[00:00:03] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:00:03] Speaker B: You know this bell.
[00:00:06] Speaker A: This is the wake up call for all leaders.
We are already in the industry 5.0 revolution. AI age is upon us. Technology is rewriting the script. The world is shifting at lightning speed.
Generations are clashing.
Values and expectations are changing.
Stress, burnout and anxiety is at record highs.
So at this time, when the storm is hitting us, the question is not whether it will hit you.
The question is how prepared will you be when it does.
Will you be that leader who panics or will you be the leader who converts that transforms that pressure into possibilities.
So you're at Superconscious Leader. We want to prepare you for the storm. We want to make sure that you use this disruption to the greatest advantage. Because this is the best of times and the worst of times. The worst of times because things are changing at a very rapid pace. The best of times because the possibilities are endless. This is the greatest opportunity in the history of leadership.
So welcome to a Superconscious Leader.
Remember, in the age of AI, you do not need to be superhuman. You just need to be super conscious.
[00:01:43] Speaker B: Welcome to a Superconscious leader. I am Dr. Adil Dalal. You're watching now Media Television.
[00:01:52] Speaker A: So welcome, I'm your host, Dr. Adil Dalal at Superconscious Leader. We'll take you to the pinnacle of leadership success and we'll do it now.
Today we have a very special guest, Mayor Jim Penniman Morin. He is the mayor of Cedar Park. This is a place where I've spent 18 years of my life and I've enjoyed every bit of it.
When you drive through Cedar park, which is the, you know, kind of north of Austin, Texas, you will see that it has never stopped growing in the 18 years. Every time you drive by, you feel that someone has put some seeds somewhere and the new building has come up and you say, hey, that was not there yesterday.
So, you know, I really want to welcome Jim to this because not only is the mayor of Cedar park, he has served our country very honorably in the tours of Iraq and Afghanistan.
He is also an attorney for 15 years and he's actually, you know, attorney for one of the AI startups in the in Texas, as well as he has a beautiful family, seven kids.
So we're here for an exciting time, so please don't miss this.
Jim, welcome. Really welcome to the show. Thank you for being with us.
[00:03:23] Speaker C: Thanks. It's a real honor being here. I'm very excited. Enjoyed several of your previous episodes. You get some fascinating people. I'm really honored to Be one of them.
[00:03:33] Speaker A: The honor is all mine, Jim. And so let's get started. I think you, you've seen some amazing things. Your, your career is, you know, I, I feel very diverse. You've done so many different things.
So let us dive into your service and again, thank you for your service to this country.
You know, you were a West Point graduate and then you served in Afghanistan and Iraq, as we mentioned.
What has been that experience and how has it prepared you for, you know, a career in politics?
[00:04:10] Speaker C: Very well, I would say. You know, so here's a little secret in that I actually moved to Texas 11 years ago from Northern Virginia, where I'd grown up around in the Reston Herndon area.
And part my goal was to get away from politics and play more golf. And I've really failed at that. I never get to play golf and obviously got sucked back into politics as mayor.
But so much of that is just realizing, especially around 2016, starting to see how so many people were really talking past each other and angrily. So one of the great gifts of my military service that, that I've realized is actually kind of rare these days is I just get to know people from all over the country and then also serve in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as doing training in France and other places around the world. Just how much people have in common, especially in our own country, where I very much realize that we don't have different values across our communities. All our values seem to be pretty the same. Unfortunately, these days we often have different facts.
And so seeing that in our own community, you know, which went through kind of a bumpy patch about five, six years ago with some leaders that were just very divisive, I realized that I needed to get involved and be someone that helps people understand each other. And therefore online understanding, you build that common understanding towards accomplishment of common goals, you know, and that's something our city and Cedar park has done extremely well, as you were kind of to say.
[00:05:49] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:05:49] Speaker C: You know, we, we don't. As an elected official in Cedar park, you don't get to pander just to one political party. Yeah, it's a very much a politically purple community.
[00:05:58] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:05:59] Speaker C: Unlike a lot of offices these days, it's not gerrymandered. I don't get to pick my voters. Right. And so. But that is also such an opportunity because it means that you have to govern from a place of level headed, thoughtful leadership. And more importantly, you have to really listen in order to understand what people want. And that's the way our city's been for, for quite a while.
And I think that the success we have, whether it's, you know, we're the rated the number one safest community in Central Texas. We have all this economic growth, great schools, you know, great parks, a lot of exciting things to come in the next couple of years with some big developments. You know, that's all a testament to that long term vision and, and respect for each other. You know, even though we're a city that's very diverse in terms of national origins and religions. And we have, you know, two Hindu temples, two mosques, two Catholic churches, you know, every, every denomination you want, a synagogue. And all those people get along really well and respect each other in part because we, we celebrate those differences exactly as well as the commonality they share.
[00:07:09] Speaker A: That is so important. I think the, you know, diversity is in unity. You know, diversity doesn't mean you try to just push people together. It's let them come together naturally.
[00:07:20] Speaker C: Right.
[00:07:21] Speaker A: And as you correctly pointed out, listening, you know, listening to people, a lot of people are forgetting that there is a reason we've been given one mouth and two years.
[00:07:30] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:07:32] Speaker A: That is a fundamental, that's a big sign from the universe.
[00:07:35] Speaker C: It is, yeah. Guys, I never thought of that, but absolutely, you need to, you know, you.
[00:07:39] Speaker A: Need to listen more and talk less. And it's just the opposite today in our society.
[00:07:44] Speaker C: Yes. Yeah. And I think especially true for elected officials, as I'm going to probably do a terrible job of this listening. I'll do more talking than listening, but. But I know I need to work on it, at least.
[00:07:55] Speaker A: We all do. I think we all do.
How is. Have you got any interesting, you know, episodes or any stories from your time in Iraq and Afghanistan which kind of jump out at you?
[00:08:10] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, there's several of them. But you know, I'll tell you my favorite one because I think it really helped me. It really helped guide my future career in a lot of ways.
And I had studied.
My major at West Point was military history with a minor in civil engineering and another minor in French, which like, only at West Point do you get that degree because everybody has to study. Yeah, engineering to some extent. Everybody gets a bachelor of science.
And so I had, in a lot of my military history, I very much focused on Vietnam and a lot of these kind of counterinsurgencies from academically, I understood that to win those kinds of wars, like the one I found myself fighting in Afghanistan, you really have to win hearts and minds. You really have to help the people there. If they don't Believe that their future will be brighter with what you're offering in terms of democracy and modernity. You know, like, you're not going to win.
And.
But the.
So I knew that from reading, you know. But then there was about a week into my deployment to Afghanistan, I was a rifle platoon leader. So, you know, the classic 50 soldiers were patrolling around on foot, or sometimes we ride to the back of trucks, which is longer distance stuff. And we'd gone to this very small village on the border with Pakistan, which. And this is January 2003, okay. And in there, we had several truckloads of, like, food to give the village school supplies, you know, things to try and show that we were there to really help, as nationally, we're trying to kind of create a. Under Hamid Karzai, a democratically elected government.
So, as always happens in Afghanistan, especially in the Pashtun region, where they follow the code of Pashtun wali, which is.
And it's extremely important to them to respect that traditions, right? So they will always invite you to have tea. And so the officers will sit down with a couple interpreters and the village elders around tea.
And I became a big fan of shidouchai and milk tea.
And so I asked, you know, like, how can we help your village? And this old elder, he strokes his very long white beard and he says, I would like an amazing pair of American goats.
And here we had, like, thousands of dollars worth of food to give this village and school supplies. But really, you know, a mating pair of goats, right, is like teaching a man to fish instead of just giving him a fish. And it really, for me was kind of like this moment. Like, you know, we all kind of looked at each other like, wow, that's a really good answer. Like, we don't have.
And I think through that, that deployment and then same, you know, the next year serving in Iraq, you realize, like, we didn't have.
Sometimes you have to kill bad guys, right? And we had the world's best tools for that.
But the ability to really make the life of the average Afghan or Iraqi better was something that we weren't prepared for. Early on, we did get better at it, but I think by that point, we kind of lost the window to build that really in a genuine way in those countries. And it's like, you know, in the ensuing 20 years has been pretty heartbreaking for me.
[00:11:43] Speaker A: And, yeah, I can't imagine that.
But what you're saying is so true, is war is not only about killing people, it's about really building lives. And this was A very difficult mission, what you guys were put in.
And as you correctly pointed out, yeah, it didn't go as planned, but we learned a lot of lessons from it. What can we do in the future? Future is so important because, see, I've personally taught in that region. I've taught in the Middle east for, you know, I've been invited by the government to open conferences. I've taught over 9,000 leaders in the Middle East. So the people are really. You know, there is a common element of people.
They have a good heart and simple needs. Right.
And you just have to understand where they're coming from.
And it is the common element between all of us should be humanity. And we're. We keep forgetting that, you know, in wars, too. And today we're seeing what is happening around the world.
[00:12:43] Speaker C: Right, Right.
[00:12:44] Speaker A: And experience like yours can be very helpful because I think you have a very even mind.
You're prepared for war, but you understand that that's not the answer to everything.
[00:12:54] Speaker C: Right? Right.
[00:12:55] Speaker A: Very important.
[00:12:56] Speaker C: And I was very lucky growing up. And Reston Herndon, aol, which you and I remember at one point, was the biggest company in the world. I have to explain this to my kids. Like, there was this big company called aol, but that was headquartered just down the street from where I grew up. And so with this big tech industry that you have in that area, of course, you have the diverse population of really smart people that comes with it. So I grew up around a lot of South Asian friends. Like, two of my best friends as a child was one. His parents were Bangladeshi, and his parents were from India.
And so I grew up with the smell of curry, you know, being very natural. And I think that, plus the, you know, just the way I was raised is, like, I was very comfortable in that environment in a way that, you know, kids that hadn't had that same exposure growing up in rural Iowa or places like that didn't immediately. But, you know, I worked hard in my platoon to make sure they understood where these people were coming from, where their, you know, values were, how much similar they were to ours. Sure. And. But I'm. You know, one thing I really love about Cedar park is my kids are having a childhood like I did, where it's just, like, they are used to knowing people whose families are from all over the world and realizing, like, there is differences. Right. And like that. You know, one of the things I love about Cedar park is we got amazing food from all over. We got a great Nepali restaurant. We got great Indian restaurants. We got great barbecue And I think one of the things that I also try and remind people of here in Texas is that, like, everything you love about Texas is because it's a blending of cultures.
So people say they love Texas barbecue, and I do. As you can tell by looking at me. What you're really saying is you like it when Germans, Scots, and Mexicans get together and cook, because that's what Texas barbecue is. It's all those things combined. And so the more we learn from each other, the more we thrive.
And that's something that's been very, very true in Texas for a long time, as well as this is a state of engineers, and engineers are practical problem solvers. And I think that was one of the other big takeaways for me, those painful experiences of serving overseas and the way those wars turned out is like, it takes a long time to build quality.
[00:15:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:15:21] Speaker C: It takes a practical effort. And, you know, there's a lot of politicians these days that want to score points or really, in a lot of ways, I think it's a genuine thing where they just, like, they've. They've approached things from an ivy tower perspective.
[00:15:39] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:15:39] Speaker C: And again, I, you know, academics is my foundation. I still read a lot. Look forward to reading your next book on AI Lean AI.
But you got to make sure you can do it in the real world. And that's what engineers are taught to do. That's how they live. You know, it's how they work.
And I feel like that's kind of also really important for us to remember about Texans, you know, is that, like, this is fundamentally a city, a state of engineers, whether software engineers, petroleum engineers.
You know, the mythology doesn't always support that, but the statistics sure do. And it really is, like, something that gets missed if you're outside Texas.
[00:16:17] Speaker A: Totally agree with that.
[00:16:18] Speaker C: You know, like, there's this cartoon version that actually doesn't really recognize just how big our state is in a lot of ways.
[00:16:25] Speaker A: Very true.
[00:16:26] Speaker C: You know, as much as we talk about how big it is, like, it's actually bigger than we often give it credit.
[00:16:30] Speaker A: Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, you can drive through and not reach the end of it for hours to be.
[00:16:35] Speaker C: But, you know, we're a state with hundreds of thousands of Hindus, 100 thousands of Muslims, and majority minority state. And, you know, and I'm here wearing cowboy boots and I wear most of the time, and I'm proud of my own family's Western heritage, and that's certainly part of it. Right.
But we are. We are that and so much more than that.
[00:16:57] Speaker A: Exactly. Hey folks, another misconception is we all ride horses. That's not true. We have cars too.
So don't go anywhere. We'll be right back with Mayor Jim Morin. Please stay tuned.
[00:17:25] Speaker B: Stay tuned. We'll be right back.
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For 20 years, we have empowered over 9,500 leaders across 25 industries and 5 continents and delivered savings from a million dollars to 39 million dollars via rapid transformations using AI digital tools, lean agile and six sigma technologies.
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And we're back. Let's continue this powerful conversation.
[00:18:52] Speaker A: Okay. We're back with Mayor Jim Morin.
Welcome back. It's been an exciting show and for this segment we're going to go a little bit deeper into leadership.
And you've, you've played leadership roles in the private sector, in the, you know, public service sector.
What has been some challenges you face in either and what have you learned from the military side on leadership which has been able to transfer over to the kind of the private sector since you're an attorney and you are on the board for a AI company. So how is that work? How does that work for you?
[00:19:31] Speaker C: Yeah, you know, I think one of, in a lot of ways my leadership journey really started with the, the Boy Scouts of America.
You know, I was a, I'm an Eagle Scout, a senior patrol leader, which is a senior Boy Scout in the troop. And the skills you have to have as a good senior patrol leader are you're one of the other kids, right? So you're not like really in command, but you are responsible. So you have to learn how to lead your peers and help find that common goal. So even if you're just like picking out what you're going to have for dinner at the campout, you know, if somebody wants lasagna and somebody wants, you know, I don't know, macaroni and cheese, like maybe you're like, well, how about we have spaghetti and correct. And then you also need to make sure that you plan ahead and remember to bring the colander to you drain the spaghetti noodles after you boil them.
And that skill set came in very handy at West Point because again, you find yourself in a peer leadership role where I was a cadet battalion commander my senior year, so there's about 500 other cadets, but I'm still one of them, right? So I'm in charge, but, you know, like, not in command in the way I think we perceive it.
[00:20:39] Speaker A: Right.
[00:20:39] Speaker C: But even when you do then graduate, become an infantry officer, you know what, what you end up realizing is, and it was an interesting challenge of being an army officer. Right. I was 22, straight out of West Point. I had all this academic training and all the training. You could have a Ranger school graduate, sapper school graduate, but then I was in charge of platoon and the second in command, the platoon sergeant had been in the army for 17 years at that point. And so he knew everything there was to know about benimshumen.
And so you really have to approach it. And the first thing mine told me was that he hates officers. Like, sir, you should know I hate officers. I was like, okay, here we go, I'll see what I can do about that. And, you know, but so you really have to learn to approach leadership from a place of respect.
And sometimes you have to be like, no, we're going to do this, you know, but really, far more often than not, it is always a place where a really good leader is building consensus, listening to others, you know, trying to find the best idea out of all the ideas that are there. And that's been true since the beginning of time. Even, you know, medieval kings would have councils of war and everyone was entitled to speak, you know, as they develop a plan. Once you decide the plan, especially in a combat context, like, you got to do it, right? But I think that's what I've also seen.
And I spent the last, really 17 years now working as an attorney. And particularly I'm a corporate lawyer. I really work with tech startups mostly, but those tech startups include, I helped write SpaceX's charter. I've worked a lot of startups that don't exist anymore because that's how that works. Yeah, that's right.
But I've seen that same really good leaders, they can make a decision right when it's time to make a decision, but they take the opportunity to listen and harness the wisdom of the group and deciding, informing that decision.
And, you know, when it comes to electoral politics, that's also very true. You know, it's certainly true in running a city. Most cities in our country, almost all of them have a city manager that actually is the chief executive officer of the city. Then the Mayor is more like chairman of the board.
[00:22:55] Speaker A: Right.
[00:22:57] Speaker C: Exceptions being the really big cities where you have an executive, chief executive as the mayor, like in New York and Houston here in Texas.
So it's that relationship where our city manager in Cedar park is the longest tenured one in the state. She's been in that role for almost 18 years. And that's actually one of the things that really has helped our city grow consistently in a very steady fashion.
[00:23:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:21] Speaker C: But so, like, there's not a lot I'm going to tell Brenda about how the city, you know, needs to be run, but I can tell her a lot about what our residents are seeing in their daily lives at work, because I'm working in the same industries, most of them are. I could tell a lot of. I can tell her a lot about the perspectives that I've heard when I'm out campaigning. And so that's a very. She and I have a great relationship. And then so much of what. What I do as mayor is really about being the peer leader of my council, because I'm just one of seven votes on any policy issue.
And mayoral leadership is one of trying to set and share and inspire a vision that is the group's vision. And so, again, like we said earlier, I try very hard to listen more than I talk.
I don't know how successful I am at that, but it's certainly, you know, it's. It's the key to success.
[00:24:18] Speaker A: Very true. And I think what you bring out is so important, Jim, is that these skills are transferable, and you start young as a Boy Scout. What you learned is still helping you. And this is important for all the students who think, why do I get educated?
Education is never a failure. You know, you're always learning something.
And from my own experience, I was working for a big medical company, and most of my managers and the people I work with were from the military. I had a helicopter pilot, Navy seal, nuclear sub captain, army major, and they didn't know much about medical initially when they came in. But the discipline, that is a transferable skill, that's what made our company grow, grow 20% every year.
So, you know, these skills, what you learn at the early age should be inculcated. And today you are in this arena. But, you know, it all started at a certain point.
[00:25:21] Speaker C: Right, Right. I'm still just honing those skills based on that foundation. And I think that's more true than ever in that you have people with, you know, you start, you know, as you've often noted. Right. There's generations Approach things differently. We have this kind of generational conflict going on a lot of times. And then there's also just what feels.
I've learned this with my kind of. My oldest is 23. I've got a 20 year old, 21 year old, and twin 19 year olds. And like, they've kind of felt like chaos their whole life. Right. And the world around them feels to be changing so quickly.
And I think a lot of us feel that. And I think that explains a lot about our politics. Not just in this country, but many others these days.
But a good leader and this, you know, going back to, like, scouting, we were. We had this, like, really long day of hiking and it was raining and everybody was tired. I remember just like, I just need to build a fire now and get everybody around that and get them to take a breath.
[00:26:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:20] Speaker C: Feel a little comfortable, kind of get there to. To use neurological terms, get their thoughts out of their mandula oblongata and back into their neocortex, you know, and. Yeah. And let them ration out and really kind of come back to themselves in their fullest way. And like, that's what is so important in corporate leadership today.
[00:26:43] Speaker A: Very true.
[00:26:44] Speaker C: Where it's really easy to just jump from one idea to the other quarter by quarter. It's so important in political leadership today and, you know, to be not sedentary, not resistant to change, but understanding that you do, you know, need to make sure that you've got good plans and that you're sticking with them and that you kind of remember those foundational principles.
[00:27:10] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:27:10] Speaker C: Because the chaos will continue to swirl around all of us, I think, for indefinitely.
[00:27:14] Speaker A: Very true.
Jim, what has been some big challenges you have faced in your time as a mayor?
[00:27:22] Speaker C: You know, I think I'm very lucky in Cedar park to inherit just a lot of great processes. There's an amazing team at the city leadership, and a lot of what all of us on the city council try and do is just help our residents understand, like, what a great team, our professional staff is.
But so that's. That's a lot of it. I think some of our challenges to be, you know, like, they're lucky challenges to have. Like, we'll have a lot of companies that want to relocate to Cedar park, and economic development is, I think, one of my biggest priorities as mayor, especially because we've been such a bedroom community for a long time.
[00:28:06] Speaker A: Right.
[00:28:07] Speaker C: But the city's vision for a long time is to be like a full service city, a place where you live, work and play and so trying to bring that vision into fulfillment is. We're making great strides.
The lack of office space is actually just a problem. You know, it's really hard to get.
These companies want to move in a few months and it's like, well, we don't have a. When there's no office space for you, there's no class A office space because what we do have is fully leased. But then you have so much open office space in downtown Austin.
You have kind of the overall market and interest rates are reflective of like are people coming back to office. So that's somewhat day to day challenge, but I think it's a sub piece of the bigger challenge is how do you continue to grow in a sustainable way.
[00:29:01] Speaker A: Right.
[00:29:03] Speaker C: I think one of the things that is different about civic leadership than corporate leadership is that cities are built to last forever.
Like, and whereas some companies are, but for the most part, you know, you're really like kind of looking five years out. I think so much of our problems in a lot of companies today is to get, trying to only just think about the next quarter.
[00:29:24] Speaker A: Right.
[00:29:25] Speaker C: But, but cities, you know, like your expectation is that city will be there for 100 years and your, the zoning and the land uses will have been baked in. You know, like you're not, you're not plowing over a single family subdivision anytime soon. So once it's there, it's there. And that can be great, but you can't be all you have either. It's not economically sustainable for a city.
And so if you played baseball, baseball has nine innings, right. But if it was endless, you would play it differently.
Cricket sometimes feels like a really long inning. I know, but even that eventually the game ends. Right. So you play it that way. And so I think as kind of like one of my own struggles is I want to make changes and I want to like, let's get some more whatever it is in there. And it's like, no, we gotta make sure that we are patient.
[00:30:21] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:30:22] Speaker C: As we kind of think about how like there's no doubt that our plans and our every city has a comprehensive plan that says like here's. And that's what drives your zoning rules and here's where we want to be. And it's based on a lot of public input as well. So, you know, because again, that consensus and public buy in is critical for long term success.
But that also needs to change.
One of the things that I remember learning at West Point about leadership and change is, you know, the French army in May of 1940 met every single one of its goals. They had for decades planned what they would do if the Germans invaded.
Troops needed to be at the train station by this time and then they needed to be delivered to the front by this time. It's like every single goal they set for themselves they met. And that was the world's largest and best equipped army at the time. And within a month the French Republic didn't exist anymore.
[00:31:17] Speaker A: Right.
[00:31:17] Speaker C: And it was been totally conquered because they didn't change their plans to meet existing technology. The existing realities that were changing very fast. And now we live in a world that's changing faster. So like when it comes to our series comprehensive plan, it needs to evolve.
[00:31:33] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:31:34] Speaker C: But not in a way that is dashing from one thing to the other, you know, and that's a mistake you'll see some other cities making.
Trying to chase the latest thing in a well meaning effort to make sure you're staying up with the times and your city's challenges. But you, you can lose your foundation in the process.
[00:31:55] Speaker A: And I think for us, you know, the Austin airport and transportation can be a big thing for change, you know, because we have to keep an eye on the future.
[00:32:05] Speaker C: Right.
[00:32:06] Speaker A: Also on the new technologies. So you.
[00:32:08] Speaker C: And so much when it comes to cities is physical infrastructure. And when you come from the tech world, you know, three years is a lifetime for a product and the AI space or software space, you know, we, the Nebraska Furniture Mart is building what will be the second largest store in Texas.
We approved that my first few months on Council in 2021 and it will open in a couple of years. Like these things take, you know, years and years if you add a new our road plan. So as mayor I sit on the capillary and metropolitan planning organization.
[00:32:41] Speaker A: Right.
[00:32:41] Speaker C: Basically allocates all the federal, federal highway dollars.
[00:32:44] Speaker A: Right.
[00:32:44] Speaker C: And so, you know, we're on, we're working on the 2050 vision.
[00:32:50] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:32:50] Speaker C: Now, you know, because highway construction and planning, you're looking decades out.
[00:32:55] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:32:56] Speaker C: You know, and so yeah, it's slightly.
[00:32:58] Speaker A: Different than a regular quarter to quarter.
[00:33:01] Speaker C: It's definitely different than. Yeah. My company's product roadmap.
[00:33:05] Speaker A: Okay, folks, do not go anywhere. We'll be right back with Mayor Jim Morin.
[00:33:22] Speaker B: Stay tuned. We'll be right back.
Imagine partnering with a firm that fuses lean precision with AI foresight, turning every process into a profit engine built on the foundation of operational excellence.
Hi, I am Dr. Adil Dalal, founder and CEO of Pinnacle Process Solutions.
For 20 years we have empowered over 9,500 leaders across 25 industries and 5 continents and delivered savings from a million dollars to 39 million dollars via rapid transformations using AI digital tools, Lean Agile and Six Sigma technologies.
Through our award winning workshops, Lean AI frameworks and human Centric coaching, we elevate culture, eliminate waste and ignite sustainable operational excellence.
Elevate your people, accelerate your performance.
Visit pinnacleprocess.com and reach your pinnacle today.
And we're back. Let's continue this powerful conversation, folks.
[00:34:49] Speaker A: We're right back with Superconscious Leader. And we are here with Mayor Jim.
And please catch Superconscious Leader on NOW Media tv. And if you miss it, you can always download the apps on Apple TV, Roku, iHeartRadio, Spotify and other places. So do not miss any show of a Superconscious leader because if you do, you'll be missing a lot. So welcome back. Mayor Jim. Thank you very much for being with us. It's been a very exciting two segments. Let's jump into the third segment of A Superconscious Leader.
So what are some of the pet peeves you have about leadership today? And especially as you see the political climate today, being in the politics area, what are some of the pet peeves which really you feel if you had a magic wand, you would change it today?
[00:35:44] Speaker C: Yeah, well, it's the kind of thing that you could never change with a magic wand because it really kind of comes down to people's hearts and expectations for what leadership looks like.
And I think so much of it what actually got me to run for office again, I tried to run away from politics and move into a place I thought surely you have to be from Texas to run for office. So I, you know, but there was a guy on our city council that was just very much about, I think one of an epitome of the worst of our politics in the last 10 years where it's just all about getting on social media and insulting people and casting aspersions and scoring points, you know, and so my wife finally said, you can either stop complaining about this guy or run for office. So here I am.
And, but it's, it's just, yeah, that like, I think one of the things that I've been thinking a lot about and recently it was kind of sparked by Ezra Klein's podcast, one of his I was listening to. And it's like, it's like people these days almost live two lives in some ways a little bit of a digital world. They have the digital world and that's the world in which national politics happens. And it's curated by algorithms that are self reinforcing. Then there's a physical world of the community they actually live in. And the great thing about being mayor is that, like, people evaluate me and their city's job in the physical world.
[00:37:18] Speaker A: Right.
[00:37:19] Speaker C: And so I'll have people who really been very kind, very supportive of me, really dislike that guy I replaced on the city council.
But, you know, he's very much. And I'm trying not to be too partisan, but like, the guy's a very MAGA guy and so people really hated him, but then really like Donald Trump. And like, for me, I felt like that politics is a lot of ways is similar or the approach to it, but one is in the digital world for them.
[00:37:49] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:37:49] Speaker C: And the physical world. So like someone who's, who's insulting people and being rude and in their own community, like, they would never accept it.
[00:37:58] Speaker A: They would never accept it.
[00:37:59] Speaker C: Right. And so I think we should expect more of all our leaders at all levels.
[00:38:03] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:38:03] Speaker C: You know, and realize that social media does have a lot of great things. Like it's helped me stay in touch with army buddies that just there was no way I could have stayed in touch with them and seen, you know, their families grow.
But like, remember that words matter.
These are real people. These are real countrymen, you know, and I, you know, again, I'm just grateful for my own journey and that, like, I've traveled around the world quite a bit as, as an attorney, and then my wife works in humanitarian aid and so she's traveled much more than I have.
So I have that lens. The time I served in the army, you know, friends from all over the country in all different types of communities and socioeconomic status. And so I just inherently know like these, how we Americans and we citizens of the world, like, we have so much more in common. And I think that's not something that plays well in the easy politics of today, but I think a lot of people are just so eager for that.
You know, there's my first run for office.
[00:39:18] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:39:18] Speaker C: Was. Was not against the guy I was talking about. It was, you know, I actually kind of planned on running for an open seat and kind of figured this would be good practice. Right, right. Because you learn so much the first time you're on office. So I ran against Eric Boyce, who, like, well, he's a wonderful guy. He's currently the mayor of pro tem. So I get to name a mayor pro tem who's. When I'm not there, that's who.
Who fills that role.
And I couldn't have run a negative campaign against Eric anyway. There was like nothing really to complain about. But so we just ran a very friendly, respectful campaign. And people that meant so much to people, like they would come up, they come up to us and like it was so great how you guys just disagreed respectfully and thoughtfully.
So I think increasingly people are really looking for that. You know, they want a positive vision of our community or their country. And there's, there's so much to be positive about.
[00:40:15] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:40:16] Speaker C: You know, and that's our great leaders throughout our history in this country and in many other ones. Right. They're. Yeah, they're positive leaders. They have a vision that brings people together and, but is rooted in the foundations of their history. You know, so that's something that we just need a lot more of. But it takes time. It takes patience.
And maybe the patience is actually the.
[00:40:41] Speaker A: Harder thing and a little more eq. Right. The emotional intelligence is so much needed today that some of these leaders just. My way or the highway doesn't work anymore. Leadership is changing. The world is changing.
Kids are so much smarter today.
And you can be just pushing it your way.
[00:41:00] Speaker C: Right, right. Their expectation is that their perspective should matter. And, and, and that's always been true. Right. Yeah, but, but I think it's, it's, it's more of a day to day imperative.
[00:41:12] Speaker A: Kids digitally, as you said, the digital divide. I think, I think they're, the kids are ahead of us in some way.
[00:41:19] Speaker C: Shape, certainly some things.
[00:41:20] Speaker A: They grew up, they grew up with technology, whereas we had to adopt to it.
[00:41:25] Speaker C: Yeah. Like they don't, they can't envision a world where you can send a picture of something and we, you know.
[00:41:31] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:41:32] Speaker C: Yeah. Kids talking about something in my childhood and well, you just send them a picture. It's like, well, you couldn't do that.
[00:41:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:41:39] Speaker C: You know, pretty, pretty recently, you know.
[00:41:41] Speaker A: Very true. And, and you know, I think that is a huge change which is happening and this is where. Are you optimistic about leadership going forward or are you concerned about the way our country, you know, let's start with the city, but then broaden it up into the national politics.
[00:42:01] Speaker C: And I'm very optimistic about Cedar Park.
[00:42:04] Speaker A: Wonderful.
[00:42:06] Speaker C: But it's is an optimism that I bring up more broadly because I think eventually, and I've seen this with people realizing the things that make Cedar park so successful of just like again being a politically purple community, being a place where people from all over the world are moving, raising their families, growing their businesses and the like, inherent respect that they have for each other, you know, along the way.
I think that's. That remains the future.
[00:42:37] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:42:38] Speaker C: You know, and people will look at a place like Cedar park and be like, wow, I want to, you know, I want my community to be successful like that community.
[00:42:45] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:46] Speaker C: Right. And so I think while we're going through a tough time, and I blame leaders on both sides of the political aisle. Right.
And I think it gets exacerbated by media and social media. Right. But like, increasingly, people are going to lose patience with that kind of leadership because they're going to realize it doesn't net results.
[00:43:08] Speaker A: Absolutely. And I really hope that happens because that is so much needed today as.
[00:43:14] Speaker C: A historian, you know, by training. Right. Is one thing I'm very cognizant of is our history in this country. And really every other one has always been a story of two steps forward, one step back, you know, and I think the tough times help reinforce those core lessons, you know, and I think there's a lot to be learned right now about being judgmental and accusing people of things and casting aspersions and insults of people that can be blamed on both sides, you know, and it's. I hope we all learn, especially these last few weeks, you know, here we are about a week after Charlie Kirk's assassination, two months after Melissa Hortman's assassination in Minnesota, to, like, these people get radicalized by harsh rhetoric on both sides.
And we all need to remember, like, that we have so much more in common.
[00:44:14] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:44:14] Speaker C: You know, and sometimes people are right, like the tough policy decisions, you know, whether it's the questions around policing, you know, or urban planning or the federal budget. Right. Like, there's good, there's valid perspectives on all sides, you know, and like, it's important to validate and recognize that in people and say, well, but here's how I think about it. Here's where I think that balance should lie, you know, even in some of the most divisive issues.
[00:44:43] Speaker A: Very true. And I think communication is the key. So, folks, thanks for sticking with us. And you know, please understand that in this age, as we Mayor Jim says is, we need to stay human. Humanity is the common thread. Do not forget that, because that is the answer to us, you know, coming together in the long term.
So please stay tuned. We'll be right back. With a super conscious leader.
[00:45:29] Speaker B: Stay tuned. We'll be right back.
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And we're back. Let's continue this powerful conversation.
[00:46:56] Speaker A: We're back with a superconscious leader we have with us. Mayor Jim and please do not miss any shows of a superconscious leader on Now Media TV or you can always download the Apple TV app, Roku, Spotify, iHeartRadio and watch it on the go.
So, Mayor Jim, welcome back to the final segment. It's been a really exciting journey and thanks for being the mayor of Cedar Park.
Now one thing I was very surprised to hear that this is a voluntary position. I never knew mayorship is a voluntary position. So explain that to me, please.
[00:47:33] Speaker C: Yeah, so, you know, we are, Cedar park was incorporated in 1973. Okay. So, you know, 52 years ago, we had a few hundred residents at the time.
And in that context doesn't make sense to have a paid mayor.
[00:47:47] Speaker A: Right.
[00:47:48] Speaker C: The challenge is that in the intervening 52 years, we've grown to be 83,000 residents.
I think we're the only city that's that young, that size and still has an average income of $110,000 per household, which is really high, you know, because we're very much kind of middle class, upper middle class community and very lucky to be that. And so. But no longer. Nowhere on that journey did it make was gonna be fun to campaign on. You should pay the mayor.
[00:48:19] Speaker A: Right.
[00:48:20] Speaker C: Or the city council.
[00:48:21] Speaker A: Now it came up.
[00:48:22] Speaker C: Yeah. And that's been true. So Round Rocks mayors, volunteer Georgetown mayor. So like all the, all the suburbs, Austin's mayor and city council, those are paid positions. But I, I assure you that like they're not, you know, living off their salary. Right.
And so what you've had in our last two mayors, accomplished lawyers that had earned a good living over the years and are just really, it's a labor of love for them and service for them. Exactly. And so, and I think there's definitely some benefit. And again, because my job is to bring to the city council and the city government, like the people's perspectives and the perspectives, like what's going on in our economy, you know, the expertise about how to manage our road network and police and stuff like that. That expertise exists in the city's staff, the 600 wonderful people that run our city on a daily basis.
But it's certainly a lot to juggle, you know, But I've found these last three years, it's hard because, you know, I get large family, and then working full time as an attorney and juggling that with the city of leadership is a lot. But in a lot of ways, I feel just very.
I've always liked having a good full day, but it's also just a really good recipe for life and like, carving out a percentage of your time for leadership and community service and feeling, doing something that's bigger than you.
[00:49:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:49:52] Speaker C: And bigger just than even your family.
[00:49:54] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:49:55] Speaker C: And, you know, the legacy you hope to leave them, financially speaking. And so. Yeah. And somebody's. I kind of. It's like being a Hollywood filmmaker. It's like you do an art film every now and then, and you do, like your Marvel franchise movie that. That pays the bills, you know, and so it's. It's been a great balance. Very good.
[00:50:14] Speaker A: Excellent. And I think this also, you know, because in Superconscious Leader, what I believe is you need to have the mind, body, and spirit. And when you volunteer, that's giving back. There is a bit of the spirit involved with it because.
[00:50:29] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:50:29] Speaker A: It's not only about you. It's giving back to this community.
[00:50:33] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:50:33] Speaker A: And that is so important. And I think, you know, what you're doing is actually showing the way. And I, you know, as, you know, you see the book, your Legacy Driven Life, that is important to really set the stage for the next generation. And I think I really applaud you for doing that in the right way.
[00:50:50] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:50:51] Speaker A: So what do you think, Superconscious Leader, you know, in your terms, what is the future of leadership, especially as we come in the age of AI and as we are changing at such a rapid pace? Where do you see leadership going in the future?
[00:51:07] Speaker C: I think.
I think leadership's. The fundamental challenges are what they've always been. It's just that they will come at you fast, faster.
Right. And I think what that means is you'll have to be that much more conscious of being that calm in the storm, you know, and that, as you very rightly note, it requires a spiritual health, it requires a physical health, you know, and it requires an attitude about service and community that I think is very much in keeping with all the world's great spiritual traditions, you know, but it's. Yeah, it is continuing to think about change and what needs to happen in your community and thinking down the line, you know, decades down the line, but, you know, being purposeful and change at the same time. And so it's going to require a lot more deep breaths, you know, acai breath, as a yogi would tell you. Right.
But also, yeah, you can't retreat back into your comfort zone either because increasingly I think we're not going to have like these classic comfort zones, but we are always going to be human beings, you know, with that same foundation and that same need for community, for, for knowing that you've been part of something bigger than yourselves, for wanting to see your village thrive.
One of the perspectives. So towards the end of my military career, after my deployments, I decided I wanted a job that had air conditioning.
And so I would go to law school. And all my grandparents now are buried at Arlington National Cemetery. But my oldest, my oldest, oldest grandfather, my mother's father, who had been an army officer and a nuclear physicist, was buried in Arlington when I was at just the beginning of my freshman year of high school. And so we would always go to Arlington a lot for Memorial Day. It's one of the great things we grow up in the D.C. area is like you just have all these things you can go to, like the wreath laying at the too many unknown soldier on Memorial Day and see the president speak, you know, like. And, you know, so, so I grew up with that. And so I'd always thought that was pretty neat. And so I got stationed, assigned to the old guard, the army ceremony unit, Arlington Cemetery. And I did the cannon salutes for President Reagan's state funeral, President Ford's state funeral.
But most of your ceremonies are in Arlington Cemetery.
And so I spent a lot of time in that cemetery and looking at all those headstones, you see all the things that people are proud of. Right. And this is just true in any cemetery.
[00:53:52] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:53:52] Speaker C: I've never seen like law firm partner, I've never seen owner a yacht, you know, I've ever seen owner of a 10,000 square foot house, you know, and, and I got seven kids. Like, I understand the need for space, you know, but what you see people were really proud of is what the things they did for their community.
[00:54:12] Speaker A: Yeah, very true. And then so well said, you know, it's, it's that's, that's going to be our final. And I talk about that. What you will be known as will be the the dates. Right. All we have is that dash in between our dates.
[00:54:27] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:54:27] Speaker A: When you're born and when you are gone.
But, you know, legacy is when you convert the dash into an infinity.
[00:54:34] Speaker C: Right.
[00:54:35] Speaker A: Where you live on the end date doesn't matter.
[00:54:37] Speaker C: Right.
[00:54:38] Speaker A: You're just born and then you left something behind.
[00:54:41] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:54:41] Speaker A: And that is what a legacy would be.
[00:54:43] Speaker C: And so much of that legacy, the most meaningful ones, are to be the person that people want to be like.
You know, that they learn from, is like, oh, when I'm a leader, what do I want to be like? And like, we talked about pessimism and the state of politics today. And one of the things that really helps me be optimistic and one of the most fun parts being mayor is speaking, spending a lot of time around young people.
You know, we have so many great youth groups.
Obviously, I'm always very keen to spend time with scout troops because that meant so much to me. Probably one of the most fun things I do every year is sewa, the Hindu youth group and leadership kind of building academy in our community. I get to do their award ceremony and like, the high school kids do a project every year that they each come up with it. They spend a year on it. It's serving the community in some ways.
And so I get to hand out the awards. And just like, seeing the things that these kids come up with and the hard work and the creativity and just the community spirit that they bring, it's really encouraging. And, you know, so I know, like, Cedar Park's gonna have great mayors for many years to come. Our country is going to have great leaders, you know, and so I just hope that they pick up a thing or two from me.
[00:56:07] Speaker A: Excellent. That's. Yeah, that's exactly what. And yeah, I agree with you. There's a lot of hope and a lot of, you know, positivity with this community. I see it. I see it every day, you know, so thank you for, you know, doing that and being a big part of that.
Sumir, Jim, any final words of wisdom? And also, how can people contact you if they need to get in touch with you?
[00:56:30] Speaker C: Yeah, so I'm pretty easy to get. Get a hold of, you know, if, if, if it relates to the city, you can email
[email protected] cedarparktexas.gov but also, you know, I'm on social media, as @jpm4cp. So jpm f o r cp on Instagram and Facebook.
I'm not on X or Twitter.
[00:56:55] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:56:56] Speaker C: I was never going to be successful. 160 characters or less, as you can tell.
But I, I probably, I need to expand to tik tok and some other things. I hope to do that very soon.
[00:57:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:57:07] Speaker C: But. Yeah, either. Yeah. I, I love when people reach out and I will try and get back to you as fast I can.
[00:57:14] Speaker A: Great.
[00:57:14] Speaker C: Sometimes I'm quicker than others. You know, I juggle all this stuff.
[00:57:18] Speaker A: Thank you very much, Jim. I really appreciate it. Thank you for being on the show. And I really appreciate, appreciate it. Thank you so much.
[00:57:24] Speaker C: Thank you, folks.
[00:57:25] Speaker B: This was exciting.
[00:57:26] Speaker A: Thank you for being part of this show on a super conscious leader. I'm your host, Dr. Adil Dalal, and we'll see you next week. Thank you.
