Scott Brant interview 1-9-2026.txt English (US) 00:00:00.400 — 00:00:06.639 Did you watch last night's game? Uh, yes I did. I was pulling for Ole Miss and 00:00:07.840 — 00:01:15.710 they had the hands going there in that last play, and it's like I didn't see a flag and you can't end on a defense penalty. But they apparently didn't even look at it that that should have been flagged. I mean, he had him so that he could. Yeah. Arm. No. And you know what? Um. You pastor. Okay. This is important to for for posterity. I just want you to know, make this one last point. Yeah, it's it's incredible how they protect the quarterback now, but when the ball is in the air, they're letting people almost box. You know who's going to catch it? It's crazy. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Hey, Scott, I need you to pull your shirt down. Get those wrinkles out. There you go. I'm just trying to make you look good. No, that's all right. I'm just trying to make sure you're properly represented. How you feel. I mean, look good and sound stupid. I mean, we'll get this. What good does that do? You were not stupid. Okay. Scott. First. Yes. Uh. First name, last name. Spelling and title. This is just bookkeeping. Scott Brandt, Scott Brandt, senior vice president of information technology. 00:01:17.070 — 00:01:25.350 How long have you worked here? I've been here for 21 years. I've been at Catholic Life Insurance for 21 years. 00:01:27.510 — 00:01:27.950 You bet. 00:01:29.750 — 00:01:49.750 It's the whole thing being recorded. Yeah, yeah. And this is not live TV? No, I think this is. This is you sitting down and having coffee, then being on television. There's nothing but ignore that great light, right? Yeah, right. Where are you on the night of. Yeah, exactly. Did you bring a copy of your entire income tax? Yeah. 00:01:51.190 — 00:01:54.750 Am I am I good? You're good. Okay. Very good. Um, 00:01:55.870 — 00:02:45.380 how long have you been in Catholic life? I've been at Catholic Life for 21 years. What stands out during that time? What did you feel like the first day? Well, my story is a little different, right? Because I came from a software vendor out of Iowa that Gathered Life had purchased for their policy admin system. So I was a part of the conversion team from like 2003 and 2004. And then when they went live at the end of 2003, would they still needed the support? So we still stayed on site. And I was here all the way through 2004. And then, um, offered an opportunity of employment in 2004, took it and came down here in 2005. You don't shovel snow in Texas? 00:02:47.020 — 00:03:04.520 Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Conversion. What? When you say you were working on conversion, what do you mean by that? So we took their previous policy admin system and converted it into the ID3 admin system. So it's a database conversion, 00:03:05.560 — 00:03:12.679 transfer of all that data from their previous system into the new system with current configurations and 00:03:14.040 — 00:03:27.160 all that good stuff. It sounds like your change agent kind of. I mean, you came in and you're working on things that are changing from one thing to another. That's a big part of it. There's a huge team, though, right? They had a small office team and 00:03:28.960 — 00:03:36.920 the vendor had a team, so I was just a one part of the bigger team. And it's a matter of teaching folks what the new system does. Um, 00:03:38.320 — 00:03:51.560 generating reports that the team life team needed to continue their day to day operations. So what's your impression of people handling change? How do you come in? I mean, 00:03:52.600 — 00:04:07.070 usually on the executive level, you have to make people change what they're doing. Sometimes it's easy, Sometimes it's hard. Do you ever tell me some of your experiences with with changing a corporation or a or. Sure. 00:04:08.670 — 00:05:15.300 Did you mean to repeat that question or I can just go out? No, you don't need to repeat that. So give it some context. Yeah. I will not be on this record. No, I figured that. Um, so with regards to change, I really feel like to get us to have a successful change, you really got to get the buy in of the people that are going to do the work. So you got to you got to get them engaged and understanding. You got to communicate where the direction is and what the change is. And so that's from like a development side, right. The programmers may make changes to the systems and whatnot. And then for the end users, as long as they understand the change, I mean, communicate it. The worst thing in the world is to just be told, go do this and not really understand it. Right? So I like to think of people as, um, you want them involved as much as possible, to understand as much as possible of what they're doing, and not just entering buttons and following a cheat sheet step by step by step, because then they can think a little more widely about what it is that they're doing. 00:05:16.740 — 00:05:35.060 The degree to which an organization changes constantly versus kind of doing the same thing for a long period of time, and then abruptly making a major change versus incremental changes. Can you can you paint those as two different things, or is it the same dynamic? 00:05:36.900 — 00:06:40.210 I can paint them as two different things. I can certainly see when we need to change immediately. Um, but I also believe in planning, um, and, and creating a game plan to implement a change. Um, we've recently learned that, you know, you can overthink things. There's analysis paralysis kind of thing. So it's like, let's identify the things that we know need to change and start working towards them. But but we may not identify all of them upfront because they will come. Scope creep. Right. Things happen. Um, and you got you got to pivot, you know, to, to make that to make the, the overall change successful, you're going to have a bunch of just little changes along the way. Does being a fraternal organization, does that help with change or does it hurt because it's there's a kind of a cultural or group aspect that may go beyond an employment pool? Is there is there something about a fraternal organization that makes change even tougher? 00:06:42.130 — 00:08:30.540 So, you know, I didn't I've never worked like for I've worked Catholic life for 21 years. Right. So I've got a lot of that fraternal understanding of it. So I've never been at some of the larger companies. Obviously, I worked at a software vendor and I saw some things there, but I'm at a different level here than I was there, so maybe I didn't see the change there from the level I'm at now. Right. So to to say the fraternal way, I guess I think about fraternal is don't have deep pockets, right. We're here for the good of our consumers or our members. Um, whereas I think other companies are more for profit, not so fraternal. They got a little deeper pockets they can spend and make things happen. Um, and I don't want to see. I feel like I don't want to. I'm not criticizing fraternal ism. Right? Um, but I think sometimes that can be a barrier to to what? You're what you want to get done. Does that make sense? Yeah, sure. Um, I think it's hard to answer that because I don't have a lot of experience in, like. But I think you you you hit on something that I'm interested in. When you say deep pockets, it allows big insurance companies to do things that are internal. But by the same token, for turtles are able to serve their customers in a way that the deep pocketed big company can't is. Is that a correct assertion? And now you can repeat back what I just said a little bit for context. Okay. You know what I'm saying? I do so so you're I'm trying to imply that big companies are heartless and a fraternal life insurance company is not. That's what I'm implying. But I may be wrong. So is a fraternal, more heartfelt than a bigger company who may be heartless. Um, 00:08:31.980 — 00:09:04.090 I guess my opinion would be that if you were in a bigger company, you don't have to be heartless. Um, that's just my opinion. But I've never been at a bigger company like that. The the consumer at any business should be the first and first thing on your mind. You should always be thinking about the consumer, whether you're a USAA, um, Optimum Health or something, or Catholic life. And I think we do that, and I know that other turtles do that as well. Through through fraternal benefits and member benefits. Um. 00:09:06.530 — 00:10:47.160 But if we can't implement a technology that helps them in some way because we don't have deeper pockets and don't want to spend the money, then that, that's not really benefiting them as much as maybe a larger company. There's and I think we're making that transition to doing more things. So we've got a portal right. And members can log in and sign up and agents can log in and sign up. But it's really a lot of just informational stuff. It's not so much of the transaction stuff. And I think my opinion would be certain reasons or why we haven't done that is because we we've not necessarily connected it to our back end systems yet. It's connected on some level to provide information. It's not connected to change information. And so I know we're working towards that. And so you can look at our portal and you and you can't do a lot of things. You can't request change in certain information on your policies, policies. And that's because there are certain requirements that we've used or have had that restrict us for just making electronic changes. We want you're going to change your beneficiary. That's kind of important because you're not going to be around when you pass your beneficiaries. And we want to make sure we get it right. We've got the commitment to pay the the life insurance for you so you can you can die with some peace of mind knowing that your family is being taken care of. Right. But so that's why we don't electronically just let things change. Right. From a beneficiary perspective. And so I think we're working towards ways that we can make that happen in the future, because that's what the consumer our members want. 00:10:48.440 — 00:13:38.760 What's the number one attraction of Catholic life for a person who's in the market to get the life insurance. A a young father with two kids, and he's realizing for the first time, this is serious life and I need insurance. What what does Catholic life offer that's over and above or to the side of what other insurance companies are? So what does Catholic life offer above and beyond what other life insurances may offer? Um, we certainly have, I think, competitive products. Um, if you're, if you're a young man or a woman, um, and as a father myself, I push this when I'm at the soccer games to people. I'm not a sales guy, but they have the gist for kids product, which is a great starter product. You know, you can ensure your child for 10 or 20,000 bucks for a one time, 100 bucks or $200. That truly is a great product to get you in the door and understand what cat and life insurance is all about. Um, I've had New York Life's Gerber or Gerber plan, you know, and I'm paying all this along. And then when I got here locally and they I saw this, I thought this is a no brainer. And then obviously, I think as we all get older, um, we just recognize that, um, you're buying insurance, um, for, for the people that that you love, that you want to support, keep on living. Um, this probably won't make it, but just short story, my brother, you know, um, would say stuff like, well, I'm not going to buy, you know, $100,000 of life insurance so she can party when I'm dead with somebody else. And I'm like, you know, that's not why you're buying it. So that you can stay in that house. You can have that phone, you can have that cable, you can have the water bill. The things that you pay for on a routine basis are covered with life insurance. And I think once you finally realize that, you know, I got him to buy the JFK and I got him to convert that to more permanent insurance for his kids. His kids are the same age as mine. And so, yeah, all my kids are fully insured with Catholic Life Insurance. Um, I think I got in here and just started drinking the Kool-Aid, you know, and, um. And now whenever I can, um, I remind people the importance of it because no one likes to talk about life insurance, especially for kids. But when you're inside the walls, you hear the stories. Um, and so, you know, it can happen. And, you know, you never want that to happen to anybody. But you certainly don't want a family to struggle to pay to bury their kids. No, I don't, because I'm not on the death claim committee. But but I, I know some I know of a few stories of kids. Right. And so it's just wouldn't be my place to tell the story. But it's unfortunate. It's an unfortunate incident. I mean, 16 and 17 years old, you know, and they pass away. No one. No one wants that. 00:13:40.320 — 00:14:14.469 How many? Tell me about your kids. I got three kids, and I got one granddaughter, and. Yeah, they're all insured. Grandparents. Yeah, I know, I know, I don't look like it, right? No, there's some gray here, but I figured that was 56. You know, I have a different perspective of life. I've always been kind of a planner, right? In the sense that I'm going to do this and I'm going to do this, and I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do this. This is my life. I want my kids to do the same things. And when they didn't, you know, it's okay. So I got a 25 year old, a 24 year old and a 00:14:15.830 — 00:14:33.389 14 year old. And then my granddaughter just turned two, so it's cool. Congratulations. Thanks. Oh, girl. Um, two, two girls in a boy and the boys right in the center. Yeah. Um, what do you think 00:14:35.230 — 00:14:48.710 you face in the next few years with continuing to is the word upgrade is the word. Convert is the word. I mean, you're facing some real challenges and 00:14:50.070 — 00:14:56.100 subsequent changes for the next few years. How is the organization going to handle that? Do you think? 00:14:58.260 — 00:15:43.260 So. How's. How's life going to handle change in the next 1 to 5 years? Um, well, I think it's going to strengthen us. I think you need to, uh, you really need to get a solid bench and processes for us to grow, right? We're going to take on more business. We want to make sure that the day to day processes that we do are airtight. Um, we certainly want to make them as automated as possible. So we have less user intervention, which could create if it's less user intervention than you've got less user error. User errors happen not because they're not solid people, it's just because they happen. You know, we get in a hurry. Uh, the attention to detail slips a little bit here and there. Um, 00:15:44.740 — 00:15:48.500 but I think we're going to handle the change. Well, it's. 00:15:49.700 — 00:16:29.449 Think of the software development lifecycle. Sometimes they sound. I continue to repeat myself when I'm talking to different people. It's like we do a good job of, of of developing or selecting a solution and then getting it implemented. Where we fall a little bit is that whole second half where you review and evaluate and make changes, right? Um, so we've got an app that's about eight years old. We've got an electronic application process that's about eight years old. Um, that needs to be revived. Um, we have a new one that's got a different product. That's it's 00:16:30.490 — 00:17:06.439 it seems to be more fluid in the journey, whereas it's not so structured and straight as the old one is. It's just more fluid. So, um, we need to we need to look at upgrading that. I think, um, the new electronic app has underwritten engines underwriting engines that help to determine whether you qualify. Quicker. I think that's the future. I think we need to have that. Um, eight years ago it was pretty pricey. From a fraternal perspective. Um, so we didn't implement it. Um, now, as you fast forward, you think to yourself, 00:17:07.600 — 00:17:39.520 there's probably a bigger benefit to having something like that in place. Um, so I think we're going to handle the change well. Um, as long as, like I said earlier, let's communicate it. Let's let's plan it. Let's make it organized. Let's, um, keep the keep those individuals focused on the change. Uh, pull your shirt down while I ask this next question. Do you think your customer base, the people that have your product, would you 00:17:41.240 — 00:18:44.219 categorize them as more rural or more urban? Are they more or less tech savvy, then you know the way. Coming into it and not being real familiar with Catholic life. The first thing that struck me was it seems to be it seems to embrace its rural roots in small towns. When I look at the periodicals, there doesn't seem to be much stuff from Houston, Dallas and Austin. There is from San Antonio. But but mostly it's it's more rural. That's my my opinion of it. Am I am I right about your customer base? So what is the customer base demographic of Catholic Life Insurance? Um, I would say the the larger number would be rural, right? Um, we obviously have some spots in the larger cities. I think the focus or where Cather life wants to be, though, is to get 00:18:45.340 — 00:18:51.890 them thinking, I'm going to start over on that. So, Um, like I said, because technically you're talking about. 00:18:54.490 — 00:20:54.950 Our members and whether they're tech savvy because they're rural, um, versus the city and maybe more savvy. I think for my 21 years, I, I've seen where we're trying to shift to, to younger folks, more technically savvy people. Um, for a long time, we would cater to the rural folks. And, you know, I can remember going to some of my first branch socials as the IT director and asking, you know, who's been out to the Catholic Life website and nobody raises their hands. Okay, well, let me go back. One who has a computer, you know, and and I think the rule, folks, I mean, that's the bread and butter of Catholic life, no doubt about that. I think they've progressed forward to so our agents, you know, have computers out there. They have the internet, they use the E application. We've not forced them to use the E application. We allow them to do the paper or the E whatever they're comfortable with, because at the end of the day, we want their business and so whatever makes them comfortable to submit it, we want to do that. Um, we're certainly trying to find a, um, a more technically savvy, I don't want to say younger because that just sounds bad, right? Because I'm getting old now, too, right? But, um, and as we, as we age in life, we see. So, yeah, when I started, we had a bunch of people in this age range. So we're trying to lower the, the, the average age of our agents because we need those folks. Um, at the same time, you hear a lot of people saying that this younger generation doesn't want to talk to people. So the older generation says life insurance is sold over a handshake, right? But nowadays people say, I don't want to talk to anybody. I just want to do it all online. So we've got to try to find that balance. And how can we satisfy both of them? write direct to consumer, which we're not doing. I'm not advertising that that's what we're doing, but that's a part of it, right. Um, 00:20:56.270 — 00:21:21.630 and still having that face to face conversation. So to answer your question, is the demographic. Um, more, more or less technical savvy. I think we're going to get more people that are technical savvy, that get out there to the website. They can do things because they do. They do those things now with other institutions, the banks and whatnot. So 00:21:23.150 — 00:22:20.410 I've driven down many backroads of Texas. It's kind of cool. No doubt. You know, I can remember driving up to, like, maybe Ballinger one of my first times. And it's Tulane Road, right? They got them back home in the Midwest. But I'm gonna tell you what we don't do back home in the Midwest. We don't pull over. Keep going and let you pass. This guy is pulling over. I'm like, what are you doing? And so I can go past them. So that's just kind of cool. I don't know if it's cooler than you know. When I moved down, yeah, I didn't know what was what was going on. How these people are so nice. They're moving over. Am I driving too? Am I a danger? Why are they moving over? And then the other thing is the wave. And I think Frost Bank even did an ad campaign on that, where a car be approaching and the Texas driver would do this. And then when they pass by, these do that, do that thing. So, um, what am I missing? I have a couple questions. Sure. You see, I just don't have any. Um. 00:22:22.170 — 00:22:25.890 Scott, tell me. Tell me about, um, 00:22:27.130 — 00:23:04.440 what does it take to be successful at Catholic Life Insurance as an employee? I mean, as we think about recruiting and growing our company, what do you think it's going to. What kind of person are we looking for to join our team? So what kind of person are we looking for to join our team? I think depends on the role that they're going to perform. I feel like every position in Catholic life insurance needs a bit of attention, attentive to the details, because it's in the details that we need to focus sometimes to make things right, to do things right the first time. 00:23:05.640 — 00:23:16.160 If we don't have time to do it, what's the old saying? We don't have time to do it twice. We need to do it. I'm screwing that up. But, um, I think a person who who who 00:23:17.240 — 00:23:24.800 believes in the the life insurance mission is beneficial. Um. 00:23:33.760 — 00:23:35.320 I'm not sure what else to say, 00:23:36.680 — 00:24:29.470 because I don't want to jump into the hole. Um, you got to be compassionate, and you got to be this Solid Christian or, you know, and I'm not going to get to the religious side of it. It's there. Right? Um, I'm not Catholic, but I believe in a higher power. And, you know, I follow those things. But there are other people that are doing a whole, much, a whole lot better than I do it. And so sometimes it's hard for me to say what I think someone should be to come here for on that side. But just a smart person. We want smart, dedicated people. I mean, um, I just hired a network administrator. Um, you know, the business hours are 8 to 5, but, hey, you know what? We're it. So at 7:00 at night, I need you to answer the phone. I need you to be there, and I need you with your knowledge. I don't need you to be a yes man kind of person. I need you to tell me what's. You know, 00:24:30.790 — 00:25:56.410 if we go this way, what's going to happen? You know, I think back to a story a long time ago where there was something on my screen and I grabbed something to wipe it down, and my colleague was sitting next to me. And after I wiped it down, I'm like, oh, my God, it almost like ruined the screen or something like that. He's like, yeah, I probably wouldn't have done that. I'm like, you watched me do it. You did. Why couldn't you have said something before I did it, you know? So we want people to speak their minds. Um. I want people to be engaged. If I'm going to have a meeting with you, um, or you're a part of our team and we're having a meeting with a vendor, perhaps. Right. And, um, your your expertise is X, Y, and Z. Well, when the questions are coming up, I need you to ask them and make sure that we're taking care of. Because vendors can sometimes overlook things because they're not as intimate as you want them to be with whatever it is you're doing. And then to come to me after a meeting and go, what about this, this and this and say, no, you were supposed to say that in the meeting because I don't have the answer. So people that can go get them right. I wish we could all be salary right, instead of worrying about this clock taking these breaks. You know, I don't want to say things that are going to, like, not incriminate me, But you know. So maybe I am a big ass, but you know I'm here. I'm here 24 over seven. I'm available. That's kind of what I would hope everyone feels like. 00:25:57.650 — 00:27:27.910 Does that make sense? That's perfect. Okay. That's perfect. Okay. Is there one quote person mantra that you have that you think is really kind of guided you through your career or Catholic life or just or even just personally, like, you know. Yeah, go get a tiger or whatever it might be. Is there is there one thing that you really like is resonates with you? So is there a mantra that I've followed in my entire life or I've kind of had there? You know, that's a great question. And I say that's a great question because there has been one thing that for a long time I've always said to myself, right. And there's a song, um, it's called I believe I Can Fly. I think it is, um, I think the guy who wrote it got us in trouble, but that doesn't matter. It's a great song. And. And so to me, I've always thought that, um, that I can. That I can find obviously I can't fly, but what it tells me is that there's nothing that I can't do if I don't put my mind to it, at least give it the old college try. And so because of that, I don't think it's, it's I haven't held back on certain things. Right. Um, so yeah, I believe I can find this kind of in my mantra in life. Um, and then I also like the Eminem song where he talks about, um, you get one chance and one opportunity. It's like you don't want to pass it up. Take advantage of it. Do the best you can. Um, that's rooted in the fact that I got my start out of college, um, at a company that, um, that, um, 00:27:29.390 — 00:31:00.310 I didn't have a lot of experience in what they were needing. Right. It's a software vendor. I'm not a programmer. I don't have anything. But the gentleman who interviewed me gave me an opportunity. And when I got there, I proved myself right. And I continued to prove myself even today. I mean, I have to. I feel like I have to prove myself now. So I'm a senior vice president of it. I should be able to lighten up a little bit. But no, I mean, I still need to show the people that work for me, that I'm still here doing what we need to get done. You know, leadership by example. I've always felt like I've been a good follower. Um, and so when given the opportunity to lead, I feel like I've been a pretty good leader. Um, let me joke around a little bit too much. You know, if I take ourselves too serious. Right. I'm. Get hit on that bike. I'm dead. Tomorrow. Someone's next guy up right. Next gallop. Who? Whatever ever it is. So that's a long way of telling you. That's my mantra. I believe I can fly, but I've always kind of had that in my head. That's a great way to end it. That's perfect. Thanks. That's, uh. I feel like I'm all read. I guess you're here. You're not Peter Pan. Yeah. I mean, yeah, that's the song, but. Yeah. Scott, you did really well. Um, thanks. And I, I want you to know that there's a lot there that we can use and unpack and I love. You did great. Thank you. Sometimes I overthink certain questions because I have, I have. I'm sure you're in it. Well, no, it's because because I hear, I hear. How do I say it? When you're in leadership, you hear certain things and you say, we want to go this way. And then you hear the other things, too. And so it's like, where do you where do I fall into that spectrum? Right. Because I don't want to be negative and sit there and criticize things. But I can see the downside of certain things. But my job as a leader is to be a change management guy. And so you got to put those things because the minute you start complaining about those, the people that work below you, they're going to jump all over that, and then you're gonna have a bunch of negative naysayers everywhere. And we don't need that. Do you find your military background helps? Yeah. Well, um, sit up and you're recording. Oh, you are gonna make sure that last thing you said was great. Yeah. I just say something brilliant here. Oh, yeah? Well, so that's funny. I had a QA person that said I could say things that were brilliant, and then she say that again because I don't remember. I won't write it down. I mean, yeah, I don't remember it. Just do. I think my military experience has helped me in my career. Um, most definitely. Right. There's a discipline that that I was in the Marine Corps. Um, and I'm sure all the branches have it, but of course, the Marine Corps does it the best. But, um, there's there's just a discipline that you get. You know, when I joined the Corps, you have come out of high school, you know, I had no plans. I was, you know, no direction. And then you get there, and you, you you're a part of something that's bigger than you, but you're a part of it. There's all those chains, there's all those cliches. You know, you're only as strong as your weakest link. So there's a discipline there that I think I've carried with me my whole life. Remember when I said that, um, I've always kind of planned certain things, so, like, I, when I first joined the corps, my goal was to stay in forever, right? But things happen, and, um, you make changes. So I decided to get the GI Bill. I mean, my changes. I said I'm going to go to school because the officer's side of life is a whole lot better than the enlisted side, right? Um, so anyway, once I got out of the Marine Corps, I said, I'm going to go to junior college for two years, and I'm going to get my junior college associate's degree, and I'm going to transfer to 1 or 2 schools. I applied to both of them. 00:31:01.550 — 00:32:00.930 Uh, I got accepted at Iowa. Second after the other school. So I chose Iowa. So I'm going to go to Iowa for two years and get my bachelor's degree. And then and then from there, I'm gonna get a job. And then that was as far as I planned, because I certainly didn't plan to get married. Didn't plan to have kids. Obviously those things would fall in. But but I let nothing stop me from my goal. Right. And I think about that now because it's too easy to to fall into the here and now and forget the bigger picture, because, I mean, I had all kinds of different jobs in college. Um, one of the things I thought was would have been cool forever was to be a truck driver. Um, I think watching Smokey and the bandit, when you're, like, six years old, you know, you go, man, I want to be a truck driver. And so I did that for a stint and during the summer. But something would have happened that said, hey, Scott, you need to get back to your focus. And so I tried to instill that in my kids. 00:32:02.410 — 00:32:20.930 Relationships will come and go during this time. You know, jobs will come and go in this time. Get what you want to get done first. You know, I love my granddaughter. I think she's great. If my daughter was 30 when she had her, I would have thought that would have been great, you know? Um, I'm still proud. Of 00:32:22.010 — 00:32:22.330 who? 00:32:25.210 — 00:32:58.920 So you got to just know what you want to do and go after it. And don't let anything get in your way. So because of that, I'm a pretty selfish guy, but come full circle. Do I feel like it's helped me? Absolutely. Um. I can be counted on. I can be trusted. Um, I look at the team as the team. Um, I try to work with the weakest links. I may not do a very good job with that, because sometimes I go, how do you not get this? How are you not here with us? So I come of a less less of a coach and more of a of a 00:33:00.280 — 00:33:24.080 just an ass. It's like how what don't you understand about this? And so. And I think sometimes it's easy for people to, to take the easy route. I don't remember I don't forget I didn't I don't know. Well someone has to know. So it's like we're paying you to know. How do you not know that. You know. So I have some of that sometimes. I hope you don't use that. 00:33:25.520 — 00:34:23.190 It's not just written right. We made it part of that. Yeah. Okay. But yeah, I mean, I think you've done great, and it's hard to have everything pointed at you like this and then think I did. Well, you think I. It's just an intimidating. Yeah. So that doesn't bother me so much as the fact that when I'm done watching this because I'm a critical person to myself, I'm going to think what I think. I sound like shit. You know, everybody thinks they do. They. Because, I mean, I really do. I listen to myself in a phone recording. I hate it, and I see myself in, like this. You know, I feel like I got these slanted eyes going on. It's like, because they've stunk, huh? Joy and wisdom in the body. Is that what it is? That's what. That's what my Botox ladies you read is. You know, what you read is someone who would be fun to work for. Yeah. Thanks. Come on. You tell me what you love most about working with this person. What do I love most about working at Catholic Life Insurance? 00:34:29.149 — 00:35:31.100 Well, um. So the people are good. Obviously, that's. That's important. Management is good. Um, I think, you know, I'm working for Chris Now. That's good. I work with for Mike. Um, since 2005. That was I think that was a great experience. He's a he's a great person. Um, I think I enjoy making a difference. I like the responsibility. I want to be the guy you can count on. You know how they always talk about pro sports? People give me the ball. I want the I want Michael Jordan. I want to be the last shot or I want to throw the touchdown. I want to be that guy you can count on. Right? I want to participate. I want to be engaged. The things that I want my employees to do, I want to do for myself as well. I want to be engaged. I want to make a difference. Um, if I serve used to have people make a difference week and celebrate it every year. And I think that's an important thing because at every level you can make a difference. So that's what I like about working at Catholic Life Insurance. Flexibility 00:35:32.500 — 00:37:59.500 pays. Not too bad. Well, what about those stories? Could be better. The stories internally of when you hear what people had done to help other people. You said, there are stories in this building that that that show you the level of compassion for the for the customers, that goes beyond other companies. You had mentioned that before. Does that play into how you feel about working here? The compassion? Yes. For me not to put words in your mouth. No, I know. So, um, you're you're asking, is it the examples that you see on a day to day basis where people are going the extra mile to help one another? Is that make it? Does that make it worthwhile working here for me? You know, I'm going to say yes and no, and I'm going to say yes on a small level, and I say no on a different level because, um, the people that stop to help you aren't focused on what we need them to do over here. And so we have that. And so that's what I'm saying. It's not a bad thing. I want to help you. And I'm not talking necessarily just for the members of the agents or the internal team, because it can happen on any level. Right. We have agents that call our IT folks, and we're never not going to help them. Right. Um, same with our our members and and our people, our teams here. But sometimes it can be a detriment to the to the project. Because I'm going to take because it nothing is quick and easy in it. For my experience. Some things are. That's usually user error. Right. But but but for us to stop and spend 30 minutes to help you on something. Um, if I did that, you know, 5 or 6 times a day, that's a couple hours that I'm not focused on what I'm supposed to be doing, and there are others that can help them. So, um, I don't know if that answers your question, but no, I it's great to see all of the the things that we do for our community. We do a great job every year. We try to do a, a giving tree. We we donate time to different things. We we do, um, a fundraiser, uh, sweepstakes. That's just fantastic. And especially fantastic if you're a Catholic and you're participating in it. Right? Um, but, I mean, I think over the past 15 years, we've given, like 13. Wait, what's the number? CC is it 13 million? 00:38:00.860 — 00:38:22.100 16 million? I mean, that's a ton of money that we've raised. Um, and proudly giving it to these schools that can use the money and we don't. We love to say we 100% of that ticket goes to the school. I mean, that's just fantastic. And you don't see a lot of organizations doing that, I don't think. Um, 00:38:23.260 — 00:38:36.500 so, no, I think typically they get yeah. I'm like, you guys got it? Yeah. We are. You're just okay because you're a person out here. Okay. Frank. Scott, you were a homerun. Okay, thanks. Watch out for when you stand up. You.