[00:00] Dr. Kevin Basik: Who are you trying to be? What is the legacy you want to create? You know, these are the things that once we reconnect with those, sometimes it gives us strength to push against the fear and cross the gap. We call it, there’s the decision gap. Hey, I’m going to do this. There’s a big gap between deciding to do something and actually doing it.

[00:23] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Welcome to another episode of success for the athletic minded man, real talk on harnessing your athletic drive for clarity. Consistency and focus in business and life. This is your host, Jim Harshaw, Jr. And today I’m going to blow. Your mind. Actually, I’m not going to blow your mind. Dr. Kevin basic, my guest is going to blow your mind.

[00:44] Jim Harshaw Jr.: I mean, I got chills at least three times in this conversation. And you know, I’ve interviewed hundreds of people over years interviewing this podcast and Holy cow. This is just one of those interviews that just resonated with my soul. And it’s going to resonate with your soul. Kevin and I talked for a good 20, 25 minutes, even before we hit record and we’re going to stay connected.

[01:06] Jim Harshaw Jr.: And there’s just some, some real, real synergy there to throw out a buzzword. And you’re going to just love this. So who is Kevin basic? So he is a 1993 graduate of the U S air force Academy. Got his master’s degree in industrial and organizational psychology. Got his PhD in organizational behavior. And he spent 23 years.

[01:28] Jim Harshaw Jr.: In the US Air Force as an officer, his last assignment was at the Pentagon, serving as one of the top advisors to the Secretary of Defense on leadership. So this is impacting over 3. 2 million service members. And in addition to. Being the president of his own company, basic insights. He also was asked just a couple of years ago by the national metal of honor foundation to stand up their leadership Institute.

[01:56] Jim Harshaw Jr.: And he now serves as the chief of leadership programs in helping to inspire and equip and connect all Americans to live and lead with the values embodied by the metal of honor. If you don’t know what the metal of honor is, it is the highest honor That anyone can receive in the U S military. Kevin talks about it.

[02:15] Jim Harshaw Jr.: I’m not going to go on any longer. We got to get to this. This is incredible and make sure you get the action plan from this one and take action. All right, here we go. Interview with Dr. Kevin basic. Let’s just start from the beginning. What is the medal of honor? And then what is the Medal of Honor Institute?

[02:33] Dr. Kevin Basik: Oh, great question. So the Medal of Honor is the nation’s highest award for valor in combat. So we’ve heard that it’s part of our culture. Now, those who have gone above and beyond who in total disregard for their own personal safety or life, did something exceptional and the cool thing about this is we acknowledge these are ordinary people.

[02:53] Dr. Kevin Basik: That in the moment tapped into something and did the extraordinary and demonstrated to all of us what is possible in the most extreme circumstances. Many of the medals of honor have been awarded posthumously that people observed this action and said that needs to be celebrated and recognized and revered.

[03:14] Dr. Kevin Basik: And there are some who survived, but, uh, there has to be witnesses. That are willing to sort of write this up and declare and battle for this person to be awarded this medal. So it’s the nation’s highest award of the 40 million who have served. There’s. Less than 3, 000 who have received this medal and the big majority of them were the civil war when honestly the standard criteria we use now it was a lot different so it doesn’t happen and in our era you know there’s only about 65 living medal of honor recipients right now.

[03:48] Dr. Kevin Basik: So they are a special breed, but they offer their stories going all the way back. The medal was commissioned by Abraham Lincoln and going back to that day all the way to today, if nothing else, they demonstrate to us what is possible. And there are certain values that are embodied in the medal. We say integrity.

[04:08] Dr. Kevin Basik: Courage, sacrifice, commitment, citizenship, and patriotism are sort of just part of the story and the spirit of the medal. And at the National Medal of Honor Institute, uh, it is the Griffin Institute within, it is housed physically within the new National Medal of Honor Museum, which is being built in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas Cowboy Stadium, Texas Ranger Stadium.

[04:31] Dr. Kevin Basik: It is the iconic Smithsonian quality place that houses and offers the stories of the medal. And it protects those stories. The Institute exists to project the stories and the values. And as we stood it up, we said, we want to inspire people and the Medal of Honor stories do inspire, they call us to our better angels, but we don’t want to just leave people there.

[04:57] Dr. Kevin Basik: We want to equip them. There’s got to be a, so what does this mean for me? How can this help me in my battles of life? And we want to connect people through these values. Maybe this is the thing, man, that can bring a nation together. So, so the National Medal of Honor Museum opening in March of 2025 in Arlington, Texas, and then within the museum is the National Medal of Honor Institute.

[05:23] Dr. Kevin Basik: And I’m the chief of leadership programs, which is focused on adult character and leadership development. We’ve got a center within the Institute focused on youth. Character and leadership development K through 12. And then we’ve got a center for thought leadership, the center for the elevation of honor, and how do we bring people together to explore the concepts related to the metal and the spirit of the metal?

[05:44] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Wow. So that is a big vision. I mean, you said maybe this is the thing that could bring a nation together. Talk about that.

[05:53] Dr. Kevin Basik: Yeah, so the foundation that has raised the money and said it is time and it is needed so badly, the National Medal of Honor Foundation, they said, we’re going to do three things. We’re going to build a monument in the mall on Washington DC for the Medal of Honor for the nation’s highest medal for valor in the grove off of Abraham Lincoln’s left foot on the way to the Vietnam Memorial.

[06:15] Dr. Kevin Basik: And think about this. This is the big evidence here. It was unanimously approved by Congress. Unanimously. Because they said there are certain things that cut across divisions and it’s sort of the acknowledgement of, you know, courage of sacrifice and just laying something down for this beautifully imperfect nation that can be maybe our starting point to bring bring us together around that.

[06:39] Dr. Kevin Basik: So it was unanimously approved and that will be built in the next couple of years. And the other two pieces, as I mentioned, are the building of the museum in Arlington and the creation of the institute that I’m part of.

[06:49] Jim Harshaw Jr.: What a worthwhile endeavor on all three fronts.

[06:52] Dr. Kevin Basik: Yeah, and the vision of the whole collection of them is to inspire a nation to live the values.

[06:59] Dr. Kevin Basik: In whatever way that shows up in their lives and the stories just help maybe leave some clues

[07:07] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Yeah, and that will be through it sounds like you know what you’re doing the adult programs You’re going to have the museum. There will probably be some outreach things like that.

[07:15] Dr. Kevin Basik: Exactly So we’ve got the adults thing.

[07:17] Dr. Kevin Basik: So we’ve got executive programs So we’ll have mid level and frontline leaders and we’ve got Programs where you come to the institute and there’s experience there, and then there’s flyaway courses where we’re all for things. And of course, eventually there will be virtual courses, but the youth, same thing.

[07:33] Dr. Kevin Basik: We’ve created curriculum that it can be integrated into and is already being integrated into 30, 000 schools across the nation. Just going, Hey, what’s courage look like for you? Where it’s not heavy handed. It’s not a military thing. I mean, it’s not even a military museum. It’s a museum about values. It happened to be wrapped in military stories.

[07:55] Dr. Kevin Basik: So the whole goal is just to, you know, excite the nation around these values that when we see it, it matters to us. It pulls us toward and inspires us when it’s missing. When we are out of integrity with the things we know we deserve and should stand for, it bothers us. And that’s why I think we say this is not acceptable.

[08:16] Dr. Kevin Basik: Some of the division and the things we see in the nation is we’re better than this. And how can we bring that to life?

[08:24] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Common ground, shared values. Let’s start the conversation from there. So Kevin, if I’m not mistaken, you interview and tell the stories of these Medal of Honor recipients. Is that right?

[08:38] Dr. Kevin Basik: Yeah. So some are interested and excited to not only share their stories, but be a part of what we’re doing. And some. You know, just some are getting older and just not able to, but we take their stories in whatever way we, we can get them and we offer them as a path, as a clue, as a way forward, sort of the normal people to apply this stuff in their lives.

[08:59] Dr. Kevin Basik: So yes, I have had the blessing and opportunity to interview and work alongside some of these recipients and, uh, humble, uncomfortable oftentimes with the, the metal. It’s called by many of them, the beautiful burden is when they found out they had been nominated because you don’t nominate yourself that someone else said, I saw what you did and it needs to be recorded.

[09:21] Dr. Kevin Basik: They’re not happy often of getting nominated for the medal because they say, why single me out? I was just doing what so many others did and their stories are not being told. And the reason many of them accept the beautiful burden is they say, maybe through this platform, I can tell the stories of those, Who deserve it.

[09:41] Dr. Kevin Basik: Um, so just the humility of the recipients has been awe inspiring in itself. That gives me chills. I

[09:48] Jim Harshaw Jr.: believe it. So you mentioned three things that you’ve identified. That you hear as a common theme through these stories, competence, confidence, and commitment, competence, confidence, and commitment. Can you talk about those?

[10:07] Dr. Kevin Basik: So we call those the courage catalysts because the number one question everybody has for Medal of Honor recipients is how did you do that in spite of. All of the obstacles and pressures and uncertainty and fear and fatigue and exhaustion, hopelessness. I feel those things, but you felt them in the most extreme moments.

[10:26] Dr. Kevin Basik: How did you go on and take that action? Anyway, I think I’m selfless, but then I heard your story and that’s what selfless looks like. I mean, Kyle Carpenter, you threw, you know, threw yourself on a grenade for crying out loud is what was going through your mind or what made you do that? And. The three things you tend to hear from recipients, I think can be informative to all of us.

[10:46] Dr. Kevin Basik: The first thing they say is, oftentimes, I was just doing what I was trained to do. It was the reaction that apparently was noteworthy on that day was just muscle memory. for how we train for stuff like this or how we think about each other. I was just doing what I was trained to do, which all of us reminds us that competence, we can get better at certain things and build routines and a depth of familiarity with some things that fear doesn’t have the same pressure.

[11:18] Dr. Kevin Basik: It did the first time we got exposed to, you know, that’s the 10th time you practice a speech. Okay, walking out on the stage, if you feel like you’re prepared is very different than if you feel like, oh crap, I’m not, I’m not ready. The hundredth time you jump out of an airplane is very different than the first time.

[11:35] Dr. Kevin Basik: The altitude is exactly the same, but there’s something about getting a lot of at bats and a lot of reps. Fear hates reps. So, what can I do to add competence? And say hey, I okay that I can do and if you share with me Hey, I’ve got to have a tough conversation. I know this comes up a lot in your in the podcast I’ve got to have a tough conversation.

[12:00] Dr. Kevin Basik: I keep not having it What the heck’s going on a lot of times is we don’t know how to even start the conversation in a way that Won’t set off the drama grenade So that’s why coaching and mentoring or talking to other people or maybe even talking through it with somebody else You can go, you know I think I can try that.

[12:17] Dr. Kevin Basik: That gives me a path to execute. And if I don’t know how to do it, I can learn. This is growth mindset right here. I can get better at that. And as I do, fear becomes less and less powerful. The second thing you hear from people, from the recipients is they’ll say, I believed I could do it. Or I was just in a position I felt like I could pull it off.

[12:38] Dr. Kevin Basik: Maybe that’s because I was 18 years old and I was a marine. I just sort of felt invincible. But believing it is possible at least explains why people try things in the face of fear. You’re telling me there’s a chance. And it doesn’t take much faith or belief to say, I don’t necessarily even feel competent.

[13:00] Dr. Kevin Basik: I’ve never done anything like this before. But I’ve done stuff like this. Or I’ve seen other people do it. And if she can do it. I can do it. You know, sometimes the, the emphasis on that same sentence, if I can do that in the past, hell, I raised two kids by myself. I can sure do this. I can sure take night classes.

[13:20] Dr. Kevin Basik: You know, I got to stop ignoring. And I know DJ Vanna is one of your previous guests talks about, let’s stop ignoring the successes we’ve got and the strength and the resources we have available and talking ourselves out of, you know, what we can pull off. So there’s something about how can I build confidence sometimes that you borrow confidence from others.

[13:44] Dr. Kevin Basik: You’ve got people around you who are reminding you, you can do this. You’ve got this. Dumber people than you have pulled this off. You can pull this off. So there’s certain phrases and battle cries that tend to emerge there that remind us that It is possible and there is a way and then the last thing you hear from recipients and honestly This is the big one is even if I didn’t feel competent Even if I wasn’t sure if I could pull it off or survive my commitment To the guy in the foxhole next to me, my love, Medal of Honor is often a story of love, but it’s a commitment to us, the tribe, that person, this relationship, the mission, our identity.

[14:27] Dr. Kevin Basik: We don’t leave people behind. That’s just not us. So our commitment to our identity helps us when fear shows up, go, well, screw that man. We’re not leaving anybody behind. And there are stories of recipients who oftentimes go right back into where they get, just got their butts handed to them. Because they said, that’s who we are.

[14:48] Dr. Kevin Basik: That’s what we do. So the commitment to, and you know, what is your, why, what is your purpose? Who are you trying to be? What is the legacy you want to create? You know, these are the things that once we reconnect with those, sometimes it gives us strength to push against the fear. And cross the gap, we call it.

[15:10] Dr. Kevin Basik: There’s, there’s the decision gap. Hey, I’m going to do this. There’s a big gap between deciding to do something and actually doing it. Again, the, the exploration, when we ask people the toughest thing you’ve ever done in the face of fear that you’ve endured, maybe you’re still enduring it or that you’ve pulled off, what helped you do it?

[15:28] Dr. Kevin Basik: And man, it tends to fall into those three things. I got a mentor that helped me find a path. And I really, I dove in headfirst into do, I’ve never done a podcast before. But I sure as hell was going to learn how to, and I was going to listen and read, find people and build competence. Confidence. There are ways that I can remind myself and pull people toward me and pay attention to what gives me a chance.

[15:52] Dr. Kevin Basik: Break the big thing up into small chunks and we can go, all right, that I can do. I can make it to the next meal. I can make it to the next mile. I can catch that guy on this marathon. I don’t know if I can make the whole marathon, but I can catch that dude. And maybe then the next person and the next person that gives me some confidence because sometimes the marathon is overwhelming, but the shorter steps I can do that.

[16:16] Dr. Kevin Basik: So the three buckets tend to emerge and we explore that with the help of the recipient stories.

[16:22] Jim Harshaw Jr.: And so for the listener, Listen, you’re probably not going to leave this podcast episode, whatever you’re listening. Maybe you’re on the treadmill, maybe you’re commuting to work or something. You’re probably not going to war, right?

[16:34] Jim Harshaw Jr.: You’re probably not going into a situation where you’re confronting the enemy in the same way that our military does it, but you’re facing your own challenges, right? Whatever it is, maybe it’s the promotion you’re trying to get, the business you’re trying to start, the marriage you’re trying to save, maybe it’s The weight that you’re trying to, whatever it is, like you’re facing your own battles.

[16:59] Jim Harshaw Jr.: And so you have to look at this stuff because what Kevin is talking about is like these people in the most dire of circumstances. Have found something in them that mere mortals like us would consider super human and they’ve boiled it down to three concepts. And so we can learn from this and we can’t just, no, just listen.

[17:21] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Go. Wow. Those people are amazing. You have to say, those people are amazing. What can I learn from this? And so competence, you know, whether it’s that presentation or that, that job interview or that the way you respond to your kids when they act up or whatever it might be, like, Can’t are you getting the training you need?

[17:40] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Are you working with the mentor? Are you working with the coach? Have you signed up for that course? Are you doing the train? Are you putting in the reps right fear hates reps? I love that quote Kevin like we’re gonna put that in the action play because that is a good one fear hates reps Are you taking the reps confidence?

[17:56] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Do you believe it’s possible? You said stop ignoring your strengths And the resources that you have available listener, I’m talking to you, stop ignoring your strengths and the resources that you have available in order to achieve that thing right now. Do you think is undoable hard? It’s too far gone. I can’t, you know, build that business or save that relationship or whatever it might be.

[18:21] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Are you ignoring the strengths and resources you have available? And then commitment. Like I look at that, like. For, you know, a lot of our, our listeners are athletic minded men, of course. And, you know, when I was competing, I lost 22 pounds in two and a half days once, and I’ve told this story before on the podcast to the listeners.

[18:37] Jim Harshaw Jr.: I’ve heard this, but 22 pounds in two and a half days, it’s stupid to do something like that to your body. I mean, it’s, it’s silly. I did it and I weighed in, I made weight and I competed the next day and I didn’t compete well, go figure. But it was just, why would you do that? You wanted

[18:52] Dr. Kevin Basik: it so bad.

[18:53] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Yeah, there was a commitment there.

[18:54] Jim Harshaw Jr.: It was a commitment. I made a commitment to my coach, to my team, to myself. This is, it was just what I was going to do, even if, you know, I didn’t end up in the hospital, but I probably should have been, I think most humans in that scenario would be go straight, you know, would be taken to the hospital. So we can see how this has played out in our lives.

[19:13] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Listener, you can see how this has played out in your life before. Replicate this, right? And replicate what we’re seeing from these, these men and women who are receiving the medal of honor. And I love the fact that you’re

[19:24] Dr. Kevin Basik: talking about what we tend to say to ourselves when we’re, when we’re. just in the storm or we’re, we’re, we’re battling against this and maybe it’s the, you know, Lord knows you taught, you talk a lot about the importance of sleep because so many of us are just churning and fighting and we’re in the battle at night, tossed and turning about, you know, how do I get through this?

[19:45] Dr. Kevin Basik: And that inner critic or that inner dialogue can be so critically negative. So really the thing that gets us past that is we got to conquer that voice and, you know, the imposter syndrome. I don’t even know how to start. I don’t know what to do here. It’s too hard. I can’t go on. It’s not working. Nobody cares.

[20:08] Dr. Kevin Basik: Nobody’s paying attention. All this stuff in here, we’ve got to have a response to, and, uh, that’s when we can borrow from others who have heard the same voices. Their battles may be very different from ours. My mom and dad went through bankruptcy twice. My dad was an entrepreneur and you know, you’re swinging for the fence.

[20:25] Dr. Kevin Basik: You’re putting it all on the line and sometimes it works out brilliantly. And then in 2008, when the market just tanks in Southwest Florida, your developer, the music stops and you’re in your mid seventies, all of a sudden, here we go again, and. I went down to visit my dad when all hell was breaking loose and it looked like they were going to lose everything again.

[20:45] Dr. Kevin Basik: And, and my dad actually called me down because he said, Hey, I want you to pay attention to some of the other family members going through this. They need somebody to walk alongside. So I spent some time with other family members and I walked up to my dad. He was standing on the porch overlooking the lake behind the house and I said, Dad, how are you doing on all this?

[21:04] Dr. Kevin Basik: Cause I’m thinking about all the voices he’s got in his head, legitimately. This is my legacy. I’ve impacted my kids here now, I’ve dragged them into this again, there’s no way to recover from this. I’m a failure, all these things swirling around, I can only imagine. I said, how you doing with this dad? Cause I won’t be in, God help me, I won’t be in the battle he’s in right now, but I can have insecurity and all that self just damaging thought.

[21:32] Dr. Kevin Basik: And he said, Kevin, all I know how to do is keep showing up just with, with attitude, good attitude and ideas and just keep showing up. And I think if I keep doing that, maybe a path shows up through this. And there’s a way forward. Maybe there’s hope out there. And I thought, what a gift he just gave me.

[21:51] Dr. Kevin Basik: That, that phrase just keeps showing up that has helped me through some dark nights when I’m like, I got to pull the plug. This is, this is, I am failing. Therefore I am a failure. And we’ve, you’ve talked about the distinction between that. It’s having certain phrases and certain things that maybe. have been borrowed from others that can help us stay connected with what matters.

[22:16] Dr. Kevin Basik: To endure just a little bit longer, to take action, to recommit, to fight on, to maintain hope. There’s something to be said for whatever storms your listeners are going through, whatever battles are raging right now. The scene of the crime is the mind, man. Carol Dweck, she’s the sort of lead scholar in the area of growth mindset.

[22:35] Dr. Kevin Basik: And she has a great battle cry, which is one word. And I’ve used it in parenting, I’ve used it in business, and it’s all about that competence bucket. Growth mindset is all about adding the word yet. I can’t do this, comma, yet. You throw the yet on there and all of a sudden the ball’s back in my court.

[22:52] Dr. Kevin Basik: Alright, so go learn how to do it. I’ve never done anything like this. All right. So are you going to do it or not? Changes everything.

[22:59] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Yeah. It changes

[23:00] Dr. Kevin Basik: everything.

[23:02] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Quick interruption. Hey, if you like what you’re hearing, be sure to get the notes, quotes, and links in the action plan from this episode. Just go to JimHarshawJr.com/action. That’s JimHarshawJr.com/action to get your free copy of the action plan. Now back to the show. Talk about the storms of life, three phases, Yeah.

[23:25] Dr. Kevin Basik: So obviously we all go through some storms and some of my workshops will ask people, Hey, it’s anonymous, you’re able to use your phone as a voting tool.

[23:33] Dr. Kevin Basik: What are the storms that are going on in your life right now? And it can even be positive storms. Hey, we’re having our first kid or I’m starting a new job. It’s exciting, but it’s terrifying me or something like that. We’re getting ready to go to the in laws for the holidays. You know, that can be a bit of a storm in itself.

[23:50] Dr. Kevin Basik: So as people offer those up, I realized Some people are getting ready for something. They’re bracing for impact. So it’s before the storm. Some people are in there. I’m halfway through chemo. I don’t know. Are my kids going through chemo for crying out loud? So some people are in the storm and the winds are howling and maybe it’s something that you couldn’t anticipate.

[24:09] Dr. Kevin Basik: It just life shifted. Bang. You’re in a pandemic. All right, here we go. And then some people are coming out of storms and they’re trying to make sense of it. And especially if it felt like it was a failure. And what I’ve noticed is In each phase, the voices are a little bit different. So the before the storm voices, tell me if these sound familiar to you and their sort of themes.

[24:32] Dr. Kevin Basik: I’m damaged. I can’t recover from this. This is my legacy. I don’t know who I am now. I should have done something different, man. How unhealthy is that battle? I can’t recover from this. It didn’t matter. So those are some of the voices that again, if we want to endure, if we want to demonstrate what’s called post traumatic growth.

[24:55] Dr. Kevin Basik: You know, you come out of the storm. Some people come out of, you know, challenging, damaging experiences. You just got fired. All of a sudden, well, I’m trying to make sense of that, so that narrative can be damaging. So there’s a distinction between, you know, post traumatic stress, and it might even be so bad as a disorder, and something called post traumatic growth.

[25:19] Dr. Kevin Basik: And some people actually come out of those storms stronger. You know, they had been broken, but they put the pieces back together. So what’s the distinction there? Well, a lot of it has to do with how we communicate with ourselves, what we tap into using ourselves or our resources around us, including our tribe to help us.

[25:38] Dr. Kevin Basik: Endure, sustain, take the step, have the tough conversation, keep pushing on, go the next mile, start the business. The phases have intrigued me because the voices are unique in each phase.

[25:51] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Yeah. And we’ve all heard those, all those, those words that you said, I’ve heard them, I imagine the listener, we’ve all heard those voices, those words have come out of, of our own mouths.

[26:02] Jim Harshaw Jr.: And so. How do we use what you call battle cries or creeds as tools to help us get through those? Those storms.

[26:14] Dr. Kevin Basik: Yeah, so we’ll start with battle cries. There are, there are phrases that people tap into, you know, a lot of times battle cry shows up as a tattoo somewhere on somebody’s body where, man, this, it reminds me of who I’m trying to be or what matters or sometimes it’s a Bible verse.

[26:29] Dr. Kevin Basik: Sometimes it’s just a phrase that the Doics have offered up. Uh, you know, a million times. So some of the battle cries that I’ll, I’ll share with you before the storm. Like I said, the power of the word yet is I don’t know how to do this yet. Okay, where can I go to learn and get better and add some competence?

[26:51] Dr. Kevin Basik: The phrase, what if it goes wrong, man, is catastrophizing. And somebody challenged me, they sort of threw a trump card down on my what if it goes wrong and they said, what if it goes right, how about you try that one on every once in a while, if it goes right, because you’re sending your kid off to college.

[27:08] Dr. Kevin Basik: Oh, God, what if it goes wrong? What if they’re not safe? Or what if they get in with the wrong kid? What if it goes right? Imagine the kind of person they can be. Imagine the friendships there have that are just like the friendships you made in college. Why would you hijack that from him? What if it goes right?

[27:25] Dr. Kevin Basik: Camp out on that a little bit. And all of a sudden the fear starts to dampen a little bit because you can get excited about that. Battle cries of families. You know, it’s a before the storm kind of thing. I love Brene Brown says their battle cry in their family is, hey, we do hard things in this family.

[27:42] Dr. Kevin Basik: Okay. So when something hard is coming up, bring it on. That’s who we are, man. That’s our identity. And let’s not forget that. So as the storms are starting to approach, we can kind of confront that in the movie gladiator. You know, there’s a great scene where they’re about to go into the arena for the first time.

[28:01] Dr. Kevin Basik: And some people are starting to discover that Maximus was a general and stuff. And people are pissing down their legs and shaking. And he says something that applies to gladiators in the arena 2000 years ago and applies to the gladiators listening to this podcast. He said, whatever comes at us out of those gates, If we stay together, we survive, stay together and we survive because you know this, there is a natural tendency to isolate when things are not going well, you know, so I don’t want to burden anybody or they wouldn’t understand or I’m a failure.

[28:39] Dr. Kevin Basik: We isolate and to remind yourself that whatever comes at us out of this gates is a family. As a company, I don’t know what COVID is going to be like, but as a company, if we stay together, we survive. That’s not a bad battle cry to tap into when the winds start howling. Some other battle cries in the storm, man, going back to the Stoics again, this too shall pass.

[29:02] Dr. Kevin Basik: How often have you said that to somebody? I mean, there’s two sides to that coin, but control what you can control. That’s a huge one. And that’s one of the whole reasons why people, and that gives us confidence. I can control that. I get overwhelmed when I try to control things I can’t. But one of the, one of the number one battle cries that gives us confidence and helps us in the storm is breathe.

[29:30] Dr. Kevin Basik: Dude, just breathe. Just, you can control that. Breathe. Cause if you, if you stop, you stop that or you’re not breathing properly, things start spiral on the control. So to start there, sort of gets your feet underneath you. W. I. N. This was a coach. Uh, Lou Holtz. W. I. N. What’s important now. You know, that also showed up in Frozen 2, the movie.

[29:53] Dr. Kevin Basik: Just do the next right thing. You can’t see all the way down, but just what’s the next right thing. And I’ve heard business leaders say, God, I, that became my mantra to myself. I can’t control what’s happening in the economy. I can’t control what’s happening here and policy changes in these people. But what’s the next right thing I can do?

[30:11] Dr. Kevin Basik: Failure is not an option that goes back to NASA. People tap into their faith and there’s all sorts of battle cries that come up there. Let go and let God is simply saying you can’t control everything, but there’s confidence that comes with saying, Hey, I believe somebody can, and I got to stop pretending I’m him.

[30:29] Dr. Kevin Basik: So those are some of the in the storm battle cries. And then coming out of the storm battle cries. If I can survive that. I’ve got a resource. I’ve got a story. Scars tell stories. There’s a difference between a wound and a scar. And a scar is something that can remind us what we have survived and endured.

[30:46] Dr. Kevin Basik: Maybe I am able to do a next thing only because I’ve gone through that. Only because I got fired. Do I now have an appreciation for this? Do I have opportunity to do this? There’s a lot of ways to reframe. Failure is an event. It is not an identity. That’s another battle cry that’s I win or learn and then get grief.

[31:10] Dr. Kevin Basik: I’ve got from a lot of these came from athletes sweep the sheds, New Zealand, all blacks. This is one where their battle cry was to keep our culture right. We need to have humility. And sweep the sheds is a phrase that came out of a book by James Kerr that, uh, the most experienced high performing, the elite players are the ones who sweep the sheds and clean up the rap.

[31:34] Dr. Kevin Basik: And, uh, they’re sweeping the sheds at the end of practice. And at the end of the games, why to signal to the young pups, Hey, if. If they’re doing that, how can I not do that? It’s a battle cry to keep you out of getting your ego too inflated. I can be bitter or I can be better. I had heard that from Warwick Dunn because his mom who got killed in light of duty said before she was killed a couple months before something’s gonna rock your world son.

[32:01] Dr. Kevin Basik: And when it does you got a choice you can either get bitter Or you can get better. That’s a battle cry, you know? So a lot of these, I think we can borrow from each other. What’s the phrase that people tap on the wall when they, when they go out to, uh, practice with the game at Notre Dame, play like a champion today.

[32:21] Dr. Kevin Basik: That battle cry reminds me it’s going to suck out there. It’s going to be hot out there. It’s going to be tough out there, but if you want to be a champion, we’re going to break it down into day by day thing, and you get out there and you play like you deserve to be at this school and where that comes from.

[32:34] Dr. Kevin Basik: So I get fired up about these battle cries because I, I use them to remind me, you know, my, my dad has passed and I’ve told the story of my dad a few times. Um, and people go, God dog, I was hearing Larry basics voice in my ears and I never heard, I’ve never met Larry basic, but keep showing up positive attitude.

[32:55] Dr. Kevin Basik: Work ethic, and maybe there’s a path through the storm.

[32:58] Jim Harshaw Jr.: For the listener. We are going to take all of those battle cries and creeds. We’re going to take those and put those in the action plan. We’re actually going to create a graphic with every single one of those that Kevin just shared. You can take it, you can print it out.

[33:11] Jim Harshaw Jr.: You can put it on your wall. You can highlight the ones you love more and use that for yourself. So you just rattle off a ton of really, really great battle cries that we can all use, and we all need them.

[33:23] Dr. Kevin Basik: Yeah, I’ll send you a bunch of them and people will recognize a lot of these, you know, which wolf will you feed?

[33:28] Dr. Kevin Basik: I’m going to find a way I choose what to find me. There’s just do it is a battle cry.

[33:35] Jim Harshaw Jr.: And you’ll need different ones at different parts of the storms. You’ll need different ones and different ones will resonate with you in different ways. So Kevin, just phenomenal stuff. I mean, I’m ready to run through a wall.

[33:46] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Thank you so much for your time here. What, for the listener who saying, okay, I’m bought in, what is one action item? One. thing that they can do in the next 24 to 48 hours to start taking action on what they learned here today.

[34:02] Dr. Kevin Basik: All right, so I’ll post an example of a couple things, a couple creeds, and I would say, read some creeds, and then just say, what would mine be?

[34:14] Dr. Kevin Basik: What do I have one that’s The creed that I developed for myself as I was starting my business. And I said, as I go into this, let me get crystal clear on what do I stand for and what do I stand from personally and professionally, because I want to plant the flag and go, this is who I’m trying to be. Let me lock into my commitment.

[34:34] Dr. Kevin Basik: Cause the storms are going to come and I’m going to keep coming back to this creed because it defines what matters to me and who I’m trying to be. So I’m going to share with you some creed examples to post. And I just encourage people read a couple and they go, what would mine be? Because the clearer you are on that, the easier it is to cross the gap and bring your espoused values, your commitments to life.

[34:59] Jim Harshaw Jr.: And for the listener, take action on this stuff. One thing you can do, obviously grab the action plan, go to JimHarshawJr.com/action, print out those creeds and those battle cries that Kevin shared and create your own. If you want to use AI, this might be a good chance to use GMI for the listener.

[35:16] Jim Harshaw Jr.: You, you know, You may have heard me talk in recent episodes. I have my own AI now. It’s trained in my philosophies and trained in my frameworks. And if you want to use that, that is linked in the action plan as well. So you can put all of your data, your information, your thoughts. Here’s what I like. Here’s what I’m struggling with.

[35:33] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Here’s some examples of creeds and battle cries that resonate with me. I want to create my own, you know, and ask it to create some different versions. And then you take those and then make it your own. So you can actually use what we’ve learned here today. Kevin, thank you so much for your time, for coming on the show.

[35:47] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Where can people find you, follow you, engage with you otherwise?

[35:52] Dr. Kevin Basik: Well, Jim, first of all, it’s, this has been great. I’m a fan of the podcast. It lights me up. It adds value to my life. It gives me confidence and confidence. It reconnects me with my commitments. So thanks for helping me just join you on this journey.

[36:05] Dr. Kevin Basik: I can be found. There’s a couple of different places. Basic insight. My last name is spelled B A S I K. Basic insight. com that introduces you to some of the work that I’ve done, you know, since I retired in 2017 from the military and how I approach developing leaders of character in myself and in others.

[36:24] Dr. Kevin Basik: And I want to direct you to the national medal of honor museum. So if you Google national medal of honor museum, you will get to the website and you’ll see three columns, one for the monument, one for the museum and one for the Institute. I’m associated with the Institute. It’ll introduce you to some of the programs that we’ve got going on there.

[36:42] Dr. Kevin Basik: And of course I’m available on LinkedIn, Kevin basic, so easy to find.

[36:46] Jim Harshaw Jr.: Excellent. We’ll have all that in the action plan. So Kevin, again, thank you so much. Look forward to staying connected with you. We’ll talk to you soon.

[36:53] Dr. Kevin Basik: Uh, you too, Jim, take care.

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