In today’s Shop Talk, Bill and Alex discuss the Asoh Defense — the forgotten leadership principle that says admitting your mistake honestly and immediately is more powerful than any excuse you could make.
This one’s for anyone who’s ever been wrong about something. So, everyone.
Most commencement speeches are forgotten within days. But when country music star Eric Church compared life to a guitar with six strings that must stay in tune—faith, family, relationships, ambition, community, and identity—the message struck a chord with millions. In this Shop Talk, Bill and Alex unpack the viral speech and explore what it means to keep your own life in tune when the world keeps pulling you out of it.
For Shop Talk, the extraordinary story one Army member inspiring another one, which inspires us and hopefully you! Amy Crenshaw’s nonprofit ComeUnity Cafe where you can donate money or work for your food inspired Lisa Fox to drive 9 hours from Wellington, OH to Jackson, TN to volunteer there for several days and explore if she can do something similar in her community. Listen to this episode and think: Who can inspire me to do even more?
After surviving poverty, racism, violence, and a near-fatal beating, John Perkins chose a path few people ever would: forgiveness. This Shop Talk explores the life of one of America’s most influential Christian leaders and his radical vision for building what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called “the beloved community.”
What if many food pantries (and other types of nonprofits) are solving the wrong problem? This week on Shop Talk, Birch Community Services reveals a radically different model that helps families escape financial instability — and offers lessons that could reshape how you think about service, dignity, and what it actually takes to help people flourish.
In this episode of Shop Talk, we unpack the unexpected plane ride conversation that transformed Steve Young from being stuck in victim mode into an NFL MVP — and why Stephen Covey’s challenge to “find out how good you can get” applies far beyond football. It’s a powerful story about ownership, mindset, and the moment you stop making excuses and start becoming who you’re capable of being.
This Shop Talk gets into a hard truth: you don’t feel overwhelmed because your schedule is full—you feel overwhelmed because of expectations. We unpack why the very thing many are cutting—service and connection—might actually be the thing holding your life together.
A 24-year-old man dies—and over 10,000 people show up to his funeral, revealing a hidden life of quietly showing up for others. This Shop Talk explores how Pier Giorgio Frassati built that kind of life—and how you can too.
Service didn’t disappear—it got outsourced. In this Shop Talk, we unpack the trend of nonprofits shifting from relying on volunteers to paid staff members, how it’s weakening our communities—and why reclaiming responsibility starts with normal folks like you choosing to show up.
In this Shop Talk, we unpack how Kobe Bryant’s powerful redemption story proves that your worst mistakes don’t have to define you. And how An Army of Normal Folks can make a difference, even when our stories aren’t perfect!