Episode 45 from The Grit Theory. 

Today I sit down with the one and only Stewart Tice. Stew is a dear friend to the Mayo family and is a Captain in the Army who just took command of his second unit. We spend time catching up, discussing how the Army is changing and why Stew thinks it is for the better, which acts as a refreshing dose of optimism and perspective. Additionally we dive into the intentional development of leadership and of oneself in the pursuit of service.  

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Also, check out Be Relentless: If the obstacle is the way, then we must be waymakers HERE.

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The Book: Be Relentless: If the obstacle is the way, then we must be WayMakers.

The Podcast: “Be Relentless Podcast”

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Linktree: Here.

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Episode Transcript

00;00;08;11 – 00;00;30;28

Jon Mayo

Hello, everyone. I’m glad that you joined us today. As I sit down with the one and only Stuart Tice, Stuart is a dear friend to the Mayo family and is a captain in the Army who just took command of his second unit. We spend time catching up discussing how the army is changing and why Stu thinks it is for the better, which acts as a refreshing dose of optimism and perspective.

00;00;31;21 – 00;01;08;26

Jon Mayo

Additionally, we dive into the intentional development of leadership and of oneself in the pursuit of service. We even have Lindsey join us in the beginning and towards the end of the show because the rascals were acting out. Glad you’re here. Please do remember that I am doing this to develop my own mind and to share what we’re working on as well as to encourage you and hopefully inspire you to continue to press into the way to develop grit, to develop intentionality and to live a better life.

00;01;09;18 – 00;01;32;22

Jon Mayo

So if you do find any value in today’s conversation, if you take something away from it or in general, if you enjoy the show, please share it. Subscribe Rave Review. All that jazz helps us a lot. Shoot me a note if you have my information. If you’re listening, you probably do. And that is all greatly appreciated. So thank you.

00;01;33;01 – 00;01;34;15

Jon Mayo

And let’s dive right in.

00;01;40;06 – 00;01;50;23

Jon Mayo

So let me tell you a little story real quick. While you’re adjusting your audio stew. So this morning we wake up. There’s probably a lot of stories you can share that are fun, Like, look at my finger. Is that normal looking?

00;01;50;28 – 00;01;51;12

Lindsey Mayo

No.

00;01;52;07 – 00;01;53;22

Jon Mayo

No. What did you do?

00;01;54;06 – 00;02;01;02

Lindsey Mayo

He broke up cane and forest fighting and he broke his knuckle and split a tendon and needed stitches. And only Butterfly did.

00;02;01;18 – 00;02;03;13

Jon Mayo

Correct. But it’s still healing.

00;02;03;20 – 00;02;04;21

Lindsey Mayo

Yeah. No.

00;02;05;00 – 00;02;07;17

Stewart Tice

If it’s not. No, not the right way. It’s not.

00;02;08;00 – 00;02;12;08

Lindsey Mayo

Thank you. That’s what I said. Victoria last week was like, Can I just smash it really hard with a book?

00;02;12;11 – 00;02;13;17

Jon Mayo

No, it’s still healing.

00;02;13;18 – 00;02;16;13

Lindsey Mayo

No, it’s not. Well, it needs reset.

00;02;16;26 – 00;02;19;15

Stewart Tice

Yeah, you need to have it broken and, like, put in a split.

00;02;20;18 – 00;02;21;06

Lindsey Mayo

Thank you.

00;02;21;06 – 00;02;25;19

Jon Mayo

That would mean another, like, 6 to 8 weeks of no training or jujitsu or.

00;02;25;20 – 00;02;28;10

Lindsey Mayo

Or you don’t get to your finger for the rest of your life.

00;02;28;19 – 00;02;30;04

Jon Mayo

As opposed to six kids.

00;02;30;10 – 00;02;32;04

Stewart Tice

Look at it. It’s not binding.

00;02;32;14 – 00;02;37;18

Lindsey Mayo

Thank you. Oh, my gosh. Stuart, Thank you. 65. Listen to me.

00;02;37;18 – 00;02;40;03

Stewart Tice

It’s going to look like that for 65 more years.

00;02;41;00 – 00;02;41;19

Jon Mayo

Wow. That’s a long.

00;02;41;19 – 00;02;42;16

Lindsey Mayo

Time. I only gave.

00;02;42;24 – 00;02;45;08

Jon Mayo

That is just get that shit fixed.

00;02;45;26 – 00;02;46;23

Lindsey Mayo

Thank you.

00;02;47;12 – 00;02;52;01

Jon Mayo

I’ll include a picture of the finger for the show release so everyone can experience it.

00;02;52;10 – 00;02;55;26

Lindsey Mayo

Yeah. And so all I can tell you that it needs to be broken and reset. And the.

00;02;55;26 – 00;03;04;20

Jon Mayo

Splint. See, there’s. There’s just no way that I’m going to willingly awake and not under some form of. Hallelujah. Drugs allow some to break my finger.

00;03;05;03 – 00;03;07;01

Stewart Tice

They’ll give you, like, a volume or something.

00;03;07;18 – 00;03;11;21

Lindsey Mayo

Yeah, they’ll drug you or whatever, but you need to have a fixed genuinely.

00;03;13;07 – 00;03;13;17

Jon Mayo

All right.

00;03;13;21 – 00;03;14;21

Lindsey Mayo

That needs to be split.

00;03;14;28 – 00;03;16;27

Jon Mayo

This was not the story I had in mind. Well.

00;03;18;02 – 00;03;19;19

Stewart Tice

No, that wasn’t the story.

00;03;19;28 – 00;03;41;06

Jon Mayo

No, this is like an intervention I’m not loving. So this morning I wake up and the kids over, like, just incessantly needy little turds. I love them, but I’ve already had them doing laps and, like, stop asking for help every 5 seconds and I’m kicking them out. So that’s my story for the boys is what happened to you boys?

00;03;41;07 – 00;03;46;09

Jon Mayo

Like, every 5 seconds is like my dad. My dad?

00;03;46;15 – 00;03;49;00

Lindsey Mayo

Have you told Stu how Gabe got stabbed with a pencil at school?

00;03;49;06 – 00;03;51;23

Jon Mayo

Oh, yeah. Your legacy can tell you.

00;03;51;23 – 00;03;53;08

Stewart Tice

Oh, no. You told me story of, like.

00;03;54;00 – 00;04;00;06

Lindsey Mayo

Either he stabbed Eric in the ear. Yeah, And then Gabe got stabbed by another kid with a pencil.

00;04;00;16 – 00;04;01;19

Stewart Tice

Did he stop and back?

00;04;02;10 – 00;04;05;07

Lindsey Mayo

No. He was worried he was going to get sent to the principal’s office.

00;04;05;08 – 00;04;05;26

Jon Mayo

We talked about.

00;04;05;27 – 00;04;11;28

Stewart Tice

See? And that’s the way it’s supposed to work. And I’ve never seen a child actually think, like, Oh, I might go to the principal’s office. I may not do that.

00;04;12;26 – 00;04;18;24

Lindsey Mayo

I gave the only one to write, and I was like, The principal is not going to do anything.

00;04;20;04 – 00;04;20;17

Stewart Tice

Yeah, right.

00;04;20;18 – 00;04;34;06

Jon Mayo

We talked about getting ice cream if he defends himself. So we fixed that and now they’re good friends somehow. Because you know how it is with young boys. One day you’re stabbing each other with a pencil, then a little bit of shank shank, and the next day you’re eating ice cream together. So.

00;04;34;06 – 00;04;38;28

Lindsey Mayo

Well, they built a puzzle. But, you know, so.

00;04;39;04 – 00;04;40;27

Jon Mayo

So how. How have you been, man?

00;04;42;04 – 00;04;47;26

Stewart Tice

Moving at a thousand miles per hour, but splendid. Good.

00;04;47;26 – 00;04;52;05

Jon Mayo

So, what, you just took command again, right? Yes.

00;04;52;12 – 00;05;00;22

Lindsey Mayo

I can’t fix the Internet. You’re going to have to figure it out or do something different for the next 2 hours. School play outside.

00;05;00;22 – 00;05;01;10

Stewart Tice

Is it warm?

00;05;01;28 – 00;05;02;08

Lindsey Mayo

That’s cool.

00;05;02;08 – 00;05;05;19

Jon Mayo

No, that’s called parenting. Since we got that on recording.

00;05;05;19 – 00;05;09;13

Lindsey Mayo

They tried to build a fire last night. Well, sorry, I can’t.

00;05;09;15 – 00;05;11;21

Jon Mayo

That was cool. It gets are fun.

00;05;12;04 – 00;05;19;05

Stewart Tice

It got cold. It’s been like in the fifties, but it was like 30 something this morning when I went to the store. But I think it’s going to be like 70 tomorrow.

00;05;19;19 – 00;05;23;14

Lindsey Mayo

Oh, it’s nice. Have you guys been getting any, like, rain or ice or anything like that?

00;05;24;27 – 00;05;25;09

Jon Mayo

That’s good.

00;05;26;21 – 00;05;34;24

Stewart Tice

Oh, it rained like last Monday, I think it’s kind of like in the fifties. And Rainy was nasty, but no, nothing worse than that.

00;05;35;11 – 00;05;44;07

Lindsey Mayo

It’s gone. We’ve been getting ice storms to. Yeah, it’s not bad. Like in Oklahoma when we used to get ice storms, not even like, Oh yeah.

00;05;44;27 – 00;05;48;17

Jon Mayo

So cool. The winter has been a bummer man. There’s not been a.

00;05;48;17 – 00;05;49;19

Lindsey Mayo

Really, really cold.

00;05;50;04 – 00;06;04;02

Jon Mayo

Kinda for like a few days. We’ll be out cold for a few days. Like today it’s going to be the fifties and all you get is like an inch of ice. Yeah. So it’s not, it’s not been a good winter so far like moisture and getting the snow we need.

00;06;04;13 – 00;06;11;29

Stewart Tice

I wonder if it’s coming late. Like Texas had a big, big storm in February of last year. If it’s going to be like snowing in Colorado in June.

00;06;12;13 – 00;06;15;25

Lindsey Mayo

Probably. We had that huge blizzard in March last year.

00;06;16;29 – 00;06;21;04

Stewart Tice

That’s right. Yeah. Something the Northeast is getting some big storm this weekend.

00;06;21;23 – 00;06;22;27

Lindsey Mayo

They’re getting smothered with it.

00;06;23;06 – 00;06;24;06

Stewart Tice

I hope that.

00;06;24;24 – 00;06;39;18

Jon Mayo

I hope we get a lot of snow just because we need the moisture. If nothing else, like I like winter. So this is my season and it’s disappointing on a personal level. But if we don’t get the snow and the moisture, then that’s bad for fire season and summer and crops and all that.

00;06;39;28 – 00;06;43;05

Stewart Tice

When the summer when everything is supposed to melt and flow down to the mountains.

00;06;43;19 – 00;06;45;29

Jon Mayo

Mm hmm. And it’s dry ice, bone loss.

00;06;45;29 – 00;06;50;02

Stewart Tice

People are going to be sad when they’re low on Seltzers this summer because they can’t get the snow melt.

00;06;50;16 – 00;07;00;22

Jon Mayo

Yeah, that that is the direct correlation. Got to keep the salt slow flowing. That absolutely. Yeah. So you’re still down in what, Fort Hood.

00;07;01;05 – 00;07;03;28

Stewart Tice

Fort Hood, Texas. The great place.

00;07;04;27 – 00;07;07;08

Jon Mayo

And you just took second command.

00;07;07;08 – 00;07;07;25

Stewart Tice

I did.

00;07;08;11 – 00;07;09;03

Jon Mayo

Back to back.

00;07;09;28 – 00;07;13;22

Stewart Tice

Back to back. Well I had about three weeks of not being in command.

00;07;14;20 – 00;07;18;17

Jon Mayo

You’re a fairly large glutton for punishment.

00;07;18;17 – 00;07;21;01

Stewart Tice

And I don’t know why we do this to ourselves.

00;07;22;27 – 00;07;24;17

Lindsey Mayo

How much longer is you at Fort Hood?

00;07;25;19 – 00;07;27;03

Jon Mayo

At least until.

00;07;27;25 – 00;07;31;18

Stewart Tice

I think I will switch out of this command in January of next year. So.

00;07;31;19 – 00;07;36;05

Lindsey Mayo

Okay. So you’ll have a full year in command there.

00;07;36;20 – 00;07;47;02

Jon Mayo

Yes, I, I decided not to drink this year, so since this year’s busy for you anyways, we can just get together next year. I’ll probably work out better.

00;07;47;05 – 00;07;48;11

Stewart Tice

With the entire year.

00;07;48;19 – 00;07;50;29

Lindsey Mayo

Yeah, that’s not going to happen. You can still come over.

00;07;51;14 – 00;07;51;27

Stewart Tice

Okay?

00;07;52;22 – 00;08;07;23

Jon Mayo

Yeah, I know. I question my life decision on that all the time, but it’s working, so we’ll see. I guess it’s only January. We’re going to make it. It’s just crawling on and.

00;08;08;05 – 00;08;13;17

Stewart Tice

I don’t have anything good to say back to that.

00;08;13;17 – 00;08;43;12

Jon Mayo

So how’s it been? Fort Hood? Obviously, I’m out, but I know it’s hit the blender since you got there with stuff in like I got out when things are starting to get pretty crazy. Crazy with like, a lot of the politics and COVID and games and you’re still chugging along. So I just was a little curious to see what all that looks like and what it’s been like because Fort Hood had some pretty big personnel issues you think got thrust into command in time, which most people would say is not ideal.

00;08;44;05 – 00;08;56;23

Jon Mayo

And you continue to choose to stay in when a lot of dads are getting out. And that’s created its own challenges. So, Mike, how was that flavoring the pot for you?

00;08;56;23 – 00;08;57;20

Stewart Tice

That’s a big question.

00;08;59;10 – 00;08;59;20

Jon Mayo

Boom.

00;09;00;19 – 00;09;01;01

Stewart Tice

Boom.

00;09;02;11 – 00;09;03;00

Jon Mayo

I don’t I.

00;09;03;00 – 00;09;37;28

Stewart Tice

Don’t think Fort Hood is any different than any other installation right now. It’s big, lots and lots of people. I think the only installation that has more people is brag. But there are different populations of people at each of Fort Bragg versus Fort Hood. And I think the what you saw in 2020, that was 20 that happened at Fort Hood was not any different than, say, Fort Carson where we were, but a series of unfortunate events or a series of events that caught national headlines.

00;09;38;21 – 00;10;16;19

Stewart Tice

The rest Fort Hood into a different direction, obviously, with the Vanessa Guillen situation, which is and three C.R. I’m in first Cavalry Division. It’s been interesting. I don’t know what kind of the Army’s changing. It has changed for the better, but the type of people that were not part of the problems are the same people that have been doing the things that the Army’s tried to change all along as far as to always focus first on people, the like the leaders that just take care of people regardless of because something made national headlines or whatever.

00;10;18;12 – 00;10;43;03

Stewart Tice

Personally, I don’t know a lot a lot of leaders are getting out right now and I don’t know, maybe try to figure it out myself of why they are. I think I can I can tell because they can easily burn you out very quickly or there’s better opportunities other places. Or maybe you just wanted to do a short amount of time and then get out.

00;10;43;03 – 00;10;59;14

Stewart Tice

I think. I don’t know. It’s kind of hard to a lot of lieutenants here at Fort Hood are getting out and trying to find a correlation to why that maybe if it is a Fort Hood thing, if it’s an Army thing or if it’s just I came in to do four or five years, then move on or whatnot.

00;11;00;08 – 00;11;25;15

Stewart Tice

For me personally, I don’t know. I was trying to step down why I stayed really enjoy the people, which is probably like the so that everybody that stayed in for over four or five years says in different way. Enjoy. I don’t know. I told myself long time ago with some of my friends I grew up with that the army was never for them.

00;11;25;15 – 00;11;48;15

Stewart Tice

So I stayed because they they never they never would or never could or never, never would have joined the army. So I think I have maybe a few natural abilities. I’m not not the smartest, not the the fastest, not the brightest, not the most valuable leader. But I seem to fit into what’s going on. I think I really enjoy doing it.

00;11;48;15 – 00;12;12;14

Stewart Tice

I really enjoy the people that I work with. I’ve also been fortunate. I see some. I was talking to one of the lieutenant to my battalion yesterday that does it. Does it work for me? I feel bad for the guy because he is throughout his career in different units, not just in the one we’re now in. Now has never really found like a leader that he believed in or that like made him want to stay.

00;12;12;27 – 00;12;39;05

Stewart Tice

And on the opposite end, I’ve almost always been fortunate to work with people that are amazing. And so maybe, maybe that’s how some of the courses are different in that my previous battalion commanders, my brigade commander I worked with for a long time, a commander here at the bar already. My current commanders that I work underneath have all been phenomenal, inspirational people that you want to like.

00;12;40;06 – 00;13;06;13

Stewart Tice

I stayed because I want to help them, but they stay because they want to help me. That type of mutual relationships. And it because we you know, I am inspired by the people I serve underneath. Maybe it translates through me to those that serve underneath me. And I find just as much inspiration with the folks I led my previous command and those I work with now that answer your question.

00;13;07;01 – 00;13;28;18

Jon Mayo

Yeah, that was a big answer for big question one. One thing that stood out to me was that I want to get your perspective on this. You said you think the Army is changing a lot for the better. I think for the most part, that’s an optimistic view that I’ve not heard a lot of. Right. A lot of people, I think, are more upset or sad about change.

00;13;28;18 – 00;13;39;28

Jon Mayo

And that’s kind of normal with humans to change anyways. But what are you seeing there specifically that you think that’s inspiring, that hope right where you like? I think the changes are good. Well, I.

00;13;39;28 – 00;14;06;24

Stewart Tice

Think over it’s really geared towards the army has like renewed its its message that we are you know our most valuable resource is the people it’s always been true but from 2001 to 2020 or maybe a couple of years before that, maybe the things that we were the army specifically was being asked to do with the size that it was kind of like neglected the people.

00;14;06;24 – 00;14;31;08

Stewart Tice

Or maybe we lost sight of the people that were the most valuable resources, not not at the lower levels where the squad leader, the platoon sergeant, the platoon leader, but they always have cared about the people and less. I mean, you always had the bad apples in the bunch from top to bottom. But I don’t know, we’ve we’ve kind of acknowledged that we need to shift our focus back to the people.

00;14;31;08 – 00;15;04;02

Stewart Tice

And we definitely have the time. We slowed the tempo down, even though it still feels, you know, completely busy all the time. So I’m optimistic that like we can we can change back to what, you know, kind of like refocusing our priorities that we never probably should a lot lost at all along the way. But, you know, as you’re fighting in two different conflicts with additional, you know, rotational forces to other areas of the world, you know, the army was just really, really busy for a solid 20 years.

00;15;04;16 – 00;15;26;28

Jon Mayo

Hmm. Yeah, that’s fair. That’s awesome. And I think that’s one of the things that does make the army and probably the second closest Marines unique from, say, the Air Force in the Navy, where as an organization, our greatest resources are personnel. Right? Or the greatest resource for those organizations are the the soldiers are Marines were for the Navy.

00;15;26;28 – 00;15;48;24

Jon Mayo

It’s the ships and for the Air Force, it’s the planes and the technology. I’ve I’ve heard that comparison a lot. And I can see how that shift would be good if done. Well, that’s cool. Yeah, that’s cool. What’s interesting is, like, if we look at history also going down to your answer, I’m like staying in for the people and for the challenge and all that jazz.

00;15;48;24 – 00;16;13;08

Jon Mayo

We’re kind of going into this weird pseudo peacetime flavor. We have been for a while, right, with the Middle East taking as long as it did, and that always has its own challenges that seem to be unique, which and a lot of people tend to get out. I think historically also times like this. So it’s good to have some good guys stay in for sure.

00;16;13;08 – 00;16;16;00

Jon Mayo

Maybe I’m just grateful that I could have been a peace. Yes.

00;16;17;22 – 00;16;55;01

Stewart Tice

I’m assuming I’m good. I don’t know. So somebody somewhere likes to keep me around? Yeah, I agree. I think. Yeah, it’s hard to say that, like because of the army changing or whatnot, there are, you know, bad leaders or whatever, that that’s the reason why we’re we’re losing a lot of good leaders. It also is because a lot of people in the last few years have come in wanting knowing what the Army’s done over the last 20 and wanting to be a part of that or being a part of what their father did or their grandfather, their aunts and uncles and whatnot, because that’s not necessarily going on right now, though that could always change.

00;16;55;01 – 00;16;59;15

Stewart Tice

You know, that that is a reason as well.

00;16;59;15 – 00;17;13;14

Jon Mayo

Cool. So that’s kind of the Army side then. And you just stood out like we already mentioned in your second round of command. And then from there you just started see off of your plus there, right? So yeah, I was pretty locked in.

00;17;15;00 – 00;17;31;10

Stewart Tice

For the next year. Yeah I did command of the line line, fire and battery and then I just switched over to the headquarters battery back in December. So totally new set of challenges, but yeah, I’ll be here for until about this time next year.

00;17;32;16 – 00;17;34;24

Jon Mayo

Cool. So how’s your team doing, man?

00;17;36;12 – 00;17;39;00

Stewart Tice

The team in the, in the the battery or what.

00;17;39;00 – 00;17;44;24

Jon Mayo

No, like I see those Razorbacks on your chest.

00;17;44;24 – 00;18;05;10

Stewart Tice

They’re awesome. We turn it around. The football, basketball started hot. We’re going through a little like, thought we might have looked good. Not so good for a few games. I think we’re we’re bouncing back, so we’ll see how the rest of season goes. And we’re gearing up for baseball, which we’re number one most of the year last year.

00;18;05;24 – 00;18;20;15

Stewart Tice

So we’ll see how they do big, strong recruiting class. But we didn’t do so hot in the College World Series SAT base, third base should have we shot ourselves in the foot.

00;18;22;04 – 00;18;30;00

Jon Mayo

So what? How so? How did you shoot yourself in the photo?

00;18;30;03 – 00;18;33;01

Stewart Tice

I said, okay.

00;18;33;01 – 00;18;33;05

Jon Mayo

Well.

00;18;33;25 – 00;18;44;24

Stewart Tice

We were number one all year and then that won. The regionals got to Omaha for the College World Series and lost the first series. Yeah, against the first team.

00;18;44;24 – 00;18;46;28

Jon Mayo

And like.

00;18;46;28 – 00;19;05;10

Stewart Tice

If you asked anybody, we probably should have, like, auto got to the championship game and we didn’t I a little sad because all year we’re like this is the team like this is the best team our coaches fielded in almost 20 years he’s been there and then you know you just kind of deflate in the first week in there.

00;19;06;00 – 00;19;08;04

Jon Mayo

Gotcha. So it was just kind of like a joke scenario.

00;19;08;15 – 00;19;10;02

Stewart Tice

Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know what happened.

00;19;11;12 – 00;19;15;14

Jon Mayo

Good stuff. Well, not good stuff. Sad stuff. We’re back.

00;19;15;22 – 00;19;16;29

Stewart Tice

We are back.

00;19;16;29 – 00;19;19;10

Jon Mayo

Back on the climb. There you go. There’s that white.

00;19;19;11 – 00;19;20;02

Stewart Tice

Guy. Look like.

00;19;21;06 – 00;19;21;13

Jon Mayo

I was.

00;19;21;13 – 00;19;22;03

Stewart Tice

So Celsius.

00;19;23;00 – 00;19;36;15

Jon Mayo

Oh, it looks like a clock. You know, healthy energy drink. Yeah, Celsius is again. All of them did run a round three of CC stamina manufacturer wise.

00;19;36;15 – 00;19;37;07

Stewart Tice

I need to get some.

00;19;37;16 – 00;19;56;03

Jon Mayo

I know that while we keep running into problems, man, we just had a fire. A second manufacturer. Great. We’re 18 months into this game and we’re not willing to sacrifice the quality and intent of the formula. Right in these guys have just not been good. So.

00;19;56;27 – 00;20;04;14

Stewart Tice

So trying to like, not shortcut stuff, but like, make it to where they can just mass produce, streamline and they lose sight of the quality.

00;20;04;22 – 00;20;26;27

Jon Mayo

Yeah, they want to they’ve wanted to rush you through in the the second manufacturer was doing really good, but we finally cornered them into answering a question that they had been answering for nine months and they answered it wrong for nine months. And it was a pretty big deal because it was it had to do with the delivery of one of the primary ingredients.

00;20;27;12 – 00;20;53;17

Jon Mayo

So when we caught them in that, it it just turned south and we realized that our partnership wasn’t going to work. And they they made it right for us to break that partnership off. And now we’re with one of the industry leaders actually in the supplement manufacturing world for the US. And we’re waiting on a sample to see if they can deliver on what needs done.

00;20;54;01 – 00;21;15;13

Jon Mayo

So it’s good because the journey continues and hopefully I can actually ship you a bottle of that stuff here soon. But man, it’s been an uphill fight with like one just learning how to navigate the waters of this industry and then to know just dealing with folks that are lacking the level of professionalism and skill that you would hope.

00;21;15;23 – 00;21;31;01

Jon Mayo

Right. Just to have a conversation. It’s been a wild game, but we’ll have that soon and we can control on some as we’re talking should be begin. Yeah, should be good. It’s been a frickin journey. Yeah.

00;21;32;19 – 00;21;38;08

Stewart Tice

So it’s all for the better. Yeah, but you’re a the team that you want to roll with.

00;21;38;29 – 00;22;01;04

Jon Mayo

If if they can just deliver. So far, our conversation has been pretty simple and straightforward. So I’m cautiously optimistic at this point. But if they can deliver the quality of ingredients into and have it play out, how it needs to, then will be in good shape. And we should know that in the next 5 to 6 weeks. Four, five weeks.

00;22;01;07 – 00;22;10;06

Jon Mayo

Yeah, could be good. Then we can talking about that stuff even more, sharing it with people. But it’s exciting.

00;22;11;29 – 00;22;13;06

Stewart Tice

It is excited to try it.

00;22;14;01 – 00;22;18;24

Jon Mayo

Yeah. So this is a good one though. It is the.

00;22;18;26 – 00;22;36;26

Stewart Tice

You know, I don’t really like the ones that have sugar in it and the bangs and the brains became popular and those are good. But your heart is like could stop at any moment. Sales is nice, mix tastes phenomenal. It’s not I don’t feel like I’m like on the brink of a heart attack after I drink one.

00;22;37;15 – 00;23;00;07

Jon Mayo

Yeah. The 300 milligram range that’s become normalized for an energy drink. I think it’s insane because like, you go and you get a grand Day coffee from Starbucks, it’s it’s close to 30 milligrams of caffeine, but that’s just caffeine from coffee. It doesn’t hit you the same as when you mix in the other ingredients. Third, these drinks. So it’s like, I don’t know, I think that 300 is a threshold we probably should know.

00;23;00;08 – 00;23;08;24

Jon Mayo

Flirted with as a country with with these drinks, pumping them out. I think the two 200 range was enough personally.

00;23;08;24 – 00;23;11;29

Stewart Tice

But yeah, I think with these these are 200.

00;23;13;00 – 00;23;19;24

Jon Mayo

I imagine they’re like 180 to 200 because they also have a little bit of a thermogenic and the Celsius is do that.

00;23;20;10 – 00;23;21;26

Stewart Tice

Oh that’s what the okay, do.

00;23;24;11 – 00;23;27;25

Jon Mayo

That to four. Yeah. They’re not bad.

00;23;28;13 – 00;23;28;29

Stewart Tice

200.

00;23;28;29 – 00;23;35;17

Jon Mayo

Yeah. It’s a good dose. It’s a healthy dose. Men have a tickle the throat.

00;23;36;03 – 00;23;37;19

Stewart Tice

Three or four of those is a coven.

00;23;38;16 – 00;23;40;00

Jon Mayo

Not probably. I don’t know.

00;23;40;22 – 00;23;44;29

Stewart Tice

Everything is boosted, so I’m pretty much invincible.

00;23;46;13 – 00;24;09;25

Jon Mayo

I think I’ve had every strand, so I’m. I’m equally invincible. But they’re getting less and less bad as I as I catch them. And of course, that’s a guess, because I don’t know. I don’t I’m not in a position where when I’m sick, I have to be around people. So that’s good. True. But so did with with all the wildness you’re asking.

00;24;09;25 – 00;24;10;20

Jon Mayo

Not that long ago, right.

00;24;11;07 – 00;24;15;01

Stewart Tice

I was. I went to Park City over like New Year’s.

00;24;15;19 – 00;24;16;00

Jon Mayo

Okay.

00;24;17;24 – 00;24;26;16

Stewart Tice

We trying to feel like what’s the now not living in Colorado anymore? What’s a year around around that time. So that was my first time at Utah.

00;24;27;02 – 00;24;27;25

Jon Mayo

For Do you think.

00;24;28;19 – 00;24;47;07

Stewart Tice

It was great? I mean, I didn’t see I mean, we literally just flew in to Salt Lake and then drove up to Park City. So it’s not like I’m not qualified to speak on the entire state. But it was it was beautiful, surrounded by mountains. Park City was really cool. They had just gotten a bunch of snow, which was good.

00;24;48;14 – 00;24;52;12

Stewart Tice

You hate to if they don’t know, it was a fantastic time.

00;24;53;05 – 00;25;04;13

Jon Mayo

To go skiing and they don’t have snow. That’s a bummer. Yeah. I think guitars, one of those less talked about gems right? For the outdoor stuff you can do. There’s a lot of good there.

00;25;05;01 – 00;25;05;28

Stewart Tice

A lot of people.

00;25;07;19 – 00;25;07;22

Jon Mayo

I.

00;25;07;27 – 00;25;10;20

Stewart Tice

In Moab in Utah was like California.

00;25;11;18 – 00;25;11;27

Jon Mayo

Oh, I got.

00;25;11;28 – 00;25;12;07

Stewart Tice

To do like.

00;25;12;07 – 00;25;13;02

Jon Mayo

Summer.

00;25;13;02 – 00;25;21;06

Stewart Tice

Summer, like mountain biking and stuff. Yeah, Yeah. That equals amount to doing like a winter or is the summer.

00;25;22;10 – 00;25;27;20

Jon Mayo

Yeah, it’s kind of like Colorado in that aspect. These two states have a lot to offer, but we need to have people stop looking to them.

00;25;28;28 – 00;25;30;12

Stewart Tice

Yeah, we got to hide the gems.

00;25;30;28 – 00;25;37;15

Jon Mayo

You would have no idea. Like it would blow your mind to drive through the springs. It has changed so much.

00;25;38;01 – 00;25;39;04

Stewart Tice

It just exploding.

00;25;39;08 – 00;25;40;24

Jon Mayo

It’s exploding like we’re.

00;25;40;24 – 00;25;42;24

Stewart Tice

Just crazy because five years ago.

00;25;43;19 – 00;25;43;29

Jon Mayo

When we.

00;25;43;29 – 00;25;47;28

Stewart Tice

Moved it, seven years ago, when I moved there, it was exploding at that point.

00;25;48;11 – 00;26;03;26

Jon Mayo

Yeah, it’s not slowed down. I think it’s just sped up. Now. Even Falcon is getting huge. Like, well, like, I think that we could like where I’m at, which most would consider the country will not be, I think, in five years.

00;26;04;27 – 00;26;05;23

Stewart Tice

Oh, definitely not.

00;26;06;02 – 00;26;13;10

Jon Mayo

It’ll be outer suburbs for sure, which is great for property value, but a bummer if you want to be in the country. So you have.

00;26;13;10 – 00;26;18;28

Stewart Tice

To to buy up some of the land and create your own little like Yellowstone. There, your custom ranch.

00;26;19;16 – 00;26;35;04

Jon Mayo

There’s this ranch behind us. I’d love to get the family on. It’s pretty sweet. You know what I’m talking about there? There’s the Bennet ranch. Mm hmm. It’s pretty big. It’s a little bit out of my price range right now, but that’d be a sweet piece of land to buy both.

00;26;35;04 – 00;26;40;03

Stewart Tice

It does come in your price range. You can flip that. And 50 years for Kirk Worth.

00;26;40;24 – 00;26;58;01

Jon Mayo

Well, that’s a great property to buy and enjoy for 15, 20 years. And then just with how much it’s growing and then either keep it or guardian. Right, But that’s good. Do you really think it needs to be broken this finger? Yes.

00;26;58;20 – 00;27;00;16

Stewart Tice

You can’t even you can’t even like.

00;27;00;26 – 00;27;09;24

Jon Mayo

No, I can. It does bend. It’s just right now because it’s still so swollen that front tendons tight. So it’s going to get a medicine ball and start working it. Yeah.

00;27;10;06 – 00;27;14;28

Stewart Tice

I would highly, highly recommend you have that thing reset.

00;27;15;24 – 00;27;19;06

Jon Mayo

I’ll look at it. Yeah, that’s a bummer.

00;27;19;06 – 00;27;20;11

Stewart Tice

You can either do it now.

00;27;20;12 – 00;27;21;00

Jon Mayo

Or.

00;27;22;02 – 00;27;30;26

Stewart Tice

You’ll just have you’ll, you’ll regret it in a couple of years and you’re like lifting something. You’re like, Man, I wish I could’ve been my middle finger because it’s just locked up and.

00;27;31;18 – 00;27;32;04

Jon Mayo

Looks.

00;27;32;04 – 00;27;32;23

Stewart Tice

Crooked.

00;27;33;06 – 00;28;06;25

Jon Mayo

Yeah, you’re right. At this point, Lindsay’s been saying it. I’ve been hoping that it’s just swollen, but I think that I need to take a dose of reality. Probably going to. Yeah. All right, fine. I’ll look into that. So speaking of doses of reality, I’m curious. So looking back at when we served together and just over the years that we’ve been friends, because you were there when Gabriel was born, so you’re one of the OGs, you know, on this, on this platform.

00;28;06;27 – 00;28;33;06

Jon Mayo

Need the grit theory. We talk a lot about intentional living and how you how you kind of navigate life towards success in a happy life, right? Like a life that’s worth living in the pursuit of something that’s fun and good, that makes you better, and just maximizing the moments becoming who you want to be versus Heather. And I realize we we’ve had some pretty good philosophical conversations over the years, but you always kind of navigated life.

00;28;33;06 – 00;28;59;00

Jon Mayo

And the challenges, at least from the outside looking in, are just kind of indomitable, right? Just like you’re going forward and things happen and you kind of skip over them and go through them. And that’s the thing. So I was curious on the inner workings of your mind, like how how do you navigate and work through the day to day pressures and how do you ensure that you’re going the direction you want to?

00;28;59;16 – 00;29;21;17

Jon Mayo

Right? Like not just professionally but personally from, say, becoming who you want to be, keep chugging through. Is that something you do or have thought about, or is this kind of a wrench for both? And I don’t know, the.

00;29;21;17 – 00;29;47;15

Stewart Tice

Unlike the professional side of it, I don’t know if I necessarily like I understand my level, like how the Army works at my level really well. But like time success, long term, if that’s what I choose to do, I don’t know. Half of it. It’s probably like I keep falling into lucky positions with lucky people. I work for, which helps like keep that on the straight and narrow.

00;29;48;21 – 00;30;01;22

Stewart Tice

But the other half is like day to day professionally. You know, I’ll be the first to admit I probably don’t really know what I’m doing, but we’re we’re doing stuff for the better good of what I’m supposed to be doing.

00;30;03;20 – 00;30;03;26

Jon Mayo

To.

00;30;03;26 – 00;30;27;01

Stewart Tice

Get where I want. I don’t know, in a similar way of like a guidance I would give like platoon leaders when they’re like, you know, I’ve identified like, this is what my platoon is, but like, I don’t want it to be like this. And we have conversations of like, well, like, don’t start of, like where you’re at here now, but you have to have something that you’re working toward.

00;30;27;01 – 00;30;46;10

Stewart Tice

So like in six months or a year or if you tie it to like when this unit deploys or when we go to a national training center or something like what does your platoon or whatever type of unit look like? Like what is how does your platoon walk? How do they talk? What is it? What is the platoon smell like?

00;30;46;10 – 00;30;47;10

Stewart Tice

What do they act like?

00;30;47;28 – 00;30;48;11

Jon Mayo

You know.

00;30;48;13 – 00;31;17;07

Stewart Tice

How do they carry themselves? Like how far how fast do they run? If you define it like you think the the entire thing and like in your mind run through like, not like right now. But when you’re called upon, you go to the National Training Center or your units called to deploy. Like, what does that look like? Not not like just how fast can they shoot artillery or are they all physically fit, But like, how do they talk to each other?

00;31;17;22 – 00;31;29;04

Stewart Tice

How do they take care of each other? What does when you walk into the room, what does it feel like you can define like that entire thing and then back that up 12 months of or however long you’ll be in the position.

00;31;29;04 – 00;31;30;24

Jon Mayo

Like what?

00;31;31;05 – 00;31;58;22

Stewart Tice

What things I need to focus on that like steer it in that direction. And then the other half is like the unit will take on your personality. So as long as you’re not a piece of shit and you can you consistently instill like the the good aspects along the way, then it’ll steer the unit and in some ways like translating that to a, you know, yourself professionally, yourself, personally, like what do I want to look like in ten years?

00;31;58;22 – 00;32;20;01

Stewart Tice

Where do I want to live? How do I want to be around to interact with who do I want to interact with? Like and then what am I doing Like now? It doesn’t mean like I want to be able to run 50 miles in one day. So like I need to start running 50 miles like now, like, or I want to live in Hawaii.

00;32;20;01 – 00;32;47;03

Stewart Tice

So, like, I need to look at plane tickets for Hawaii now, like all those things will come, but day to day or week to week, because we’re looking longer term like what things am I doing? I kind of stuff like that. Like, I don’t know, I haven’t thought of it myself because it just some of it just feels natural, like we’re doing these things and, you know, whatever, maybe like the machine is rolling.

00;32;48;21 – 00;32;48;25

Jon Mayo

And.

00;32;48;25 – 00;33;02;16

Stewart Tice

I think we’re rolling in the right direction. That’s kind of how I’ve thought about it, mostly on the Army side of it, because that’s where a lot of those discussions come up. But I think you can take that to myself on a professional level or a personal level as well.

00;33;04;02 – 00;33;17;15

Jon Mayo

Okay. So right now it’s a lot of it and it’s a lot of honing yourself for the greater good, right at the at the target of what do I need to be to get this organization where I want it to be.

00;33;17;28 – 00;33;18;09

Stewart Tice

Right.

00;33;18;24 – 00;33;39;05

Jon Mayo

Okay. Yeah, I remember. I think that is part of the culture and I think that’s one of the beautiful things about that organization specifically is on the leadership side, if you’re drinking the juice of I want to improve myself with be the best I can be, then the reason for doing that is so that you can not let your guys down, right?

00;33;39;25 – 00;34;03;14

Jon Mayo

Which which I thinks a damn good reason to do these things. But the reason obviously when you like, because I’m out and living this life, there’s different. You know, I’ve been a part of a couple of different organizations now. The families remain the same. But for myself, it’s like I want to be able to look in the mirror, be proud of who I’ve become and who I’m becoming.

00;34;03;21 – 00;34;30;24

Jon Mayo

Right. Despite whatever the past may look like, like happy with the progress. And the reason I care about that is because I have four sons who are kind of like my permanent organization, right? Girl, always watching me. I don’t want they call it how it is. I want them to see by my actions some life, something worth learning from and emulating, not just from negatives, you know.

00;34;31;10 – 00;34;49;05

Jon Mayo

And then I do think that for from my perspective, the emphasis has gone more on that side. And I think it’s kind of like if you follow up to the point it’s overflowing, the better I get at that, the more I’m able to positively influence those around me right.

00;34;49;05 – 00;35;14;22

Stewart Tice

I think it I think it’s the same. Yeah. Comparing like where you’re at versus like what I do like an increase, you know, me going to a command that has 250 to 260 people depending on the day, like as you increase in rank or positions of responsibility in the army, like you are being promoted, you can affect more people.

00;35;15;12 – 00;35;51;20

Stewart Tice

You are improving yourself in order to improve your family, including the four boys. So it is very similar. Yeah, and maybe that ties back to like why I stay more. I think people who go into like a command or a promotion or whatever as you progress and think like, Oh, I need to do this command because I need it to get promoted to this rank as opposed to like, well, the army promoted me to captain and selected me for two commands in order for me like to effect more people, which is less less about yourself and all about those underneath you.

00;35;53;12 – 00;36;28;04

Stewart Tice

Because like the tools and the development that the Army is doing for me is so that I can like help more people. And that’s literally the only reason I exist is to to serve 260 odd people on a daily basis. So I try and prove myself either the things I read, the things I do, the way I talk or whatever, and the whole aspect of the game for those people, much like you, continue to improve yourself spiritually, personally, all that for your your unit, the family.

00;36;28;04 – 00;36;59;16

Jon Mayo

Yeah, that’s solid. I’m actually really glad you put that correlation. It’s kind of obvious now sitting 5 minutes later in the conversation but like yeah the these things are the same if and this is the big biggest and that’s what you just flushed out if you have the right perspective, right If you see it as as I’m going through the Army or my career in business or my family and as things grow, my job is to grow with them so I can better serve that.

00;36;59;16 – 00;37;23;17

Jon Mayo

Then it’s all the same. It’s just different flavors, right? If they But I think where it gets confused is a lot of people are adding the they’re just pursuing those title changes to pursuing the growth but without demanding that growth of themselves. So like in your perspective, right from 130 so to 260. So people have you grown 100% right?

00;37;23;17 – 00;37;50;02

Jon Mayo

Like are you developing yourself? Because if if you’re in business and your business grows 60% as an individual, did you grow 60% to be able to better serve what’s happening? Right. If I think that there’s a fair question that where people get comfortable or feel entitled to their trajectory, when in reality are you growing to outpace your trajectory so that you can continue to be in a position of serving?

00;37;50;17 – 00;37;52;18

Jon Mayo

You know, what do you think about that?

00;37;53;16 – 00;38;20;23

Stewart Tice

Me personally, no, because I’m not that good anymore. But I’m working towards it. I mean, absolutely. You go from one day the previous battery had, you know, including the attached needed steam, about 110 people to fast forward. Three weeks later, 260 people depending on the day. So overnight, of course, like I did not progress like 60% or whatever it may be, but that’s what I owe them.

00;38;20;23 – 00;38;43;09

Stewart Tice

So that’s like there’s a there’s a catching up to do. And then it changes the way like in different as you’re well aware, like different types of you lead differently because of the headquarters battery is a completely different animal than than the gun line that we’re familiar to. But over the last two months that I’ve been here, yeah, you do have to.

00;38;43;13 – 00;39;01;15

Stewart Tice

You have to grow with it. And if you’re leaving the organization you have to grow quickly and stay ahead of it because your job is to to serve an additional, you know, 150 people that are in the organization that I came into and then helped steer them to where I believe that they need to be.

00;39;02;22 – 00;39;43;15

Jon Mayo

Yeah, I think that’s the right mindset, The right. You didn’t grow to be ready for this role, right, with 260 folks that you’re responsible to take care of, just like you weren’t ready and grown and knew how to handle 110 folks. But your how you spent your time developing yourself and caring for the organization through that line battery with those folks is what prepared you to undergo this journey and then the transformation you go taking care of this part of your career and this group of people will prepare you for the next one to get started right?

00;39;43;15 – 00;39;59;01

Jon Mayo

So it’s kind of like you’re working to grow, you’re working to develop and become better, the best your ability to the challenges you’re faced so that you have the competency to start the next higher level challenge that Nate broken you if you started at the beginning, right? Yeah.

00;39;59;28 – 00;40;03;22

Stewart Tice

I mean, as soon as the army, as soon as we get comfortable at our job, the army moves us from the job.

00;40;03;22 – 00;40;20;16

Jon Mayo

So, yeah, but that’s been my experience out here too, and that’s probably self-inflicted because I don’t like to sit still. So we’ve, we’ve moved as, as soon as it’s made sense each time, positionally and stuff. And so Devlin’s you back in here.

00;40;21;09 – 00;40;48;20

Stewart Tice

Right? If you do it, if some people in my opinion, leaders that might like take a job because it’s required to progress, get really comfortable, really quickly as opposed to like other folks have a different mindset of like, I’m going to push myself for the year. I’m here to catch up to where I need to, where I feel like I need to be, and then I’m going to move because I’m just going to continue to push myself as opposed to if I were, you know, not it’s not possible.

00;40;48;21 – 00;41;08;16

Stewart Tice

But I stayed in this job for two years. Maybe the second year I start getting complacent or stagnant because, you know, I’m here and the machine is just moving. But much like they need a fresh leader, I have to continue challenging myself for the greater and of a bigger organization.

00;41;08;16 – 00;41;32;14

Jon Mayo

Yeah. So for you, the driving force is the people you’re serving. That’s what I’m taking away from this. As things continue forward. That’s cool. I dropped the the question on him of how does he continue to be who he is, right? How does the great stew continue to evolve and just glide through life with ease and perfection?

00;41;32;14 – 00;41;37;14

Stewart Tice

It is not easy or perfection.

00;41;37;14 – 00;41;46;27

Jon Mayo

So that’s what we were talking about.