LeaderImpact Podcast

Ep. 15 - Ryan Walter - Staying Hungry in Uncertain Times

July 20, 2022 LeaderImpact Episode 15
LeaderImpact Podcast
Ep. 15 - Ryan Walter - Staying Hungry in Uncertain Times
Show Notes Transcript

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How to stay hungry in uncertain times 

Ryan played and coached more than 1100 games over 17 seasons in the National Hockey League. His many achievements include being drafted #2 in the NHL draft, becoming the youngest NHL captain, and winning a Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens. He is a BC Hockey Hall of Fame inductee and NHL Man of the Year.

Ryan has been the founding partner in 2 start-up companies, a TV hockey analyst, hockey expert and actor, board and electronic game creator, and the President of a professional hockey team. Ryan has a Master’s Degree in Leadership/Business, he is the recipient of the TEC Canada 2015 Speaker of the Year Award.  And He is the author of 5 books, including his newest book, “Hungry, Fueling Your Best Game”.

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LeaderImpact Podcast Ep. 15 Ryan Walter - Staying Hungry in Uncertain Times

Lisa Peters
Welcome to the LeaderImpact podcast. We are a community of leaders with a network in over 350 cities around the world dedicated to optimizing our personal, professional, and spiritual lives to have impact. This show is where we have a chance to listen and engage with leaders who are living this out. We love talking with leaders, so if you have any questions comments, or suggestions to make the show even better please let us know. The best way to stay connected in Canada is through our newsletter at leaderimpact.ca or on social media @LeaderImpact. And if you're listening from outside of Canada check out our website at leaderimpact.com.

I'm your host Lisa Peters and our guest today is Ryan Walter. Ryan played and coached more than 1100 games over 17 seasons in the NHL. His many achievements include being drafted number 2 in the NHL draft becoming the youngest NHL captain and winning a Stanley Cup at the Montreal Canadiens. He is a BC Hockey Hall of Fame inductee and an NHL man of the year. Ryan has been the founding partner in two startup companies. He is a TV hockey analyst, hockey expert, actor, board and electronic game creator, and the president of a professional hockey team. Ryan has a master's degree in leadership business. He is the recipient of the Tech Canada 2015 speaker of the year award and he is the author of five books including his newest book, Hungry: Fueling Your Best Game. Join us now for a conversation with Ryan as we chat about how we can stay hungry in uncertain times. As well, he will also share the impact his relationship with God has had on his life and success.

Welcome to the show Ryan!

Ryan Walter
Yeah, thanks Lisa great to be here.

Lisa Peters
It is so nice to finally…we've had some connection issues but is glad to be here. First off, number one, I am the coolest hockey mom in my community because your name's like gold. So it's like wow. And number 2 the whole Montreal Canadiens, my neighbour at the lake was Doug Wickenheiser.

Ryan Walter
Oh, that's cool. That's cool. Yeah, I played with Doug actually. When I was first traded to Montreal, Doug was our centerman and I played between Doug, and the other winger pretty impressive. It was Guy Lafleur. So that's a pretty fun line.

Lisa Peters
Wow yeah, that is amazing. And I was looking back because you actually came to my city with LeaderImpact as a speaker in 2014. And I can't find the picture of us, but I remember putting on the ring. Yeah, it's kind of a highlight.

Ryan Walter
Thank you. Well, it's fun to pass that Stanley Cup ring around. I'm not a ring guy I don't really wear it much but whenever I speak I just hand it out.

Lisa Peters
Yeah, and well I think there were a lot of men there and I think they love it. So thank you for doing that. So, I want to thank you for sharing your book in advance with me, Hungry: Fueling Your Best Game. My thing though, I get caught up in it, right? I get caught up in doing the work. It's like no I'm supposed to interview Ryan. So we're going to kick off. But first, people love hearing a little bit more about you. So tell us a little bit more about yourself and your rise to being a hockey hall of famer.

Ryan Walter
Thank you for the question. I think it…I always say to people I'm a kid from Burnaby, British Columbia. I really shouldn't have played in the NHL. Anybody in Vancouver or Burnaby knows that there's no outdoor ice right? It just rains in Burnaby, British Columbia, so there wasn't the…if I was a kid on the prairies and I lived on the ice it would make a lot more sense. So I just loved the game of hockey. I moved forward I played junior hockey at 15 years old in Langley. And then up to the Western Hockey League in Kamloops and was drafted out of Seattle to the Washington Capitals. So I loved my time in Wash. Was traded to the Montreal Canadiens where I spent 9 seasons and Jenny and I had 4 of our 5 kids there. And we got to 2 Cup finals losing to Calgary and ‘89 and winning in 1986. So that was pretty cool.

Coming out of the NHL, I ended up being in Vancouver for a bit at the end of my career and then did some broadcasting. But have really been fixated and, I would say, Lisa, curious about leadership. And that's really driven my life. Certainly in that context and I know you and I are going to talk about it. I had a real spiritual, l sort of a faith awakening, and that was something that really drove a lot of my leadership curiosity also.

Lisa Peters
All right. Well, we'll get to that faith awakening. But I laugh at you saying there were no outdoor rinks in Burnaby. It was always raining. Because we have, I mean in Saskatchewan, just down the highway, Mark McMorris, right? Snowboarder who, we have no mountains and here he is number one in the world or top in the world. Our kids are always on the ice all winter, all summer, all whatever.

So we will get into your book a little bit. This is your fifth book and it's called Hungry: Fueling Your Best Game. And I think, maybe, a lot of people have lost their passion, or maybe they're way in the last two years. And I don't know if it's they're trying to find their way back. They're trying to find their way out. They've left. But we continue to see a high amount of leaders exiting and maybe they just want a different way of life. Maybe they've lost their hunger. I don't know. So I'm excited to hear about hunger and staying hungry during these times. But my first question is why the name hungry?

Ryan Walter
I love the question. I don't know. I finally had to write about it like the differentiation between having skill. And skill is important. You cannot play at the highest level of hockey or anywhere in the world without skill. But what I found is that the differentiation wasn't skill. It was the players that were hungry. The player that…a simple example, you watch every day with your kids. The puck goes in the corner and two players go in to get it and who comes out with the puck? It's the person that's hungry. You find a way to do those things.

So I finally had to write about it. Jenny and I sort of wanted to build a little bit of a model around the elements of hungry. And I want to put on the table I don't think we've got this thing surrounded. I think there's much more when you talk about the hungry spirit and you talk about staying hungry, staying focused, having a vision. Like all of those pieces are powerful but I think it's not just one. I don't think I can point to 1onething and say okay, this person is hungry because they had great vision. Or this person is hungry because they stayed focused. So it's a powerful thought. I love the word. And it's a word I want to live. I think I have been hungry. I think I am hungry. And I want to stay hungry because I think it brings out the best in our life.

Lisa Peters
Yeah, and it's funny because when I read your book, your language is different than other leadership books I've read. And it was refreshing just to maybe…I took a different take on it. I read it differently and yeah to stay hungry. I'm a basketball player. I've been hungry. I've been in the corner or taken a broken nose or whatever. But yeah so I get it. So how do we lose our hunger? Before we get into how to stay hungry in uncertain times. But how do we lose it? What happens?

Ryan Walter
(Long sigh) It's interesting. We're doing a lot of work right now with corporate America and church America around language. And just to borrow from our Lord, language counts. And words count and the power of word. I mean in John chapter one, if you want to go there, I think that the concept of language has a big impact on some people's hungry spirit. So at times, I think we receive criticism from people and maybe long term and you can see sort of a hungry spirit sort of drain out of people. But I also think it's more important, and this is maybe my number one, is the language that we tell ourselves. And I think that's what makes people unhungry. Like I could never do that. And I really don't have a purpose. And this Covid thing is too long. And I can't believe there's a war in Ukraine.

Like there are the words that we say to ourselves just have such an impact and I had to put in Philippians 4:8 right into the book because when Paul says to use these words. So look for what's beautiful, and honoring, and awesome, and all these keywords. And at the end, he says to think on these things. So I think that the words that we say to ourselves and the words that we say to the people in our community and our teams and our families have a huge impact on hungry.

Lisa Peters
Wow! So when you say that it reminds me I just started the book As a Man Thinketh by James Allen. Written in 1903. It's mind-blowing and it's exactly…it's the words I'm telling myself are my thoughts and those thoughts become my consequences. Amazing.

Ryan Walter
Well good and I just jump in because James Allen is one of my favourite people in life. I know he's way before me. I never met him. But I've read all this stuff. And he was just way ahead of his time.

Lisa Peters
I can't wait to finish the book. And it's a short book I should be done soon! Well, we're gonna get into how to stay hungry in uncertain times I'm excited to hear man because we've been in two and a half years of uncertainty.

Ryan Walter
Yeah, we really have. I think one of the things we're talking to leaders about across North America during these times is…and this sounds, your mom and dad have probably told you this my mom and dad have told me this I probably didn't listen to them, but it sounds so fundamental and so foundational. But I think that's where we have to start. We have to first go to the foundation of what makes us hungry.

And I think the thing that we love about hungry is it's not there's no cookie cutter. It's like okay here's the 3 things to do and everybody will be hungry. We're all so different and so getting into personal values is a really important thing. I know there are cultural values. I know there are community values. Probably a little bit of world values. But to really understand personal values is powerful. We have a little assessment that we buy and it kicks out our top seven values. And it won't surprise you probably Lisa that my top value is probably should be aggressive right? 'm a hockey player. My top value of the top 7 that it kicked out was much more on the line of creativity.

Lisa Peters
Wow!

Ryan Walter
So for example, if I want to stay on the hungry edge of my life, I need to know that I'm not a 9 to 5 guy. I'm probably working at seven o'clock at night but I need a creative edge. I need a break. I need to read 40 books. I need… I'm a very different person than maybe somebody that has way more detail. And God builds us so differently that we want to honour each other's opportunity to stay hungry and to be hungry. So that would be my first foundational piece.

The second is just finding truth. I mean we're going to get into spiritual here in a minute but I got to tell you, in today's world I think that we get disappointed because we're not sure what truth is. This cable station says this and that news station says that. And it's almost like they're lying to each other. Where are the truths in what we're taking in? I think people get so disappointed.

The average person in North America right now is so fed up with stuff that's out there from maybe one or two percent of our population and we're trying to figure out what is truth. Here's what's really helped me, and you know this, this is you too, is that the scriptures, the Bible has so much helped me to get a foundation of truth so that I can be hungry towards that truth. And that's been powerful for me because that gives me my vision. That gives me my direction. And in essence, gives me the purpose that I need to stay hungry.

Lisa Peters
I'm going to go back to what you talked about values. And I've done too many, and I'm sure everyone listening has done those here's 50 values pick yours. And that's really great but you talked about it spit out, it kicked out your values. So it must have asked you, this program, you did, it asked you questions. Can you tell us what that was?

Ryan Walter
Yeah, for sure. Like one thing we love about the, and I don't have it in my brain exactly what the name of that assessment was, but I can get it for everybody. But what it did is it asked you a series of questions and then it kept refining down instead of having to look at all 50. It refined the values down into our top seven. That was a powerful revelation for me. What I'm coming to understand as a leadership development coach and trainer, most people don't know their top 7 values. We go, oh yeah, well integrity. Then we go okay, but dad's got integrity. Mom's got integrity. What is integrity?

And so I think to be able to really understand the way that God made us, and the values that we hold important…My wife Jen had a brilliant thought she said, Ryan, I'm starting to figure it out. When I'm not quite sure of what decision to make, I go back to my values. That's a cool thought in a very uncertain world.

Lisa Peters
Yeah. In an interview prior, they talked about filters. Take it through their faith filters, or she called it something else. I can't remember. But yeah, because I think too many times…I know as you said integrity, I'm like yeah, that's mine. But I have not done an assessment. I just picked them because I believed. So I love listening that there's some, there's a different assessment out there.

So to continue on with how I'm going to stay hungry in these uncertain times because I mean I need purpose. I need values.

Ryan Walter
Yeah, and as we talk about in the book, I mean vision is such an important piece isn't it? People that sit on a couch don't need to be hungry. Like if we're not going anywhere…it's good enough. Today is good enough.

And I think that's something that's really hit me. Through professional sport, through business but also through family and through relationships. Because I think family and relationships are way harder than winning Stanley Cups and all the rest. So what's the vision for the relationship? I often say to people, we have a little mindset model that we use, and we like to talk about future positive thinking. And I often say to people, write down your future positives. What do you want in this relationship? And what kind of friendship do you want with your kids? And what holidays do you want to take with your spouse? And just keep writing because when we start to journal when we put our thoughts on paper around what we want or the vision that we have for life in multiple areas, you get pretty excited about it, and then it's easy to be hungry. But if I'm just sort of sitting and going, Well…I guess I'll die one day.

I think that that's one of the things that the world seems to lately have sort of impacted many people around. Oh, this Covid thing is sucking the energy out of me. Okay, well, that's an option, but what do you want? Get your eye on that next step. How can you move through it? So vision is a powerful part of being hungry. We want to move towards.

Lisa Peters
Yeah, I felt when Covid hit, I sort of, I did step back. And I don't think I laid on my couch but I just stepped back and I felt I needed a break. And I think a lot of people may be just welcomed it. But we need to get hungry again. We need to go, What's the vision for the future? We need to get back on the horse!

Ryan Walter
Y
eah, and it's interesting you say that because with a lot of our clients, we did training, leadership development training over Zoom for 2 years. And now all of a sudden in the last month Jen and We weren't even home in March because clients want to have in-person training. And you watch people get together, some companies for the first time in 2 years. And I keep saying to the group, You don't even need me. Just shake hands and bump elbows and enjoy each other. Big smiles on faces. So I think you're right. We need connection and that would be from a relational point of view something that helps us stay hungry too.

Lisa Peters
Yeah. Well, continue on. I've read your book and I've so many…there's so many good things about just moving forward and moving out of this. So what else you got?!

Ryan Walter
Well, even since the book I've been thinking a lot, and our next book will, not to get… I want to stay in the book Hungry but just to add to it, our next book's going to be called Breakout. And it's really about the 6 mindsets that run our mind, that run our business, that run our relationships, that run everything. The reason I bring up mindset is, and we talk about it a little bit in Hungry, is that a guy by the name of Aristotle. So there's an old guy. He said thoughts cause action. And I thought to myself, It's so simple and it's so true that the idea that our thinking is so powerful and especially in these days. So we're really challenging people, in order to stay hungry, is to exchange a couple of words. And this is simple stuff. Be more intentional with our thinking and less reactional with our thinking. But the only way we can do that is to have language around what we're thinking and that's what our model delivers. It gives 6 new pieces of language so we can sort of separate our thinking. I'll give you an example I mean future positive thinking, that makes sense right? That's the vision. That's where we're going to create our solutions. Those are the goals of our life. So that's an easy one.

But future, past negative thinking, the opposite, is a deep dark hole. And so to recognize, and I think one of the keywords to leadership in 2022 is this idea of awareness. If we as leaders are not aware of what we're thinking or how much time we spend in a certain area of our thinking, then we'll have no success in actually shifting our mindset. And so that has been another really key component to staying hungry, is to focus in on what are the things that I think about and then there's actually there's a great scientist that has suggested that 95% of the thoughts we had yesterday were going to have today. We don't change a lot. So here's the big question, if that is true, who's in charge of the inputs? And how can we as leaders stay intentional around the inputs that are creating the outputs on an automatic basis? And that's a powerful way to stay hungry is to be intentional.

Lisa Peters
Intentional keeps popping up for me. And I mean in every interview and every conversation, intentional just keeps…I'm like what are you trying to say? (Laughing)

Ryan Walter
That's cool. Yeah, and I'll give you Lisa, I'll give you from a leadership perspective, people always say okay, how do you define leadership? People love to have those conversations. And I like them. Jenny and I have had to think about it for…we've been training corporate America for 25 years. And for me John Maxwell says that leadership is influence. And he's right. If you could only have one word, he's right. If you'll give me 2 words here's what I think leadership is in 2022, intentional influence.  We are so busy and so distracted. Pick up one of these right? (He picks up his cell phone) We have so many other options as leaders now. If we're going to focus on the upside of people and the best in others we have to be intentional. Because it's easy to be distracted.

Lisa Peters
Y
eah. It is easy. And as you picked up your phone and I think, and some people have two phones. We got how many computers and IPads. And we have everything to keep us distracted. That's interesting.

So we'll move on I but I just want to say I loved your book. I love the words you used. You use words I love like rebounding and deflecting and it was really good.  And I think the best part was, in your book, you allow us to stop and reflect and write your own answers. And so what my suggestion to anyone listening is to share it with someone. Don't do this book alone. Do this book with someone who knows you because whatever you think someone else can see it on the outside. See you a different way.

Ryan Walter
Well, thank you for that. I just jump in when you said deflecting. Just share a quick little hockey story I mean obviously the lingo, the language comes from sport. And deflection's such a cool idea because we deflect a puck and it goes in the net or something like that when we're on the game when we're on the ice. But what Jenn and I really listen in now, like there's no judgment, I'm not judging anybody. But my ear picks stuff up so in the deflection opportunity, and this is what we talked about in Hungry, do we deflect a credit towards ourselves or do we deflect when we receive glory or credit or whatever towards others and our team?

And I keep thinking there's a powerful verse in Matthew 6:1 and this is the worst verse for an NHL player because it says in essence it says this if you receive applause from men or men and women, then you will not receive applause from God. Think about it, why do pro athletes play? To score goals. So God's not saying that. But basically what I'm hearing him say is we want to give him the glory and we want to deflect our lives to something much more meaningful. And what I found is the more we give away the hungrier we stay.

Lisa Peters
That's great. And I'm glad you came back to what deflecting was and that's a great story. And I love how you just pull stuff out of the Bible. That's not a strength of mine and I love people that…so I love that you can do that. I wish I did more of that. Which this kind of ties into, just slipping right into the spiritual side, and I know in our pre-meeting of this podcast, you mentioned that when you were a hockey player, the conversation was all about you. And you just said the applause, right? The conversations about Ryan Walter and the ring! And for you now, it's not that way for you anymore. And can you give us a little insight into your spiritual journey and what has been the impact your relationship with God has been on your life and your success?

Ryan Walter
Yeah, thank you. It's interesting. Just to start, that's so true. I think that we are people who have ego we have, and ego can be good and bad. We have sort of that self. Some people call it confidence or some people call it self-image. So we were God-built as that way. I mean in the beginning, people can go to Genesis and see that God we were built to walk with him. And that was supposed to be the way it is. And then we were tempted and we as humanity fell and we sort of walked away from God. And so if we're going to walk away from God, then we're not going to give him any credit.

And I think for a big chunk of my life I didn't get that. I thought that if basically that Christianity was if you're a good person God will figure it out. When the plane crashes, you die, God will say, Wow, Ryan you only had so many penalties. You had a few assists. And goodness, you even got a goal or two. So come on in. And wow that bubble was burst in the sort of early ’80s when a good friend of mine Jean Pronovost…I'd come off, we came off, he was on our team, and we came off a bit of a tough plane ride. It felt like the plane might go down. It didn't. And I came off the plane, it's funny how God gets our attention, I came off the plane going. Ok, do goals and assists, do they work? How can I know? I can't know if I'm good enough. And I asked Jean Pronovost and he had a big smile on his face and he just threw me a New Testament and he said I'm not going to tell you, kid. Go read for yourself.

What a great challenge. So I started to read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew, Mark, Luke…I had never read the Bible before. And I came to a place where I had to make a decision on Jesus. That's the one thing I think Lisa, you, and I would recommend to everybody listening, everybody watching, is go do it yourself. Like the scriptures are not, it's not just a book. It is powerful. These are the words of God and the stories of God and the journey of Jesus as God.

So when I finally got to the place where Jesus said, basically this is not put well, but my way or the highway. Jesus doesn't include a whole bunch of other stuff. He just sort of says, No, sort of hate to tell you this Ryan, but I actually came and gave up my life so that you could have life. I died on a cross so that when you receive me, and that's what I did, I asked Jesus to be my saviour. I said sorry Lord I have messed up so bad. Come in. Forgive my sin. Come into my life. Take over my life. Be my only way to the creator. And when I do that Jesus said it's like his blood covers me and when God looks down at Ryan Walter he sees Jesus. That's the only way that I have a chance to get close to a perfect God. So that was such a powerful thought and message for me. And even when I knew that ego right? It took a little while to bend my knee and say okay God, I get it you take over. I'm done.

And what was really fun Lisa, you’ll love this story. That afternoon we were actually in Edmonton. We're going to play the Oilers that night. So I asked Jesus to be my saviour in the afternoon before my pregame sleep. And then got up and played the game. And in the game, Kerry Fraser is the referee. My friend now. Kerry Fraser's become a Christian. And he was refereeing and he messed up on a call. My coach Brian Murray sent me over he said, Give him a piece of your mind. Like that Fraser is awful. I went right over to Kerry Fraser, he knew it was coming. And I said, Excuse me, sir, could you give me your interpretation of that call? He was ready for the F-bombs. And what's crazy is I haven't really sworn since. So, Jesus, it's the one thing he took from me. It's almost a way in the game of hockey to prove that he's real.

Lisa Peters
Totally off. Doug Wickenheiser had a very similar story. Where he was to go to the ref and blast him and they were friends. And Doug skated over to the ref and goes, (Shouting) What are we doing tonight? Are we going for beers or steak? And he's yelling at the ref so it looks…

Ryan Walter
I love it.  (Laughing)

Lisa Peters
I don't know why I have that story but when you told…yeah. I find it funny how, and not funny at all because we know God hints, and then he throws you on a plane that almost goes down. Or he throws like I call it, he throws me a brick because I am not listening. And I think, if you can sort of answer, has it always been prior to you, before the Oilers game accepting God, was there ever those little nudges? And did you ever sort of feel like some things inside like there's a little twinge? There's a little gut feeling. There's…and you just you put it aside until he…?

Ryan Walter
Yeah, totally. For me, in maybe a positive way was my mom and dad didn't necessarily take us to church every Sunday. We tend to be a typical Canadian family where hockey took over a Sunday morning, which is sort of sad right? But the but was on every July, it was the only month we had off in the hockey calendar, we went fishing. And we went up into the middle of British Columbia and we would camp together as a family and fish trout and we just love that. In a way Lisa, I think that's where God got my attention. Looking at the perfection, once you move out of cities and you start getting into creation…I always knew that there was a God, that there was a creator. It wasn't just a big bang, hey where there’s no reason, and we shouldn't be here.

The other thing that's really hit me, and I had to think about this a little bit I didn't understand where God fit into it, but like why do we have laws? And what is a moral code? And why is that right and that wrong? And why shouldn't we murder? And if we're just sort of happened here, if we have no creator, then we have no need for law. We don't need that. Where did that come from? And it comes from the heart of God, doesn't it? And I think that's the other side that I saw was that there is a creator and that this is organized. As flawed as Ukraine and Russia looks right now, that's happened thousands of times in the last 2000 years. And the question people always ask me is why would God allow that to happen? And yet we don't take the time to look at the rest of the organization of this world and it’s God is in it because we have fallen. It's not Him. He doesn't want war. He wants love. But we have fallen and he is powerful even when we fall.

Lisa Peters
Wow. My next question I had was just about honouring your faith in uncertain times. And you sort of answered that because people are asking in these uncertain times or in war or whatever's happening in their life, where is God? And you've answered that.

Ryan Walter
Well and here's maybe even a more of a clear answer. I had a very good friend from Montreal. And he became a Christian back when Jenny and I were in Montreal. We received Jesus. But he really hasn't grown in his faith. And I feel bad about that because that's probably on me, that I could just could have discipled him maybe a little better. But anyway, he's come back. He's sort of turned back to his faith. And we have great conversations and he was really upset at where is God in Ukraine? And come on, like how could he allow Covid? And I said, Well my friend, let's just get to the essence of all of this. If Putin was to receive Jesus right now he would be in heaven when he dies.

And of course, I'm really ratcheting up his anger now because he's upset at this guy. And I said, When you die, what's the one question that God's gonna ask? Is it how good you are how good a lawyer you are? Or how did you treat your kids? All of those things are important. But what one question would Jesus ask? And we know that it's the same for you as it is for Putin as it is for Ryan. The question is what did we do with Jesus? That’s it. Unfortunately, that's our question because Jesus came to die for humanity. He's already paid the price. So did we reject that gift or did we receive that gift? And that's what the rest of our lives will be determined by.

So I think sometimes there's, and I only say this to try to create clarity in a very unclear world right now because we see a lot of stuff out there. But what if we were to die of Covid today? What would God, God’s going to ask us one question. What's our response? And I think that's an important thought. And that really hit me when I came off the plane and sort of thought, Gee, what if that plane goes down?

Lisa Peters
Wow! Thank you Ryan for sharing. I know that you have been involved in LeaderImpact. I saw you speak in 2014 and it was so good. And being part of LeaderImpact has changed my life. Tell us a little bit about your involvement. Are you still speaking, or involved in anything?

Ryan Walter
I love LeaderImpact. I think anytime a leader gets a chance to share some ideas around leadership and then share the foundation of our life, which is Jesus. And so I love that. One of the things that LeaderImpact’s really spurred me along to do, and you guys don't know you did this, but let me fess up, is I now have been studying the four gospels. And I've been studying Jesus and the qualities and the differentiations of his leadership.

So for example, I'm just close. I've gone through Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and I'm just into John right now. Where I have actually pulled out of the gospels, with my computer, every question that Jesus asked. And now I'm going to go back and I'm going to look at the questions that Jesus asked the Pharisees, the religious people of the time, and the questions that Jesus asked the government. The questions that Jesus asked people that were sick or needed healing. And it is fascinating because I think more than ever in our training we are asking and training leaders to ask. And that the concept of asking connects to this thing called metacognition. Which is thinking about thinking.

And when you think when the when the New Testament really, and the Old Testament, but when the Bible really hits us, what is God doing? He's getting us to think about our thinking. And to look at our thinking so that it can change all parts of our lives. So thank you for   LeaderImpact for just guiding me in that area because that sort of came out of one of my times when I was speaking. That I wanted to understand more of how Jesus led.

Lisa Peters
So is this coming out in your next book?

Ryan Walter
This might be the next, next book. But yeah, and that's down the road for sure.

Lisa Peters
So, we have 2 last questions and I ask this of all my guests. LeaderImpact is dedicated to leaders having a lasting impact. Now as you continue to move through your journey and it's a wonderful journey, have you considered what you want your faith legacy to be when you leave this world?

Ryan Walter
Yeah, yeah, it's good. I mean I have a bit of an evangelistic gift and so I love when LeaderImpact invites me to speak to groups of people that are local and the church can invite to LeaderImpact. I love that because it puts me in front of people that I would never meet in my lifetime. So I really love that concept.

The other thing that's really hit Jenny and me is, we have for, whatever reason, God seems to have brought couples to us. And so we've been doing a little bit like Paul and Eleanor Henderson. we've been doing some couples ministry these days and it's more around coaching performance but it's from a Christian perspective. So many young couples have prospering businesses but feel like they're on the edge of losing their relationship. And so it seems like God seems to be bringing that to us a little bit.

And then finally I have a really strong desire to just come alongside a bunch of guys and just sort of go, Okay, what does the Bible say about this? And what does it say about that? And just open up coaching performance conversations around the Scriptures and we're starting to do that. And I'm feeling that God keeps bringing me, my friend Pascal back from Montreal and my other friend Mark from Victoria. And one of the things Lisa that I think has opened up is this crazy thing we're doing right now like Zoom and teams and online coaching is easy. And we're in front of each other and we can actually see body language and it's not always on the phone. So I think it's opening up this crazy Covid thing is opening up doors and so those would be legacy pieces that we're sort of working on.

Lisa Peters
Good. That's a good answer. And my final question for you Ryan is what brings you joy?

Ryan Walter
Well, I won't surprise you. I mean, I think worship…I'm not very good at this I'm just an old hockey player and I don't sing very well. And I'm really thankful that I don't think God cares. He knows my heart. But I think that worship, Jenn and I often say that when we're sharing Christ or when we're worshiping Jesus that it feels like such a pure joy.

But the other thing as we age, I'm 64 here in April, family. We have five, going on six, grandkids. And Jen and I are still, we have a full schedule of work. I don't see us slowing down where I was just in Houston and in Toronto and Vancouver we’re heading to Winnipeg and Montreal and so we keep going. But I think what drives us is we get great times also with our kids. And they're on their own. And they're all sort of in their thirties and we have almost, a young one's coming, so almost six grandkids. And so I think family. I think worship would be number one. I think sharing Christ brings huge joy and then family is right there.

Lisa Peters
Yeah, which reminded me of when you talked about couples and coming together and great in business but the relationship…I think of Power to Change and under our umbrella is Family Life. And I have been part of that a little bit and it and we love it just everyone that you meet there.

Ryan Walter
Yeah, Neil and Sheryl do a great job there.

Lisa Peters
They do. I think we're starting to open up all across Canada. They come in and they'll do weekend retreats and they're awesome like if anyone hasn't gone…You think I'm scared. Maybe your husband and you're not talking. Well, they don't allow you like they'll give you 1 minute to talk so it's not uncomfortable. It's really good. So thank you Ryan for just joining us and talking about how do we stay hungry in uncertain times. I have loved these last 45 minutes my cheeks hurt from smiling. I Just appreciate you sharing with us

Ryan Walter
My pleasure. Thank you.

Lisa Peters
Now if anyone wants to engage with you. How can they look you up and get connected?

Ryan Walter
Yeah, we're pretty transparent and wide open. Ryanwalter.com has a way to just sort of send us a note and have a look around there. But it's ryan@ryanwalter.com. I mean that's our email and that's probably an easy way to do it. My cell phone is pretty much online also. But so it doesn't really matter anymore. But we love connecting with people and it might not be that you need us to come and speak to your group. Somebody might just have a question about hockey or they want a hockey card signed. We're wide open to adding value to people's lives.

Lisa Peters
You're awesome. I would love to meet Jen. I think when you came to Regina she couldn't come.

Ryan Walter
Yeah, next time we'll do it again. We'll both speak.

Lisa Peters
Well, it was on my list to talk to Ryan about coming back to our city. So thank you. Thank you Ryan for joining us.

Ryan Walter
Thanks so much, Lisa.

Lisa Peters
Well if you're part of LeaderImpact you can always discuss or share this podcast with your group. And if you're not yet in a LeaderImpact group, we would love to have you check out groups available in Canada at leaderimpact.ca. Or if you're listening from anywhere else in the world, check out leaderimpact.com or get in touch with us by email at info[at]leaderimpact.com and we will connect you. And if you like this podcast, please leave us a comment, give us a rating, or a review this will help other global leaders and maybe even some hockey players find our podcasts. So thank you for engaging with us and remember, impact starts with you.