Fatherhood & Leadership: Lessons in Guiding the Next Generation to Excellence

0:00 Coming up on this episode of the Healthy, Wealthy and Wise podcast. This is why, because it sets you up for this and it creates this type of environment. Yes. You know, and, uh, and, and one of the things that I've told all my, all my boys is, is my ultimate goal in life is. Welcome to the Healthy, Wealthy and Wise podcast with Dr. William T. Choctaw, MD, JD. This podcast will provide you with tools and actionable information you can use to help live a more. Healthy, wealthy, and Wise Life. It's powered by the over 50 years of medical experience of this Yale University Medical School trained surgeon who is also a Western state law school trained attorney with executive experience being a former mayor of Walnut, California, as well as the current chairman of the nonprofit Servants Arms, and as president of Choctaw Medical Group Incorporated.

0:58 This is the leadership masterclass. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to our next episode of the Healthy, Wealthy and Wise podcast. We are absolutely delighted to have one of our unique leaders. Um, and we indeed, uh, view this podcast as an offshoot of the leadership masterclass. And one of the things that we try to do on a regular basis is have leaders in different levels of leadership and have them to stop by and share their words of wisdom. with us. Uh, we are absolutely, uh, thrilled, uh, to have, uh, Mr. Preston Choctaw.

1:39 Now you may say, wait a second, wait a second, Choctaw? And I, and I would say, yes, you heard that right. Uh, he is indeed one of my progeny and we will, we will have him, uh, to tell us about himself. But welcome, Preston. Welcome to the Healthy, Wealthy and Wise podcast. Well, thank you very much. Very glad to be here. Glad to be here. Give us your thoughts about leadership and what has been your experience over, uh, your, your, uh, lifespan, uh, in terms of, uh, what you think leadership is and, and how have you been involved with it?

2:22 I make sure that I spend time with them. Yes. I make sure that they, that I interact with them, that I talk to, to ask them about how their day is. And, and we talk about, I mean, I, I have, there's times where I always try to spend time with at least one of them, you know, by themselves and just asking questions and just having, having a dialogue and, and getting to know them just because they're constantly evolving. Right. They're constantly growing and they're changing and it's like, and it's like, I want to keep tabs. I don't. On where they're at now. Like, for instance, uh, uh, the best example is Vincent, you know? When I look at, you know, when I look from when he was a toddler, you know, and then all the way through elementary school, and then through middle school, right?

3:07 And then through high, I mean, he has evolved so many different times, and he's constantly learning and, And shifting and growing and I think a role as a father and as a parent is to help to guide as they're shifting and they're growing. Absolutely. Absolutely. Like especially with Vincent he got to some Really key points in his life. You can see transitional periods, right? Transitional points where it's like, you can go this way or you can go that way. Which way are you going to go? And me as a father, I'm like. Hey Vince, let's get you this way, why don't you go this way, and this is why, right, right, and this is why, this is why, this is the way to go, this is why, cause it sets you up for this, and it creates this type of environment, and, you know, and, uh, and, and one of the things that I've told all my, all my boys is, Is my ultimate goal in life is to have you do better than me.

4:12 No matter what it is. I don't care what I don't care what I just want you to excel me. I want you Whatever field you want to do no matter what it is That's what my goal is because at the end of the day, I mean, I mean we only have finite days, right? We're not gonna live forever. That's right. And honestly, the key to immortality is your kids, right? I mean, that is how you're, you know, but, but, but even beyond that, it doesn't have to be your biological kids either. It could be adopted kids, or it could don't even need to be kids. It could just be friends, right? It could just be how people know you and how people.

4:52 Relate to the relationships. Yes, that's that. That to me is, is what immortality is. But, but I mean, but immortality sounds, you know, kind of selfish. I don't really mean it. I don't mean it in that way. I mean, it in, in terms of. Um, I just, I just want my family and my boys to, to do the best that they can and hopefully they will have families of their own and they would help to bring that as well and have them strive to do the best that they can as well. I, I think that's an excellent part, uh, to sort of stop, uh, and just sort of leave that.

5:34 Those thoughts that you just communicated to the public. And I, I think it's important, uh, as we, as we talk about work life balance. And I think, and we even talked about this this morning in Sunday school, in the men's class, that generationally. Those things change and have changed, you know, the, the baby boomer generation or earlier, earlier, you know, the breadwinner was usually only the father, um, and on and on and on. Uh, but that was the price, a cost for that. And I think the other generations, your generations and the ones. Following have sort of right at that ship a bit says, okay, I can do both, which is what, what you just said.

6:18 Um, you talked about all the things that you're doing and, and the minimum hours and the maximum hours in a day, but yeah, you prioritize, uh, your family and your wife and your children and, and that sort of thing. I call that work life balance. It's work life. It's not easy. Um, uh, it's hard to do. You may try and fail and try and fail and try and fail, but you keep trying because that's really sort of where you want to get to. Um, I think, uh, in, in life and everything. Well, sir, I, you know, I, I am just absolutely delighted to, to hear you talk to us and educate us. We will bring you back because we, there's so much more we need to go over just, just the Lean Six Sigma stuff.

7:05 And for many of our listeners, as I said, Preston is my youngest son, uh, but Preston became a Six Sigma Black Belt before I did. As a matter of fact, Preston was my instructor. And helping me to become a Six Sigma Black Belt, even though we were in completely different cities. So there's a lot to unpack here. But first, there's no way we can thank you for taking time out of your precious day to share your experiences. It is our hope and our belief that a number of people listening to your story Will will identify with it and it will help them, you know, male or female or whoever they are and the things that you've learned and the things that you've been able to share.

7:52 Any final comments do you want to make before we we let you go? Um, Well, I mean, probably the only thing I'd say is, um, um, I, I, I think, I believe that, uh, uh, this, this podcast is a great forum. Um, this is the, the future. Yes. Podcasts are the future. Yes. I think that you can even think about where we're at as a country and seeing the impact of podcasts. Yes. Yes. Um, so the more, um, uh, positivity, the more, uh, information that we can provide, uh, to your listeners, um, to help them become, uh, healthy, wealthy, and wise.

8:44 Again, I want to be respectful of your time. Uh, give everybody a hug for me. Love you. Appreciate your time and, and, and commitment and that sort of thing. And we've, we've learned a lot from you today. We've learned a lot from you. I'm, I'm very glad. Okay. All right. Well, listen, you take care, sir. As I said, love you and have a wonderful day. Thank you. You too. Thank you, Jesse. God bless you. Bye bye. God bless. Okay. Bye. Bye. Thank you for listening to the Healthy, wealthy, and Wise Podcast with Dr. William t Choctaw, MDJD.

9:24 You can listen again to this and any of the previous episodes. Leave a comment or pose questions to the doctor by going to www.thwwp.com. That's www.th wwp.com and you've got it. It's also available wherever you get your podcasts. Be sure to follow like she. And subscribe if you haven't already, then tune in for the next episode of the healthy, wealthy and wise podcast with Dr. William T. Choctaw, MD, JD. A production of Changemakers Communications, LLC.