Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Executive Vice President & CEO of AQHA, Karl Stressman
105 Plays1 year ago
In this episode of the Kick Your Boots Up Podcast, we sit down with an industry legend: the Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Quarter Horse Association, Karl Stressman. He’s an avid Team Roper with over 25 years of experience in the Western and Rodeo industry. And did we mention he's a father of 8 children? Don't miss this inspiring and insightful conversation! For a full episode transcript, visit our website at www.justinboots.com/en/kick-your-boots-up.html.
Recommended
Transcript
Welcome and Introduction
00:00:02
Speaker
You're listening to the Kick Your Boots Up podcast, where we swap stories of the West. Whether you're just waking up or getting in for the day, come on in and kick your boots up. Hi, everybody, and thanks for joining us on the Kick Your Boots Up podcast. This week's episode is legendary. Let's just leave it at that.
Who is Carl Stressman?
00:00:20
Speaker
He's been known as the National High School Rodeo Man of the Year in 2009. He was the Women's Professional Rodeo Association's Person of the Year in 2014.
00:00:29
Speaker
the Resist All Man of the Year in 2017. Probably his biggest and most favorite title is the father of eight children and a husband to his wife, Allison, an avid team roper, and he has more than 25 years experience in the Western industry, none other than the executive vice president and chief executive officer of the American Quarter Horse Association, Mr. Carl Stressman. Carl, thank you for being here today. It is my pleasure, I can tell you that.
00:00:58
Speaker
Yes. And you know, your, your friendship and partnership with Justin goes far beyond the rodeo arena. And we'll talk through that a little bit later, but before we do on this episode, I want everyone out there to get a chance to know you a little bit better.
Carl's Early Life and Influences
00:01:09
Speaker
So tell us about how you grew up and where you grew up and what life was like, um, for you starting out as a young lad, as a cowboy. You know, I grew up in Tucson, Arizona, and, uh, I have, um, I
00:01:23
Speaker
I was lucky enough fortunate enough to be able to start riding horses early in my childhood. My dad was actually a Methodist preacher, so we kind of lived at the edge of town.
00:01:38
Speaker
And, you know, Tucson, Arizona area has has a lot of washes and, you know, opportunities to ride so we didn't have our own horses when I was real little but we found a place that would let us come and ride them and exercise them so
00:01:54
Speaker
Tucson was a great place when I was a young man because it was small and you could be out of town in a very short order in Tucson. So it was a great opportunity to grow up in a leave it to beaver type family. And everybody won't understand that because of the age on that television show. But the facts are I did grow up in a family that was
00:02:18
Speaker
that was pretty darn cool. And I feel blessed and fortunate that I had an opportunity to grow up in that kind of family. So everybody didn't have that opportunity. So I'm very thankful that that was the case. But I grew up there in Tucson and went to high school there, obviously went to the University of Arizona. And then I left there, you know, when I was a young man in my early 20s and
00:02:41
Speaker
Move to phoenix and i just was trying to find my way and fortunately for me i stumbled in the. Company that was selling saddles and you know i'm so seem to fit fit my lifestyle and i had the opportunity to.
00:02:58
Speaker
You know, I've spent the last 73 years on this earth just hanging out. And I get to wear a hat every day and represent something that I have absolutely got great passion for. And that's the Western industry and the people that are in it and what it means to our country, what it means to people and what it means to children.
Passion for the Western Industry
00:03:20
Speaker
I've just been, I'm a pretty lucky guy, I can tell you that.
00:03:24
Speaker
Oh, yeah. And there's a few words that stood out to me there. You said thankful and passionate. And I think that's going to kind of run throughout this whole interview and talk with you. But I just got to say, I'm thankful to be able to speak with you. I know we'll get into your life experiences and everything you've gotten to do in the industry just a little bit later, but I'm a huge fan. I actually got to meet you when I was young, young, young, just getting started in the industry. And
00:03:47
Speaker
Um, I just remember thinking, wow, what a man that has a true passion, um, keeps the Cowboys first and is a cowboy. I just really, really admire you for that. So how did somebody that, um, started out with, with the upbringing that you did fall in love with team roping fall in love with the cowboy way of life? How did you get started? When did you first swing your leg over the saddle? Tell us about that.
00:04:09
Speaker
You know what, I've been roping most all my life and I haven't gotten any better at it, but I've been roping most all my life. And, you know, my brother was a big influence on me. He was the real deal. And when he went to the University of Arizona, he was working on a feed lot there in South Phoenix down at Buckeye. And so I got to have that experience. I was still in high school and I got to have that experience with him.
00:04:36
Speaker
he ended up managing that feedlot for years and so you know it was it was just part of certainly was part of his life and it became part of mine and i would go down there and work on the weekends once a while when the cowboy's got too drunk to show up at the feedlot you know my brother called me and said hey can you can you uh come down here and write pens with me and i got a chance to do that and uh
00:05:01
Speaker
I didn't do it a lot because I thought, you know what, I'm going to probably make a living doing something else besides riding pants. So I decided early on that that was probably going to be, probably was not going to be my chosen occupation to ride pants in the feedlot. But, you know, involved in all of that, it just, it almost transitions for you into, particularly then, into the team roping world and you'll be able to
00:05:27
Speaker
you know, to set a good horse and have fun and go rope and be competitive in the world. And, you know, Danny Gentry brought the number system in place. So we didn't all have to rope against the big dogs, you know. And so that was a that was a huge part of when I was a little younger and then was family and starting families and doing all those kind of things that you do in your 30s. And, you know, it was just a it was a good time
00:05:54
Speaker
It was a good time of life, but it was a good time in the world too. It had some advantages over maybe what today looks like for everybody.
00:06:03
Speaker
You know, and I love that you brought up the number system. I feel like that's a controversial topic in my opinion. I personally love it. I'm glad that they did that so that you have the opportunity to look forward to something to get better. You're constantly looking, looking to forward and getting better. So I appreciate that. And speaking of that, you have, you've done so many things. You've gotten to rope with so many amazing people, but I'm just genuinely curious, how did you get to AQHA?
Career Journey to AQHA
00:06:25
Speaker
What, what roads collided and allowed you to get where you are today?
00:06:29
Speaker
Well, you know, when I say that I was fortunate, that I really mean that. If you look at my career and how in the world it happened, I can't tell you. I will tell you a funny story in a minute.
00:06:43
Speaker
You know, to be able to have represented one of the great all-time brands in the Ranger Gene Company. And what an opportunity those guys provided for me over all the years that I was part of the Ranger brand. And then to be invited to come to the PRCA and be the commissioner of the PRCA.
00:07:07
Speaker
And then take us, you know, then then decide in 17 that I really was done. I really wanted to be done. I'm not kidding. I really wanted to be done as much as people say that.
00:07:19
Speaker
You know, those jobs, those are great jobs, those are great jobs. It still comes with the pressure of trying to raise a family and do all the things you do and travel and do the things that so many people do every day that maybe some of us don't recognize unless we're doing it ourselves. Those were difficult days. So in 17, I really thought that I had
00:07:47
Speaker
as the commissioner. And I thought, you know what, I talked to Allie about it. And I said, Allie, you know what, I really want to, I think let's go play for a while and have some fun and do what we want to do. I think we deserve it. And she has been such a loyal partner for me over all those years. And so here we are. So we go. So we say, we're out.
00:08:12
Speaker
See you. Thanks for the opportunity. Turn it over to somebody else. Let them have the headaches and all that go with it. I never regretted making that decision.
00:08:26
Speaker
to go from Ranger to the BRCA because I really wanted to make a difference and thought that I had the opportunity and maybe the skill level to try to make a difference in professional rodeo. Believe me, Ranger was wonderful and they were so good to me. It was just almost ridiculous how good they were to me. But then to have the opportunity to become the commissioner of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association,
00:08:52
Speaker
I got to tell you my kids, you know, and between now we have eight of them, and I have 11 and a half grandchildren because my my old my youngest daughter just announced the other day that she's pregnant with her second baby so we're going to be we're going to be grandparents to 12 here in just a few months but.
00:09:10
Speaker
But to have the opportunity to do that within that PRCA system, one time one of my kids said to me, dad, how did you ever get to be the commissioner of PRCA? And I said, well, it was the only job that was available when I applied. If I'd have been the janitor, I'd have been the best damn janitor they could have had. But I said, instead, of course, they laughed because they were like,
00:09:34
Speaker
I don't get that. I don't understand how my dad got to be the commissioner of BRCA, but then I got a chance to go work with Denny and Connie Gentry after I retired because I did a little consulting for the USTRC. And that was great because I got to learn some things from certainly from them and they are dear friends of mine, but they are better.
00:09:57
Speaker
unbelievably successful in the team roping industry. They're both really good, good people that wanna create an opportunity. And then I went to the Miss Rodeo America, by the way, the Miss Rodeo America pageant in Las Vegas, where I judged there about, well, I don't know if I'm gonna get this one correct or not, maybe 2021.
00:10:24
Speaker
I'm gonna guess that's a couple years ago. I was retired and I was roping about three days a week playing off the other three and then taking the Sundays off and having fun. And I thought I was enjoying life. And a guy by the name of Jim Hunt, who is on our executive committee here at the AQHA rancher out South Dakota.
00:10:45
Speaker
He and I had known each other, but obviously we're not friends because we didn't hang out at all. He asked me during that judge in Miss Rodeo America, what do you think about coming to work for the AQSJ, Carl? I'm like, what are you talking about? I'm not going to work for anybody. I don't know. Thanks for the offer, but I don't want a job. I'm done. I did my deal.
00:11:09
Speaker
I don't need it. I don't need the job. I don't need the, I certainly don't need the fame and fortune. I don't need, I just want to, I want to enjoy my life really with the, with my kids and my grandkids and you know, and so anyway, one thing led to another and then I was like, Oh man. That's so I talked it over with Ali and I'm like, Oh, I don't want to be the, I don't want to be the guy that doesn't do the job. I want to be the guy that still has enough gas left in the tank.
00:11:38
Speaker
to fire every single day as hard as I can. And if I don't have that, I'm not going to do anything. It's unfair to the people that you don't have self-evaluation of who you are and what you are and what you got left. And so at 71 years old, I said, OK, I'll come. Because
00:12:01
Speaker
How cool was, so when you look at the brands that I got the chance to identify with, I got a chance to identify with the greatest gene company in the Western industry.
00:12:13
Speaker
the absolutely the greatest association as far as professional rodeo goes. The Team Rope in the World, which started with the number system on the US, and then to end up my career, and I promise I'm going to retire after this gig. Don't anybody call me because I'm not coming back to work. To be able to do that with the American Quarter Horse Association, the largest breed association in the world. I mean, are you kidding me? Who in the world
00:12:42
Speaker
Has that kind of luck? Well, I guess you're looking at them because I feel pretty darn lucky to be able to have represented those great, great brands. Oh yes. Legendary brands. And I'm so glad that you mentioned that because yes, these are brands that obviously have been around forever. Very similar to Justin, which is probably why the partnership between the AQHA and Justin meshes so well, because we're all running forward towards the same goals of preserving the heritage, preserving the industry and
00:13:10
Speaker
I can't help but think that you've you're the perfect example for that because having eight kids there's opportunities for high school rodeo, junior high rodeo, college rodeo, all the things. Tell us a little bit about briefly what it was like with the eight kids and taking them here and doing this and helping them qualify here and what was all that like?
00:13:26
Speaker
You have just got to be so involved in any of your children's life. It doesn't go anywhere else. Here was the biggest issue with mine, though, is that not many of them, they could all ride and do whatever they need to do. But not too many of them competed. And the reason they didn't was because I was on the road all the time.
00:13:51
Speaker
making a living, but I didn't have the time. They could have gone anywhere they wanted to. You want to go to Joe Bieber's house and learn how to rope calves? You could have gone in five seconds. All you had to do was call. If you want to go rope with Trevor Brazil, all you had to do was call me because of the involvement.
00:14:09
Speaker
We had relationships with everybody, all the great people out there, but they just, it just didn't work that way very well. So my kids really are not, now they grew up around rodeos, but they didn't really, not too many of them really rodeo. Again, my girls can ride and, you know, some of them cut and some of them, you know, so it was, it wasn't exactly the way I had planned it. If I was planted somewhere and had a job that I had at eight to five,
00:14:39
Speaker
and the horses were ready and saddled and then the trader when you get home it's a little easier but when you fly in at six in the morning and try to get to
00:14:46
Speaker
Not only that, but then on top of the stack, on top of that, the athletics playing whatever, they all played different sports. And so it was a commitment I can assure you to try to get to enough of the activities that they had to try to get them. But I made it work pretty good, I can tell you that. Because I wasn't opposed to getting up at four in the morning and trying to fly home somewhere to see my kids perform. Yeah.
00:15:14
Speaker
Even if that meant you made it at the last second. Yeah. And Carl, I appreciate that you said that because there's a lot of people out there that see this rodeo lifestyle and they wonder how the parents do it. You know, ideally a parent would work from home, work remotely, and then they can take them to hall to practices and rodeos. And so I appreciate your realness and your insight there.
00:15:32
Speaker
I'm so thankful that you ended up at the AQHA where you are now because that's allowing our paths to cross again and getting to really talk about the AQHA and giving it the light that it is. As you mentioned, it's for everyone out there that isn't familiar with the AQHA, shame on you, first of all. Second of all,
00:15:47
Speaker
to tell you a little bit more about it. It's located in Amarillo, Texas, and it's the world's largest equine breed registry. And there's, oh my goodness, all kinds of different shows all across the world. You can qualify for the world. So I guess let's just break it down in a little bit. What does the AQHA mean to you? Well, you know, back when I was first introduced to the AQHA, it was of course with just horse registrations and riding quarter horses when I was younger.
00:16:15
Speaker
But when I got to Ranger then, at one time, Ranger was the largest sponsor of the American Court Association. Them and Justin are two of the oldest brands that represented the AQHA. I believe that Justin goes back to
00:16:32
Speaker
Man, I want to say 86 or 85 or somewhere close to that deal. So, so do the battle and have partners with the H-U-H-A. Ranger, yeah, Ranger rivaled him just along the way. And that's where I really, like you and I talked briefly about, that's where I really get to know old Tom Feller and that wonderful, you know,
00:16:55
Speaker
group that's there and in Dara Fisher you know and I have been dear dear dear friends for so many years she probably wouldn't admit to how many years it actually is but because because it'll age her but I'm going to tell you we've been friends so long.
00:17:10
Speaker
They were, it was such an important part of the, of the industry at the time. I'm not even sure people realized how important the Ranger brand and the Justin brand and the resist all brand in the, in Ram trucks. When I go back and look at professional rodeo and see that those people are still there, you know, Justin's participation in the, in the not only the crisis fund, but the Justin sports med
00:17:36
Speaker
It is phenomenal. People don't realize the cost of that. I do because I was part of that deal. I was part of the PRCA piece on that deal. But what John Justin did in the days when that was his money and he just wouldn't hear of not being able to sponsor
00:17:54
Speaker
an awful lot of cowboys and an awful lot of rodeos and just those kind of things that he was one of the ones that knew who his customer was till the day he died. And he always was part of this industry. The Ranger brand the same way, even being owned by a big conglomerate Ranger, they still understand their customer.
00:18:15
Speaker
and who their customer is the same with the boys at the hat company and there's just so many of them that stayed hooked and now we're seeing more and more new opportunities and the AQHA has the same situation and that is
00:18:32
Speaker
But we're all vying for the same dollar. And so we as the AQHA or the PRCA, or those people have to now deliver more in deliverables to those companies than even in the past. The industry's changed a little bit. And I think Tom and Darla would tell you that. Jeff Chadwick will tell you, Ricky Baldwin will tell you that. The industry's changed. And it used to be that we shook hands
00:19:00
Speaker
We went out and drank a beer and we were friends, so we did business together. That's not so much anymore. So when I see Tom and Donna, when I see Chadwick, when I see Ricky Bolden and we get together and we laugh and drink a beer, it's like old home week. But when you start talking to some of these other bigger corporations, we have to be very professional about how we sell our product and what we deliver as far as the corporate sponsorship. So it's a different game.
00:19:29
Speaker
It is. And that's a very interesting outlook and gudos to you. You're a sharp man. It, the partnership started in 1985. You're exactly right. And I had to ask Darla a little bit about, about it. And yeah, she said 38 years. So, just incredible. That just goes to show you're exactly right. The type of people that are involved with the organizations across the board. I mean, you could list off any of your sponsors and, and it's the same thing. So that's super incredible. And I want to touch a little bit more on, I mean,
00:19:54
Speaker
AQHA has so many different facets. The AQHYA, the AQHA Foundation, there's the World Show. Tell us a little bit about some of the events that you guys have where people can get involved, people can go watch, people, I mean, your members alone are so strong. So tell us a little bit about all of
AQHA's Global Influence
00:20:12
Speaker
that. Well, we're 235,000 members strong.
00:20:18
Speaker
That's a pretty good size number. That people don't really realize because we're primarily a breed registration. We're the largest breed registration in the world. We do business in 36 countries. We have about 35,000 international members, but we got 6 million quarter horses registered. And obviously register every year with the yearlings and all the things that go on.
00:20:47
Speaker
But we are primarily our read association with transfers and registrations and memberships is really how we survive. The opportunities for us like World Show and The Youth Show and level, we have three levels of competition.
00:21:06
Speaker
The level ones that are competing right now is really a growing piece of our business, which is exciting to see. We'll be at the World Show here in about 60 days, and we have had more phone calls than I would like to be on about World Show and all the things that we're doing. But when we got here, I've been here for
00:21:30
Speaker
16 months. And we got here with an attitude of how do we satisfy the needs of our members? How do you listen to them? And how do you proceed with listening to your members? So at the World Show last year, we had a town hall meeting, which was a little scary to me at first, because I'm like, so really, we're going to invite all these people to come tell us what we're doing right and wrong? Holy smokes, I'm not sure.
00:22:00
Speaker
We might have to build a cage with chicken washer, the beer bottles don't get us, but we didn't have to do that, obviously. So we sat down with our members and I don't know if it was the first time ever, but it was first time in a long time to hear what they had to say, what they liked about the World Show. This was at the very end of the World Show, what they liked about it, what they didn't like about it, what we did right and what we did wrong. Tell us, we're big boys, we can handle this, and girls, we're big boys and girls, we can handle this, so tell us what you don't like.
00:22:29
Speaker
And they did. And we went back to the drawing board and we started from scratch to say, what are we going to do for the 2023 World Show? And we've implemented some of those changes that they offered for us and were instrumental in telling us what they thought we should and shouldn't do. You can't listen about all because you have to put yourself in a position to be, first of all, be able to listen and secondly, be able to make the changes effective
00:22:58
Speaker
So we had, and it was great. So we have some cool stuff going on at the World Show. Obviously the level ones are grown, the youth are growing and the NQHA in fact is growing. So the World Show, we expect the 2023 to be better. We're offering more money. I'll tell you an interesting fact in that meeting,
00:23:27
Speaker
that one of the biggest things that I heard was we you took our world champion jackets away because at one time they did it was a few years back but they said okay we're trying to redesign and most of us weren't here so it wasn't anything I'm not blaming anybody for it but it was fine so guess what we brought the jackets back because that's what they said they wanted so it's not what I want it's what I can do
00:23:53
Speaker
to implement the changes that the members of the association want. This is a different, member associations are a different game than when Rangajinkum. Because, you know, as far as private business and member associations are like apples and walnuts. They are, so I had the opportunity to have a really, a great 10 years at the PRCA learning.
00:24:19
Speaker
how to operate effectively within a member association. And I got to transfer those skills to the AQHA, another great, great brand. So like I said, I was at the right place at the right time and had the opportunity to have a wonderful deal. We're putting all the effort we can into the AQHA for the next few years to make it as good as we can and leave it a lot better than it was when we got here.
00:24:48
Speaker
Good for you. That's the cowboy way. And I just can't commend you enough for that. And it's even cool to think back to my husband, his uncle and grandpa and dad and stuff, they owned a horse that ended up winning the world and 19 something. And you know what? That trophy and those buckles, those are lifetime memories. They're displayed in the family room. You know, everyone has those stories.
00:25:09
Speaker
his grandpa to this day we still like to talk about it and get him telling those stories again and again so we can hold on to those memories and I just got to ask what's it mean to you and how does it feel to be a part of an organization that has such an impact on families and you don't even realize it.
00:25:24
Speaker
I think the biggest part of it is you don't realize, you know what, we're just working stiff down here in Amarillo, Texas trying to get the job done and make it so that the return on your invested membership is a hundred times what it is as far as real dollars go. One of the great things is to have seen over the years
00:25:48
Speaker
those Cowboys at the PRCA received those goal buckles. I mean, up close and personal. As close as you and I are on the screen is to see those men and women get those goal buckles at the Ranger National Finals. It's unbelievable to be able to do that. I got to do it for 10 years, so I got to see that for 10 years. But now to change the subject matter and not all rodeo
00:26:16
Speaker
obviously rodeo events get to see those kids and those adults and get those globes in their hand. It's just like that gold buckle. That's the gold buckle to them, is that globe. And then, of course, their world champion buckle, AQHA buckle. So you just know that it's not just what they put into it money-wise, but all the effort that they put into it, just like rodeo.
00:26:44
Speaker
You got to go. If you're going to win, you got to go. And that's the big push that we're trying to do right now is put enough pieces out there that they can qualify and make sure that they're, they have the ability to choose whether they want to go participate in a world show. But as you said, there's just, there's tons of events you can qualify. And so it's, again, that, you know, I've seen, I've had so many, I've had such a fortunate
00:27:11
Speaker
opportunity to be able to see those kind of things up close. But most people, very frankly, don't have the opportunity to do. So I feel pretty good about it. And I can't tell you how those brands that I have been fortunate to be around, how much they mean, not only to me personally, but to my family and what they have created for my life and my kids' life and my grandkids' life. And it's just a cool view, very cool.
00:27:39
Speaker
It really is. And that's actually a really cool segue to kind of talk about your life a little bit more in detail. And so I can't help but ask, and I know inquiring minds out there want to know, tell me about some memorable experiences from the past. I mean, you mentioned the gold buckles, but even blasts from the past of funny memories, sad memories, laughable memories. You tell me what really comes to mind when you think about your over 25 year career in the Western industry.
00:28:04
Speaker
Well, I, you know, and I love the team rope. I really do. I'd rather do that than eat. I really would. And, but, but my team, I haven't rope much since I got to the AQHA. My horses are standing out there and looking at me like, what in the world, what happened here? I thought we were your favorite animals. And, uh, but I got a chance to rope a lot when I was younger and I got a chance to, when I was at Ranger to fly in and out of places. And I got to ride lots and lots of horses and, uh,
00:28:33
Speaker
And you know what, back in the day, I wrote pretty decent and have some trinkets in my trophy case to do it. But I got a chance because of my position at like Ranger and or the PRC to work with some of the greats.
00:28:50
Speaker
You know, I rode one of Georgia's horses at one time at the Open to the World in Slato. And, you know, I broke with some of the country stars that grow up and haven't had the opportunity to have a relationship as a friend to some of the some of the greats really out there. So, you know,
00:29:09
Speaker
To say that most people have that opportunity, they do not. You know, playing that tough enough to wear pink golf tournament that's out there in Vegas every year that Terry Wheatley and her family are so instrumental and to get George Street to participate in that deal, put his name on that deal and be able to talk about those things and touch people outside of what their comfort zone is.
00:29:35
Speaker
you know, as a country music artist and be able to, you know, to pick up the phone and ask questions and do things that are instrumental.
00:29:47
Speaker
Who knows? Who the hell knows if a kid from a little boy from Tucson, Arizona is going to grow up to be the commissioner of the PRCA or the CEO of the American Quarter Horse Association? I just had a ball. The Ranger days were just fun days. We were doing really, really well financially at Ranger.
00:30:09
Speaker
And they wanted us out there in the marketplace to interact with people. And it was a party when the Reagan boys showed up back in the day, I promise you that. I'll probably never have been accused of not having a good time. And I'm not going to stop now. I'm not going to stop now having a good time. So the opportunities were tremendous. I mean, I could go, you could keep me on here a long time. If I could remember some of them, I would tell you about them. But you know what I mean?
00:30:36
Speaker
But it's just one of those things that is pretty cool. Most of those memories probably should go untold, right? Well, I can assure you, if I wrote a book, I would probably have to have a censor in it of some kind that would say, I don't think you can say that or do that. One of my dear, dear friends, Butch Morgan, who is a longtime AQHA member and one of my dearest, dearest, dearest friends in the whole wide world,
00:31:03
Speaker
one time said we ought to write a book about the our experiences over the years and I said you know what you'd have maybe one page in the book that you could actually print the rest of them not so much so there we there you go
00:31:20
Speaker
Yeah, and you could have a disclaimer. Do not try this at home, kids. I love that so much. I guess I can't help but then follow up with this. Since you've had so many different coal experiences, you mentioned riding horses. Of course, George is another good partnership of ours with the George Strait Collection.
00:31:36
Speaker
So that's really cool, you know, to get hand in hand. But I guess if we're going to get on the horse topic, let's kind of talk about the evolution of horses really quick, because I think that's kind of changed and evolved. And now we want horses for different things and we're starting to breed them for specific opportunities. So talk to us a little bit briefly about that with your experience.
00:31:55
Speaker
It's going to be interesting what the future looks like for us because the genetics are part of, they're kind of right on the tip of everybody's tongue right now as to what we're going to look at and see. I don't know all about it, but I can assure you there's a lot going on that we don't know about just like everything else. And the ability for us to be so technical, we're hearing
00:32:21
Speaker
The AQHA is not active on this. We're hearing that we can read out some of the defects in horses in the future. I don't know what the future means, whether the future means tomorrow or whether it means 10 years from now.
00:32:35
Speaker
But there are people that are working really diligently on looking at horses and taking out the pieces that aren't so good in the breeds themselves. And you're like, wow, that just seems like something. And you won't remember this because of being young. That seems like something that was for outer space when I was a young man.
00:33:01
Speaker
that people would talk about some of those things like, OK, well, we can breed out if this is this. This horse has got bad hocks. We can breed those out of there. What? There's just no way it's almost, you know, supernatural to be able to do that. And I think the jury is probably still out on people that are saying, OK, wait a minute. How how is this going to work? But knowing that that the intelligent level has gotten so strong that the
00:33:31
Speaker
There's some, there's some interesting things in the future of the horse. Well, of any industry, but the one we care about the most obvious is the horse industry. The American Quarter Horse hasn't changed tremendously. I mean, there was a bunch of guys sitting around in 1940 and in Fort Worth, Texas, probably drinking beer and they go, Hey, let's start a breed registration. What should we call it? Now let's just follow up the quote on. So here we are 83 years later.
00:33:58
Speaker
And you can trace everything back and look at all the, you know, other breeds and all the breathing that's been done on the American Coronal Society. And very frankly, the horses have changed even in the looks. And, you know, we have we have refined some of them for certain disciplines. But by and large, you know, they're they're not too much different than they were.
00:34:18
Speaker
uh you know 75 years ago but I think there's probably the opportunity soon to maybe start seeing some things that may or may not be recognized in terms of you know looking in a visually but but maybe we're changing the insides a little bit so it'll be interesting to see and I think it's worth
00:34:41
Speaker
with everybody that's a horse person, which I don't know anybody that's not, you know, to keep in mind that that is happening. And those results probably will be released sometime not too far in the future.
00:34:59
Speaker
You know, I can't help but be thankful for the progression that's been made. I know I personally, my sister and I have a horse that was impressive bred. And I really do believe that we would have gotten a good, maybe even 10 years out of her, even longer if she wouldn't have had the issues that she did with her stifles and her hawks. And so that's a really good topic to be watching for sure. And another thing that's kind of newer and
00:35:20
Speaker
more controversy that we don't actually have to get into is cloning. I can only imagine what it was like if you're saying just breeding out certain genes and genetic dysfunctions, but cloning now is starting to become a bigger thing. That seems like another foreign language, but we're almost out of time with you. I want to utilize the most time that we can. I can't help but wonder, you've been able to manage so many teams and been a part of successful teams.
Leadership Philosophy
00:35:44
Speaker
What is it like managing people and overseeing their day-to-day and being the one that at the end of the day, everyone looks to you for a motivational pet talk or what do we do next situation? What's that like? I think I probably have my own management style. I think I'm a good listener. I'm not always the smartest one in the room, but if I'm not the smartest one in the room, most of the time, I probably shouldn't be in the room.
00:36:15
Speaker
when it comes to how you define. I am not a micromanager and you can talk to anybody that's worked with me. I am not a micromanager. I don't believe in it. I believe that people get hired for their skill level.
00:36:30
Speaker
I believe it's management's opportunity to look and see where the skill level fits the best in an organization. And then I think you kick them out there and tell them get after it. What's the worst that can happen? The worst that can happen is you make a mistake. If I had to pay for all the mistakes I've made in 73 years, I'd probably still be in jail. I mean, it really, it is part of it. I think you show courtesy to people every day. I think when you need to be strong,
00:37:00
Speaker
you're strong because it demands it. When you don't need to be the one that has all the things to say, then you can probably lunch up. And if you just shut up for a little while and listen, I do believe that. When we got here at the culture of the AQHA, it was one of the biggest initiatives that I asked the staff here. Tell me, we took the senior staff into the first meeting and said, tell me, I want you to come back next week with two initiatives.
00:37:27
Speaker
one that is related to your individual department, IT member experience, and one related to the building with everybody inclusive in it. And then this group will decide what the most important initiatives are, and we will go at those initiatives and complete them before we take out another one. Because so many times you get bogged down with all of the
00:37:52
Speaker
you know, all of it, and nobody can do that. So we did that. And one of the biggest things that they talked about was the culture of the building, the culture of the building. Every day at eight o'clock, everybody's expected to be in the building. Every day at Final Block, they're expected to go home. And so we got them captured more time than they spend with their own families in lots of ways. So if we can't make this an enjoyable experience, we won't have
00:38:20
Speaker
employees that will continue to stay with us. I have, interesting, we had an employee assembly about maybe a week or so ago. So we got 200 plus employees in this building. And we had a assembly and I said, okay, so everybody stand up. So everybody stood up. I said, okay, if you have worked less than five years at the AQAJ sit down,
00:38:47
Speaker
So obviously some people sat down. How about 10 years? How about 15? Some sat down. How about 20? How about 25? How about 30? How about 35? At 35, there were four ladies still standing in that audience. 40, I knocked them all out. But at 35, there were four over here. That kind of experience is
00:39:17
Speaker
is one of them is 39 years of the AQHA. That 39 years of experience is mind-blowing. I don't think that happens much anymore, but how cool is that? We have 39 years worth of experience that we can then depend on for some decisions that are made. That's the kind of thing that I want to establish for the AQHA. I want long-term employees. I want to be the highest paying entity in the city of Amarillo, Texas based on merit.
00:39:47
Speaker
Not on longevity, but based on merit. And I want to make sure that we are partners with them real Texas who has been and is very kind to the AQHA. So that's kind of my philosophy, you know, hire somebody and let them do their job and have their back when they need you to have their back. That's just pretty simple. I'm a pretty simple thinker. So I got to get it simple for me to understand what's going on.
00:40:12
Speaker
I've enjoyed it tremendously over the last 16 months of being part of this organization and seeing the great people that we have within our organization. And I think the great things that we can do, we can accomplish. They have accomplished great things, not taking anything away from anybody else. But I can tell you what, we got some more we can do in the next few years. And then I promise I'm going to retire. I'm going to go rope and play golf.
00:40:40
Speaker
And that's well-deserved. That will be well-deserved too. And I appreciate, I really do the insight that you have there. And I can't help ask you one more question then. What advice would you have to anyone that wants to be a CEO? Because there's a lot of our listeners that are my age, even younger that might just be getting started in their career or in their mid thirties and starting to look forward to something, you know, something bigger. So what advice would you have for anyone out there like us that are just trying to make our way to the top?
00:41:07
Speaker
I'm going to tell you, I don't know if I ever really thought about that my goal was to, you know, someday I'm going to be the commissioner, someday I'm going to be the CEO, or someday I'm going to be whatever it is that I have been in my career. But I do think that you have to decide whether what opportunity calls you take it or you don't. I don't believe in coincidences. What I believe in is opportunity.
00:41:34
Speaker
you choose the opportunities that you think are the best opportunities for you and your family and your career. And it may not be in that order. It may sometimes be in that, but it may not always be in that order. So I think you always have to look at opportunity. When I was a young man, I moved my kids around a lot because it seemed like I was always being offered something else to do. But it also took a move and it took, you know,
00:42:03
Speaker
you know, uprooting my kids and going. And you know what? Everyone of them is a valuable adult today. And I think some of that experience was really helpful. I think some of it was hurtful at times, and you had to watch and see that you didn't do it very often. But when opportunity presents itself, I always said, all right, I'm in.
00:42:24
Speaker
You know, if the money's good and we can do this, but you also have to know who you are and how you handle those kind of opportunities, but don't be afraid to take an opportunity because, but don't stay too long at the opportunity if it's not what you think it is. So be mobile.
Advice for Career Growth
00:42:42
Speaker
In your own mind, be mobile and be mobile, literally be mobile.
00:42:45
Speaker
If you're staying one place and that's where you're going to stay, then you have to accept the consequences of your actions there. So it's a balancing act as you well know. Anybody who's doing it, anybody who's working as a family, they know that it's a balancing act. I think you can only do the very best that you can do.
00:43:07
Speaker
That's well said. You can do the best that you can do. That's exactly right. Thank you, Carl, for your insight, your wisdom, your stories. This has been far beyond what I even expected. So I know that there's a lot of good, a lot of listeners out there that thought that there are a lot of good pieces to this interview. So I really, really appreciate your time. And I wish you the best. I mean, you mentioned 60 days from now or, you know, very soon the, the world show is going to be here and yeah, I just wish you the best with all of that. That's in Oklahoma.
00:43:33
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Oklahoma City. Yes, ma'am. Very good. Well, good luck with everything there. On behalf of Justin, we're so appreciative of the partnership, the opportunity to have the AQHA collection of boots. If you guys are listening out there and you want to kind of hear about what the AQHA is about, you can go to our website and find under our partners, under the Justin tab of our partners. Get to know more about the AQHA, get to know more about the AQHA collection at Justin. And overall, just appreciate the opportunity that we've had to get to know a little bit more of Carl's story. So thank you again for being here.
00:44:03
Speaker
It is my pleasure. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Thanks for joining us on Kick Your Boots Up. I'm your host, Taylor McAdams, and we can't wait to share the next story of the West. Until then, feel free to like, subscribe, and leave us a review. Follow us on social media at Justin Boots to keep up with our next episode. And we'll see you the next time you kick your boots up.