Part 2- Todd Palmer Shares Impact of 2 Year Program on his Business

Jay Mountjoy interviews business leader Todd Palmer about the impact of the 2 Year Transformational Program’s impact on his business.  Crucible provided him with the tools to help him get through tough business decisions and a difficult customer situation.  He shares he is a better leader at home and at work.

Here are some of the topics we cover in our podcast episodes:

Radical honesty and grace
Spiritual growth
Discipleship
Mentorship
Personal development
Life transformation
Christian men's ministry
Christian women's ministry
Faith-based retreat
Discover our other resources:

Our Website: https://thecrucibleproject.org/
Our Blog: https://thecrucibleproject.org/blog/
Christian Men's Retreats: https://thecrucibleproject.org/crucible-weekend-for-men/
Christian Women's Retreats: https://thecrucibleproject.org/crucible-weekend-for-women/

Transcript

• You know, the initial weekend was a great start and then continuing in groups was very important in the journey. The second level weekend, I'm grateful for every one of those weekends for different
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• reasons and what I learned. Welcome to the Crucible Project Podcast. The Crucible Project is a nonprofit organization committed to creating a world of men and women who live with integrity, grace and courage, helping them to fulfill their God-given purpose.
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• This podcast will discuss important and sometimes difficult topics while delivering practical life applications with men and women who are currently practicing this work. We are conniving Christ-like challenges and men and women who experience His Outradical
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• Honesty for Ungrace. Yeah, okay, so you're, you're, sounds like plugged in. You've got... "... you know, half initiated, half un-initiated group. And then what came up for you in the 15-week growth group,
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• we call it as you come out of a weekend, were you like dead set on the weekend? Like, hey, I wanna keep doing this, or did it take a little time for you to get in, or what was that like to get into that group?
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• You know, my close friend and mentor that really kind of initiated the conversation about inviting me to a weekend. His comment to me before the weekend after the weekend is it's like... you know, this will do more, you will get more value out of this if you step into the groups.
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• And so again, I trusted his advice and just felt like if as I'm embarking on this journey, I don't want to take a shortcut. I know I want to do the work and I want to get the value out of it. I don't want to say, hey, this is two and a half days and I'm done. I experienced a lot in those
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• two and a half days and wanted that to continue. And I just had a strong desire for growth and for it to continue. And it wasn't a question. in my mind of if I was going to step into that growth group. It was a question of when
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• is it available and can I make it work with my schedule? Luckily, that group started relatively shortly after my weekend and at a time and day that worked for my life. Yeah, well and so the other two gentlemen.
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• Patrick and Rob, and they had led before, and so I was, you know, joining in to lead with them, they were the morning people. By default, I would not have chosen mornings for groups, so you can thank them for being able to make that work. Yeah, that was part of my growth.
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• You know, they're always up at 5.15 and, you know, doing their thing. Wow, okay, this is a stretch. Yeah, so that initial 15 weeks. There's it's designed to continue to growth right give more information and
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• perspective and more Experiences and moving through so that initial 15 weeks did you notice was there a another? shift or another noticeable growth or yeah, how how were those those 15 weeks and then interested in and
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• Going into your first staffing and the two-year group. Yeah, so it was interesting I I think what the what the 15 weeks showed me is that this is something that is that will be valuable in my life I'm seeing the value in it today
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• and I'm seeing the need for this growth to continue and and so that 15 weeks really just say kind of kept the fire lit that I wanted to continue to pursue the knowledge and about myself and about how I how I deal with things and how I'm
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• becoming a better and safer person to be around. It really just fueled you know I saw I experienced enough to know that there was more and I wanted to continue. For me I felt for for quite some time I don't know that I have a what how many
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• months or how long this was but I did I felt like I wasn't I don't know what the right word is. Maybe it's the I didn't feel like I was worthy or qualified to staff. And so the first thing I did was step into second level weekends.
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• And so I started the two year group having two of the second level weekends completed. Oh, interesting. Do you remember which ones you did first? I think it was mission and leader. one. Mission and purpose and leadership one. Okay. Yeah. And so I stepped into those and really
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• didn't staff until sometime after those two. And I know I staffed an initial weekend and then with my two year group the weekends that I had participated in, I staffed the weekends that I participated in
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• the other week, the other two weekends, but I staffed the two that are our two year group hadn't, you know, that they were, they were. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so, and I had a, I had a great. conversation with a man that, I mean, it really just, it was a random call one evening just
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• to talk to me about the Crucible Project. It was an initiated man that was, I don't even remember what the purpose of the phone call was, but I shared my feeling of not being qualified staff. And he shared with me, he's like, you know, God is going to find a way
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• to utilize you just how you are to bring, to bring value and knowledge to the weekend. What's your mythic expected? He just encouraged me to sign up to staff and show up. And it was really a great experience.
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• And I'm just grateful for that man to have pushed into me that way, just on a random phone call. It might have been a call at the end of the year saying, hey, we're on a fundraising campaign. And it turned into just a great conversation
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• that led to, I don't know whether it's confidence or comfortableness to sign up to staff and experience that for the first time. But I guess the word I would use. would be what a blessing. You know, God is ready for you to show up so he can use you just as you are.
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• Yeah, oh man, that gives me chills. That lands for me. And you had already done two other weekends and how far into your two-year program are you before you show up to staff an initial weekend? I don't know, maybe a few months. Yeah, early on, definitely on the earlier side.
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• longer side. Yep. Alright, so yeah, we'll come back to the to the two year program, but showing up just as you are, to add value and knowledge, I think, knowledge and value. What was your experience on the other side as showing up as a staff man? How was that different than, you know,
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• your own weekend? How's that different than your own groups that you have done? Yeah, what's the new dimension to growth? You said you've staffed 10 times now? Yeah. So yeah, it seems like it was pretty profound. It is. And it's just, you know, what I find is that the container on the weekends,
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• that the staff container and then as in the participants is part of that. Really just. is just a safe place to be. And just to be who I am, it's safe to, I heard you referred to up there, you know, in Colorado, where the camp is in Colorado is up in the mountains.
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• And it's just, it's a really serene place. The feeling of just God being present and the safety of the space and the participants has allowed me to continue my work. I think that, you know, again, some of that experiencing that you're not allowed to.
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• and that the challenges that you have, well, they may, they have some uniqueness to them, but we all have some of those challenges. And just that continued experience of safety, camaraderie, and understanding of not being alone
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• has just been just really valuable for me. We were just on a weekend, and one of the other men mentioned that is stuck with me. That was a great, a great visual. He was actually saying... I'm I am now on now doing this work and I am sorry that I have left it for I think a number of years
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• he's like I experience it like I mode my lawn and then just like left it for a few years and And now I'm coming back to to be in a reason like I just that that visual is like yeah I don't mow my lawn once every three years. It's like some some amount of things that that tend to grow and to come out and
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• Yeah, whatever it is that my soul seeking those we can seem to be the medicine for it and be being in those spaces with those men, this is just the whole experience. I don't know if I have a better explanation for it.
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• My wife is, you know, this is, I'm 15 weekends and in five years, and my wife encourages me to do it. She sees that I come back as a better man, as a better husband, as a better father, as a better leader in our business. And so I don't have, I have encouragement at home,
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• not feeling like there's a penalty for me to do this. And I think that's just a testament. to the value of the community and the work is when others in your life can see that value in it and encourage you to continue. That's part of what keeps me doing it. The other part is I just know
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• the same, I see the same things that she sees. Is that I come home a better man? I'm definitely a better version of myself and having that reflected from my wife because it's like you said, it's exhausting. It is energy. It's work. Part of the reward for sure. And the
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• family's pay part of that. I'm feeling tender that your family sees the benefit and they're willing to put in the work to let you come up just as you are. Yeah, so as you have continued to staff, my guess is you have been invited slash challenged
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• into different roles of leading on the weekend. Yeah, what's that been like for you? Has that in terms of the growth journey that you're on? You're absolutely right. I've been invited and challenged to do things that are outside of my comfort zone.
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• If you were to ask me to present to some of our clients, my expertise in business, that's really easy for me because I've been doing it for a long time. Not assuming that's not easy. asking me to step into to lead a process or work with a group on things that I've experienced
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• quite a bit over the last five years. But I don't have I don't have the 30 years of experience and daily experience of doing it that I do in my professional life. And so that's been a challenge. It's rewarding to me to be engaged in in some of the small group activities
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• on the weekends and get to know men and their stories and and see you know places to ask questions and and influence their thinking that practice that happens on the weekend as a staff as a staff person translates really well into the rest of my life as well. It's
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• that pause back, ask questions, seek to understand. Did is really a big part of all of those processes that is just really good practice for the rest of my life. Yeah. And there was something you said earlier,
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• might connect here, it might not, that, again, to be a staff member, to show up to lead different parts of the weekend, I have heard and seen is definitely a stretch, but there was a piece of fear of failure
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• that you mentioned that seemed to be part of that growth. And I'm wondering if that connects with being challenged in the weekends to lead different different roles, right, without the 30 years of experience.
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• Right. Yeah, so does that piece still come up for you? You know, even now, years later and many weekends later? Yeah, I think so. I mean, you know, it's what I find in those processes is that it,
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• in stepping into leading some of those, some of those things that are that I have less experience with, it forces me to prepare better. You know, and with 30 years of experience, I can, I can, I can wing quite a bit on the business side.
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• You know, it's like I'm comfortable in this. And understanding that that prep work is good for me to see the results of and how that applies in other parts of my life. It's just planning, understanding that, that that prep and
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• preparation and learning and at the same time, knowing that the folks that are. are weekend leaders and that are there staffing with with the rest of the staff. Are folks that have that same level of experience in this work as I have in in
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• my professional life and that those folks are just really gracious with their time and their talents to help coach and mentor through that process and so that coaching and mentoring that happens with with the leaders you know on the
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• weekend and the prep for the weekend you know helps helps me see how I can show up to do those same things and in other parts of my life as well. Yeah that there is something. some piece of the weekend of the way that I show up on the weekend is is in so many ways the way I
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• show up in my life. And the perspective that I can get into learning and the growth I can get in that as you've said safe container. I just want to highlight the the wisdom that I heard you saying like I learned this on the weekend and I bring that to my life and to just honor you know that
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• making those connections as part of the growth. Yeah, it might seem like a small thing, but yeah, to not just live in a weekend land, but to really bring that into your world and your life. Yeah, so as we head towards the end tier of your, to your group and your experience is
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• coming out of that, yeah, what are some of the highlights that pop up on your journey is, you know, particularly bright spots or particularly challenging times through that? You know, I'd say some of the learning since the two year group.
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• So I've been out of a group for about a year working on getting back in a group. I have a couple of men that were working on that. And so the awareness of this last year of the importance of being in a group,
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• it was really obvious to me, this last time I staffed about three weeks ago, the importance of being in a group and the detriment that I've had over the last year of not being in that group. Noticing that, yeah.
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• And can we dive into that? I'm curious what comes up for you, what have you noticed? A. Yeah, what have you noticed about not being in a group? Yeah, so I mean, what I've noticed is that I haven't had the conversations with other men about
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• and other folks in my life about some of the challenges that are going on in my life. And I haven't had that support and I've felt more alone. And really, you know, that container on that staffing a few weeks ago, just like, wow, this is,
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• this is, this is why. I need this in my life. And so I think it's great learning. I could have probably skipped that step of not being in a group for a year and what I needed to learn out of that.
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• But it will stay with me forever. And just know that being in community, the adage of iron sharping iron and men sharpening other men, I missed that in the last year. And had that really strongly through the two year group
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• and about a year after the two year group. And then. in that group fell apart for various reasons. And I didn't pursue bringing that back together and the understanding of the need that I have in my life for that.
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• Need and desire. There's just being able to get those other perspectives and to be challenged on your thinking and not being alone, it's super important. Yeah, super important, I like that. Yeah, so this was a quote that challenged me in many ways and landed was we often learn
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• best by doing it wrong. I don't want to characterize what you did wrong, but heard you say, I don't think I needed that lesson, and yet you have it. So yeah, taking that away and to. kind of look back at the whole journey you have.
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• Is there anything else that you would want to say to another man wherever he may be, who's looking to maybe step into this or step into the next part, right? If they've done some parts, there's more work to do.
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• Yeah, what would you wanna say? Yeah, I think, you know, the thing that I'd have to say is that, you know, there's what I've learned has been hugely impactful in my life, in all aspects and, you know,
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• the initial weekend was a great start and then continuing in groups was very important in the journey. The second level weekends, I'm grateful for every one of those weekends for different reasons and what I learned about myself and the things that are important to me and the things that
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• are challenging for me and to pay attention to the reactions in my body that come up when I can have a negative reaction. The cues that I'm heading in a direction that's not great. I just I know that the the relationship.
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• relationships within my family, my community, and my business have all flourished because of the time investment that I've put into this. This isn't, I believe the initial weekend is a great starting place, but it is that
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• it's a start to a long journey. And I see this as a lifelong journey for me and will continue to staff on a regular interval to just keep me connected with the work and learning more about myself. What a blessing.
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• There's a close friend of mine and she put out there, you know, the work that we do on ourself is. gift to the people who love us. That was such a helpful way of framing. Yeah, I want to keep working on myself, but just as a way of loving other people. And in that light, you know, one of
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• the common themes that I heard you talk about was just having this friend and mentor who showed up and encouraged you and you trusted. that person and it has really led to a ton of growth. And I just wanted to reflect back to you.
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• I've felt that from you, that you are a mentor, that you're a leader, that you're putting those things out there and I trust and would follow you. So thank you for taking in that blessing and thank you for living, for embodying,
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• for taking the time to come and talk with us. That same blessing, I feel that. So I just wanted to say thank you. Well. Thank you. In all those ways. Alright, I think we'll say goodbye for now.
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• Again, appreciate you so much, appreciate your time. And look forward to staffing with you in the future. Likewise, thank you for your time and thank you for inviting me. It's a pleasure. For more information about our weekends, please go to the CrucibleProject.org.
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• You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Make sure to subscribe to our channel and subscribe to our channel. Also, don't forget to check out myjourney2.com for your free two-week trial.
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