Transcript

Introduction to Ken Coleman, America’s Career Coach

[0:00] Hello, friends. Welcome to another episode of Tell Us a Good Story.
Today, Steph and I get to talk to the man who is known as America’s career coach and co-host of the Dave Ramsey show, Mr. Ken Coleman.
Here’s what’s funny. Ken is one of the radio personalities for the Ramsey organization.
However, we didn’t talk about finances at all, and I hope we didn’t break any rules by doing that.
But Ken had a lot of great stories to share, including the time when he was in his thirties and feeling like he needed to make a career change into into broadcasting.
The problem though, was at that stage of his life, he had a wife, kids, no education, and no experience to go into broadcasting.
And when he would talk to people in the industry about making a career change, they would tell him, don’t do it. You’re too old.
Well, as you will hear, Ken wasn’t too old to make a career change, but it did lead him to do some weird speaking gigs to get some experience within the industry, such as introducing mimes and other entertainers at a local community festival, which was a hilarious story.
So folks, we can’t wait for you to hear this conversation with another Ramsey personality, Ken Coleman.

Overcoming Life’s Challenges: An Introduction to Our Story

[1:06] I’m Kevin and I’m Stephanie. And during our marriage, we have dealt with an electrocution, a brain tumor, brain surgery, then doctors telling us that children were not in our future, followed by miscarriage and then Kevin’s cancer diagnosis.
However, today we live a life I’ve completely healed and restored with three healthy children who doctors said were not possible.
And we’re here to tell stories that inspire, give hope, and brighten your day.
Welcome to… Tell Us a Good Story.

Importance of subscribing and sharing on social media

[1:35] Okay, friends, before we get to this episode, just a friendly reminder to please hit the subscribe button on YouTube and Apple podcast or give us a review. Five stars, please.
In our world, this is super, super important because it will help with the algorithm to make it easier for people to find us.
And thank you for sharing our post across your social media.
That really helps with engagement and with us getting guests.
Yes. So, hey, if you want us to keep working our way up to talking to Chip and Joanna, please share us with your friends. But regardless, thank you for listening to Tell Us a Good Story.

[2:08] All right, Steph. This is exciting. Ken Coleman. We’ve been looking forward to this. I should have said anything.
Dang it. You’re not supposed to nail this. I was already excited.

[2:16] Well, friends, our next guest is known as America’s career coach who loves coaching people to reach their full potential.
He is a two-time bestselling author, co-host of The Dave Ramsey Show, and host of The Ken Coleman Show.
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to Tell Us a Good Story, Mr. Ken Coleman. Ken Coleman. Oh, you guys are very nice.
Very nice. Good to be with you, too.
Oh, we’re so excited about this because you’re giving us a different perspective with the Ramsey personality crew that I had no clue about.
Yes. Well, first off, thank you for saying yes to us. Yes. But, Ken, I got to tell you, about the rabbit hole I went down on the internet while researching you, sir, do you realize how many Ken Coleman’s there are on the internet?
I do. I do. For years when people would, my friends would try to track me down.
They would like search for me. They would see this picture of this old Boston Radio Sox play-by-play radio announcer.
Yes. And they were like, you’re dead.
Apparently you are dead because they would have my bio, but with his picture.
And then there’s a Ken Coleman who won the biggest loser.
So they were like, you lost a lot of weight. There’s all these jokes.

Ken Coleman’s career coaching approach

[3:25] So yeah, I share the internet with at least those two, the ones I hear about the most. Yes. I would read an article and half of it’s true.
Like, Hey, you’re in broadcasting.
And then I start researching and I’m like, wait a sec.
He was a broadcaster for the Cleveland Indians and the Cleveland Browns.
And then I keep reading and it’s like, Oh, he was also a sergeant in world war two.

[3:44] I’ve had a lot of work done. I have been tugged and pulled more than a carpet. it. Okay.
Don’t I look great? You look fantastic. You absolutely do.
So first thing, you are known as America’s career coach.
Okay. So you help folks find what they’re born to do, provide steps to make their dream job a reality.
So have you had any listeners, any clients say something like, Hey, I want to be president of the United States.
And you’re just like, okay, that’s not going to happen. How about president of like your book club or HOA?
How do you break it to them, Well, I’ve had very few of those where someone has called into the show and they give me something like, you know, I want to be a touring musician and I want to have Grammys and, you know, that kind of a thing.
And, you know, you don’t know what you’re dealing with. They may very well have crazy talent.
And so in that moment, I’ve got to be careful not to do what so many people did to me in my journey.
When I was in my early 30s and felt like I was being called to move into broadcasting.

[4:46] And I had a lot of people, important people, people in the broadcasting industry said, you’re too old.
And it was bone crushing for me. So I don’t want to do that.
But what I try to do those moments where somebody is giving me this long shot scenario, I try to dive into what’s beneath that.
And so if somebody says, I want to be the president of the United States, I’m going to go below that and go, okay, at the surface, you want to serve people.
Hopefully, you know, what draws you to that Mount Everest?
I love that, that that’s the Mount Everest, but let’s think about what steps are we taking?
What are some opportunities that will give me the shot for that?
If it’s a long shot, then what do we do so that if the destination changes, we’re still on the right direction? Does that make sense?
Yes. I said on social media before direction is more important than destination because sometimes the destination will change. Yeah.
And what I do know is that direction will lead me to the right destination, even if I don’t know that it’s the right destination.
And you can say that about relationships. You know, if you know the kind of person you want to spend the rest of your life with, it’s going to lead you to the right one, even if the one over here is the one you thought. Right. Same idea.
So I just kind of go below the surface there and I focus on, okay, okay, what are next steps, right?
So before we’d ever become president of the United States, we probably need to hold elective office, right?
And so I just, I try to help without discouraging that idea.
I try to just focus on the direction.

[6:16] I like that. So, okay, you started talking about your career change.
Can you tell us the story of what happened in your thirties with your career? Yes.

Ken Coleman’s personal career change story

[6:25] Yeah. So at the age of 16, I thought very clearly that my direction, direction that my destination would be as a public office holder.
So running for a political office.
And so at the age of 16, I made a decision in a high school chapel.
I was sitting there and I felt God just really pointed me that direction.
And so I pursued that and I left college early to work on a congressional race, came back to college, was rotting because I’d been on the battlefield.
It’s like getting a desk position in those war movies where the warrior’s been injured, leaves his guys in the trenches and goes to the cushy office job.
And that’s what college was like for me. So I went back, worked on a couple of races.
I’m fast forwarding the story and wound up working for the governor of Virginia at the age of 22. Wow.
And so I, in six short years, got opened up doors and I was very, very aggressive to walk through them.
And so I was there and then I was there for about a year, newly married, and it was awful.
Working in bureaucracy is very different than working on a campaign.

[7:31] The pace, the speed, the ideals, all of that.
And so I knew it wasn’t for me. So about a year in, I began to knock on doors and look for opportunities to move into the business world so I could build a business resume and then a business leadership resume that I felt would set me up to run for office.
So here’s a guy who’s been in politics, but he spent more time in business. He’s led.
And that was the idea of building a resume, if you will, to run for office.
And so that puts me me in my early 30s. And the two or three years prior to that, 28, 29, 30, I began to lose the fire in my belly for politics.
I was very upset with what I saw as a lack of leadership on both sides of the aisle, certainly on my side of the aisle.
And so I began to question, can I make the difference that I believe God designed me to make in this arena?

[8:20] And the answer was I lost faith that I could, that there was a bigger impact somewhere else.
And so that’s what began to create this crisis of, have I wasted all this time?
Here I’m 31, 32, you know, and I’m staring at 40. It’ll be here soon.
Have I wasted my life? And I went through a season of despondency and discouragement, maybe borderline depression.
I’m just too, I’m probably too prideful and too positive to ever admit depression, but depression is a real thing.
But I was just really, really really stuck as to if it’s not politics, what is it?
I knew it wasn’t to pastor people. I knew that wasn’t it. I’m a preacher’s kid and I know ministry, love ministry, love the church, but I knew that wasn’t it.
And so I went through that season of trying to figure it out and it was really, really hard because, you know, it felt like such a huge, crazy turn with no education and no experience to go into broadcasting.

[9:12] So that’s what led me to that point of self-discovery, which is now the basis of what I teach people.
All right, Steph, I’ve got a question for you. What’s your favorite book of all time? Obviously, You Met Her Where.
Oh, I thought you were going to say the Bible. Oh, oops.
What’s your second favorite book of all time? You Met Her Where?

Book Promotion and Where to Get It

[9:39] A distant second. Totally distant. It’s a pretty good book. Sorry, God. It’s still a pretty good book.
But we’re so excited. Where can people get our book?
Okay i know this uh amazon.com yes barnes and noble yes and and our website kevinsteff.com and what happens if they buy it off our website what do they get uh an autograph from us yes who wouldn’t want that so listeners if you’ve already read the book thank you so much we’ve had such good feedback one thing that helps us if you can give us a review on amazon.com we would greatly appreciate it thank you so much and thank you for listening, So Ken, for all of our guests, I like to give a list of fun facts to let listeners know what you’ve done, what you’ve accomplished.
Steph actually is not aware of any of these. So keep me honest on these.
Okay. So I’ve got a list of fun facts.
Any stories you have about these, please feel free to share.
And if I have the wrong Ken Coleman, you can correct me as well.
Yeah, this will be great.
Right. Like what was it like on the beaches of Normandy, Ken? Right.

[10:44] Apparently sandy and cold. okay step fun fact number one after deciding to make a career change into broadcasting ken took on random public speaking gigs okay including introducing mimes and balloon artists at community events so please do you have a good story about that what’s one of the most random places you went ken yeah well this is swanee day festival okay and i was just trying Trying to, I’m one of these guys that I’m a coach by nature.
My favorite teachers in the world were coaches. I played sports my whole life.
And so I was just kind of getting myself out of this, out of this rut.
And I was like, just start doing anything and everything and build a name for yourself in the Atlanta area.
And so I ran into a friend who was sitting with the mayor of Suwannee one day, and I was hosting a leadership conference called Catalyst, which was a huge leadership conference.
John Maxwell ran for years. And my friend says, you need to meet Ken.

[11:40] Ken meet the mayor and Ken does some MC and the guy goes, Hey, that’s really cool.
And I said to the mayor, let me know if I can ever help you guys.
I’ll volunteer my time. Love to help out.
The guy goes, we need a host for Swanee day coming up. And I was like, okay, great. I’ll do it.
And I mean, it’s one of those things where like, you know, it started at noon and it goes till nine o’clock and I was literally the person just up on the mic introducing the next thing.
And so these are local cheerleader squad, little kids, dance teams, and a balloon artist.
And then the mime and the low point of the day because I was like, why am I doing this?
I’m away from my wife and three little kids. I could be out enjoying funnel cake with them or at home with them.
And I remember introducing a mime and I went to give him a high five and I really wasn’t thinking.
And the mime, of course, did the old stand up. And I thought, this is the low point of my life.
This is what it’s come to? Yeah. Like this is probably the wrong direction.
So that was one of those really humbling moments where I look back on that.
And the lesson from that funny story is sometimes what we do.

[12:46] To reach a destination is not about the actual moment. It’s that we just showed up.
You understand what I’m saying? Like I got nothing out of Suwannee day, other than I put myself out there.
I did it. I kept my commitment. It sucked. It depressed me.
Everything about it was awful, but I knew that I wanted to do it.
I knew that I was willing to do the next thing. And sometimes just showing up is enough.
It doesn’t matter if you meet that person. It doesn’t matter if you You get noticed. It just matters that you show up.
Oh, that is so true.

[13:20] All right, Steph, ready? Next fun fact. Ken eventually became an emcee for a

Ken’s First Interview with Coach K

[13:25] national leadership conference he mentioned that gave him an opportunity to interview well-known athletes, leaders, authors, celebrities.
You ready for this? Yes. His first interview ever was on the floor of Cameron Indoor Stadium interviewing the legendary Coach K.
True story. Shut the front door.
So we’ve been to Cameron Indoor Stadium. him. Oh, we love Coach K.
Oh, we’re big Coach K fans. So he’s telling us that story. Okay.
Well, then you’re going to love this story. You talk about a God thing.
So I’m working for John Maxwell, legendary leadership icon.
He’s got this simulcast that’s going to go to 90,000 people worldwide.

[13:59] And one of the keynote speakers is Coach K. Two weeks before the event, he calls, he’s apologizing.
He says, I’ve never canceled on a client before, but my best friend, Steve Wynn, Wynn, interestingly enough, and Steve Wynn was opening up Paris and Las Vegas and he invited Mike and Mickey, Mike’s wife. And he said, I got to go.
He’s my best friend. I have to go to this and I feel bad. I’ll give you guys a refund, total refund.
I’ll do an interview. I’ll do a video message. What do you want?
And so the leader of our company at the time said, well, let’s take the interview option. It’s the next best thing.
And he called me into his office and he goes, you’re Mr. Sports guy.
He knew I loved Duke growing up and all this kind of stuff.
And he said, said can you find somebody and I said yeah I’ll find somebody so I had met the voice of the the TV voice of the Atlanta Braves through a leadership event Maxwell networking event and I called Bob and I said Bob here’s the story can you do the interview we’ll pay you for your time he’s like I’d love to do it I was like can you do this date this day this and he picks a date.

[14:57] Three days before, now, by the way, I cut a deal with my CEO.
I said, listen, I’ll help Bob because Bob said, I need help writing this interview.
I said, well, I’ve read his book, Leading with the Heart. I know it back and forth. I’m the biggest Coach K fan. I’ll do it.
So I’m going to go meet Coach K. And they’re like, absolutely.
You’re doing all this work. You’re going.
Three days before, Bob calls me. He says, you’re not going to believe this.
We had a rain out two days ago. Major League Baseball scheduled the make-up game on the day I’m supposed to do this interview for you. I can’t go.
So I go to my CEO and I tell him. And he’s like, what are we going to do?
And another one of my colleagues says, Coleman can do it.
He wrote the interview. Ken can do it. And my CEO looks at me and says, can you do it? And I just instinctively went, yeah.
Yeah, you can. And I was like, oh, crap. What did I just say?
You know, like, can I do this? Yes. And all the doubt comes in and all that kind of stuff. So we go. We do the interview.
And this is back in the old days. This was a long time ago. This has been 2005.
Okay. And so it was 18 years ago where we had many tapes.
Okay. that would go into the side of the camera. And so they were about 30 minutes long. So we’re 30 minutes in, and I’m asking questions on three-by-five cards.
And I remember about two or three questions in going, this is fun.

[16:08] He likes my questions. We got some good stuff here. I think this is really great. But I’m out of my mind.
And it’s knee-to-knee, camera and indoor.
And so we change tapes at 30 minutes, and the guys are changing the tapes out.
And he looks at me, and he leans over, and I’ll never forget this as long as I live.
He taps me on the knee and he goes can i tell you something you know my book backwards and forwards and i got coach i i read it look at all the red marks and i show him all the red underline and then he goes you’re doing an incredible job because i’m enjoying this he said you actually remind me of one of my really close friends and he went on to say charlie rose who at that time really you know one of the and still remind you know he went through some some crazy me too stuff but prior to that uh and still regarded as one of the great interviewers ever and so it was in that moment that God really gave me a hug and that encouraged my heart while I was going through this process of you know can I make it do I have the chops and, And years later, it would have been 2012, I wrote my first book called One Question.
I reached out to Jerry, his longtime assistant, and she said, I will absolutely take your request to coach to endorse your book.
And he wrote one of the most incredible endorsements that I’ve ever received, probably one of the best interviewers in the country.
And so Coach K is one of my favorite people on the planet.
And crazy, at the Entree Leadership Summit, it’s Ramsey Solutions’ big Entree Leadership event this May. Today, one of our keynote speakers is Coach K.

[17:36] We will be reunited after 18 years. Oh, that’s fantastic.
First ever interview. That’s fantastic. I love that. Let me tell you what that is. That’s the hand of God. Amen to that. Yes. That’s awesome.
So that’s a great story. I’m glad you brought that up.

Favorite Book and Shameless Book Promotion

[17:55] All right, Steph, I’m going to test you again here. What is your favorite book of all time? Obviously, it’s the Bible, Kevin. Kevin. Yes. Nailed it.
Very good. This time you didn’t say the book we wrote called You Met Her Where.
But it’s still a really good book. That is true. And it would make a great gift for friends or relatives on their birthday or for Christmas.
Friends, you can order your copy of our book titled You Met Her Where at kevinandsteph.com.
And we will make sure to personally sign a copy for you or whoever you want.
And as always, thank you for listening to Tell Us a Good Story.
All right, Steph, next fun fact. In addition to Coach K, Okay, Ken has now interviewed multiple celebrities. You ready for this list?
Yes. All right, Ken, if you have any good stories, let us know. You ready, Steph? Okay.
Peyton Manning. Oh, I love Peyton Manning.
Rainn Wilson, who played Dwight Shrews. Yes, Dwight! On The Office.
That’s true. Willie Robinson.
Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs. Wait, Willie Robinson? Wait, wait, who’s the next one?
Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs. Yes! I love Mike Rowe! Oh, my gosh! Nick Saban.
Nick Saban. And one of your childhood heroes. You ready? Bobby Knight.
Pat Summitt. I love Pat Summitt. Oh, my freaking gosh.

[19:04] Kate Coleman. We could talk to you for hours on end. On just those alone.
Man. By the way, I want to tell you a great Pat Summitt story, but some of the other crazy names that are just standouts. Yeah.
George W. Bush. Really? Condoleezza Rice.

[19:21] Rev Run for all you kids of the 90s out there 80s and 90s Do you know who Rev Run is?
I’ve heard of it Oh I know DMC I know you guys are a legend That was a really fun interview Tony Hawk the skateboard legend Yes Jimmy Carter Jimmy Carter two presidents Jimmy Carter was a gracious man but anyway Alright so Pat’s Summit story Yes This is great and people can actually watch this answer at my Instagram page at Ken Coleman but she told me a story I asked her about what lessons she learned from winning.

Pat Summitt’s Lesson on Talent and Leadership

[19:51] And she said, I’ve learned a lot, but the greatest lesson I ever learned was from losing.
She goes, I was first year coach at University of Tennessee and she lost to a small school Mercer.
And she had a tradition of calling home after every game.
And she said, I called home that night and she said, my mom answered the phone and she had no idea that I even had a game. You know, she just didn’t care about basketball.
And she said, mama, is daddy there? And she said, Yeah. She said, handing the phone.
And so her mom handed her dad the phone and the way he opened up the conversation was all right. And she said, daddy, we lost.
And, uh, she told him a little bit about the game and she says, what do you think?
And he goes, well, I’ll tell you this, Pat, you don’t take donkeys to the Kentucky Derby.
You need to go get you some racehorses. And then he hung up the phone. That was that.

[20:40] And I mean, and that to this day is one of the the greatest answers that anybody’s ever given in any interview I’ve done.
But it was a lesson that had stuck with her all those years later.
And the lesson is, you got to go get some talent. Go get some players.
Your ability to lead is directly connected to the talent you’ve assembled to lead.

[21:02] And for you sports fans out there that, you know, you’re kind of wondering about this, just look at Bill Belichick’s record without Tom Brady. Without Brady.
He’s sub 500 and he lost his job.
Yeah. So, talent as a leader, your job is to assemble the right talent.
That’s one of my favorite stories to tell you. Don’t take donkeys to the Kentucky Derby.
I love it. That sounds like her. That’s such a Southern country thing to say too, isn’t it?
It is. Love it. All right, Steph, ready? Ken worked for two years at ENJOY, which is the organization that was founded by John Maxwell.

Working for John Maxwell and Traveling Anecdote

[21:34] So, he has worked for both Dave Ramsey and John Maxwell.
You have quite the resume, sir. Do you have any good stories from working for John, right?
Because, I mean, if I were him, everything I say, I would be telling people, hey, write this down. Hey, write this down, right? So what was it like to work for him?
Well, I’ll tell you what it was like with an anecdote, and then I’ll tell you a story.
So I would travel with John, and we would travel privately because he could.
And so he’s a guy that, you know, he’s famous for saying, every day I read.
Let me do my best Maxwell voice. Every day I read.

First Flight with John: Notebook and Multicolor Pen

[22:08] And so we would get on a plane, and one of my favorite memories was maybe the first time I flew with him.
And we got on, and we had some dinner on the plane, and then we kind of got into our books or whatever.
And I looked over after about 10 minutes or so, and here he is with a notebook, one of those old school, like the million little spirals. Yes, yes.
And he’s got that blue and white pen, you know, where the bottom half is blue, the top half is white. You’ve got the green tab, the red tab.
Oh, gosh, for sure. Yeah, this guy, this is at the height of his, like he’s already written 21 laws of leadership and he’s making notes from stuff that he’d read earlier in the day and thinking about it.
He had his multicolor pen and he got out a manuscript and he was editing with his little pen.

[22:52] He really is a content machine. He loves content.
He’s great at creating it. He’s very serious about his process.
And so John’s the real deal. I love sharing that story.
And then one other quick story, we were on our way to speak.
He was speaking to the Kansas City Chiefs when Dick Vermeule was the head coach.
Dick Vermeule was a big time fan of John’s content and asked John to come speak to the team during training camp.
And so I was going with him that day. And so we get out there and we walk in and they lead us up the elevator to Coach Vermeule’s office.
And I don’t know if this is still the case for Andy Reid, but at that time, the coach’s office was this expansive room and And you walk in and it takes you about a second.
You realize that it has its own suite attached to it that opens to Arrowhead.
So it’s got its own seating section attached to it. And it’s just kind of, at first, it’s just mind boggling. It’s like, this is nuts.

[23:48] And Coach Vermeule is super enthusiastic and high energy, you know, and he comes over and he’s like, hey, John.
And John introduces me. He goes, hey, Ken. He goes, John, come here.
I got to show you something.
He’s like, before you speak to the team, I just want you to see this.
And he pulls off of his shelf this binder, this three-ring binder that I’m not kidding you is this big.
You could have tucked a baby in there. It was such a tall, I mean, it was unbelievable how big it was.
And he opens it up and he’s flipping through it and he goes, I want you to know on the third day of training camp, he points and he’s like the law of the lid.
And he’s showing that he’s got John’s content in the pages of his training camp manual that he speaks to the team. And as he’s, this is Dick Vermeule, he’s won a championship, he’s won a Super Bowl with the Rams, now he’s with the Chiefs, and he’s at the top of his game.
And while Coach Vermeule is doing this and showing John, John looks at me and it was a stolen moment.
And John and I are both huge sports fans. And John and I are both probably a little too overly enthusiastic.
Our energy runs a little hot, as you probably can tell.
And as Coach Vermeule is showing John stuff, John looks at me and does this.
I’ll never forget it. He goes, just like, wow.
My stuff is being used. And it was a sweet, humble, kind of like, what am I doing here?
And I’m going, what are you doing here? Like, I’m the wiener in the steakhouse.

Sharing and Disregarding: Spread the Word or Forget About Us

[25:07] That’s a fun story on that awesome if you like what you hear please tell someone about us as soon as this episode is over go tell your spouse your closest friend a parent a co-worker or share one of our posts on social media however if you don’t like what you’re hearing please do not don’t tell anyone don’t tell anyone don’t tell anybody just disregard this message don’t worry about it forget about us yep go on with your merry day and to get more information about us or our entire catalog of episodes Be sure to check us out at kevinandsteph.com.
Thank you for listening to Tell Us a Good Story.
Well, I know we’re on a time crunch, but Steph, this summer, Ken will be part of the Ramsey Solutions for 10 years.
He’s host of the Ken Coleman Show, co-host of the Ramsey Show.
Congratulations, by the way, 10 years, Ken. That’s amazing.
Thank you. Well, listeners, for more information about Ken, you can go to his Instagram page at Ken Coleman, Facebook at Ken Coleman Show.
And then you can watch the Ken Coleman Show at RamseySolutions.com and on YouTube.
Well, Ken, you were fantastic. This was so much fun.
Hopefully we can do this again sometime because I’m sure you have a million stories to share from all the interviews you’ve done. But thank you for joining us here. Thanks, Ken.
I had such a blast. That was too fast, but I appreciate you guys having me. I’d love to come back.

Encouraging listeners to follow and support the podcast.

[26:24] Friends, we want to encourage you to please follow us wherever you listen to this, whether whether it’s on the Apple Podcasts app, iHeartRadio, Spotify, or one of the other platforms. You guys, it’s completely free.
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Thank you for listening to Tell Us a Good Story.