Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Episode 10: Patience is Key w/ Mike Auquier
61 Plays1 year ago
This is episode 10 (not 9 as I say repeatedly in the episode...oops!).
This is a fantastic episode with the one and only Mike Auquier, our CNC supervisor and project engineer. Mike's background is classic HFW in that it is varied and interesting.
In this episode we discuss Mike's upbringing, getting into the trades, how he thinks about his role now and a couple special shoutouts for people that are busting their butts.
As always, thank you for listening! We are always looking for guests, so if you are interested in being on the podcast, let Jack know!
Recommended
Transcript
Intro: Meet Mike Okea
00:00:03
Speaker
you
00:00:08
Speaker
And welcome back to the HFW Shove Talk podcast. Today, this is episode nine, joined by Mike Okea. Mike, thanks for joining. Sure. Thanks. My pleasure.
Career Beginnings: Where is Mike Now?
00:00:22
Speaker
So I think this is interesting because in the last couple episodes, we've had Jacob, who's just starting out in his career. We've had Rich, who's more toward the end. And now you're kind of right in the middle. So I think this is a perfect,
00:00:35
Speaker
Perfect segue and also there's a lot of I mean speaking of Jacob you were the one who brought Jacob in or thought he'd be a good fit and So we're greatly indebted to you for that But anyway, this is not about Jacob today tastes about Mike so
00:00:53
Speaker
I'm really interested in hearing what your background is because it's a little bit different than, I shouldn't say a little bit different because it's always interesting to me. Everyone's journey to being on the shop floor is different and so I really enjoy hearing these stories.
Early Life: Family and Mechanics
00:01:09
Speaker
And so I guess to kick it off, I'd like to hear a little bit about your childhood and what that was like and how you came to find yourself in a manufacturing environment.
00:01:18
Speaker
Yeah, sure. So, um, I grew up kind of in a manufacturing family. My dad, uh, his name is also Mike. Uh, he worked for Ford Motor Company for 44 years. Um, and with that, with his career, we got to travel, uh, the world kind of, uh, so I went to what would be called primary school.
00:01:41
Speaker
in England, uh, cause we lived over there, uh, while I was in maybe third, fourth, fifth, sixth grade. And my dad would commute, uh, to France. He would work in Charlevoix, France, and we would stay, um, just outside of London. And so I went to school there, was born in Michigan, moved out there when I was really young.
00:02:03
Speaker
They moved back to Michigan in the late 80s and was there until the early 90s. And then we moved to Texas. So I got to go from England back to Michigan to Texas. And always wondering what my dad did, because he was always, seems like he was always having fun and just enjoying what he did.
Influences: Family and Education
00:02:26
Speaker
And we got to see so many corners of the world through that.
00:02:31
Speaker
Um, so, so my upbringing, you know, my mom was a stay at home mom. So she stayed home and, and, you know, I just was kind of an old, the only child. My, my sister is 10 years older, so she was gone most of the time. So.
00:02:46
Speaker
So I just kind of, you know, kind of learned how to do things and kept to myself, you know, uh, I had an uncle, uh, Tim, um, he, uh, he would buy me a Rector set every Christmas and I would just tinker with it. I don't know if you know what an Rector set is. I don't know if you've seen one, but, but it's a, it's a bunch of skinny little metal pieces with screws and thumb screws and bolts that you would put together and, and, uh,
00:03:13
Speaker
just create things and it would come with instructions, but you know, I would follow the instructions and then I would create something else. It's a lot like Legos, I guess, you know, kind of. So, so I remember doing that. So I've always been kind of mechanically inclined, but, uh,
00:03:29
Speaker
just following my dad around and seeing what he did and he took me into the factory sometimes. He was a manufacturing engineer for Ford and got to saw some of the cool stuff he did and it kind of stuck. So my upbringing was watching my dad and I had a really good kind of mix of being able to have a stay-at-home mom and see my dad work with his hands and do all these kind of things.
00:03:59
Speaker
So I've always been kind of, I guess, even as a kid, you know, I guess drawn into, you know, mechanical things. Yeah. So yeah. Well, that's, that's really neat. I'm interested in how all that travel as a kid, I mean, even just for, um, you hear people that moved a lot as a kids, how that impacted them. But you know, normally that's just in the United States, but you were moving around the world.
00:04:25
Speaker
How did that impact, how do you think that impacted you growing up and what you learned and your perspective on life and people?
Cultural Appreciation: A Global Perspective
00:04:35
Speaker
Right. Well, I have a huge appreciation for different cultures. You know, I love people just just as part of me, just just getting to know who people are and what they're about. And even though I only lived in a few places around the world, my dad entertained people from Japan, people from China, people from Portugal, Argentina.
00:05:02
Speaker
all over Europe. And so I got to go to fancy dinners with those people. I got to meet their kids. I got to spend time with them. And it really gave me kind of a well-rounded respect for all people. And that's really what I'm about. I'm genuinely driven to understand who you are and what makes you tick.
00:05:29
Speaker
And I'm interested in all the different cultures and what that brings into not just our environment at HFW, but as a community of people.
00:05:44
Speaker
That's really neat. I think it's so interesting. I've grown up mostly in Buffalo my whole life and then I went to Ohio for school, but it's not England or China or anything like that. So it's so interesting to hear and I've had a couple of friends in similar positions like that.
00:06:05
Speaker
They just, and I feel like there's also, at least in my experience, there's also like a maturity level with something like that. You meet some of these people and you've been there and done that in a lot of ways. So it's a very interesting.
00:06:20
Speaker
thing. So I guess that leads into our next question, which is, so you're 18 years old, coming out of high school, um, not unlike a lot of the guys we have here now, you've got a number of people that are 18, 19, 20 years old. What was going through your head at the time? And, and, uh, did you, did it was manufacturing at the front of your mind or how did that come into the equation?
00:06:46
Speaker
Well, so my high school years weren't the greatest as far as academics. I wasn't the greatest student. I was more
00:07:01
Speaker
focused on friendships and relationships. And I spent a lot of time not studying and not doing what I was supposed to do. You can fill in the blanks there. So I graduated, which by the grace of God I did, but I barely graduated. So there came a point where I had to make a decision.
00:07:26
Speaker
Again, I had great parents and great upbringing, but I made some poor choices. And it came to a point where I wasn't gonna graduate high school. I didn't have enough credits. And I was getting close to being a 20-year-old senior, which at that point, it's like, hey, wait a minute. Something's not right here. And I was gonna quit and just get my GED.
00:07:50
Speaker
But a really good friend, my best friend at the time, still a really good friend, his name's Tom Collin. And he was in kind of the same boat. And he fell into this thing called alternative education.
00:08:08
Speaker
which they put on our high school for people like me who were trying to find their way and trying to graduate. So my friend, we were working together at at a pizza place called Cottage and Pizza at the time. And he said, hey, Mike, he said, you're going to graduate. I said, no, I don't think so. I think I'm just going to wing it. And he said, well, you know, I found this this thing at school that we can go get a regular diploma and graduate. You want to do it with me.
00:08:38
Speaker
I said, well, sure, I could do that. So I did.
Career Start: From Machine Shop to Leadership
00:08:43
Speaker
So I went to this alternative education program, which the teaching was more hands-on. And it wasn't shop or anything like that, but it was very hands-on teaching. So we learned math, we learned science, we learned different things through working with our hands and actual practical application of it. And I remember my teachers, Barb Fisher and Bob Mida,
00:09:08
Speaker
made a huge difference in impact on my life and gave me courage and gave me hope and gave me the perseverance that I needed to get through that. Because I really felt that I was just not gonna graduate. So I graduated as a 20 year old senior. There were three people or four people in my graduating class from the alternative education program.
00:09:34
Speaker
And from there, I still didn't know what I wanted to do. I kept delivering pizzas and was making good money for a 20-year-old. And then I remember my dad one day said, hey, you've got to get out of the house. And I said, OK. So he actually, gosh, I love my dad, he actually
00:09:59
Speaker
took me into one of his vendors and the shops that I used to buy equipment from and helped me get a job there. And that was my first job in a machine shop. And I had no idea what I was doing. I showed up at khakis and a button down shirt my first day and I ran a saw for like six months straight, just dirty and nasty.
00:10:21
Speaker
And, but my curiosity, it was always, it's always, you know, always took over and my being able to communicate with people really helped me advance my career.
00:10:37
Speaker
So I was always wanting to do what the other guy was doing. Like, hey, I'm running a saw. That's great. But I want to do what that guy's doing over there. I want to I want to run that machine. I want to learn what he's doing. Yeah. And I would go to my boss and I'd say, man, I really want to learn what that guy's doing. So hold on. Hold on. Pipe down. You know, take your time.
00:10:57
Speaker
We'll get you over there, but you got to do this first. And, and thank goodness for him because he taught me patience, you know, so, um, so through that, you know, like I didn't have a traditional way out of high school, which I regret. I wish, I wish, you know, being 46 now and going back and thinking like, wow, I wish I would have done what I should have done, but you know, it turned out okay. It turned out okay.
00:11:24
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's you touched on so many things there. And I, but I think one thing that I see in a lot of different areas is this idea that I think a lot of it's changing the narrative. Like, yeah, you said there were things you could have done differently. But it seems like you also just learn, you know, you learn more with your hands. It sounds like in this alternative
00:11:46
Speaker
class and that doesn't make you a failure, like the system would, I think generally kind of portrays. And I think a lot of guys in the shop or in the industrial environment would say the same thing. There's different kinds of knowledges and I think sometimes high school in general, it's very much like a certain kind of like book knowledge or how well can you study and prepare. It's very different than like the knowledge we use in the shop.
00:12:15
Speaker
Primarily, but it's still still very, you know, there's still some very, very smart people. Um, I don't know. I think, I think it's really interesting. And then also you talked about that. He said, you just want to try everything. That's really funny. Cause now you're on the flip side of that. Or I think we have a lot of guys that are really hungry, really young and they are kind of doing the same thing you are. Now you're the coach.
00:12:39
Speaker
Right. It's interesting your journey, because then you were an engineer here for, still a project engineer, but primarily your duties are as a CNC supervisor. I'm really curious how you developed, because you had a really interesting journey to where you are now that you just touched on.
00:13:04
Speaker
How does that inform who you are now as Mike, the CNC supervisor, where you've got a crew ranging from guys that have been in it for a year to max, and you got Rich Hender, who's going on 40 years. There's a lot of different personalities, and then you got, not to mention the guys around the shop that want to get into machining. They came in just as a laborer, or they're younger and they want to get into it. How has your experience informed how you lead people?
00:13:35
Speaker
I think I think understanding who the person is really helps out. I want to know my guys as as much as I can. I mean, you know, there's still a point of separation that you have to have as a supervisor.
00:13:50
Speaker
And trying to bridge that gap between, you know, being a friend and having to be a supervisor at the same time is difficult. But I just really want to know the guys and, you know, the ladies who come across. So, you know, I take a rich, you know, and he's a fantastic guy and he's passionate about things.
00:14:14
Speaker
Rich Hender is passionate about being a machinist. And that makes me so happy because you see some people who aren't, who are just waiting for the day they retire or the day they move on to the next thing. But Rich, he gives me, I feel his sense of pride in the work that he does.
00:14:40
Speaker
And it impacts me.
Leadership Style: Balancing Roles and Generations
00:14:44
Speaker
So so I take that as a supervisor because because I want other people to be like rich in a certain way. Like I want you to be passionate and enjoy and put yourself into what you're doing. Because some people don't, unfortunately, but maybe they haven't found the right thing yet. Yeah. You know, and then I think of a guy like
00:15:03
Speaker
John Burek who we've hired in the past, you know, six or seven months is a, uh, a mechanic. And, you know, seeing his eyes light up when he gets to go run a big CNC machine, having no idea what he's doing, but he's like, Hey, this is great. Even though he doesn't know what he's doing. Yeah. It's like putting a guy in a pilot seat of an airplane saying, Hey, play with the controls for a little bit. You know, there's, there's 80 souls on board, but you know, we'll help you land.
00:15:33
Speaker
Uh, so, so seeing that the passion that rich still has for his job and knowing the things that rich still, you know, he loves to, he loves to run. He loves to take part in, in, uh, you know, I think the ride for Roswell, uh, things like that.
00:15:51
Speaker
insane seeing his passion and the things he loves in life and seeing John Burek as a new kid up and coming just eyes wide open and trying to learn as much as he can. So being a supervisor in that is being able to bridge that gap and there's a wide chasm between Rich and John.
00:16:14
Speaker
And as a supervisor, as a coach, you have to you have to stand the gap. You know, you have to encourage John and you have to.
00:16:27
Speaker
mine out of Rich, his knowledge, and hopefully get to a point to where he's learning from Rich or somebody like Rich so that he can earn that passion or get that passion and continue it. So, I mean, that's how I see myself as a supervisor. It's not just
00:16:48
Speaker
pushing jobs around the shop and making sure things get done in, you know, which, which is a huge part, you know, we want to make sure that we're making times and we want to make sure that that we're, you know, we're getting things done correctly, but without people.
00:17:04
Speaker
HFW has nothing. So, um, so bridging that gap between the John Burex and the, the Jeremy's and the rich enders and, uh, and, uh, Mark Patronsky's and the Andrew, I forgot his last name, mastered, mastered. Uh, that's, that's where it's at. That's how we're going to survive. That's how we're gonna, we're going to push forward.
00:17:28
Speaker
Well, I think a supervisor is one of the most important or most pivotal roles, at least for a company like us. And on the one hand, you get it from both sides. I think there's sometimes an assumption the supervisors just sit around and twirl their thumbs and then there's from the, well, I guess from both sides, from management and then from the guys on the floor too, but it's really, um,
00:17:56
Speaker
I know there's a study i see come up all the time that most people leave their job because of their for their boss it's not. I mean pays always the most important but the reason you decide to quit normally is because your boss and so the supervisor for most people is that boss.
00:18:13
Speaker
And then you also have to deal with the pressure for management to hit those times and to run an efficient shop. You kind of come at it from an interesting angle because you actually, typically our supervisors have started out as machinists and then graduated to a supervisory role where you came here as an engineer and actually went downstairs, which is, there's guys that have started downstairs and come upstairs.
00:18:42
Speaker
I think you're one of the first to actually go the opposite direction. Does that inform how you lead and what do you, I guess when you're in such a pivotal role, how do you handle that and what would you like people, I guess in management and also from an outsider's perspective, what do people not realize goes into the job?
Efficiency: Selling Ideas and Reducing Waste
00:19:07
Speaker
Well, there's no matter what position you're in.
00:19:11
Speaker
You're a salesperson and your dad would agree with us. I've heard him say it before. You're a salesperson in both directions. I'm selling, I don't want to say down as a bad way, but I'm selling down to the people who report to me and I'm selling up to your dad and your grandfather.
00:19:34
Speaker
So, that's the position, right? Standing shoulder to shoulder with the guys on the shop floor and working on things together, that's where it's done. And that's where I sell, not myself, but HFW. You know, as a supervisor, I'm selling HFW and what we do to our employees.
00:19:59
Speaker
And that's the way I see it. Like, you know, I have ideas and I have skills that I can share with them, but they don't know me, you know, especially the new guys, you know, they don't know who I am. So so same spending time with them shoulder to shoulder, working through the problems together.
00:20:16
Speaker
And then also the failures together because ultimately that's where we learn. I love it when my guys see that I messed up because, you know, then it's like, Hey, yeah, you know, I I'm human too. And I expect you to make a mistake and hopefully we learn from it.
00:20:34
Speaker
And then the other direction, to your dad and to John, selling up, selling the ideas to management, to invest, to see. There's so many times when somebody might be frustrated from upstairs, what we call upstairs, the engineers. I've heard about this. For management. They might be frustrated with something or somebody.
00:21:01
Speaker
And again, standing in that gap and saying that, you know what? No, it's not this thing, it's that. And it's not the person, it's the process. Or maybe it's the person and the person needs training or encouragement. Or unfortunately, in some cases, the person needs to find something else to focus on.
00:21:23
Speaker
So being that middle management role, I love it because I get to play with both sides of the coin there. I love being in engineering. It's fun. It was rewarding. But at the time, it seemed like we needed some help downstairs and I was given the option.
00:21:48
Speaker
And people, I look at is it at the place where I get to be with more people and that's, that's in this position. So yeah, I think it's really, uh, worked out well. And, uh, you touched on some, some cool, cool things there too, with just like the perspective and, um, even just going down the shop floor, I know for me, like when we're trying to investigate
00:22:15
Speaker
OK, why did this job go poorly or why or why did this job go really well? I'm trying to balance, you know, some of the some of the best stuff with good. There are a lot of good things that are going on here. I think it's important to focus on that as well. You don't want to cover up or disregard the bad stuff. You want to focus on that so we can get better. But there's a lot of good stuff happening, too. But in this instance, when looking at you're going and asking the guys
00:22:45
Speaker
why their hours were high on one job. You assume, wow, so and so did this. What is he doing? Then you go down and you ask. Everyone has their personal biases, I guess, but you also get an interesting story. I was talking to one guy and he's like, well, the tooling is all over the place. I know that's one thing that we've been working on organizing, you especially.
00:23:10
Speaker
And you just learn, I guess my point being when you go out and talk to people and get on the floor, it's a whole different story than what you find just looking at the numbers. And it's really interesting hearing different people's story. And then the more people you talk to, you can kind of put together a more full picture, which I think you as a supervisor in a really good position to be able to do.
00:23:34
Speaker
Right. So yeah, as a, you know, having a process engineering background or a manufacturing engineering background, I'm trained to find waste. And that's, that's, you know, what I see. However,
00:23:51
Speaker
Uh, on the flip side of that, the, the company as a whole has to own that philosophy that there's waste and we need to get rid of it. So when we talk, you know, when you ask why times are high, well, it's there's waste there somewhere. Yeah. It's either in the process itself, uh, bad program, bad engineering, not being able to find tooling, um, bad machine.
00:24:17
Speaker
in, you know, uh, maybe the person isn't capable. Uh, so, so there's waste everywhere. And, uh, you know, HFW here's a challenge for us is HFW and myself, uh, because we're in a unique business that, you know, as a, as a job shop, uh,
00:24:41
Speaker
don't really know what's coming through the door next. So we need to prepare to be nimble. We need to prepare to be fast and prepare to have what we need at a moment's notice because the hot jobs that come and the different things that come through the door, it's hard to manage waste because we work quickly to get something done.
00:25:09
Speaker
And unfortunately, there are some casualties in that system where we see jobs that are shot through the roof on ours because we weren't prepared and because we weren't managing our waste. So I would challenge myself and HFW as a whole to focus on waste and to see where we can trim back. And you mentioned that, yeah,
00:25:38
Speaker
wrapping my arms around the tooling issue has been a big job because if we're not focused as a company on it, uh, it can't be one person's mission to make that work. Right. So, uh, so I would love to coach my guys, uh, and a shout out to Ben Nita buyer right now, because he's helping me big time on organization over there at, at our Haas work center. Um, but I'd like to see more of that throughout the shop too. So.
00:26:09
Speaker
Well, when we're talking about getting better, I think it's... I don't want to think it's in a negative light, but you're talking about things that we haven't done well and we want to improve, but one thing that has been...
00:26:21
Speaker
has been told to me by several people is how good of a job Bennett has done. So I think it's a good growth opportunity like you were mentioning and it's to your point earlier about everything selling. It's selling well why do we want to get better? I think the first thing for our guys and girls in the shop is
00:26:42
Speaker
It makes your life easier when everything's organized, when you have the materials you need right in front of you. You don't have to go searching. You don't have to wait for two days for a part that needs to be expedited to get into the shop. But then the more money we can save and the easier we can do in the space we free up.
00:26:58
Speaker
The better it is for everyone everyone benefits from that there's an incentive for everyone not just directly i guess in profit sharing but then also the more money that's freed up gives us more money for benefits and wages and new equipment and.
00:27:13
Speaker
All these things that I think we all care about from a human level and a personal satisfaction level is freed up the better we're able to do it. Yeah, I don't think it's to point fingers there or anything like that.
00:27:29
Speaker
But there's just ways we can get better and so I think a lot of it is coaching and explaining well this is why you know it was interesting talking to one guy because I've come up you know in with an accounting background and learning the engineering now so you see it from the numbers and the drawing side and then you go talk to a machinist who's who knows how to build it and but the number side to him it was he you know under he's like oh I didn't know that's what the time is man and so just
00:27:57
Speaker
You know i was the strike he was teaching me about all you can this is how you can build this way but you can build that way that i was showing him like okay this is what the hours mean and if we go away over those hours were losing money. Just that dialogue i think is helpful in explaining why it's in everyone's best interest in.
00:28:15
Speaker
It's not just benefiting one person, it benefits the whole company. I know you can attest to that and you've been in a lot of different positions now where you know what it's like.
00:28:30
Speaker
So I guess more personally, I'm interested you talked a little bit about who you were as a young guy coming out of high school in your early 20s. Now you mentioned your 46 year dad, kind of like mid career. How have you changed as a person? What have you learned about yourself personally and professionally?
Supervisory Skills: Patience and Recognition
00:28:53
Speaker
Um, you know, patience, patience for, uh, people, um, you know, like I said, I, I just love working with different kinds of people and just being patient.
00:29:09
Speaker
And, uh, you know, building integrity, uh, you know, when, when I was younger, integrity wasn't so important. Um, but, uh, but, you know, as I've gone around my career and had made some mistakes, I've said some things I, you know, wish I could take back and, and, uh, just building integrity and, uh, camaraderie.
00:29:33
Speaker
One of the things I love about HFW is that I really feel we're a family business. Obviously, I see family all over the place here, even to the point where I see dogs come in and they're part of the family too. I like to create that atmosphere wherever I am. We're family. We're doing this together.
00:29:55
Speaker
With family, we know there's issues and we deal with the weird uncle and the crazy aunt and we have to find a way through it so that the bottom dollar, the bottom line makes sense. So I've learned throughout my career to be patient with people and to be slow to listen. That's one of the things that I've trained myself to do is to listen.
00:30:24
Speaker
When people talk, they usually have something they want heard. And if I'm too quick to over talk or talk over them or end the conversation or get my point across, I'm not giving them the respect that they deserve, no matter what point of view they're coming from. So no matter how angry somebody is or how impatient somebody is being, listen and then speak when it's your turn.
00:30:54
Speaker
So that's one of the things I've learned over the past 25 years of being in a career.
00:31:02
Speaker
Wow. That's come up a lot actually. I just a couple of days ago saw a book whose title was STFU, which I think most people might know what that stands for. And it was just about the art of listening and being silent in our society where everyone's going for like the in your face, especially social media and all this stuff. There's all this stuff.
00:31:29
Speaker
just sitting and listening and being silent, being in the background. That's something I'm trying. It's everyone, you just, society as a whole, you're ingrained to as soon as someone stops talking, you just interject. Right. Or even when you're being chastised or admonished just to sit there and listen, take the bad and take the good and then
00:31:58
Speaker
make an informed comment afterwards. Yeah, well, I'm working on the informed comment part. But yeah, no, I think that's I mean, for me, I've always been more of an introvert. But I think
00:32:15
Speaker
Just truly listening to someone and listening isn't just what they're saying with their body language. Are they looking you in the eye? Or are their eyes darting all around? Or are they looking at the floor? All these little nuances, there's more to listening than just what they're saying. I think that's especially in a shop too. Maybe you can't even hear them in the shop.
00:32:39
Speaker
you look at their body language and the way they're talking and the way they interact with others too. You see interactions, even if you're standing 20 feet away from them and you can't hear what they're saying, you see the way their body language is talking to another person, how they speak to all different people. I think you can learn a lot about people that way.
00:33:02
Speaker
Well, that was, I think a really cool discussion. Mike, I want to ask you a couple of closing questions. Um, is there one person at HFW that you'd like to shout out that you think's done, um, great work and deserve some recognition? Sure. Uh, yeah, there's actually a couple, uh, Ben Nederbier, uh, you know, I just told him yesterday, he's going the extra mile.
00:33:26
Speaker
which I love the passion he has. He's good with his hands. He's good with his brain. We're glad that so lucky to have a guy like that. And in shipping Mike Sanchez, just smile on his face, always a good attitude. Loves what he's doing.
00:33:48
Speaker
And the kid just wants to do more. Like he says, he's just like me. When I went into that shop, he's like, Hey, I want to do that. I'm like, slow down, buddy. We'll get you there. You know, step at a time. So, so let's not forget Mike and let's not forget Ben as we grow as HFW.
00:34:07
Speaker
That's awesome. I think they're both among a bunch of people here we have that are really just fantastic people and they're helping us build. And I think I really do feel that we've got something special here. We've got a great team right now. And I think the stuff
00:34:25
Speaker
Like we said, if we can continue to improve and focus on the waste and focus on ways you can get better, we're already doing pretty darn good. But where we can go is extraordinary and where each person can individually go, like a band, like a mic. I'm really excited and thankful for everyone.
00:34:43
Speaker
Mike, one last question for you. I couldn't not ask this. You're very into pickleball. Tell me a little bit more about pickleball. I know this is something that you're very passionate about. Tell HFW a little bit about your involvement in pickleball and what it's all about.
Personal Interests: Pickleball Passion
00:34:59
Speaker
Sure. I do love pickleball, but as a husband, part of being a husband is understanding who your wife is.
00:35:11
Speaker
And when your wife latches onto something, sometimes you have to latch onto it too. And I was hesitant at first, but my wife is going crazy out there playing pickleball. And she said, hey, let's try this together. And I did. And I fell in love with it too. And she's much better than me. She's incredible. And I love her to death. She's the most fantastic person in my life.
00:35:37
Speaker
Uh, but you know, I'm in pickleball because of my wife. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be playing it. However, I do love to play. I love the competition. I love the fast pace. And just like I said, I'm a people person. Yeah. I've met so many people from so many walks of life, from so many cultures, backgrounds, and just in stages of life and whether good or bad.
00:36:03
Speaker
just being able to be around them and get to know them. So that's what's most important to me about Biggle Ball is the people.
00:36:12
Speaker
That's awesome. Yeah. You, you had told me that yesterday and I was just thinking about it last night and I think that's what it's all about. That's just, I mean, more than this, this, you know, it's great. You're getting out, you're active, you're outside, but the people will make it everything. And that's when you said that that's super cool. I'm glad I might have to try it now. My brother, my, both of my brothers are playing it too. They might, you might all drag me down into it. So I tried to get your dad out there, but he hasn't, he hasn't come around yet. He's a hardcore tennis player. Pickleball game.
00:36:41
Speaker
All right. Well, this has been a great episode with Mike where Mike, thanks so much for being here. I think this is really good discussion. Um, I really enjoy these conversations and hopefully they're helpful to everyone and learning a little bit more about someone you see and interact with every day. Cool. So until the next one, thanks guys. And I'll see you next time. Thank you.