Stu Crum: The Playbook for Intentional Living

Have you ever noticed how the big picture of sports is always about more than a game?

Whether you played sports or not, they teach lessons in managing failure in a way that nothing else can. It’s the reason I have always believed they are so relatable to the highest levels of business.

As a teaching tool, baseball does it better than another other sport because it’s perspective on failure is so unique. If you disagree, consider this: The best major league players in the world are still fail 75% of the time.

Big picture, baseball is the only profession in the world where stats like that are considered exceptional. But I also believe there’s something to be learned from every sport.

Take, for example, one recent guest on my podcast Rounding the Bases. He was an athlete and though he opted for the gridiron over the diamond, the lessons were just as plentiful.

His name is Stu Crum, a dynamic leader and former college football hero who aimed high to achieve soaring international success.

Today he is an author and executive with an impressive corporate pedigree, but ability alone didn’t fuel his drive to the top. It took a focused playbook that was intentional about living…and its simple enough to make anyone a winner.

SINGLE: Big dreams

Stories about grit and resilience are some of my favorites, which is one of the reasons why I found Stu Crum so compelling.

He’s one of those people who seems to get remembered. And he should. He has had incredible experiences, a genuine demeanor and has made in impact - in sports and business - that is not to be overlooked.

Professionally, the current Chief Executive of Drive Automotive Services achieved a level of success that most can only dream of. He also has a new book, Aim For the Uprights: The Intentional Playbook for Success in Faith, Family and Business. While business was always a part of his plan, it never was the primary one.

“I had two aspirations,” Stu shared. “I always thought I would be a marketing executive with Nike or Adidas or somebody that was sports related.”

The other was the play professional football. It was a dream that came within reach time and time again…only to be taken away.

DOUBLE: A star performer

Stu’s story illustrates how to look past what was and look forward to the big picture that could be.

During college, he was the University of Tulsa’s star kicker, lauded as one of the greatest in the game. He attended on scholarship and led his team to victory after victory, no matter how high the stakes or fierce the competition.

The first time he was drafted was in 1983. The New York Jets picked him up the day before training camp. Before the regular season began, he accepted a position with the USFL, kicking off a series of trades (and even a few legalities). He eventually found himself back with the Jets, only to get cut for a final time…before ever playing a game.

The next morning, an article was published about him in the Tulsa paper. He could have let the overwhelming disappointment derail his career. Instead, Stu used it as a way to make business inroads.

“Within a week, I received about four job offers,” he said. “One was from Texaco.”

After joining their training program, he quickly began ascending the corporate ladder. By 34, he and his young family had moved to New Zealand where Stu had oversight for 120 stores. Two years later, he was running Texaco’s entire New Zealand portfolio. From there, his responsibilities - a territories - only grew.

“Those things you learn from great, inspirational coaches,” he said, “you take into your business life.”

TRIPLE: lessons that last

Football was no longer his future, but the lessons it instilled in him lived on long after his playing days were over. Things like building culture and strategizing your next play were important, but one big picture lesson stood out among the rest.

“I think the greatest lesson you learn is, is you learn failure, right?” said the former kicker.

His was a unique position. Like baseball relievers, they’re players who are called in when everything is on the line. Pressure is high and losses are not soon forgotten. Translated to business, it’s similar to the uncompromising position executives like Stu find themselves in every day.

“Even though I ended my [football] career at 25 years old,” he reflected, “much of how I became a leader … really started through those early days.”

Just like in sports, even the best make mistakes sometimes. Whether the reason is in your control or not, the goal is never perfection. It’s to learn from the play, and execute better next time.

HOME RUN: Aiming for great

It may seem like Stu’s success stemmed from his very obvious natural ability, but he was quick to share one specific event that he credits with changing his life.

During the 1983 draft, a coach for the New York Giants lined up 10 balls and told Stu to kick. As he took his first step, the coach interrupted him. “I don’t wan you to kick to the goalpost,” he said, explaining that any good player could hit that target. “I want you to hit the right upright.”

Stu thought the request was insane. It was 40 yards away, 30 feet in the air and 3” in diamenter. But he tried anyway…and nailed it.

From that day forward, good was no longer good enough. He sought hard to hit targets that many want but few achieve. Big picture hings like a successful marriage, great kids, strong faith and a career he could be proud of.

By aiming high, he performed that way too. And it wasn’t because he was good…it’s because he intended to be great.

Listen to the full interview here or tune in to Rounding the Bases every Tuesday, available wherever you get your podcasts.

LEARN MORE ABOUT BIg Picture thinking FROM JOEL 

Book Joel Goldberg for your next corporate event. He draws on over 25 years of experience as a sports broadcaster. In addition, he brings unique perspectives and lessons learned from some of the world’s most successful organizations. Whatever your profession, Joel is the keynote speaker who can help your team achieve a championship state of mind.

FULL TRANSCRIPT

Joel Goldberg 0:12

Hey everybody. Welcome in to another episode of Rounding the Bases presented by Community America Credit Union. I'm Joel Goldberg, and as always, appreciate the support of Community America Credit Union: Investing in you, and my friends over at Chief of Staff, Kansas City, wherever you are. And what I love so much about them, they're a recruiting firm that believes in people, believes in culture. That's why I partner with them. So if you're curious, if you're looking, if you're searching, give them a shout. You can find them at chiefofstaffkc.com. Making connections that matter. My connection today involves, well, I don't really know how to how to sum it up, but there's certainly a sports tie to it, at least going back to the day. I love the journey of my guests. I love that these journeys never go in a straight line. They never do that's, that's part of life. I also like the fact that, as I am in the midst with this podcast airing in late August, and I know you might be listening to it five years down the road, but if you're listening to it as it comes out, or somewhere around there, I'm in the midst of covering a playoff baseball chase right now, but football is starting, which means that there's a lot to watch on TV. And certainly where I'm at when, when the Royals are playing and we're home, then we go on the road, and generally the Chiefs are playing across the parking lot. So it's just one of those fun times of the year. That's a way for me to get into my guest now, and I'm joined by a dynamic leader with a simple strategy for putting all of your aspirations within reach. His name is Stu Crum, a former college football hero who aimed high to achieve soaring international success. Today, he is an author and executive with an impressive corporate pedigree, but ability alone didn't fuel his drive to the top. It took a playbook that was intentional about living, and now he's ready to share it with the world. Not everyone can change the game, but with the right focus, anyone can win. I haven't told you about that football background yet, but we'll get there in a moment. I'm joined right now from his, I believe home or office. I'm guessing, home.

Stu Crum 2:24

Yes, we're home and office in Houston, Texas, both.

Joel Goldberg 2:28

Stu, Crum. Stu how are you?

Stu Crum 2:30

Joel, I'm great. Glad to be here and and I just remembered I've got a I've got a KC story I've got to tell you in a little bit. So we'll get to that.

Joel Goldberg 2:38

I will. I will make myself a note, just so that between the two of us, neither of us, forget it. Let's do this. Before we get to back then, which would be the football days. Let's talk about right now. Let's talk about where you ended up, and then we'll backtrack and cover the journey. Tell us what you're doing right now.

Stu Crum 2:57

Well, I've, over the last 10 years, started becoming CEOs for private equity backed companies. So 18 months ago, I sold a car wash business, which was owned by Goldman Sachs. I was an owner of it as well, and we sold it to Circle K. Just three months ago, I started in a tire and service business where we're we've got 54 locations. Probably two years from now, we have 100 and we're rolling that up and growing that business. So I have a tendency to go in, take some businesses that are small, build them to big and and hopefully sell them someday, and and make a lot of value for the owners and also for the people that working for us, because there's some great opportunities for the folks that work for us.

Joel Goldberg 3:39

So I want to get into all the strategy in that a little bit later in the podcast, because it's not, of course, as simple as it sounds, I don't think anybody would think it is. If, if they did, everybody would be jumping to do it. Maybe they are trying to jump and do it, and it's not really working for them. There's a lot of strategy. It's not just a hey, let's just see what happens here. Let's go back to the beginning, as I believe is the case with most of my guests, you could not have envisioned, say, when you were 18, 19, 20, or even early in your football career, your professional career, that you will be doing this now. What were the aspirations of a young Stu Crum?

Stu Crum 4:15

You know, I would tell you that I had two aspirations. Professional Football was an aspiration. I had a chance to be drafted by the New York Jets. We'll talk about that later, but I always thought I would be a marketing executive with Nike or Adidas, or somebody that was sports related, with the hope that someday, I will tell you, that the hope someday I would become a CEO. But I never envisioned the opportunities I've had for the last 20 years, and certainly my wife and I have exceeded our expectations and how we've been blessed in our lives, but it certainly we're very fortunate, but we've worked very hard as well.

Joel Goldberg 4:55

All right, let's talk about the football days, because its, I have always found, for better or worse, that the position of kicker is, I think, more unique than any position in any sport. And I look, there's no evidence. It's subjective, right? But the reason why I say I'm trying to think of other sports where there's a where there's a comparable, you know, like a hockey goalie or a soccer goalie, but they're in on almost every single play, and so they aren't on an island, like a kicker is right? I mean, it is like, either you do it or you don't, but maybe, you know that maybe the only closest I could get to it is maybe a closer in baseball where you come in and do your job, that's what you were supposed to do. We love you, and if you don't, boy, go find somebody else. We don't like you. I'm talking about from a standpoint of fans, and it stands out, right? They either want to talk to you or they don't want anything to do with you. But I, a kicker is it's just so unique. How, how do you view that position?

Stu Crum 6:04

No, I, and I do agree it's unique. I would say I'll go back to my early age, you know, as I think most of us never starred as kickers. You know, my dream I was a defensive back, but at five, seven 165 pounds, I knew I had a very limited career beyond that. Just, just pure size, right? Genetics was not in my favor. Now, genetics was in my favor, and the fact that I had a very strong leg, but when, when I think about the days I was in college, in the very short time I was in the pros, you know, even going to meetings, you know, they're talking they're talking game film, they're watching a lot of things you really, don't really fit into that conversation. When you're talking about going to the weight room and preseason workouts. We do work out, but our workouts are very you know, we're not trying to put bulk on, you know, I'm trying to be flexible and and I did put bulk on back when I was playing, just because I thought the girls would think I was better looking. But, but it wasn't for football, by the way, it definitely wasn't for football. So you know, our whole, our whole workout schedule and and and participation with the team is, is even limited during during football season. But I will tell you, and, and there's a love hate relationship. There's a love hate relationship. Love hate meaning they love me when I make it and they don't love me when I, when I when I don't make it, right? So you know, we're pretty expendable. If we don't, we don't put three or four a row constantly in you see a lot of teams go through three or four kickers in a year. You don't see a lot of teams going to three or four quarterbacks. You definitely don't see a team going through two or three offense alignment, you know, tackles, guards, etc, etc. So it's, it's very unique, very pressure filled and and not for the person that can't handle stress, that's for sure.

Joel Goldberg 7:43

I I covered a lot of NFL in my early years, Packers, and then St. Louis Rams, before, well after St. Louis Cardinals, football, Cardinal., I think, I think you've got St Louis background. If...

Stu Crum 7:58

Correct. I grew up in St Louis, yep.

Joel Goldberg 7:59

No. And I said the young, the youngest of generations now, maybe Gen Z and younger. Say, wait, St. Louis Rams, what's that? And so there is no football, but I was there for the glory years, the greatest show on turf. First Dick Vermeil, then Mike Martz, I covered their, both of their Super Bowls. I mean, I covered the debut of Kurt Warner.

Stu Crum 8:20

Wow.

Joel Goldberg 8:20

Well, you, you know, those were magical stories, but they also they had some very reliable kickers. I remember a guy named Jeff Wilkins and and just seeing, you know, the way he would go about his business. He was kind of off on his own, but he seemed to rise to the occasion. He seemed to be able to handle the pressure. And as long as they, as long as he did that, everybody left them alone, right? And just, just go and do your job. I'm curious about and I don't know what a guy like Jeff Wilkins is doing. It's amazing the things that you remember. I think he was young, Youngstown State. You live with these guys every single day. I don't know what a guy like that is doing nowadays, but I have wondered. People that were in that type of pressure situation, how that translates afterwards to the real world? What lessons did you learn from the pressure of being a kicker?

Stu Crum 9:10

Yeah, well, I think the greatest lesson you learn is, is you learn failure, right? I mean, any successful person fails. Now, there's a few people on earth that never admit failure, but the fact that matter is, is we all, we all have our ups and downs and and I think my greatest lesson, I mean, if you're a great kicker and you make 28 out of 30 field goals, that's a that's that's a good, good year, right? But you've missed two field goals, and lot of people remember those two misses in particular. They're important misses. And so I think you you learn to have a very short memory, a very, very short memory, and you learn to put things behind you, and they become less important and and if you can learn to do that, I tell you, as an executive, there's a lot of stress. There's just an amazing amount of stress. And if I woke up every day and looked at my yesterday's performance, and it wasn't very good. You know, I might be losing my mind, but I always know there's a tomorrow, and I always know that that the mistake that I make might have made to miss that last field goals. And sometimes it's mistakes, sometimes it's the foot, sometimes it's the planting. There's a lot of lot of reasons why we miss field goals, sometimes the snap and hold, but you learn from those, and you learn try not to make that mistake the second time, also, right? So listen, when I wrote a book called Aim For The Uprights, it became a metaphor for my life. Aiming for the uprights became a metaphor for my life. And we can talk about that a little bit. So football, even though I ended my career 25 years old, you know, a lot of people ended 35 much of how I became a leader and much of the person I am today started really through those early days in football.

Joel Goldberg 10:50

Yeah, and you can, you can never replace that background, right? I mean, it's, it's a part of you for forever, the lessons learned it. That's where I think that a little bit of that role is like the relief pitcher, whether it be the closer or whether it be whatever that role is. And really it's true for everyone now. And I think that that we're living in a day and age now where young athletes coming up, and executives too are being taught about the importance of the moment, about being present, about forgetting about yesterday, about not worrying yet about tomorrow, that that shouldn't be anything new. I think it's probably harder nowadays because of the distractions, because the cell phone, because the social media. But I'm telling you, like all these kids that are coming up now, and I know this isn't just a baseball thing, I'm just in that baseball bubble. Are so much more well versed on how to handle those moments, but they almost have to be, because they have so many more distractions and there be, you know, the mental health and everything that is going on, it's not an easy thing to focus on. Now, I've said this on this podcast before. I'll keep repeating it, because I think it's beneficial for everyone listening. Our current manager for the Royals is very cerebral, very, very, very structured, very mellow. Has no interest in what happened yesterday. He walks around with a T shirt on most days that has the word today on it, and says that just because you went four for four yesterday has nothing to do with what you're doing today, or 0 for four yesterday. Now, to your point, there might be things that you need to work on, right? But the opposition could care less whether you've won eight games in a row or lost eight games in a row. They're trying to beat you, and that's it. How long did it take you to I don't know if we ever master it either. How long did it take you to embrace that mindset? Because I do believe it's a matter of survival for a kicker to have that type of mindset that you're not going to make it very long.

Stu Crum 12:45

Yeah, it certainly wasn't by high school. You know, I want to say it probably, I can actually probably point to a time, you know, I think about my sophomore year in college, I kicked a 50 yard field goal to beat Kansas State nine to six, and it was three field goals that beats them. The next season, I was playing a second game this season, playing against University of Arkansas, and I missed a 47 yarder to tie the game with about a minute and a half left in the game. And and so I can point to those two times where the 50 yarder win the game. People jump upon me. I it was the best thing in the world, the 47 yard the first time I've actually, missed a field goal to actually either lose or miss a tie of a game, right? But it was, I can point to that time my life when I realized for about 24 hours I didn't want to come my dorm room. You know, it's back when athletes lived in dorm rooms, right? I didn't want to come my dorm room. And I had a bunch of guys that said, Stu listen. There's tomorrow, and we end up having a great season by way of being All American that year. And I think I made, I don't know, I think I made 19 of my next 20 field goals. So it just, it came a point where you I had mentally put yesterday behind me and always look for today and tomorrow and and up until that point, I don't think I mastered that. So I was 21 years old at the time, and it was, it was really through the caring relationship I had with friends that helped me get there, because I was a mental midget for about 24 to 36 hours after that game, and I remember specifically not wanting to come outside and do a lot of things, and then it all snapped in and said, Stu life's a lot bigger than this. Get over yourself.

Joel Goldberg 14:19

It's a hard lesson to learn, and just because you learn, it doesn't mean that you always have it. It still could get away from you at times. Look, I don't care whether you are kicking or trying to kick a game winning field goal in the NFL or in college football on the big stage like you did, or whether you're making a presentation, whether you're a high school kid with a with a with a big assignment, or an actor on stage or or a TV broadcaster like me, which, for me, I don't, you know, I've done it for so long, I don't even it's, it's second nature, but we all have those big moments where it just doesn't go our way, and you want to go hide, and eventually it passes.

Stu Crum 15:00

It does it just even the worst of them, right?

Joel Goldberg 15:02

I mean, if you think about some of the biggest gaffes, and thankfully, I don't deal in crisis management and all that, but think about celebrities, or think about things they've done and get in trouble, the the Will Smiths of the world, I don't know we can name on and on and on. Eventually, life goes on for everybody else. It does. It's hard to master that. So, so let's talk about that thought from business, and then we'll talk about the business journey too. I, I've always believed that sports are so relatable to business, and whether you played them at the highest of levels, and you did, whether you talk about them at, you know, the highest of levels, like I do, I don't know if I talk about it at a high level, but the stuff I'm talking about is high level. But you know, those lessons in sports, those lessons in managing failure, to me, are so perfect for business and so perfect for life. When did you start to realize, I mean, you wrote a book about it too, at faith in there, there as well. When did you start to tie it all together?

Stu Crum 16:00

Probably, actually, early in my career, and, and, and I used a word a lot in my book, and, and I use it all the time in business: Intentional. It was when I started becoming intentional about everything I did in life. You know, intention just means being purposeful, right? I mean, let's kind of put it in I realized, and I say 25 because that's when I got married, and at 25 and I've been married now, I think it's our 39th I don't think I know it's our 39th wedding anniversary this year.

Joel Goldberg 16:33

Congratulations.

Stu Crum 16:34

Yeah, thank you. And and in our marriage, we were very intentional about the things that we did when we raised children, we became extremely intentional about the ways we raised our children, right? I actually stopped playing golf for 25 years because I knew that I worked really hard during the weeks, on the weekends, I couldn't play golf because I would never see my kids, you know. So I was intentional about that. In business, I've been very intentional about how I lead my team and and the things I do, and the purpose and distractions I try to take away, and the grit that I have in doing that. So I would say very I was, I was young enough and that I realized that 25 years old, I've got to be very intentional if I'm be successful about everything I do. And by the way, it wasn't just business. I think that's where, that's where the penny dropped for me. That's where the aha moment came for me, is if I want to be successful in my life, and we can define success by a whole lot of different ways, right? But it Success for me was great marriage, great kids, good career and and it all started with being intentional in everything I did.

Joel Goldberg 17:44

Yeah, that sums it up right there. I love all of that. So you get out of the football world. Let's talk about how, how football ended first, yeah, we went into the quote, unquote, real world, yeah.

Stu Crum 17:56

Let's talk about the Kansas City story. So quick story. Drafted by the New York Jets, 1983 day before training camp starts the US. And by the way, I was a 12th run draft choice that there's not 12 rounds anymore, right? There's only seven, but back then they had 12 rounds. So I obviously, you know, wasn't picked the first 11 rounds. So I wasn't worth that much. Minimum salary in the NFL was $40,000. Jets offered me $40,000 and a $5,000 signing bonus. The United States Football League, you probably remember United States Football League, came around. Donald, Donald Trump owned team, right? I mean, came r'and it was a legit league. I mean, about 40% of the NFL Draft choices out of 23 jumped to

Joel Goldberg 17:56

Doug Rudy, Herschel Walker.

Stu Crum 17:59

Oh and, uh, Jim Kelly. Doug Williams was our quarterback. Won a Super Bowl with Washington Redskins, right? I mean, you can go on and on, great players in this league. But they offered me $80,000 and a $12,000 signing bonus. And I was poor, and I was engaged, and it was a lot of money, so I jumped. So let's fast forward. Played for season the USFL. Didn't want to play in USFL anymore for some personal reasons, which we won't get into. I was thought I was releasing the outlaws. I was then traded from a 12th round draft choice to a 10th round draft choice in 1984 to the Kansas City Chiefs. And the reason why I was is Nick Lowry, who was an all pro kicker, if you remember, Nick had ankle surgery, and so I was brought in to be that kicker for four games. Just for four games. I knew that. They brought about 10 kickers in. I was unconscious when I was when I came for my trial, I didn't miss anything. They signed me. I'm now two weeks before the regular season starts, and I get a call from the USFL by a guy named Marv Levy. You remember that name was fired two years earlier by the Chiefs. He was now the head coach Chicago Blitz at the USFL. He said, Stu I had picked you up in waivers. I just never told you I'd picked you up in waivers. I see that you've signed with the Chiefs, but you can't play with them because you're owned by the Chicago Blitz. And then also, the League's gotten into literally legal disputes over this, you know. Now, 10th round pick, Stu Crumb, a week later in the you know. Now it's two, probably a week and a half 'til the first game. I'm released from the Chiefs because I'm owned by the USFL. Now, let's fast forward. There, I have to sit out six months. I go to the Chicago Blitz. They fold. They actually fold. Their owner was a guy named Eddie Einhorn. You know that name, he owned the Chicago White Sox. He owned Chicago White Sox, right? He also owned the Chicago Blitz. I ended up, so I went an entire 18 months without kicking a football. So horrible story, ended up suing the Blitz, and I end up making like $12,000. Wasn't worth anything. And then I went back. So now the Jets own my rights again, because that trade was void. I go back in 1985 to the New York Jets, Pat Leahy's our kicker. He was the kicker two years earlier, but he had a horrible season. I should have never left. Go back, my, that was my third year as a pro. Only kicking one season, and only in the US, so I never kicked a football in the NFL. And I got cut in training camp. So Wow. What a story. But true story. It's a sad story. It's a great story now. It was a very devastating story back, you know, 40 years ago.

Joel Goldberg 21:09

But as a young kid, that's hard to process, that you're chasing a dream at that point, that very few people have the opportunity, and suddenly things are out of your hand. I'm curious how long it took you to come to peace with that.

Stu Crum 21:26

I didn't come to peace with it as quick as I should have, I would say, probably not until so I was cut in 1985 I probably came to peace with it in 1988. My first three years after being cut, I couldn't watch the NFL because I knew I was as good as those players in the field that were kicking. And if you're an athlete, you should think you are as good as them, right? But I knew I was, I mean, you know, statistically, I was as good as in college, I had a strong leg, and so it took me a hard time to come at peace with that part. I was in peace in my life. I want to be clear. It wasn't like I wasn't living my life. It was just I had that desire to play in the NFL, and it was probably three years after I was cut that I finally let that dream go and realize that my rest of my career is going to be around around business.

Joel Goldberg 22:13

So, you did, you jumped into business. I think I don't know. Was Texaco the first stop, or an early stop?

Stu Crum 22:18

It was. Texaco was my first stop, and that was when Texaco was, when Texaco was, you know, the seventh largest company in the world.

Joel Goldberg 22:21

So how'd you get in there? And then that obviously, was the springboard.

Stu Crum 22:27

Yeah, you know, very fortunate. You know, when, when you are an athlete, in particular, in Tulsa, I was an academic, All-American in Tulsa, I was. So as a good student, I was very involved in the community. It's a very small, you know, it's a private university. Most people don't realize that. Matter of fact, we played KU every every year when I was at Tulsa. So we played bigger schools, but we were very small school. And one of our big boosters happened to be a Texaco executive. And so when I got cut by the Jets, and an article comes out in the paper in August, I got cut and says, the article says, Stu Crum: Is There Life After Football? And and I actually, within a week, received about four job offers. One was from Texaco. Went to work for them in a training development program. And, and it was a great career move for me. Got to learn an awful lot, and here I am, 40 some odd years later, doing all kinds of things I never dreamed of.

Joel Goldberg 23:17

Well, and suddenly you're, you are, I think, traveling the world. And we're talking about convenience stores, gas stations, before you know, on and on, Jiffy Lube, Bridgestone. Tell me about about that and the evolution. It's obviously a great world to be in. And when you talked earlier in the podcast about wanting to be a CEO one day. I'm sure you couldn't envision it being there or doing that, but I mean, what a what an incredible journey, right?

Stu Crum 23:47

You know, I was very fortunate, because early on in my career, I had some big opportunities. So at 30, at 34 years old, my wife and I and and two and four year old, moved to New Zealand. And my first two years I ran the North Island. About 120 stores. But two years later, I was running the country. 36 years old, running all of New Zealand for a company called Caltex. It was owned by Chevron Texaco. You know, fast forward another five years after that, I'm running 38 countries in Latin America, half of South America, all Central America, all the Caribbean. That was pretty good. Bahamas, Bermuda. That was a pretty good gig. And, but I got all this operational experience in a lot of different countries, and every country had different laws and, and, and I, you know, got the opportunity to do that. And then Shell bought Texaco, and that's where the story turns. So Shell ends up buying Texaco, and Shell also buys Jiffy Lube. So I have all this operational experience. They buy Jiffy Lube and, and the CEO moves to a new position, resigns, and, and I'm, I'm plugged to be the CEO, President of Jiffy Lube. And that was my first opportunity to run a big company. It was a, you know, two and a half billion dollar company, 2200 franchise stores. Everybody knows Jiffy Lube. And from there, and that was, you know, 16 years ago. I've had, I think, five CEO positions or four CEO positions since then, and, and, but it was all those little jobs, you know, that that worked me, not little jobs, but all those jobs that moved me in to be able and capable of leading a larger organization and have the confidence of the board doing that kind of stuff.

Joel Goldberg 25:19

You know, one of the things that I always feel like for me as a teaching tool, the reason why I love baseball as a teaching tool is more than any other sport. We touched on failure before you you have to be better at managing failure, I believe in baseball, than any other sport, because you know, if you're failing as a hitter, 70% of the time you are one of the best in baseball, which means you better. The typical major leaguers who are the best in the world are managing failure at about 75% of the time. But for me, football, I think because the size of the roster just has more role players than any other sport, and we could take all of the line into there and call them role players because their stats, for the most part, don't show up. Right? I mean, we look at quarterbacks, we look at running backs, we look at receivers, we look at sacks, maybe we look at the kicker stats, right? You're not drafting offensive lineman on your fantasy football team. But my point is, is that there are so many different pieces in play for a football team, and then if you go look at all the other sports too, start looking at the training staff and the video staff and on and on and on. There are more like if, if, if sports fans can get on the inside for a day. And there's so many, you know, documentaries and programs that do a good job of that. Now, the Hard Knocks type of programs that show you what what you saw on the inside, what I get to see on the inside. It's its own company, and we're just talking about one division there. We're not talking about finance upstairs here, right? Human Resources and on and on. How much did that football environment even being a little bit isolated. You know, your meetings were with four or five people, not all of the line, right? You had your punter and your long snapper and your special teams coach, but then everybody comes together for those big meetings. I'm just wondering how that influenced you as you started running bigger companies, seeing all the different aspects of it.

Stu Crum 27:20

Yeah, I tell you unusual. I bet you the story I'm going to tell you is really unusual, but I was required to actually attend offensive line meetings. And the reason I was, and this is in college, not professional, but the reason I was, is our special teams coach. This is back in 19, you know, 78 actually, my first year in college. There wasn't a special teams coach back then, the special teams coach also coached something else. So our special teams coach happened to be the offensive line coach, and so he called me Kiki Touchdown. And so I hung out for four years, literally, with the offensive lineman. I went to their game, their film sessions, I went to all their meetings. And so I had a chance to see how the offensive line work together, right? And I look at their blocking schemes and everything, because I had to sit there. I was bored, but I had to sit there. Well, then at the end of the day, we always had the team meetings. And my coach, you may know his name was a guy named John Cooper, and the reason I know him, John was left Tulsa, became head coach for Ohio State for about 13-14, years. So John went on to a great career after he left Tulsa, you know, and John, I actually watched the way John motivated the team in these team meetings. I will tell you though, the very best coach I've ever seen a team meeting in a session was Lou Holtz. And I know you remember Lou. When I graduated from Tulsa, Lou went from University of Arkansas to University of Minnesota, and one of our coaches went to University of Minnesota. Followed him, and I got to sit and watch one of his sessions when practice was done and I was ready to take the field and battle on after watching Lou Holtz give it just a 10 minute pep talk at the end that inspired me forever, literally. I will tell you honestly that one time watching Lou Holtz for 10 minutes after the University of Minnesota football practice inspired me as a leader. I just came, flew back from Denver, Colorado last night, and I have a new CEO job. I brought my leadership team together. I've only been this position for about eight weeks. I brought my leadership team together for the first time, and we met at the Denver Airport, and, and, and I was that coach. I was motivating that team and getting them to go after the battle and going to battle. And it was fun and, and that is identical to what I used to watch 40-45, years ago, when I was in team meetings as a kicker, right? So believe you me, those things you learn from great, inspirational coaches you can take into your business life.

Joel Goldberg 29:48

Yeah, and now that's so interesting. And now with all all of what you're doing a lot in the world of of car washes and so you and I know you. Just just reading a little bit in our research about the importance of culture, which is something that that I speak about all over the country. And you know that that really became important to me when I when I watched the Kansas City Royals, as the Cinderella small market team, win the World Series in 2015 they didn't have the best talent in the league. They had talent, but what they did have that was as good as anybody's was culture. And that's when I understood that you, you can win without a great culture, but it's really hard, but you can do anything with a great culture, and you don't always have to have the best people be great to have the best people, right? We'd all love to have the talent that the Yankees have, I guess, or let's say, in football, the Chiefs. Chiefs don't keep winning without having the right culture as well. How important is culture to what you're doing, and how do you go about stressing the importance of that culture, especially when we're taking over in a new situation?

Stu Crum 30:54

Yeah, so it's fresh in my mind, because literally, there were three topics we had this week to work through. I locked everybody in a room for two days and and first thing we did was talked about our core values. You know, what are our core values as a company? Second thing we talked about is, what is our mission? What do we want to be we grow up, right? Because without a vision, people perish. So, so we had to define what that mission was. Third thing we talked about is, was our culture. I'm going to give a plug to a company right now, because there's one company in the retail space that stands out to me, Chick-fil-A. Amazing culture, just an absolutely remarkable culture. And I said to my team, I said, Who do you want to be? Who do you guys want to be? It's a company is two and a half years old, but I'm the brand new CEO there and and, you know, we're $100 million company already, even though we're only two and a half years old. And I say, Guys, what is the culture that you want to have be? Do you want to be the Chick-fil-A of the auto and service space business? Or do you want to be the JCPenney? I mean, who do you want to be? And, and I would tell you culture and, and there's a book written about this. Culture eats strategy for breakfast. There's a whole, you know, book written about it. But great companies have great cultures. I will tell you. Why do the New York Yankees not win more than they do? Because I don't know if they've got a great culture, because they always have the highest salary, as do the Mets. You don't see those guys win World Series every year, right? There is a lot to do with culture. With great athletic teams, there's a lot to do with culture, you know, I think of teams that have superstar players and can never get to the championship. You know, you got the best player on the in the league. But why aren't you winning championships? There's a reason why, and it's because sometimes there is no I in team. That's an overused expression, so I'm going to overuse it again, but the best teams I've ever seen, and by the way, the Kansas City Chiefs have an amazing culture. That's a remarkable culture. Reid does a great job in culture with that program. They got superstars. They got the best quarterback in the NFL, probably. But be that as it may, the best quarterbacks the NFL don't always win, because you got to surround yourself with, with 21 of the guys, actually a bunch more of that that want to work together as one team. So culture is, is the ultimate reason why teams win or lose on the field, and businesses win to lose, by the way.

Joel Goldberg 33:15

I completely agree with you, and I would you're talking about that in teams with with great players that never win. And there's that we can come up with a million examples. We just had the Los Angeles Angels in town, and they don't have a lot of talent, and they're, they're one great players out for the year, Mike Trout. But, I mean, they had years of Mike Trout and Albert Pujols and then Mike Trout and Shohei Otani, and made it to the playoffs once. They got swept by us in 2015 and it's like you just squandered away having two generational players. There's something else that's not adding up. That's a whole different discussion. Okay, I want to wind things down with my three baseball theme questions, and then and then four to wrap it up, including a little bit on your book that you referenced earlier. But baseball themed questions, what's the biggest home run that you have hit professionally, whether that be football, whether that be business, you've had a lot of a lot of big moments.

Stu Crum 34:14

Can I give two?

Joel Goldberg 34:15

Sure.

Stu Crum 34:16

Okay, football, beating our arch rivals, Oklahoma State on National TV, with four field goals and being named Chevrolet Player of the Game, ending with a 57 yarder. That's my that's my athletic one. Football. Sport. Business wise, sold, sold my business 18 months ago to Circle K. And we started this thing from nothing, build it to 100 plus million dollar company and it was really fun. It was really, really fun. So those two things for sure.

Joel Goldberg 34:46

Lifetime moments, life changing moments, in in different ways too, which is, which is really awesome. Okay, there are a lot of swings and misses along the way, whether we want to admit to them or not, I always say we learn from those swings and misses. What's a swing and miss? On the journey, and what did you learn from it?

Stu Crum 35:01

Probably the biggest swing and miss. That is, I'm trying to think if I go back to football days or if I go to my personal days. Probably biggest swing and miss, be honest with you, is it was, I was married for only six months. Originally married Miss Teen, Teen USA. Married her for the wrong reasons. She had an affair six months into a marriage, and I learned what marriage is all about. Now I'm married for 39 years, and found the most wonderful, I was looking for the wrong things at the wrong time. And I realized that, and end up paying for it very dearly in a lost marriage. So by far struck out in that one. Yeah, and then hit a home run afterwards, and then absolutely hit a home run afterwards, hit a home run plus some.

Joel Goldberg 35:30

Yeah, anything, any, any big mistake in business that, that you said, All right, that that didn't work, but yeah, that won't happen again.

Stu Crum 35:57

Yeah, extreme one. When I was in New Zealand, had a strategy meeting, and there's only four four competitors in New Zealand. We actually sat around table and said, We don't ever to worry about another competitor coming in. There's only one refinery in the country. There's only enough space for four players. Sure enough, two years later, a company out of Sydney, Australia decided to bring product into New Zealand through a barge, and we had a fifth player. So never say never. There's always, you know, keep your eyes open big, because whenever you think that you're the 800 pound gorilla, there's always another one coming behind you. So a big lesson not Fortunately, I was young in my career, I never made that mistake again.

Joel Goldberg 36:33

Yeah, there's, there, there's always something. I always like, this isn't quite the same. I always like when, you know, teams losing or things are bad, and they say it can't get any worse than this. Actually, it could. So just, just be ready for anything. Last baseball theme question is small ball. It's what I wrote my book on it. To me, it's the little things in baseball. It's the bunch the second. You know baseball. I mean, you told me that your your kid played minor league ball, and so it, to me, it translates to everything. It could translate to the football field. It could translate to business. It's really a culture question, what are the little things behind the scenes that matter to you?

Stu Crum 37:05

You know, I try to have everybody that around me live by the 6Ps: prior proper planning prevents poor performance. Plan, plan, plan, plan for the unexpected, plan for the expected, always be one step ahead of everybody else. So six PS is, is critical to my successes as a leader.

Joel Goldberg 37:23

All right, I love that. Let's wrap it up with four final questions. And begin with the book. You touched on it, Aim For The Uprights: An Intentional Playbook for Success in Faith, Family and Business. And you know, you mentioned the word intentional before, it's right there in the book. You got the uprights. Uprights it, it kind of, I think it encompasses everything in your life. Tell me about the book.

Stu Crum 37:47

Just, just and just for the title, one minute story, 1983 draft. I'm one of the top three kickers in the country. New York Giants coach comes out, puts 10 balls on the 30 yard line and says, I want you to kick. He says, right before I step in to kick it. He says, But wait, I don't want to kick to the goalpost. I want to hit the right upright. I said, Coach, you're nuts. I'm 40 yards out the uprights, 30 feet high. It's three inches diameter, no way. He says, Stu, hit the right upright. First kick, the ball actually hit the right upright. I'm not sure who was more surprised, him or us, or me and my and my staffer and holder. I went on to kick nine more. I missed the nine. But he said, Why do you think I actually do that? I said, Coach, I have no idea. He says, Well, listen, I've learned that kids in college aim for the goalpost, and when they're aimed for the goalpost, they miss right or left of it. They missed the field goal. Well, what we're teaching the NFL is you aim for very, very small in the middle of that goal post, if you miss a little bit to the right or left. He says, You made your three points. He says, You know what? Stu you've been aiming for good. I want you to learn to aim for great. It became a metaphor for my life. Literally, that story changed, that that story with that coach on that day changed my life. My life changed from just Stu don't aim for good in your life. Don't aim for good marriage, don't aim for good your family, don't aim for good in business, aim for great. So that's, that's the name the book. Aim for the upright. Because don't aim for good. Aim for great.

Joel Goldberg 39:02

I want to encourage everybody to get that. We'll have it in the show notes as well, how to find it. Also want to let everybody know For more information about the book, about Stu, everything that he's doing, you can go to stucrum.com that'll be in our show notes, S T U C R U M, stucrum.com. Second question, as we round the basis, let's stick to football for a moment. You mentioned the 57 yarder two parts here. One was that, was that your favorite moment on the football field? And what is the longest you kicked? Whether it be in a game or, I'm guessing, there's probably something even longer in practice.

Stu Crum 39:35

Yeah, a lot longer practice, longest and games, 58 yards long as in practice, 72 yards when, when dated. And I probably, there's probably a few kickers like me, right? You get the wind at your back. There's no, there's no rush. You kick the ball 72 yards by far. I used to have a blast in college. We kicked from four yard line, not from 35 or 30. And so my goal in college was to kick every kickoff to the goal post, right? That's what I aim for. I was aiming to kick to the goal post. So loved it. That's that. And that, by far, that 50, the 50-70 yarder was more 58 yard was against Southern Illinois University, not a big game. We won, I think we beat 'em by 40, where the 57 yarder was in a huge game on national TV, against Oklahoma State, our in town rivals, and and, and we beat him.

Joel Goldberg 40:20

Yeah, and probably the underdog, or at least the smaller school.

Stu Crum 40:24

By far underdog. By far underdog, yes.

Joel Goldberg 40:26

Like hoisting you up in the air. I don't know if that all happened, but you know, every now and then, the kickers do get some respect.

Stu Crum 40:31

I've been hoisted before.

Joel Goldberg 40:32

All right, that's good. That's a unique experience. Third question, as we round the bases, you talked about living over in New Zealand, what was your favorite part of of living over there? I've never been. It's on the bucket list, for sure. But I've never heard a bad thing.

Stu Crum 40:46

Put it on your bucket list. We lived in Auckland and Wellington. You know, I, my first job was Auckland. I was just like North Island. Wellington is also North Island, one of the most beautiful countries in the world. There's two islands north and south. South has the Southern Alps, and that's where all those movies were made that, you know, all the fjords and beautiful, beautiful mountains. North Island is very, almost tropical, right? So it's just such a different type of environment. What I love, you know, I love, my favorite part of North Island was place called the Bay of Islands, 120 islands off of the end of the north of the tip at the top of the island. And we loved lived there for four years, loved living in New Zealand, and could live there full time if I didn't have four grandchildren living in Houston, Texas.

Joel Goldberg 41:30

Yeah, that makes it all the more better. Exactly where you're at, the grandkids. We're not quite there yet, but I I'm getting, I'm getting those vibes, not from my kids yet, but just having so many of my friends with grandkids now too. Just, you know, be around spoiled and have fun.

Stu Crum 41:49

Nothing better. Nothing better.

Joel Goldberg 41:51

Alright, last question to walk off, you've done it all. I don't know if you could ever do it all. Is there anything left on the to do list for you?

Stu Crum 41:57

There is. There is a left. You know, living intentional life means that you never stop living right? I'm not sure if I work forever, but I'll be living intentionally forever and right now, if at my walk off is is being the greatest and the most intentional grandfather that I can be, that is my focus right now, I've got this precious 1, 3, 4, and five year olds that I adore, and I've got great kids that are raising great kids, but I need to be a great grandfather to them. So that's my focus. I've also running a business right now that I probably need to focus on a little bit, which I am as well, but the grandkids are by far my intentionality right now.

Joel Goldberg 42:36

There's nothing better, for sure, family and living that intentionally. I want to again, encourage everybody to check out the website, stucrum.com. S T U C R U M.com. We'll have it in the show notes. The book, Aim For The Uprights: An Intentional Playbook for Success in Faith, Family and Business. This was really fun, really insightful. Stu I appreciate you spending time on Rounding the Bases.

Stu Crum 42:57

Joel, it's been my pleasure and go Royals. I love the Royals, so let's, let's let's just bring this one home.

Joel Goldberg 43:03

I don't mind that.