Mission-Driven Leadership in Higher Education: How Doane University Grows Through Relationships

[0:17]  Welcome back to another episode here on the Heart and Hustle podcast alongside John Frost.

[0:34]  Yes. Hey, thanks first and foremost for having us on the show today. My name is John Frost, the vice president of enrollment management for Don University. We're coming out of Nebraska, only about 45 minutes away from Lincoln, Nebraska, and about an hour away from Omaha. So, we're excited to be here today.

[0:51]  Born and raised?

[0:53]  No, I'm born and raised in North Carolina. You know, we play a little basketball down there, but I've been in Nebraska for pretty much the majority of my adult life.

[1:03]  I love it, my brother. And, you know, as I speak to a lot of people in this enrollment space as well, I would say all you guys have a unique story about how you even got there because it's not something that someone goes to college for and says, "I want to go do that." But you find people that kind of say, "Hey, there's something here that you may want to look into." And for you, it all started a little different, man. You actually were a TV news reporter. How did you go from there and make a huge pivot to higher ed?

[1:27]  Great question. Like you mentioned, and you nailed it, you hit the nail right on the head. I did not go to college to go work at a college. That was not the game plan. However, when I was working in journalism, I had the great fortune of meeting and working with people to share their stories. I mean, we all are attracted to stories. And the thing that really impacted me was that, you know, working in the news, unfortunately, I couldn't do anything to influence the story. I just told the story, right? But then when I transitioned to higher education, again, I still wanted to work with people, but I just wanted to do it in a different capacity. And so when I moved into higher education, I started out my career as a recruiter. And I did not really realize what I was doing until I met with a young lady who was a single mom. She was telling me about her career goals and why she wanted to go to college. And then by the time we were wrapping up with the conversation, she got teary-eyed, and of course, I'm like, "Oh snap, what did I do wrong? Like why is she about to cry? Like I'm about to get fired." You know? And then she told me, she looked up there and she's like, "You're the first person ever told me that I can do this." And that's when I realized what I get to do. That's the thing that's always led me in my career is at the end of the day, no matter what the program is, no matter even the university sometimes, it's still about people and it's connecting with people and uplifting people with information and inspiration.

[2:59]  I love it, man. The power of stories, right? From a journalist's background, just also the power of stories, seeing someone that may look like you, hearing someone that may sound like you, all that's also such a big factor, man. And I love that you were able to find that passion, but then also mixing in that passion with the purpose. It's not about paychecks, right? We're not doing this for the money. We're doing this because we want people to win.

[3:30]  Where's this kind of giving background, this pouring back into humans? Because that's what we're doing, right? Pouring back into humanity. Who's teaching you that? How is all that coming to you?

[3:32]  Well, you know what? The only thing I can speak on is understanding first and foremost what education has done for me. I mean, I was a tall, skinny kid from Winston, North Carolina who thought he was going to go to the NBA. I was fortunate enough to play a sport that allowed me to get my education paid for. But the good news is, once I got to college, I realized that, okay, I'm not going to the NBA, but what else can I do, right? And what else can I contribute? I always had a passion of being able to be social, working with people, talking about people's dreams, aspirations, things of that nature. And so that's what obviously led me into journalism. But again, just like working in higher education, the one thing that I always try to tell people is when people ask the question of why should I go to college or why should I do these things? Well, it's very simple. It works. If it wasn't for a college opportunity, who knows where I could be? I mean, I probably would have been somebody that worked a job and did the best I could, but I wouldn't have been able to have the experiences that I did have by being in a residence hall and meeting people from different areas, having different conversations, understanding different people's passions. The good thing that I've always said that I felt like I always had was curiosity. And curiosity allows me to learn. And when you learn things, it allows you to have the opportunity to apply it to your life and your skills and your dreams. And that's what college gets to do for me. And that's where my passion lies, is that being able to provide people with opportunities to grow, to be the best version of themselves. That's at the end of the day what I want to do.

[5:05]  I want to not only share the stories but allow to influence the stories to get people to where they want to be.

[5:10]  Love it, man. Were you doing this? I was actually doing TV productions in high school. Were you doing anything similar to like journalist productions or anything in high school?

[5:18]  You know what's funny? I didn't. I mean, I don't want to put my age out there, but when I went to high school, they didn't have like the little high school newspaper things like that, but I was playing ball. So, I wasn't even thinking about anything like that. And again, going back to college, I mean, I was fortunate enough to have somebody say, "Hey, have you ever thought about journalism? Have you ever thought about, you know, essentially getting paid to talk?"

[5:46]  I'm like, "They do that?"

[5:49]  And so being able to have that support me like that and guide me in that direction, you know, obviously it changed my life.

[5:59]  Yeah. I uh that's huge to say that, man. I was actually the guy doing TV morning announcements. You see my face on the announcements. I always knew that I loved it, but it goes back to I didn't know that there was this journalist field I could go into. I just love having conversations and being able to create these platforms. We can really have conversations like this. You know, when you grow up, you always knew you wanted something. I used to tell myself I want to be a host, and one day I'm going to be on a big stage. And look at the stage I got here. I got John on the stage, man.

[6:32]  But I ask you, was it somebody because I always say there's one story, one moment, and a person that could really change your life. So, back to that journalist life because you mentioned it. I don't know if you brought it up, but it was somebody to ask you a question that really made you think differently. How important is it to have good people that see more in you than sometimes you see in yourself?

[6:53]  Yes, that's a great question. I would say throughout my life, I've always been fortunate to have people that challenge me. They challenge me like, "What are you doing? Why are you doing it? Where do you want to go? Do you feel like you're reaching your potential?" Of course, you get that when you play a sport because you always been challenged. But when it comes down to life, right? Like what are you going to do? Even growing up in Winston Salem, North Carolina, you know, somebody saying, "This is where you're going to be the rest of your life," or "Are you going to see the rest of the world? Are you going to do different things?" But even going back to your question with somebody, and again, it happened at a college campus, having somebody to see to your point something in me that I didn't see in myself by being social, not afraid to speak up. When I did public speaking 101, we all know that's one of the greatest fears that people have is public speaking. But I loved that class. I was like, "What are y'all scared of?" Unfortunately, I guess my mindset was, "Well, if somebody's going to be up here talking, it might as well be me."

[7:43]  But nevertheless, having somebody to say, "Hey, have you thought about these things?" was such a game-changer for me because I did not think about it. I mean, yes, I had people that I watched growing up like Ahmad Rashad, Brian Gumbel, people of color that were in journalism, but not necessarily realizing how do I get there? You know, how do you go to college for that? You can create this skill set, take this natural talent and create it into a skill set. I didn't understand that. And so with that question, not only did it provoke me to be curious, but it also provoked change.

[8:36]  I love that. And when you talk about change, man, you mentioned you called college actually a magical place. You said students arrive as one person and cross the stage as another. What actually happens within those four years, man, that creates that change that we're talking about?

[8:51]  Well, I love that question. If you start college one way, you end the same way, we all failed. The thing about college, what happens is that transformation, not only from an academic point of view, but especially if you have that traditional experience as well. Being able to, like I mentioned, being in a residence hall and meeting and talking with different people. In our society right now, there's a lot of things that you can't talk about in a public space, but in college, that's what you do. You know, at a university, that's what you do. I mean, I was fortunate enough throughout my career to sit in certain classrooms just to listen to what's going on. And one thing I can tell you is that the type of conversations that are taking place are powerful. I mean, I know social media gets a lot of highlights because you have the keyboard gangsters that go in there and post something, but they're not really having a conversation. They're just posting an opinion, right? But, you know, in a classroom to have challenge debate, which is good to have people to challenge your point of view and also challenge what you're thinking and what you're saying. That's what it should be because it's getting you prepared not only to be a professional, but just in life. I mean, if you have a spouse, if you have a close relationship, you're probably going to have a decent argument sometimes, but not arguing to be right, but arguing to get it right, I think is what college allows you to be able to do is to speak about facts. Not just sharing your opinion, but talking about how did I get these facts? Where did these facts come from? I'm not just pulling them out the sky. But nevertheless, there's the classroom experience, there's the social experience, there's the self-reflection that college allows you to have also. So when you whatever town, city, country you may be from, when you go back on Christmas break or when you go back on spring break, you get the opportunity to kind of like, "Hold up, I know I used to think this way, but now that I've seen things a little different, I can come back and share that with people." So that combination of all those things, I think helps with that transformation process. By the time you walk across that stage, you're not the same individual.

[11:02]  I love that. And you know what? I've had so many conversations recently with people in the space of just going to college. And I'm one that went to college. I didn't have the experience of it changing my life, per se. But as I'm here as an adult, right, 36 years old, I sit here and realize how crucial college really truly is. And not just so much for that degree, but even for the experience because I'm kind of left now as we talk about resources and really allowing people to meet people where they're at. It's like, let's be honest, that transition from high school and not going to college is actually really hard. Like that college does help you still transition from what that adulthood per se because we think we adults, right? And college does give us that boundary to say, "Nah, you still got some growth to do."

[11:50]  But like you mentioned in college, man, and having still those resources, still those people that believe in you because a lot of times, man, we're leaving home at 18 years old and there's nobody there to really navigate life for us, right? We just kind of say, "Hey, a lot of us leaving trauma, a lot of us leaving experiences that we just want to do better in, but we don't have that person." And now I'm starting to see the benefit of a college. It's not just to further your education, but it is still continue to surround yourself with people just like you, with people that actually want to pour back into you. John Frost, you didn't have to leave what you left as a TV news reporter. You wanted to really pour back into the next generation. I think it's so cool. I actually heard another leader say fertilizing the future is what you guys are doing.

[12:36]  I like that.

[12:37]  Right. It is so true, man. When you hear that, what are some of the stories that you've heard of people coming in, maybe first-gen, maybe just afraid that they couldn't do it? And I think not even speaking to just our young generation, but there's people that 30, 40 years old go back. Talk some of those stories, John, because we don't know who we inspiring when we have these convos.

[12:55]  Man, I can give you a nice example of a young lady. She started college. I was fortunate enough to help recruit her. She started college and wound up getting her associate's degree, right? Which provoked her spouse to go back to school. Then she moved on to get a bachelor's degree. By the time she got done with her bachelor's degree, her daughter decided to go to college. So, what I'm trying to say is that she provided a blueprint that they didn't know was available.

[13:31]  Right. And because mama did it, it made it easy for the husband to do it, which then made it a little bit more like, "If she or they did it, why can't I do it?" I mean, the inspiration of starting and finishing something is so powerful because I think sometimes that's what we miss out on. Like there's always the celebratory nature of, "Hey, I started college," and then also the celebratory nature that I finished college, but knowing how to follow through with it, right? On those hard days, you know, those terrible days, those tumultuous Thursdays, those wild Tuesdays, you know, Monday madness. I mean, all those things are real because you got to keep going. And seeing that, I think is such an inspiration.

[14:20]  Being able to see essentially a whole family start college because mama came in one day and said, "Today is my day." That's what's so powerful. That's what it gets to do. And not only, and I agree, it's never just about the academics. It's also learning accountability, right? It's being able to see that. And then I also tell people there's two other things that I always try to share with people about college, and I always say it's the can, right? It's community, it's academics, and then there's networking. That ability to network is also pivotal because that same lady that I'm talking about was at a quote unquote, you could say a dead-end job. She wasn't moving forward and she was just like, "Hey, I want more out of this than what I'm doing." And because of that, it provoked her to not only get a different job, but she made a lot more money. She wound up getting into leadership. And she was sharing her story. And here's the kicker. We wound up making an agreement with her company to have more people go to school. So because that one individual started school, it provoked several other people that we didn't even know.

[15:28]  Yeah.

[15:28]  To come to school. So going back to fertilizing that future. I mean, if it wasn't for that one lady, who knows what could have happened. But because she did it, it, I mean, look at the roots and the fruit from that tree that she planted by starting school again.

[15:42]  I love it. I mean, you are definitely a good speaker. I just want you to know that the way that I'm saying it, like, "Yo, come on now, you're really out here talking." I want to go back to everything you just said really comes back to what you first said when we had that first conversation, which is higher education is one of the few things left in our society that can really create that opportunity for people who don't already have it. Right. That's really exactly kind of that example.

[16:16]  Man, that's actually a cool story because I say the only reason I've done business and I've obviously done some education. I'm like two classes away from getting an AA degree.

[16:17]  Let's go.

[16:17]  I've been able to do, you know, I got to finish it. But, you know, the reason I want to finish it is what you mentioned is that I want my kids to see that dad did this or dad did this, right? People don't know if they don't see it, right? And if you want to lead by example, that woman led by example. And look at the people that actually followed. And her to realize she's a leader.

[16:36]  Like a lot of times people have leadership in them don't even know that they're actually leaders because no one actually told them that. I was 19 years old and I remember some guy I never met a day in my life. And I'm working, you know, because of my upbringing of adoption, sexual abuse. I was working. I was grinding.

[16:53]  19 years old. This guy comes. He says, "Man, you could definitely be a manager, right?" And I'm like, "Me? A manager? Bro, I'm 19 years old, just coming out of high school." And I did. I was actually in transition, but I'll tell you where somebody busting my chops as well was like, "Hey, I said man, I'm doing this, you know, I'm coming in in the morning, I'm coming at nights, I'm ordering trucks." He says, "Man, anybody can do it."

[17:12]  Even my own kids at 11, 12 years old. But are you doing it right? And those moments we talk about people just pouring into you, man, it's like we need those conversations, right? We think we got it all, and I will remember so many of those moments. John Frost, I can imagine that so many people drop nuggets throughout your life. What are some of those nuggets, man, that keep you going till today that you remember?

[17:32]  Oh man, that's a good one. The first and foremost, the most important person other than my wife and my mom was my dad. My dad was the one that blueprinted a lot of things in my life. I mean, he was an old school guy who, you know, I'm trying to think of some of the sayings that are appropriate to say, but he had some of his sayings that were just so profound. When he would say, "You need to be a man among men," right? Just those type of things growing up as a kid in East Winston, North Carolina. And know him be a man among men. Don't try to be right, get it right, you know.

[18:22]  I'm just trying to think of some of the ones, but he was always, he also said, "It's just as simple as the nose on your face." He'd say, "Touch your nose. It's just that simple, right?" And so it's all those different things that he had poured into us because he always used to tell me growing up, "I'm not raising kids, I'm raising men." And he always used to say that. He said, "My job is that you at some point will always love me, but you're not going to always need me." And so, it's things like that that stuck in my mind. And also that he would just say, you know, if things are hard, that's okay because you're capable of making it easy at some point. So, it's all those different things that as we go through life, as you go through certain things that I always, my dad passed about 12 years ago, but I always hear him in my head throughout my life, throughout things that I've accomplished and also when I failed. I mean, I think a lot of times it's great to celebrate those accomplishments, but sometimes when you fail or sometimes when you lose, it's not a loss because you lost. It's a loss because it's a lesson. So then you can come back and say, "Oh, I know how to do that now and move it in the right direction."

[20:08]  So, at the end of the day, I've been fortunate enough to have some decent mentors as well that taught me about business, that taught me about professional society and how to navigate that. But at the end of the day, it all starts with my pops. And so, that's a shout out to him wherever he may be in the universe that, you know, I'm here with you today and I'm getting able to spit some of the bars that he shared with me from back in the day.

[20:45]  Yes. Had a mentor tell me that too, man. I was 27 years old. I had closed my first business. And I was 27 years old, man. I'm like 23, 24 closing a business. And I'm trying to find the angels investors. Like I can't lose, man. My friends are watching, right? We leaving high school. My friends been watching. Come on, man. What an idiot that was. But he said, "Yo, you ain't losing. Take that lesson that you learned from this and just know you learned from this and just know you learned from this and just apply it into whatever you're going to do into the next journey."

[21:02]  And from that point on, it's always been easier to close businesses or move on to the next and pivot, realizing, listen, it wasn't a loss. In life, man, if we look back at it, there was a lesson that we learned through the trauma, through the hurt, through the good and through the bad, right?

[21:51]  Yes. There were so many lessons to actually learn. And when we actually sit here and think about it, it is cliche things, man. I was talking to my neighbor as we were working out. I'm like, "Man, you know that cliche stuff of it's the mind, the body, the soul."

[22:02]  Yes, sir.

[22:03]  And we heard that as kids and it's just corny, right? But it is that. You take care of those things and that's where the college level really brings the different people you meet, realizing, man, we're all alike. We all have stories, you know, even though this person may come from a different country, sometimes people come from a different country, you realize like, man, what am I so caught up on? Look at how this person could live at peace with nothing.

[22:29]  So, it's pretty cool, man. What are some of the unique things about the university that you guys are at?

[22:39]  Yes. Don University is a wonderful place. We've been around for 153 years. We were one of the first universities to do a lot of dynamic things in the great state of Nebraska. We have great opportunities. I mean, every school that you hear says, "Oh, we're wonderful. We build leaders. That's what we do." We build leaders. We build people that are going to fertilize the future. I'm taking that term. I'm telling you. Who fertilized the future? Who's going to make an impact? Who's going to be part of whatever type of era that we are in right now? The folks that are graduating from Don are going to be the people that's going to bring us to the next era, but not just bring us there, but to elevate humanity. And that's what Don University is doing. We have over 35 programs. Obviously, we have graduate programs. We have opportunities for you can do things online, in person, hybrid. Also, if you're not even looking for a degree, but you're looking for additional courses to take, we have non-degree seeking opportunities for you. I mean, I can go on and on. Obviously, we have the opportunity in athletics. We are an NAIA school, so we have GPAC. We're in the GPAC conference, and we have several teams that have won national championships, conference championships. We have a national champion women's wrestler that's at our school, and she was one of those people that came into Don University. Her grades weren't the greatest; she was one of those people that colleges take a chance on, and she just has done really great things. So again, Don University is a place where a lot of great things are happening that's influencing the future and making the world a better place.

[23:30]  Yeah. So, we have two graduations. We have one for our residential students and then we have one for our non-residential students. So, a normal graduation class is usually going to range between about 250 to 300 undergrads, but then we also have probably an additional 40 to 45 that's going to be graduated from our graduate programs. Overall, we're a little under a thousand, probably going to be over a thousand this year. We've been very successful in our recruitment, marketing, and retention. So not only are we recruiting great students to our university, we're also retaining them and having great persistence and they're graduating. So that's another thing that we're really excited about. I mean, we're not a school that's 10,000 or 50,000 or anything like that. Nothing wrong with that. But the one thing about our university is that it's small, it's intimate, and it's built on relationships.

[24:27]  I love that. And when we talk about meeting those kids at where they're at, right, or those students at where they're at, what does that look like on communication? Because I think nowadays the way that we communicate is even different from back when you were probably a student to nowadays. It's like we're not picking up the phones. We're not trying to go to somebody's website. We just trying to go on phones real quick or social media or quick, you know, look up. What does that look like nowadays and how we communicate and how we curate to meet them where they're at?

[24:54]  So, I think our secret sauce, which isn't a secret because we'll say it to anybody, is the connectivity. Like you mentioned, yes, it's easy for us to just have people go to our website and do things like that, which that happens as well, but we're still really big on having this right here in a conversation because at the end of the day, we're not order takers, we're dream makers. And being an order taker means that if I'm talking to somebody and they're interested in criminal justice or they're interested in biology or art, yes, it's easy for me to say, "Yeah, we have art and we have this program."

[25:28]  But a dream maker is going to say, "Hey, tell me about what that looks like for you. Why are you interested in art? Why are you interested in biology?" It goes back to the start of our conversation. What's your story? Tell me about why you want to do this. And when you ask that question, that's when you learn what's inspired them because we can always provide information that's always available, right? That's where you go and look, but can we understand their story and can we understand what inspires them? So, one of the things I always ask students that I serve and serve with is when you walk across that stage, who's the first person you're thinking about? Who's the person you want to hug? Who are you doing this for? Because that's what you're going to need to have, like we said before, to follow through and finish because you don't want to let those people down. And so the way we have these conversations, we want to engage with people. We don't want to checkbox it. We want to see if we can get them on the phone, if we can have a Zoom call. It's great to have email. And granted, some people don't want to have that. But here's the thing that we're very intentional about providing that option. We're not going to settle for just, "Hey, I emailed them." No, we want to have that conversation because we want to know your story and want to know what inspires you.

[26:41]  I love that, man. I'm over here thinking like John Frost for president at this point. The way that you just come up with these answers, man. I appreciate you, man. Listen, what are your kids? Are they already in college right now? Following dad's footsteps.

[26:57]  No, my kids are 11 and 13. I'm trying to follow in my dad's footsteps and I have two boys. I'm trying to raise men, right? I'm trying to raise decent human beings. I don't care what they do as long as they're doing something that they're proud of. And so that's what my kids are, you know, 11 and 13. They're active, young athletes, but I also want to make sure as much as they put in their athletics, they put that in being a good person, being a good role model.

[27:45]  Do you guys have that conversation? Is that something that you even think of?

[27:45]  Yeah. I mean, the funny thing is, you know, my kids are at that age now where they're curious about their parents now, like what did you do or, you know, what were you good at and things of that nature. And now, I mean, when I was young, I couldn't Google my dad to see what he did or not. But my kids can Google me or my wife and find out like, "Who were they? What did they do?" Because they may hear stories about some of our accomplishments and things of that nature. But the greatest question is, "Why do I do this?"

[28:26]  Yeah.

[28:26]  Right. And so my kids ask that question. When they did ask that question, it's like, "Hey, I get to work in education. Now, sometimes they're thinking like, 'Well, you're not a teacher or anything like that,' but it's like, 'No, I work in education. I'm part of that process of higher education.'"

[29:15]  Yeah, there's folks that are teachers or faculty members and things of that nature. I'm more on the administrative side. So being able to even articulate to them just the business of higher education and all those different roles, I sum it up like this too with another thought. Just like when I was in journalism, I said, "Yes, there's only so many people that's going to be on the court or the field because they love sports, but you know how many jobs that are outside of that court and field? You can still, if you want to work for the NBA, it's more likely that you can work with them doing something off the court than actually being on the court. And that's the same thing with the NFL or MLB. It's like there's several jobs where you can still be connected to sports. You can still be connected to the industry, but there's several different roles. And that's the same thing I say about higher education.

[29:33]  Yeah, that's important that you say that too because a lot of people just want to go chase that, right? The ball player. And it's like, you don't got to be the ball player to make money, right? Yes. You don't got to be the ball player to work with that company that you've always wanted to, you dreamed of.

[30:04]  And really kind of protect the body. You know, I'm a big wrestling fan. I love wrestling, but I think to myself, man, it's like, you know, that's some work that they got to do. You know, athletes at the end of the day that also get injured and they got to put their body through so much. It's like, I work on the back end and I hold a camera, a mic. That's cool. I do that.

[30:06]  Yes. Yes.

[30:06]  Yes. Yes.

[30:07]  John, what do you say to those students who are dragging their feet right now, man, and not sure if college is for them, not sure they can even afford it? I think that's a lot of people's minds. Or maybe they just feel like they don't belong. What do you say directly to those students?

[30:20]  Always start with a plan. Don't just show up and hope it works out. Start with a plan. Why do you want to go to college? What strikes an interest in there? It may not be that you start at Don University. It may be that you start with taking a few classes at a community college. It may be that you're taking some online certificates. I mean, the reason why I ask about the plan is if it's college, if it's anything that you want to be good at, what are you willing to sacrifice? Because you can't just do the same thing that you done before and think that you're going to get better at something. Something has to come at a cost. And so, what does that mean to you?

[31:08]  I'll be the first person to tell anybody, don't just go to college and spend a whole bunch of money and you have no idea why you're there. So, that's why you have to have a plan. What is it that you want to do?

[31:30]  Again, going back, not that I'm trying to give a shout out to Google or search engines, but those things are tools where you know what, I like to do X, Y, and Z. What are the careers that I can do X, Y, and Z with? And Google it. See what happens. Same thing with scholarships. There's millions and millions of dollars of scholarships that go unclaimed because people won't write an essay about themselves and what they want to do, which again goes back to what your plan is. So once you have a plan, it's going to jumpstart everything else that you feel like you need to do to make that plan a reality.

[32:41]  Man, I want to know who is John outside of higher education. What is that thing that keeps you grounded? I mean, are you a fishing guy? You like planting? What is that thing, man, that outside when you got to turn it off that you say, "You know what? I love this. This brings me peace."

[32:54]  Hey, great question. At the end of the day, first and foremost, I'm a husband. My wife is my best friend. That's what inspires me. She's made me better. I heard a quote a long time ago. Being with your spouse is just like math. Either they multiply you or they subtract you. Hopefully, they don't divide you, but hopefully they're adding to you. So that's the way my wife is. I mean, we've been together for a long time and she's the greatest thing that ever happened in my life.

[33:32]  And hopefully she'll see this and she'll be able to know that situation. I said that publicly. But my wife is what inspires me and allows me to be who I am and try to be the best version of myself. Of course, my kids. But outside of Don University, outside of working, you know, I like to smoke meat.

[34:05]  I want to be clear. I like to smoke meat. You know, you got to be careful about saying you like to smoke. So, hey, I just want to be clear.

[34:06]  I hear you, bro. They clip this real quick.

[34:07]  Yeah. So, I like to smoke meat. And I like to hang out with my guys, you know. I like to hang out with my friends. I like sports. I like to debate. I mean, I'm an old school southern guy, you know. I'm very simple. I just want to have a good time. I go to church, do that part, volunteer. Again, doing my little part to make the world a better place. That's just who I am. I just want to have a good time and laugh and cut a few jokes and go about my business.

[34:31]  Love it. You say, smoking meat. I got a pit boss. Don't make fun of my pit boss. You know, I play.

[34:33]  Hey, it's all good. You got a pit. I ain't gonna say nothing else.

[34:34]  I ain't gonna say nothing about your pit boss.

[34:35]  It was free. You know, I would say it was free. But I'm with you though.

[34:36]  I love my friend. He's like, "Man, should I get a grill or a smoker?" And I'm like, "Bro, get both."

[34:38]  So there's one that got both of them. So every time we go do barbecuing, he's on the grill and I'm on the smoker over here on this side. I said, "This is my style. Don't touch anything over here. This is going to be the good side."

[35:00]  So I love that you find peace in that, man. Because sometimes we just got to remember that, yeah, we are leaders and we're definitely making the world a better place, but in order to make others better, we got to make sure we're good. And I'm happy that you find that peace in the family in doing certain things, man. Because that's always that mental health is important.

[35:21]  You know, what is that thing that allows you to just kind of turn off and still feel that peace?

[35:23]  Yes. When we do things like basketball or, you know, or like a nine-to-five, sometimes we give it all, man. We forget to pour back into us. And especially as leaders, I felt like we were never really taught how to pour into ourselves. We're really good at giving advice. Sometimes we're bad at taking it. So, I'm glad that you are there, man.

[35:47]  Where can people find more on what you guys are doing at the school? If someone wanted to tap in with you, are you on LinkedIn as well? Give us that info.

[35:49]  Yeah, of course. On LinkedIn, you can look up John Frost, vice president of enrollment management and marketing. You'll find me there. At the same time for Don University, just Google Don University. You can find our social media platforms. We're on most platforms, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat. So please check us out there. And then if you just got any questions, don't mind hitting us up. I mean, you can Google me and we'll be able to get in touch. Like I said, this is a great honor and a privilege to be able to do this and be able to chat with you to talk about some of the good things that we're doing in the world. And we're excited to connect with you if you want to have further discussion.

[36:30]  I love it, brother. And just because you've been on it this whole time, can we get a drop mic? Like how do you end us, you know, send us off?

[36:38]  Oh man, that's put me on the spot. In fact, we're going to talk to a certain audience. Let's talk to those leaders. I was like, "Yo, John is doing it, man. Let's talk to those leaders that probably right now are having that fear. You know, there's a lot of things going on, man. Let's speak to those people to make sure they understand that we're all united in this space."

[36:54]  That's a good one. Just stay motivated. Don't give up. I know that sounds simple. Stay motivated and be a good influence. Things are hard, but things also are good, man. I mean, this is a great time to be in the world. It's a lot of stuff going on, but that's a challenge. And everybody wants to be the GOAT. Well, you can't be the GOAT without something easy. You got to be the GOAT with something difficult. So, let's overcome and not quit and fall back. You know, your greatest gift is not quitting; it's keeping moving forward. So, keep moving forward, keep pushing, keep fighting because we're going to get there one way or the other. So, stay motivated, stay blessed, and keep pushing.

[37:43]  Love it. That's John Frost. I'm Era. Make sure you guys do like, subscribe, and comment. These conversations just keep getting better.