community there. Yeah. That they literally get tattoos, you know? Mm-hmm. Uh, on their calve of the state flag and stuff like that. Yeah, definitely. So I always use Texas and like we have to have just a little bit more of that moxie, and I really felt like a lot of that has come back.

I think that, mm-hmm. One of the things, I think that was kind of a turning point [00:06:00] is when our young professionals organization actually said, we are gonna take control of this and we're gonna create our own community flag, and we're gonna fly our flag with pride. 

Yeah. 

I think that was a big turning point for the community, so.

Mm-hmm. Um, so I think the brand, um, the brand is, it's still evolving. Mm-hmm. Right now, I mean, we're one of the hottest housing markets, if not the most hot, the hottest housing market in the United States. Yeah. That's because so many people want to get in here. They wanna live here. 

Mm-hmm. 

Good luck finding a house.

Right, right, right. And we need more houses in this community. But yeah, the brand is definitely turned around. Mm-hmm. And people outside of the region are really starting to feel like that. There's a lot going on in the community. 

Yeah. And can you even speak on too, for people who may not know, um, as you were in this role as the CEO and President mm-hmm.

Of the Great Speaker partnership, you know, what was the overall vision and do you think like we're still paving that path? 

Yeah. Yeah. So, so interestingly, the partnership has only existed since 2018. 

Mm-hmm. 

[00:07:00] And, uh, and the reason it exists is because one of the things that we did is we said, if we are going to change the community, we have to have a strategy.

Yeah. And if we're gonna have a strategy, let's go be ha let's go big, right? Mm-hmm. So we went big and that was Momentum 2022. Yep. And we look at it and we're like, oh my gosh, this is so big. This is so aspirational. Yeah. Right. It's so aspirational. And then the community leaders had to ask themselves a question.

Did we go, are we being too aspirational? Did we go too big? 

Mm-hmm. 

The answer's no, but who can implement this? 

Mm-hmm. 

And we didn't have an entity or organization or a group of organizations in the community. Right. That could actually be the backbone organization. Wow. What we had is we had disparate organizations.

Right. We of course, we have a great city. We have a great county. We had the Chamber of Commerce and go to Peka and visit to Peka downtown to Peka in incorporate, and all these different entities. 

Mm-hmm. 

But they were not working together, right? Mm-hmm. And they all had kind of their [00:08:00] superpowers. Right?

Right. So you think about superheroes. Yeah. Right. Superheroes are great, but when they all come together mm-hmm. They're literally more powerful. Yeah. So what happened is, is that we had an outside consultant say, you guys actually cannot mm-hmm. Implement this strategy. Mm-hmm. Unless you adopt. Radical collaboration and the way you're gonna adopt radical collaboration mm-hmm.

Is to bring all of these entities together under one collaborative organization. Right. So that you can all work together and work across aisles and so, right. That was part, that was the implementation part of a vision. We cast a vision that was too big. We didn't know how to handle it. 

Yeah. But 

now we do.

Right. And now you guys have these, um, values and systems in place. So like when people do move here, it's like immediately connect with, you know, the partnership. Yeah. Right. Get involved. If you don't know, um, where to go, that's why Visit Topeka is around. Mm-hmm. You can understand all of the tourist things of Topeka.

So I think everything that you've [00:09:00] done in Topeka. And that's why I'm like, give yourself credit. 

Uh, yeah, give yourself 

credit. You know, like, we're in the direction because of the leadership you put in place. You know, 

you, you know, I was thinking about that too because, uh, last Thursday it was, um, it was heartening and it was flattering to be thanked.

Um, the way that we've been thanked in the last couple weeks has just been. Mind blowing. Yeah, right. Just mind blowing. 

Mm-hmm. 

And I started thinking, why is it that I don't like to be thanked? And I think part of it is, I, I think the metrics speak for themselves, right? Yeah. So to me, that's where I get satisfaction.

Yeah. Out of seeing. Metrics actually move. Yes. And I'm seeing prosperity go up and poverty go down. Mm-hmm. And net promoter score going up and things like that. Um, and I'm just so hungry. I'm just so hungry to actually see the metrics move that Right. That's thanks enough for me. Yeah. And I almost feel like that I.

I almost wanna return the thanks instead of me being thanks so much. I just want to thank the community for giving me the [00:10:00] opportunity 

mm-hmm. 

To do this work. 

And I was gonna say, even going into the milestones you've made here decade mm-hmm. Of being here. Right. Probably more years than that. 'cause how long have you been in Topeka?

Nine and a half years. Nine and a half years. Nearly a decade. Mm-hmm. So talk to me about. What are you most proud of? 

There's so many things. It's hard to pick. I mean, people have asked me to, to actually talk about favorite projects. Yeah. And I won't do that. Just like I won't talk about because there's so many.

Yeah. Favorite part of town or anything like that. Even a favorite high school. I love them all. I love every high school student in this. In this entire region. Yeah. Um, but probably I would say the creation of the partnership. Mm-hmm. I'm very proud of that. As a matter of fact, it's being replicated across the country.

Yeah. We're, we're, we're working with about 20 communities right now on how to create partnerships. Yeah. So that, not necessarily because I'm happy with the organization that we've created mm-hmm. But I'm happy with the ability to be able to address some of these issues mm-hmm. And, and, and do that. So very proud of that.

Yeah. 

I [00:11:00] would say just the overall body of work. But for me, if there's one metric 

mm-hmm. Um, '

cause there's so many metrics, seeing 

Yeah. 

Median householding can go up and seeing, I mean, just so many great metrics, net promoter score improve. 

Mm-hmm. But 

probably the one that means the most to me. And it's hard to celebrate because it's not where I want it to be.

Right. But seeing poverty go down. 

Mm-hmm. 

Right. And when poverty is going down. Prosperity's going up. Yeah. Hope, health, happiness, and prosperity all going up at that time. Mm-hmm. So seeing poverty go down, but I struggle with celebrating a reduction in poverty. Mm-hmm. Because I still see that 12% of our community is still impoverished.

Right. Yeah. And so I can never really be happy and celebrate it until it's zero. And by the way, probably never will be. 

Right. Right. Um, 

but that one, I would say that one just hits home. Like if, if mm-hmm. What we're doing is helping. People have a more prosperous life. 

Yeah. 

That's what I'm most proud of. 

I think one of the things I do love about you is that you have a very like [00:12:00] goal-driven, high-spirited mindset that I think is essentially like your leadership style that gets people excited about what's coming in the future, you know?

Mm-hmm. And so if you could talk to. Leaders, business owners about the type of leadership style, which is essentially your brand. When they, when they see Matt Brevart come in the room, it's like there's a, there's a switch that goes off like, okay, we gotta get ourselves together a little bit. Just a little bit.

Like, we gotta get professional, you know? Um, talk about the leadership style that you need to have to lead a team. 

Team is so important. Mm-hmm. I mean. Again, back to me getting too much credit. Like I, I love to lean into my teammates and not even the, the All-Star teammates. Mm-hmm. Like everybody knows who Sean Dixon and Molly Howie and Bob Ross and Michelle Que stubblefield.

Everybody knows they're like. They're like the superheroes, right? Yeah. With all the superpowers, but behind them are all these people that are doing these amazing things. Mm-hmm. So that team is, is outrageously [00:13:00] critical. Mm-hmm. To me, to our senior leadership team, to our, but to our entire community. 

Yeah.

For me, there's a couple of things. One is always do what's right for the community first. 

Mm-hmm. That's good. 

Even if it's not. What's the best thing for me? 

Yeah. Or 

even if it's not the best thing for the Greater Topeka partnership. Yeah. Always, always lean into the community and think about like that.

Yeah. That poster child that you have, 

right. 

For that prosperity. The other thing too is for me it's integrity and ethics. Mm-hmm. Like. Come first. Yeah. Um, when I came to Topeka, I made that very clear. That's non-negotiable. 

Mm-hmm. 

And even in my first few months, I had a few things come my way that I didn't feel like I, I didn't feel like were right.

You know? So I just like, wait, that's not. Ethical. 

Mm-hmm. 

Um, that's not, you know, there, there's not integrity in that. And, uh, those conversations went away very fast. They, they went by fast. And then the last thing I would say is just be super [00:14:00] authentic. 

Yeah. I'm 

not gonna sit here today 

mm-hmm. 

And answer these questions or have this dialogue with you mm-hmm.

And tell you what I think you want to hear. Yeah. I just always want you to get the authentic 

mm-hmm. 

Matt Nik, I'm, I'm the same way with you that I am with my team. Yeah. And that I am with my family when I'm at home. I might be a little different with my grandkids because they can do no wrong. My, so, oh my gosh, 

you're cute, adorable grandkids.

They, oh my gosh, they're most 

beautiful grandkids on the face of the era. 

They're amazing. Yeah. By the way, his granddaughter is, um, my best friend, so Yeah. Um, daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law, granddaughter. Yeah. You know what I meant? Um, okay, so. What I'm really also interested in is talking about this whole, we talked about it earlier, the myth of, you know, the mindset that Topeka has.

Mm-hmm. The Midwest mindset. Yeah. Um, and I think there's a lot of people who may struggle with, let's say, a specific mindset in their business, in their team, and they're trying to work on shifting their team, [00:15:00] um, to a better mindset. Mm-hmm. Right. And I think that the way that you think. I truly think leads you to where you are.

Right. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So it's like you are like your life. I heard someone say before that your life is the result of your decisions. Mm-hmm. Which goes based off of you think, or how, the way that you think. 

Mm-hmm. 

And so for you, um, how did you get your team or the people in, you know, the greater Topeka partnership to I guess, essentially think a certain way, encourage them a certain way?

Like what did that process look like? Yeah. 

Well, I And, and you're, you're addressing like a growth mindset. Mm-hmm. Right? Yes. And. And I'm 56 years old. Right. I'm not as, I'm, I'm not where I need to be yet. Right. Really, every day I wake up, I wanna be better. Yeah. Just always I'm, I'm gonna do that until I take my last breath.

Mm. 

Um, at the partnership, one of the things that we do, I think is really cool. Mm-hmm. And I really like this. Is that. We have our goals, right? We all have our goals, we have our personal goals. Mm-hmm. And we also have [00:16:00] our professional goals. And those are very well established. Yeah. And very well documented.

And they're smart. And we watch those very closely. We also have another document called Our Level Up. 

Mm-hmm. And our 

Level Up is something that it's, it's, it, it, it's not something that you have to do, but every one of our staff takes advantage of it. Why wouldn't you? Yeah. But Level Up is like, okay, I know I have my goals, my professional goals, and my personal.

But what am I gonna do in 2025 or 2026? Mm-hmm. To take me Matt Ponik. Mm-hmm. Or me and one of my coworkers to my next level. 

Mm-hmm. 

So what am I gonna, it could be something personal or it could be something professional, but how am I gonna get to the next level? And then what I'm asking you as my teammate, as I'm asking you to support me in doing that, that taking me to that next level.

Mm-hmm. I think that is. Been wildly success. I do one, I share it with my leadership. All of our employees do a level up and it's really cool. Mm. Sometimes it's work life balance. Sometimes it's physical. Yeah. So you just never know what it might be to get somebody their next [00:17:00] level. Yeah. And I love, so that's, that plays into that growth mindset.

That's good. 

And then the other thing too, for us mm-hmm. That's really cool. And I think this goes for all of our vol volunteers like you and our elected officials, is it actually is easy to get up. On a Monday morning. 

Mm-hmm. 

Hey, we don't get Sunday Blues, right? Mm-hmm. Because we know that when we get up on Monday morning, quite frankly, I think we work on it most of the time, seven days a week.

Yeah. We know that we're going to do something that's very altruistic. 

Mm-hmm. 

And it's very impactful and it's actually going to change people's lives. Mm-hmm. And I, I kind of, in my mind, I have my own poster child. It's a little girl that lives in Montera. Yeah. That's my why. 

Yeah. And 

so when I get up on Monday morning, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna go make life better for, I.

Her. Mm. And I think it's really cool Yeah. To, to get up and just think about it that way. Yeah. And I think that gets us motivated. 

Okay. So earlier, I know you were talking about, um, the numbers and how like that's important as well. Yeah. But also you mentioned like the [00:18:00] people are your why. Yeah. And like the people kind of get you driven and going.

And so anyone who is focused on, you know, their vision and trying to create strategy around that, um. That's why I go back to you've, you and your team have worked very hard on the vision for Topeka and making sure the story is being told mm-hmm. A certain way, reaching out to certain news outlets, um, making sure that, you know, certain, um, news outlets are getting the story correct.

Mm-hmm. Right? Mm-hmm. And so talk to me about like. The strategy behind that and why, like branding the story a certain way Yeah. Is important. 

I work with smart people and I work with aggressive people. But I will say this, one of the things that was really cool is, um, when I was in Tulsa, we had a national PR firm.

Mm-hmm. Right? Not cheap. 

Mm-hmm. Right? And so, and, 

and we had a PR firm in New York City. I knew that we needed one here. 

Mm. 

Um, I just didn't know how I was gonna ever fund it. Right. And I remember when [00:19:00] Cody Foster said, you know what? I think that you guys need, you need a national PR firm. I'm like, we absolutely need a national PR firm.

Yeah. That has been very helpful. Mm-hmm. 

When 

I first met Topeka in 2014, I went home and I told Wendy. There's gonna be a day. This is before I ever knew I was coming to Topeka. Yeah, right. They came to Tulsa. There's gonna be a day I'm going to be reading about Topeka, Kansas and the Wall Street Journal.

Mm. And now we are. Right. We're reading about Topeka, Kansas, and pretty much every major media outlet. 

Yeah. 

One, I think that's because of what we've done. 

Mm-hmm. And 

two, we've deployed some pretty darn good strategy into making sure that our story is being told out there with earned media as well. 

Yeah.

Yeah. Talk about attracting local talent. I think that was a strategy as well. Yeah. Right. Making sure that. Topeka's attractive. Yep. And like going back to making sure the story around the brand is being told Right. You know, correctly. Or even keeping the students from Washburn 

Yep. 

Here in Topeka. Mm-hmm.

Like, what was that strategy like? 

Yeah. And, and that's something that we're, we never can stop working on there. Mm-hmm. [00:20:00] I mean. You gotta, it has to be a cool place. It has to be a cool place. 

Yeah. 

And then as soon as you feel like that you've arrived mm-hmm. Then you have to take on this new mindset of, we have not arrived.

We can be cooler. We can be better. Yeah. And it's attracting and retaining. Mm-hmm. Like, you know, not having leakage. I think our young professionals, organization's been good. Yeah. I mean, one of the things I'm so proud of that this community did and I, I. I really compliment our mayor. Mm-hmm. De Issa at the time and the city.

Yeah. Because most of the time, cities want take control of their brand and they wanna take especially their community flag, right? Mm-hmm. They just turned it over to forge young talent and they just let Forge run with the Yeah. Creation of the flag. I think that was very brave. Right? Right. Um, but it also showed that Forge has.

Ownership in this community and they can make a difference, but, um, never, we can never let up on that. Right. We have to continue, even like I, the original Forge leadership, [00:21:00] I, I think they're getting a little long in the tooth now, right? Yeah. So we have to be looking at that next generation. What's the next generation?

I think we should be asking eighth graders. Mm-hmm. Ninth graders. Oh 

my gosh. Yes. What 

do you want your community to be when, mm-hmm. When you are a young adult and the chances of retaining them. 

So you can keep them here. Absolutely. You know, it's interesting. So a lot of people know that I work for advisors Excel.

Mm-hmm. Right. Um, and so it's interesting you said it a little bit earlier, I don't know if you noticed it, but it's like we can't settle in thinking we won. Right. Right. Like, we gotta keep the grant. Mm-hmm. And so right now, like Cody and Dave, like that's been our motto lately. Mm-hmm. Is that like we can't.

Think that we've arrived. Yeah. Like we're really just getting started. Right. But it's like internally, as we're, you know, we're looking at the goals, we're like, but we've, we've made, we've completed the goal, we're done. And it's like, no, we're actually just getting started. Yeah. So I think it's interesting how being strategic and branding yourself, it sounds like it's always a growth mindset.

Thinking that like, you know, yeah. We're, we're moving forward. We gotta figure out [00:22:00] like, okay, how do I continue this momentum and not settle in? Yeah. We've just arrived. 

One of the things I, I love about those guys, they're, they're, they're amazing guys. Um, I heard one of them say one time, like, 15% year over year annual growth is getting kind of boring.

I'm like, I love that. Oh my God, I love that. 

Yeah. 

Um, because most organizations, companies would love to have 15% mm-hmm. Uh, growth year over year. Um, and I actually offended some people here because when things started really feeling good, right? Mm-hmm. Really feeling good. I had a few people are like, Hey, now that we're, we've basically arrived, so now what do we do?

I'm like, uh, no, no, no, no, no, no. Like the second that you have a growth mindset and you hit. Another rung on that ladder, it's time to look at the next rung. Right. And just never, ever, ever be satisfied. 

Mm-hmm. 

But here's the thing, you have to do that because every community in America mm-hmm. They're trying to clean our clock.

Right. Right. They want our talent, they want our Washburn students. Mm-hmm. Right. They want [00:23:00] KU and K State students. 

Mm-hmm. They 

want that talent. 

Right. 

We want that talent too. 

Yeah. 

And it's a metric too. Mm-hmm. I mean, it's, it's a means to a. Economic end, we have to have that talent as well. 

Yeah. 

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Okay. So I wanna give you another opportunity too, to brag about the development of [00:24:00] Topeka. Yeah. Um, talk about like where Topeka was. And where it's at now. Okay. Like even like the different businesses, the new projects that are coming. 

Yeah. I would say this. I mean, and I, I don't want to be disparaging at all, but mm-hmm.

Topeka had flatlined. 

Mm-hmm. 

It really had flatlined. 

Yeah. 

And its trajectory is just it now, it's unstoppable, like mm-hmm. I, people keep saying you're, you're sort of placating us right now, the last two weeks saying that Topeka's best days are ahead. They are 100%. Mm-hmm. Ahead. 

Yeah. 

And, um. And so I, I just feel like that our businesses are succeeding.

We have one of the most resilient, uh, through, through the pandemic. Mm-hmm. We were like the top 10 most resilient cities in America. Yeah. Um, our year over year wage growth mm-hmm. In, in the entire United States. We were the seventh. Best year over year wage growth. Mm-hmm. We have the second lowest poverty in the state of Kansas.

Like we're, we are literally behind Johnson County. 

Right. 

So we're literally moving in the great direction. [00:25:00] So 

yeah. 

But now it's just take, take that success. Mm-hmm. Take that momentum and just, just ride it. So that development, I mean, new jobs. 

Mm-hmm. Uh, 

growing our own Right. I mean, we talk about advisors Excel.

Yeah. Um, the kitchen table. 

Mm-hmm. 

Right. I mean, that was, that was an entrepreneurial startup. 

Literally. That's 

what's cool about where we're sitting right now. Yeah. Omni Circler group is, we're so focused on that startup, so, right. Um, the sky's the limit. Mm-hmm. It really is the limit. 

And eventually, like, we're gonna be seeing a whole river walk here soon, you know, and so it's like seeing the development of that, seeing coworking spaces coming down the line, economic development, you know, in our city is rising as we speak.

And so, um. Even if you could, I know you're leaving, but it's like if you could encourage like why people should move here, what's your reason? 

So I always say this is, this is my mantra. It's easy to live in this cool place. Mm-hmm. Right. It's not easy to live everywhere. Yeah. Right. I. Like when I lived in Houston.

Mm-hmm. I lived [00:26:00] seven miles from the office. That was an hour, 15 minutes. Oh my gosh. You know, uh, to get seven miles, you're driving 

everywhere. 

Yeah. It's easy to live in this cool place, and I think now people are actually looking for cool places to live. Mm-hmm. That's not just a major ordeal. Mm-hmm. To get from one place to the other, or the fact that.

We have more sunny days than most communities. Yeah. I'm going to Myrtle Beach. Yeah. I mean, there's the same number of sunny days here as there are in Myrtle Beach, right? 

Mm-hmm. 

Um, we have the cleanest air 

Yeah. 

Right in the United States out of 400 cities. Mm-hmm. Like we have the cleanest air, 

right? 

You can see blue skies here.

I mean, there's just so much. And you can actually, here's the really cool thing about people moving here or staying here, here. Your efforts will make a difference. 

Mm-hmm. 

Go to a major metro. There's no way that your efforts are actually ever going to make a difference. But here, no matter if you're a young professional, right?

If you're retired or somewhere in between, you can roll up your sleeves and get involved and you can actually change this community and help make it what you want it. Yeah. 

[00:27:00] I love that. And let's even talk about. For the next generation of leaders Yeah. That are coming, that are in process of leading a team, trying to figure out how to become better, trying to figure out how to become more strategic so their business can grow and scale.

Um, what advice would you give them, you know, as you're an active leader yourself? Yeah. Um, what's some advice that I know you and your friend talk about every morning? 

Yeah. Their voice matters. As a matter of fact, I think their voice matters more than anybody. So like. Young talent, either somebody just starting in their career or even younger than that.

I think their voice matters. 

Yeah. 

More than my voice matters. I'm 56 years old, I can work my head off and I'm gonna see the fruits of a lot of the labor that I put in. Mm-hmm. But I'm really building a community for them. Yeah. Not for me. 

Mm-hmm. 

And so I think as a community, we need to be better about.

Tapping into that talent and tapping into their vision. 

Yeah. 

But that younger talent, they need to [00:28:00] understand that their voice matters so much and they have an opportunity to, to really take control of their future and their community. Yeah. So, um, just jump in and don't be afraid of being around old people.

I. And, and, and Xers. 

Yeah. 

Yeah. Just, just jump in and get involved. You did. 

Yeah, I did when you got here. I did. I did. I did. Surprisingly. And you made a difference. Yeah. Thank you. And you made a difference. I appreciate that. I wasn't expecting to stay here that long, but that just goes to show you, you know, how amazing Toka is and how it's become, but yeah, I think it's interesting like going back home to Houston.

I love it. I love seeing my family and everything. Mm-hmm. But um, there's something about coming back to Topeka where I'm like, it's home. Yeah. And there is this really cool just factor in like everywhere you go. Yeah. You know someone. Yeah. You're gonna run into somebody. You 

know what else is really cool?

And this was Wendy and I struggled when we first came here. We were worried 'cause we were big used to living in bigger cities. Yeah. The comfort of having Kansas City right down the road. Mm-hmm. And it's [00:29:00] is nice. And so it's, we like going to Kansas City for a big city fix. Mm-hmm. And then getting back here.

Mm-hmm. It's really cool. And we go a lot less than I think we thought we were going to. Mm-hmm. We stay home a lot, but, um, it is nice. I mean, if I were. Four hours from Kansas City. 

Mm-hmm. 

I would struggle. Me too. But knowing it's just right over there. Right. You're like, you're good. Mm-hmm. It's awesome. I always say Kansas City's our suburb.

Yeah. I like it. And it's like you said, it's not far, so you have no excuse to like entertain yourself. Right. So, um, okay, so before we started, you were talking about, you went through this like reflection period. Yeah. I'm really curious about what that process was like and was there something in you that was like.

I think I'm like looking for more or I want change. Mm-hmm. I don't know. Mm-hmm. But like, tell, tell me about that. 

Yeah. So again, that's been really difficult. Um, that's been the hardest part about this is, is knowing when it's time, when, when it's time for you to maybe let somebody else lead. I think part of it is this, I [00:30:00] have felt in the last couple years mm-hmm.

That maybe I have too much influence in the community. 

Right. 

And, and it actually replaced the word influence with power, right? Mm-hmm. And power's not always healthy, and it's not always good. And I noticed that as I gained more influence 

mm-hmm. 

There was more of a, you know what, we're just gonna let Matt handle that, right?

Mm-hmm. 

And I, 

what I started feeling is that. I was really operating a little bit more in a silo. 

Hmm. And we 

might have been losing a little bit of the bigger team approach. I think one, it's flattering that the community had that much trust in me. 

Yeah. 

Uh, but two things. One is one or two or three or four people.

I always think a thousand people are better than four. Right. 

Right. 

And so part of it is just that influence. Mm-hmm. The second thing I would say is, uh, when you have that much influence, it's a lot of pressure. Right. And also it's not exactly healthy either, 

right? 

So part of it is that I, [00:31:00] I was the lead goose.

Yeah. I'm the one taking on all the headwinds, all the air. 

Wow. 

It was really just time for me to take to say, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna be. In the back. Mm-hmm. And I'm gonna let somebody else lead going forward. So that's part of that reflection. 

Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. 

Yeah, 

that was good. 

Thank you.

Um, what are you looking forward to in this new chapter? Because this is gonna be a big transition for you. 

Yeah. Yeah. Um, I'm gonna go dive into my new community. I love community development. Yeah. I just love it so much, like, because I know, I know that we're changing lives, right? Yeah. So I'm gonna go dive in and, uh, be part of a big team, right?

Mm-hmm. I'm just gonna be part of a big team. Yeah. Radical collaboration really work together. But I'm also going to have what I call fomo. Mm-hmm. 

Or 

even jomo, the joy of missing outs. But joy is not gonna be, that's good because I'm having the joy of missing out. It's gonna be because I'm gonna be missing out.

Yeah. 

But I'm gonna have the joy mm-hmm. Of watching Topeka succeed in a such a radical way. 

Yeah. 

[00:32:00] And I'm still gonna have family here. 

Yeah. 

So I'm gonna make it a point to come and visit my family when. Really big announcements and cool things are happening in Topeka. Yeah, 

that was gonna be my follow up.

I was like, are you gonna come visit at all? Yes. Which I already knew the answer is yes. But, 

and then everybody from Topeka's gonna come visit me in my beach. 

We'll just take a, like a huge bus, you know, just go down there, I guess so, 

or come one at a come come one family at a time. Yeah. So, but an inner city visit.

Yeah. Yeah. Inner city visit. Yeah. Oh my 

gosh. That's fun. Oh my gosh, Matt. Okay. Um, as we close, I'm curious from a leadership mindset. A leadership perspective. Talk to me about how do you grow as a leader? What are some books or podcasts that you listen to? How do you keep your mind sharp? 

Yeah. Well, for me, I would just say, um, my morning routine, I.

Is absolutely the most critical thing that I have going on. Mm-hmm. There's a couple of, there's a couple of books, um, miracle Morning. Mm-hmm. 5:00 AM Club. Yeah. Um, but I, I'm a, I've not always been a morning person, but I think one of the luxuries in [00:33:00] life is quiet mornings. Yeah. And having time to yourself and having time for reflection.

Having time for prayer, uh, before you get into the crazy time of the day. Right. 

Yeah. 

Uh, so that's really important. I have, I have workout time, I have reading time, I have spiritual time in the mornings, and I just highly recommend that to anybody. Um. And then the other thing too is just never, so some books right now, I mean, there's so many.

Oh, so many. I would say Strength to Strength is probably one of the best books that I've read in the last three years. Okay. And, uh, it's a really cool book 'cause it talks about our different strengths at different times in our lives. Yeah. And I just think it's really, I would recommend that book to anybody and it's a must read to anybody.

I would say. 

Yeah. 

38 or, or older. 

Yeah, 

I'm not there yet, but I know you're not, but 

it's fine. But you could get ahead of it. I just became an adult email in case you heard you can get ahead of it. I just came to the, they call it, someone told me the other day, they're like, welcome to the third floor. I was like, Ooh, I like that the floor was floor.

Like, okay. It's [00:34:00] nice up here. I love it. That's awesome. I love it. Um, okay, so as we come to a close, talk to me about any like last minute, like reflection thoughts that you wanna say to the community or just like. Some reflection ideas and thoughts that have been in your mind lately? 

Yeah. We call it momentum for a reason.

Mm-hmm. Momentum doesn't stop. It has to keep going. So, um. The faith I have in this community going forward, um, I I, I've given a guarantee that the, that Topeka's best days are ahead. 

Yeah. 

Right. Um, the last nine and a half years have just been spectacular. Yeah. Right. And all of these people who think I've done it by myself, I think most people know that it's just been just great collaboration, this big group effort, so.

Mm-hmm. Um. To me, it's just keep this momentum going. Like do that as a favor. Topeka, do that as a favor to me. Mm-hmm. Uh, for me, my, my wife, [00:35:00] that little girl. 

Yeah. 

Do it as a favor to her because she's gonna grow up and be, uh, happier and more prosperous because of it. So, 

yeah. 

Um, this has been, this has been a rough couple weeks, um, but the next couple are gonna be even tougher.

Um, but the happiness is gonna come that I get to still see Topeka succeed from afar. 

Yeah. 

And, uh, and, and be helpful from afar as well. So it's been, it's been a heck of a ride. A special ride. 

Yeah. I just wanna say thank you for your service. Yeah. Thank you for, um, your leadership and, um, thank you for just not giving up on the community, honestly.

Well, likewise to you, you've been an electrifying, uh, leader in the community, and so more people like you. 

I appreciate that. We're gonna be just 

fine. 

Thank you. Thank you for your time, Matt. Thank you. Appreciate. Oh my 

gosh. 

Thanks for watching the Authentic Media Podcast, YouTube at Authentic Media Company.

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