Bart Berkey, TEDx Motivational Speaker, interviewed by David Kong

Bart shares highlights of his career journey transitioning from Global Executive at Ritz Carlton to starting his firm. We discuss his TEDx experience and how his show became the “top 15% Most Shared Podcasts in the world”. He shares the best advice he heard on his show and how he connects with the audience in public speaking. He offers advice on communications and networking. Don’t miss his advice on self-empowerment.

Transcript

David Kong: 0:01

Greetings. I'm David Kong, the founder and principal of DEI Advisors. We're a nonprofit organization dedicated to personal empowerment. Today, I'm really happy to announce that Bob Berkey is gonna be on our show. Bob is a well known industry veteran. He is a TEDx motivational speaker. He's also a bestseller author. Welcome to the show, Bart.

Bart Berkey: 0:27

Yep. Thank you, David. I'm really thrilled to be able to chat with you and to share some amazing insights with all of your listeners. That's wonderful.

David Kong: 0:36

Bob, we shared some history at Hyatt. You went on to become a global executive at Ritz Carlton, And then you started your own company. Tell us about this remarkable career journey and some of the factors that contributed to

Bart Berkey: 0:50

your success. Yeah. No. Thank you. Yeah. And started off working for high end hotels. And the unique thing for your listeners, David, I had been hearing your name for years and years when I started at the Hyatt Regency in Pittsburgh because you had been the general manager one before the current General manager that I worked for. And what is so cool is that I would hear stories about David Kong would do this, and he Changed this, and he implemented this, and he would do anything for our customers. And let me tell you about a trip that we took David Kong to Harrisburg to talk with the state association. So it's really cool that I heard your influence right when I started my career with Hyatt. Had been with them for quite some time, four different cities in seven years, and then the Internet boom started to hit. And I was recruited to go work for a company called Starsight, uh, and that was formed by McGettigan Partners, and there's been iterations of Starsight. But it was really a fun experience to think about how we could connect meeting planners and hoteliers using technology. And then I did a few stints with Convention and visitor bureaus based here in Washington, DC, representing cities like St. Louis Long Beach, California. A lot of fun. And then finally, a friend of mine said, would you ever think about going back on property again? And I was like, Just maybe I enjoyed the corporate world. I enjoyed the remote work. Tell me more. It's for Ritz Carlton, and they have an opening at the Pentagon City property. So I learned more about the culture. I said, if you like it, let me understand it. Interviewed for the job. I was on Property for a while, then I became a recruiter for sales and marketing for Ritz Carlton, and then finally to the role of a global sales Individual leading part of a global sales team that was representing all Ritz Carnotons, and then it migrated into all of Marriott International luxury property. So Saint Regis, Edition, W Hotels, Luxury Collections, and Bulgari. Yeah. So that's the quick snippet of career. And then, David, when the pandemic hit, sadly, luxury was not necessarily doing very well. Travel in general was not doing well, and I had to make a decision. Do I wanna wait to see what would happen with luxury travel, or Do I wanna take the opportunity of using the pandemic as something that was happening for me, not necessarily to me? I didn't wanna be a victim. I made a decision that I was going to go rely on some of the things I had established. I wrote a book at this point about eleven years ago, And I don't know if I ever would have left the Ritz Carlton job to say I'm gonna be a speaker full time, And I'm gonna be a motivational trainer, and I'm gonna go around the world talking to groups of two thousand people and four thousand people. I don't know if I ever would have had the guts to try to do that unless the pandemic happened. And it was really because of that I was like, okay. I wrote the book. I would take time off from my Ritz Carlton job to go and speak to groups very organically, get approval, then I can go speak to this group. And I was talking about the topic of doing. Doing what most people don't do from a purely observational lens Uh, and not met from a negative lens in any way, but there are people that do certain things that most people don't that we need to recognize and we need to appreciate and we can emulate. And then when people do make the extra effort, David, we're seeing that there's great benefits. It makes people feel good. We're not just talking hospitality. We're talking interactions with people when you're driving to the office Or when you're grocery shopping, holding open a door, showing gratitude and kindness and being thoughtful and considerate. Just all of these things, I was very passionate about, and those are the topics that I now share with organizations all over the world.

David Kong: 4:48

Wow. What an interesting and fascinating career journey, and I can't wait to get into our interview and learn more about all the things that you've experienced and that you have learned along the way. Now you mentioned that COVID actually gave you the courage to take on this big risk of starting your own company, what other factors did you consider before you

Bart Berkey: 5:10

started that? Yeah. David, right before the pandemic, this is November of I guess it would be nineteen, if I'm not mistaken. The November, let's say, before the pandemic. So almost four years to the day. And I'll show you this quick little story. When I was twelve years old, I broke my nose high jumping in a track meet. And it was a very severe break. They rushed me to the hospital. My nose was on this side of my face. Gosh. This is the worst break that we've ever seen. We have to do emergency surgery. Back then, this was forty plus years ago, Uh, the medicine probably in the technology with the medical services was not what it is today. So I literally walked into the operating room, Jumped up on the table, laid down, and they started pumping in medicine, but the medicine didn't knock me out. So I heard them say, he's out. Let's get started. Twelve years old, scared out of my mind, not being able to move, feeling like my body was above the table, Operating table, and then my consciousness felt like it was underneath it. I heard them say he's out. Let's get started. And I heard them Clanking the surgical instruments. And that experience was so bad. I don't know if it lasted ten seconds or ten minutes, But, essentially, that freaked me out after the fact. They didn't do the surgery properly, and I was afraid of losing control. I was afraid of dying. I was afraid of going to sleep. So it really had a very traumatic effect on me. The reason why I'm sharing this is that this happened when I was twelve years old, so well over forty years ago. And I was speaking to a group a few years back, and I was telling them most people don't face their fears. Most people don't do what scares them. Most people don't take risks. And as I'm sharing this, I realized that I'm afraid of having No surgery again to correct it. So I go forty years with not being able to breathe, and I finally realized I better walk the talk. I'm telling people there's benefits when you take action. So I scheduled the nose surgery, got approval rate. My wife is yes. It makes sense. You should be able to breathe. And during the nose surgery, everything was going fine in the recovery room. They told my wife, bring the car around. He's Good to go home. All of a sudden, I had a massive heart attack during recovery in the surgical center. I won't get in all the details, but, essentially, they rushed me to the hospital next door. They did the surgery. I'm fine four years later. But I look at it that the whole aspect of me making that decision to face my fears helped really save my life Because I coulda had a heart attack on an airplane, in a hotel by myself, walking the dogs in the woods by myself, but because I faced my fear, I'm here to share that story with people. Because I had the heart attack right before pandemic, The pandemic kinda caused many of us to pause and stop and think. David, is this really what I wanna be doing? Am I really passionate about it? Am I providing for my family, and am I also fulfilling my heart? The heart attack enabled me or required me to stop to think about that even before the pandemic. And I just felt a greater calling to share ideas and to learn more from other people outside of my one particular job. I had the influence of being able to affect this number of people, But if I felt strongly about something, if I learned something that I think would really help others, I would really need to do this full time. And that's really how it transpired, having the heart attack, having COVID happen for us, not to us. I just stopped to think if I wanna have a legacy and if I wanna affect more people and if I wanna influence and help more people, This is what I need to do now. A lot of thought went into it. Very scary. And sometimes to this day, it's scary. But it's the right decision because I truly believe I am helping people. You are

David Kong: 9:31

indeed. What an amazing and wonderful Heartwarming story and so inspirational. Thanks so much for sharing that. Now you are a powerful TapX speaker. And I'm just curious, what was your topic, and what

Bart Berkey: 9:48

did you talk about? Yeah. Certainly. I thought when I When I started to apply to be a TEDx speaker, this was early in my full time speaking career, I wanted to make sure that the message was unique and different. So the topic is most people don't, but you do. It relates back to this Thinking of most people don't do certain things, but we know that we can. And when we do, there are great benefits. So that is the found that's the name of my company. Right? You can see it in the background here. It's the name of my blog. It's the name of my book. And I use that as a foundation for any topic. If individuals wanna learn about leadership or gratitude or appreciation or handling change or selling better or servicing better, everything still relates to the foundation of most people don't. The most successful salespeople make the most calls. The most successful salespeople follow-up the most. The best service individuals are more anticipatory and more observational than those that don't. Right? So there's this whole concept of the foundation of making the extra effort is really incredibly beneficial. So the TED Talk, when given the opportunity, was filmed in New York City. The unique thing is that you need to have your script approved, and you can probably tell and your listeners can tell from this interaction. I'm not always scripted. I wanna make sure that I am being authentic and speaking from my heart, not from My name is Bart. I'm the founder of Most People Don't. Let me tell you about how I started my company. The notion of most people don't start it when I was a recruiter for Ritz. I didn't wanna do that. So it was an interesting challenge. The topic, again, most people don't. I wrote out this script, And as I'm beginning to speak and the unique thing, David, and for your listeners, it has to be between, x number of minutes and y number of minutes. I think it's More than eleven and less than seventeen. And so I had been practicing it and rehearsing it and trying to make it look real natural. It started off on the scripted topic, and then all of a sudden, it came from the heart sharing the story about the benefits of doing in doing what most people don't do and facing your fears. And I could see that my coach on the side looking at the script and looking at me what are you doing? And then I would bring it back finally to the next paragraph. It all started this notion of most people don't start it whenever. It was a lot of fun. It was a great experience. Blessed to have, I think, over sixteen thousand views. And, the interesting thing with TED Talks is that individuals think that when you do a TED Talk, it is going to propel you to massive everything, to the biggest stages that you could possibly imagine. I loved the experience. I loved the people. I loved the other speakers that I was They able to meet. The average TED Talk gets something like three hundred and twenty views. so I wish more people would understand TEDx and TED Talks and embrace them and celebrate them and share because they are short little snippets. It's easily digestible, and it is certainly a lot of fun. When I was doing it the last part of the story, I have about two minutes left or so, and my wife is in the audience, and she's giving me these hand signals. David, we never talked about what the hand signals meant prior. But she's throwing up numbers, and I'm like, I don't know what that meant. And I'm talking about and I have one last story to tell you. And she's just no. You don't have time for one last story, and I'm able to squeeze it in. Because, truly, if it goes over that time limit, They cannot cut it. They will not edit it, at least my group, and it would be for not. All of that practice, rehearsal, travel, presentation on stage, It would be for nothing if it goes over. I was able to get it into the allotted time period And just, grateful that to be on the stage, to be on the TEDx platform with so many other amazing people. You can Google Bart Berkey TEDx Talk in New York City, and I think it's also listed off my website, but a lot of fun and a great experience. Yeah. I highly

David Kong: 14:07

encourage our audience to do that. It's a wonderful talk, and I love that you were speaking from the heart, which is, To me, what makes a compelling speech. Thank you very much for sharing that story. Now you mentioned your company's name is Most People don't. In fact, in your podcast, you always ask people this last question to fill in the blank. Most people don't. What are some of the best answers that you've

Bart Berkey: 14:32

heard? Yeah. Some of the best answers. Gosh. I was in Las Vegas presenting to a group not that long ago, and part of the sphere, if you're familiar with the sphere, the multibillion dollar An LED screen circular LED screen. They have concerts inside. I had a free evening, so I went to the Sphere. And in the bottom section, they have these AI robots that you can talk with and interact with. And it's not Someone that is, alright, hiding behind a screen, controlling it remotely, it is an actual AI, right, artificial intelligent robot. So I asked the question to this robot. I said, can you just fill in the blank just very similar to how I asked you, David, on the podcast, not my podcast not that long ago. Fill in the blank. Most people don't blank. And I was really curious. There was such a long, uncomfortable Pause with this robot, you could see it thinking, and I don't know if that's the right word, processing. And it was And then it asked me a follow-up question. Is there a set answer that you're looking for or whatever I feel like sharing? And I was like, oh my gosh. How do you answer a robot that way? And I said, what whatever you feel. There's no right or wrong. And she gave a comical answer. Most people don't or most people don't have the components of silicon to make up their body like I am made up of or something along the lines. It was meant to be humorous um, but I think some of the most powerful answers that I have heard when I asked my guests To fill in the blank, it's most people don't enjoy most people don't live in the present. People are worrying about the past or the future. And there's a statement that I heard from someone not that long ago called be where your feet is. Be where your feet are rather. That's better English. Be where your feet are. Most people don't live in the present. This is what we have right now. This is what is tangible. Can't change what happened in the past. I can certainly be prepared to think about The future, but I'm not going to worry about it. Most people don't live in the present. I think that was one of the most powerful answers that I've ever received. Most people don't live in the present. And then if I think back, David, to your story most people don't Move from Hong Kong to Hawaii and not necessarily have a set game plan. Most people don't face their fears and accept a challenge like that. But your stories, and I'm thinking about what you shared with me, you figured it out. You were smart and confident enough to figure it out. Even if you didn't reserve a dorm room, you figured it out, and you slept on a cot until you had housing. It's those types of things that will really resonate with so many people because everyone is gonna have a different answer to that. Most people don't blank. That would be some of the most interesting ones that I've heard. Yeah. What a fascinating

David Kong: 17:28

podcast. And in fact, your podcast has been recognized as one of the top fifteen percent bullshit podcasts in the world. What an honor. Tell us, how can we access the podcast, and what are some of the guests that you have

Bart Berkey: 17:43

had on your show? Yes. So the easiest way well, there are several easy ways. If you search most people don't in Spotify or Apple Podcasts, most people don't it would certainly come up, but I also recommend individuals go to my website. And so if you go to either bart a berkey, b e r k e y, dot com, or most people don't, all one word, dot com, And then it's forward slash podcast. You can click also under resources on my website, but then you'll be able to see a list of Probably the ten most current, and then you click through it, and then you can see everyone else that was listed. I think some of my most Favorite memorable because I've had over, at this point, about a hundred and fifteen, a hundred and sixteen guests. Some of the most memorable, David, and this is not an exaggeration. One of them is you, mister David Kong, because of your ability to figure things out and to have enough confidence. And you also shared this, and these are just coming to me organically and naturally. You said that Most people think that hard work is going to be enough to differentiate themselves, and it's not. You need to think about, okay, hard work is the entry point into working, but then how are you going to go above and beyond to show your value and to figure it out and to be confident and to help. So that's just one lesson that I learned from you, David Kong. So thank you for that. A few other individuals Horst Scholte being the one of the cofounders of the Ritz Carlton brand, he talks about the story of how he came up with, It wrote an essay at the age of, I think, fifteen for his hospitality school talking about the importance of ladies and gentlemen Serving ladies and gentlemen doesn't mean that if I'm a server and you are a billionaire guest that you are more important than me. I'm a gentleman, and I can serve you as a gentleman, and we are equal because I'm providing a service. You're not better than me. I'm not better than you. I am simply an expert in providing a service that you would desire. So little statements like that. Oh, good goodness. Kara Goldin, the founder of Hint Water, was on my show. DAvid Peckinpah, the president of Merit Travel. CHristine Duffy, the president of Carnival Cruise. And what I really enjoy about any podcast and any example like this, and, again, thank you, David, for having me on. It's that there might be people that you know in your life that you've not necessarily sat down with to say, tell me about growing up. Tell me about when you thought you wanted to get into leadership. Tell me when you thought you wanted to get into sales. What influenced you? And I'm fortunate to be able to have just about any guest that I ask, which is just amazing. And it's the people range from everything from I had a fifteen year old girl, Emily Camacho from the state of Washington and that wrote an essay, and it was an award winning essay at a group that I presented to the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs. And, essentially, she wrote this essay. She's won this award three years in a row, but she grew up working in the fields As a migrant farm worker with her family, and her essay relates to, I can put on my resume, I have ten years experience even though I'm only fifteen years old. Because at the age of five, she started picking fruits and vegetable in the fields with her family. What a story. And I interviewed her right before Thanksgiving, and I said, as you sit down to Thanksgiving tomorrow, what will you be thankful for? And here's a person that has had a very difficult life. Her family has had a very difficult life. And she said, I'm thankful for the amount of time that I've been able to spend with my family. Even though I was picking fruits and vegetables at age five, I was with my family. And here we have families that probably aren't even spending time at dinner together, and this is what she is grateful for. So that's just one example of a fifteen year old SA award winner, former migrant farm worker that was on my show to former president of BWH, Best Western Hotels and Resorts, to my mother, to my father-in-law. So anyone that I feel inspires me, I ask them for the opportunity. Please be on my platform. Allow me to ask you some Questions that people probably don't normally ask. We're not gonna talk about trends in sales and the economy in the future. We're gonna talk about people and what makes Them do certain things. What motivates them? What inspires them? What gets them going? What enables them to do what most people don't do. So that's the beauty, and I'm so thankful for the listeners and for the shares and for people like you We're helping to spread the word of what I am trying to accomplish and the mission of our company. Yeah. Sounds

David Kong: 22:53

like there are so many wonderful interviews on your podcast. I just Can't wait to access all of them. the audience has probably already gathered. You are a tremendous speaker, and you've been recognized as the keynote speaker of the year. Can you share some tips on how you connect with the audience from the get go, and how you continue to hold their attention throughout your speech? Yes. Yes.

Bart Berkey: 23:17

I believe it is through genuinely being curious in wanting to know more about other people. aNd I think I've always been that way. I've always rooted for the underdog. I've always learned from people what makes them happy and try to apply it into my life or I share it with others. Whenever I present to a group, I don't just Show up to XYZ Corporation and say let me introduce myself. My name is Bart Burkey. I'm so excited to be here presenting to XY Corporation. I'm so excited to be here presenting to AB Corporation, to CD Corporation, and then everything else is just rehearsed. I don't do that. I have I take time with the leadership of whoever is planning the event, The organizers of the event, the stakeholders of the event, we go through some nice lengthy conversations about what is the message you want your attendees to hear, How do you want them to feel when they're done? What do you want them to remember? And then I build it takes a lot of work, of course, but I build the message based on the specifics. I'll share with you a couple quick examples. I presented to a group Hyster Yale, which is essentially a forklift manufacturing company. I had never presented to a forklift group before, but I needed to understand more about what their pain points were and how to get more of their passion points. I presented to a group called InstallNet, which is office installation organizers. Companies all over the country belong to this group called Installment, and they install furniture. And yeah, I'm not an expert in installing furniture, so I set up interviews with people. We do a survey in advance, and then we relate the stories Back to what makes a difference, we are talking about the number one goal, the number one challenge for most businesses, and this is all different industries, David. It's Finding and keeping the right talent. Finding and keeping the right talent. So I did all the research with this group, these office professional office installers, And I said, how are you different? How would why would someone wanna come work for you instead of going working for any other company? And one person shared this. They said, family first, and their message is, we are going to pay you for forty hours a week or fifty hours a week even if you don't work forty or fifty hours a week. If you need to take time off to go to the dentist, If you need to take time off to go to your kid's ballgame, if your spouse or partner has an event that they want you to go to, we're going to pay you regardless. Even if you work ten hours one week, because life happens, we're gonna pay you forty to fifty hours a week regardless. And I want you to know that I grew up riding in the back of these trucks, meaning the delivery trucks. I grew up living in the back of these trucks. I know that life happens. That's the environment that we wanna provide for you. So I have that story. I share that story from stage. We get at that. And every single other office insulator that is at this conference now has a new idea of this is the approach that someone else took. And I wouldn't have learned that unless I cared about asking the questions about, tell me, what are your greatest challenges in your industry? What's your greatest challenge? Tell me one personal thing that you know you should do that you've not yet had a chance to do. What does that look like? And it's these real life applicable stories that I'm able to gather through the presurvey, through the conversations, through the interviews. And very fortunately, When I'm at a conference, I talk to just about everybody, and I bring in the stories of what I learned from everybody into the presentations on stage, using people's names often, and for the twenty four hours or forty eight hours that I'm there. David, my memory is pretty darn cool and remarkable, and I can remember stories about people that I just met. Now it might not last for three months. I need to rebuild it up, but every single time, I'm so focused on I'm here for this audience. There is nothing that is more important than this audience. How can I give my heart and soul to be able to impact you for when you leave this conference? And it's been phenomenal and it's been working. Wow.

David Kong: 27:50

Thanks for sharing those tips. And If I may summarize, your advice on connecting with the audience is really to do a lot of work in advance, research, Interview people to find out who the audience is and what they wanna hear, and you make all the main points and stories people's names and everything to make the speech relevant to the audience. Such great advice. Thanks very much for sharing

Bart Berkey: 28:17

that. Yeah. You're

David Kong: 28:18

welcome. Talking about, being effective in communications, You have an uncanny talent in networking. Is there any advice you can offer on networking in general?

Bart Berkey: 28:27

Wow. Wow. Thank you for that compliment, David. I am more of an introvert than an extrovert. And when I share that with people, they're a little surprised. But I share that because there's a lot of people that are introverted that would like to network more. My advice to those individuals is Put yourself into a situation in which you are uncomfortable and remember that you are perfectly imperfect. If you challenge yourself, if you go to a networking event in fact, tomorrow, I'm going to one Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce. It's a local event. And I am only gonna know the one person that invited me. That might be difficult. I'm a little nervous about that. I'm a little anxious about that. But when I go there, it's okay because not everyone is going to know everyone anyway. And the advice that I have to share with people when I was presenting to a different group, there was a group of four hundred fifty people, and they didn't know each other either. And I said, here's an example. If you ever are stalled for a conversation, do this. Lead with your phone in your home screen And just show the picture, and it's going to start conversations. So David and to your viewers you can see it's my dog, Jackson. Fifty pound Staffordshire bull terrier that follows me everywhere. tHis is one of the reasons why I work so hard. And if your why is important enough, How it becomes easy. Now it probably should be a photo of my wife, my daughter, my son, and my other dog also. It should be of the whole family. I'll probably need to switch that. But this is a conversation starter for dialogue. You don't need to talk about, Also, what do you do for a living? Or tell me about your company. You can do that, or you could say, would you mind I don't know anyone here, and I'm just trying to start some conversations. Would you mind just showing me your home screen and why did you select that photo? And then you're gonna talk about things that are important to people. It's a beach scene, and it reminds me of growing up and going to the beach every summer with my grandparents. It's a picture of a beautiful sunset. It's my family. It's grandchildren. It's whatever it is, there are different ways that you can immediately connect with people that might not necessarily be comfortable. I presented in New York City two weeks ago, and there were individuals arrived early, And there was a group of it was a team, essentially. They were all sitting together. And I said, Why are you all sitting together? And they said because we know each other, and it's kinda more comfortable. Oh, is it you know, what wouldn't it be benefit, a networking event, to go and network And just go up, and they're asking me advice on how to do this. And some of these people were salespeople. And I said, you can kinda hover a little bit. And then when there's a break, say, you know what? I'm sorry to interrupt. Do you mind if I join your conversation? I'm new to this group, and I don't really know anyone. How do you think people are gonna react if you are that honest? Do you mind if I interrupt? This is my first time to this group. I really don't any know anyone. May I introduce myself? May I join your conversations? People are kind. Most of the time, people will say yes. It's not easy to do that. But when you leave an event with four hundred fifty people or twenty people and you have twenty new business cards And you have twenty new contacts? It doesn't mean that you need anything from them. You have new friends. And I share this quick story as well. I use the term friends longer than colleagues because when I left Ritz Carlton, my concern was I'm not gonna have Ritz Carlton on my business card anymore. When I call people, I'm no longer gonna be Bart Berkey with Ritz Carlton, and people are gonna take my call. It's not gonna be Bart Berkey or it's gonna be Bart, the founder of Most People Don't. The people that matter will remain connected. The people that you care about, the people that have like minded values, The people that you know that you would help at any point will remain friends longer than colleagues. And that's the aspect of networking. And hopefully, that's not too long of an explanation.

David Kong: 32:51

Wonderful snippets of, great advice in there, especially the point that when you go to networking event, Most people in there don't know one another. They are like you, they are equally as uncomfortable. So don't be afraid to walk up and strike up The conversation I love your examples of icebreaker, thanks for sharing that. Now as I suspect, we're having such a good time having this conversation and so many insightful comments in there. We're running short of time. So let me ask you one more question, which is about our show. Our show is about personal empowerment, how do we empower ourselves to be successful. Can you share one final piece of advice on this

Bart Berkey: 33:32

topic? Yes. Yes. I ask individuals to list a should do, something that they know that they should do from a personal lens and from a professional lens. And it's not, David, anyone that is pointing fingers at you, telling you from an external lens, you should do this. It is something that you decide on your own. I should focus more on health and fitness. I should focus more on balance. I should focus on continuing my education, whatever that should do is. And then I've collected these surveys to ask people what are their should dos, and it's often personally, It's about focus on myself, my health, my well-being. And then from a professional lens, it's often about continuing to learn. So let's just use one of those examples. I then do the research to say what is stopping you? And I put it into word clouds. And, overwhelmingly, the things that are stopping them, it is time, focus, lack of prioritization, lack of motivation, fear, anxiousness, awareness, all of these things. If you break down the reasons that are stopping people from getting these things done, It's all in our own mind. We can control how we feel about certain things. We can control our focus. We can control our prioritization. We can control our accountability. When we discuss empowerment, If we think of the most important things that we wanna get done, a, should do, and we realize that if we prioritize ourselves, if we focus, If we hold ourselves accountability, if we develop good habits, that is allowing us to get the most important things done. If we think about what the end goal result is going to make us, how it's gonna make us feel by taking these steps, That, I believe, is true empowerment. It is empowerment to get the most important things done in your life. There's no excuses because we are controlling the things that are distracting us or preventing us from being empowered.

David Kong: 35:44

I love that. And I've always believed that we are the masters of our own destiny. So thanks for sharing that as a final thought. Bart, it's been a great pleasure. Thanks so much for taking the time to share your wisdom. Your learnings, perspectives, and advice were just tremendous and most beneficial. Thanks so much

36:02

for

Bart Berkey: 36:03

doing this. Thank you, David. What a pleasure, and thank you for what you're doing with DEI Advisors to be able to spread The words of empowerment from various leaders, grateful for what you and your team are doing as well. So thank you, and truly my pleasure. Thanks for

David Kong: 36:18

that wonderful comment. And to our audience, if you enjoyed the show, I hope you would join us on our website, deiadvisors dot org. We hope to see you there. Thanks very much again,