Welcome And Why We Gather

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Group podcast where Chad Co myself interview some industry leaders learning about the very best techniques and stories that can help inspire you to have more confidence and to be able to live a more abundant life. I've been able to make a friendship with Pat, Pat Welsh, who's out in Colorado, has an incredible history of being a servant leader, a speaker, podcaster, consultant, and so much more. Pat, thank you for joining us today. And if we could just share a couple of minutes of your history and how we got here.

Pat’s Origin Story And Identity

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Yeah, thanks for the invite, Chad. It's an honor. It's a long story, but I'll give you the reader's digest version. And every story begins at the beginning. And my beginning was rather unique. I was actually born in another country in Ireland. And when I was less than a week old, my birth mother, who was a widow at the time, put me in an orphanage where I lived for the next 16 months or so and was adopted to the United States. And that journey started me because it was kind of funny that I was the only kid in the neighborhood at five and a half years old that had to go to federal court to become a citizen. And so my my journey's always been kind of one of uniqueness. And I get a lot of questions, and I had a lot of questions of my own growing up. And that kind of started the formulating this mindset that I have adopted to this day of being a warrior, being a servant, and being a leader and making a difference and impact, not only in my life, but in the lives of the people I meet.

SPEAKER_00 1:44

You know, we talked about this, Pat, when I did your show, where I grew up in special ed, and one of the classes that I was in, it was three kids, a teacher, cattle prod, no desks, and it was just very strange. But what's interesting is I would never trade the journey of even breaking my femur in half, being in a hospital six weeks, and then walking into fourth grade on the walker and crutches to being able to be where I am now. But I wonder if, as we go down this path in our childhood, if that adversity and that kind of let's just call it strangeness and differentiation as is not mainstream, if that helped us become who we are today.

Uniqueness Versus Becoming A Photocopy

SPEAKER_01 2:28

And you in some respects, yes. And it's sad that we compare as a society what you know what's nor quote unquote normal. And we uh I guess there's a saint in the Catholic Church, he just m was canonized the uh last year. He was 15 years old, but died in uh 2006 in uh Milan, Italy. His name's uh Carlo Acutis. And I think he had such a grasp on this very topic, and it's one of my favorite quotes we're all born unique, but sadly many of us die a photocopy of someone or something else, and that we can have been trained, I guess, almost, or society conditions us to try and be like something that's successful. Remember Michael Jordan when he came, you know, be like Mike, you know, we're these Air Jordans, and you know, be like Mike. And we've taken away that gift of uniqueness that God created it us with and replaced it with trying to be something other than what he designed us to be. And so I think it should be mainstream that we embrace our uniqueness and our talents and and our time and energies and all that, but sadly most of us don't.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

So let's say we put our hands out, right, in speaking class, be big, be fantastic, be the best that we can, and do the things that challenge us as we're unique in what it is that we do. As an example, just even doing this podcast, nothing is easy. We're dealing with technology. We had to log in and log off and come on three times and do three intros, and yet, because I don't care anymore about being like somebody else, we just be our best selves, and then here we are.

Defining The Warrior Mindset

SPEAKER_01 4:30

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And that, and that's that's kind of that whole mindset that that I've spent the last 15, 20 years developing and trying to uh share with other people is you know to have that that warrior mindset. And I don't mean going out killing people, you know, be uh always being ready for a fist fight, but that a warrior is a person that stands up, shows up, and respectfully defends what they believe, their values, their faith, their family, all those things. And we and we have become so accustomed to being timid and not wanting to quote unquote offend somebody that we have forfeited our values and our goals and our objectives to not piss people off, you know, kind of deal with that I don't want to hurt somebody's feelings or whatever. And that's that's not how I'm wired. That's not how God created me is you know, I'm I'm uh that out front kind of guy, and and I value that and I cherish it. And I wish more people would value and cherish their gifts and talents.

SPEAKER_00 5:40

But what's interesting for me, right? You have this warrior mindset, you grew up in the orphanage. I don't want to dismiss it. At eight years old, something happened where you lost your memory from childhood, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Yeah, I had a traumatic brain injury.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

And so, so Pat, talk about the fact that you get into law enforcement, you excel in law enforcement. Is am I correct at that?

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_00 6:02

And then you retire, and now you move into this new space where you want to help others find their best self.

From Prosecutor To Police Officer

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Yeah, I retired 14 years ago. I did it a little bit backwards, though, is I actually went to law school, graduated uh right out of college. I went straight to law school, graduated law school, and I spent the next four years after graduating. I was a prosecutor, and I would I was married, we had a couple kids. Uh, we've been married will be 46 years this September. And so when I was 28, we'd been married uh, well, we got married in 1980, so this was 1986. And my wife says, Hey, you know, you're always in a bad mood when you come home in the evening, because I was a prosecutor and I was also doing a private practice on the side and you know, trying to hustle and do all those things. And she goes, You're always in a bad mood. What do you really want to do with your life? And I said, Since I was a little kid, I wanted to be a police officer. And she goes, then go do it. So I did, but I kept my license active. I still practice law to this very day, even though I've been retired 14 years. And that change of actually recognizing the gifts and talents that God gave me and the vocation that He was calling me to was being that warrior servant leader in the law enforcement world, not in the legal corporate world. And that could that completely changed uh my perspective, my attitude, and the trajectory of where God wanted me to be now 14 years after that career ended.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

I just

Kindness Mercy And Modern Anger

SPEAKER_00 7:46

find that to be tremendous. And and as we go down this path, I just did a podcast with with Jacqueline, who runs the kindness org. And and kindness, this nonprofit, is all about giving back and helping people learn that you could be kind and that you could be confident in who you are. And the fact is, we don't have to go through life being angry. I I was just watching yesterday, it was one of the wildest things to watch unfold the road rage. Two cars next to each other. What are they gonna do? Run into each other, get out of the cars in fist fight, pull a gun and shoot each other. It's it's like I could promise you that the gentleman in the truck didn't see him and and cut in front of him by accident. Yeah, and it turns into you're yelling through windows. And I'm like, I'm like, it just doesn't have to be. My heart went out to the guy who who couldn't tell the other guy who was yelling at him that it was an accident. I'm sorry. Yeah, you know, because it happens.

SPEAKER_01 8:42

Yeah, yeah, you know, you know, Easter was just two weeks ago, and in the Catholic Church, this past Sunday was Divine Mercy Sunday, and and Easter, the Easter season for in the Catholic Church at least is actually 50 days long. It's not just one day, Easter Sunday. There's a C it's a season, it's like like Christmas, leading up to Christmas, and and the you know, 12 days after Christmas stuff. And what you're saying is is so on point that divine mercy we have lost as human beings the the number one driving force is that kindness and to be merciful and to be helpful to our everybody that we touch every day. And it's like, you know, the ultimate example is you know, Christ dying on the cross. And you know, Peter denied him, but he didn't kick him to the curb and say, get out of my your face and you know you're dead to me. I don't want you anymore. You know, and even that doubting Thomas is the same thing. You know, he didn't chastise him. He and th that mercy is it that's a a virtue we need to get back to.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

I love the virtues in getting back to that. And with that, right, you're now doing the podcast, you're doing the speaking, you're out there with the warrior mindset. Maybe share with us an example or two of how you're bringing this to the forefront and maybe an example of one or two people that you've helped, maybe coach, mentor, guide. Where's what are some of the lessons that you're teaching as you're going down this path with this positive servant mindset?

Real-World Impact Through Speaking

SPEAKER_01 10:22

Thank that's a great question. I appreciate it. We're we started a year ago, March of 2025. We're now in, as of this morning, we're in 59 countries and we're reaching out towards that 10,000 download uh number. So we're we are impacting people through technology, which I really suck at technology, but uh from all over the country and all over the world. And some of the feedback I'm getting is well, one uh it's an organization in Tennessee, it's the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Officers Association. And I had done a podcast on are you sick and tired of being tested? And I get a phone call from one of their board members going, hey, we would love you to come and bring that message to our uh statewide conference, which has I don't know, a thousand or so cops at it, and share that message because we're tired of being tested in the media and other places. So that was real exciting to be invited to share before a larger in-person audience, and that's where you build relationships, and that's what it's all about to begin with. And so that that that was a really touched me, and I've had a couple other people, one the warrior servant mind leader, warrior servant leader mindset I did for the Air Force, security forces, and I was there to try and impact their Article 15s and court martials because they were having a lot of them. I was on eight different bases at the invitation of a four-star general. And after one of the days that I did, and it was an eight-hour day, it wasn't the podcast, but it's on the warrior serving leader mindset, I got an evaluation that said this thank you so much for being here. You just gave me the tools to help save my marriage. So, what when I talk about the mindset, it's not just in going to work, whether it's in law enforcement or the corporate world or you know, the the you know, wherever you're at, yeah, home stay-at-home mom, stay-at-home dad, that mindset is so critical in everything you do.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

And I just love that. And so you're trying to get out and speak more, and you have this topic, and you're going through the the the dissection of what it means to be bigger than yourself.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Yeah, and I've written a couple books, Warrior Servant Leader, Life Behind a Badge, and that's that's kind of a fun read. You get to see kind of behind the scenes of at least my career, and and some funny things and some things not so funny. And then the book that that's had the most impact because it has a challenge at the end of every chapter, is the it's called The Warrior Servant Leader, Life Behind the Cross. And that's kind of my faith journey that I share. And then I challenge you to face the same kind of questions and and search for the same kind of answers that I've been through for the last 69 years.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

Well, I would I would look at it like this there's a lot of people out there that need help, coaching, mentoring, and guide, so that we just don't go through life doing the same thing every day. You know, think about the fact that when you have a job, you're 50 weeks a year at work, you have a couple weeks off and maybe a couple of holidays. That's your life. And to go home at five, six, seven at night, you're tired, so you don't do anything athletic, you don't do sports, you you you're not even worried about your meals, you go to the vending machine. When you travel, you don't know where to go because you've never been anywhere. If you want to do anything today, it's expensive, more than it was five years ago, 20% more. You have a lot of negativity in the news and in the press. I talk about it being in the financial service industry, that with all the negative propaganda, people are really kind of hurting themselves as they invest money or don't invest money. They don't know who to talk to because the world is divided at a dinner table. And I just think that the more we have these conversations and the more that we let people know we're available, right? So I'm available, whether it's through my email, LinkedIn, uh communicating. I'm on social media. I'm here to be able to help those that reach out and say, hey, Chad, I have a question. I want to talk, I want to read one of your books. I've written now four books, uh, one on networking, one on confidence, a parable because I'm a charity auctioneer, and then your financial dream house. And my goal and my story going back 20 some years is a journey to where I am today. And where I am today now is interviewing industry experts like yourself, saying the world is so negative, you are so positive, but you work at it. How do we take more people through that journey?

SPEAKER_01 15:38

That's great, great question and great reflections.

Coaching Community And Grief Recovery

SPEAKER_01 15:42

Statistically, it's out there. Science says we have about uh between 50 and 80,000 thoughts a day, and 80% of those thoughts are negative. So that's where we need to start, and that's where I needed to start is how how and what I was thinking. And you can control your thoughts, and you can control your responses and your attitudes and your behaviors, uh, but it takes intentional work. And it's best done in community, whether it's a coach or a mentor or in the faith community, if you have somebody that you can go to, you know, a priest, a rabbi, that we can't do this alone. Just like Christ could not redeem the world alone, he had 12 very close followers, and then look what those 12 have done 2,000, you know, over 2,000 years. So, yeah, that coaching and mentoring is extremely important. I do the same thing. I have uh I have a uh the obviously the podcast, and I have the coaching and the mentoring and the one-on-one free con 30-minute phone consultation. But here's the expectation I need people to understand. When when you reach out to somebody, don't reach out with the intention of they tell you what to do. Reach out with the intention of how do I develop the skill sets and the courage and the and the uh fortitude to find these answers over a period of time because it is a journey. I'm not the same person today that I was 10 years ago or even five years ago, because things happen. And you and I talked, you know, that's 11 years ago, our youngest son died serving overseas in the military. Completely radically impacted our life, and that required some you know significant intentional work on our part to get through that grieving process and to you know re-refine and and define joy and finding it again in our lives. And you can't do that by yourself. So you do you do need to have uh like a battle buddy. That's kind of what the military calls it. You know, and in police work, it's your partner who has your back in critical incidents and chaos. So yeah, I'm all open for that. You and I both, we we use the same calendar app, you know, that that people can jump on and schedule a 30-minute phone call and and get the right direction started. Because here's here's the bottom line. This is my this is my foundation that keeps me focused and makes it very, very simple in very, very chaotic times. How to stay focused is I always strive to do the right thing at the right time, the right way, and for the right reasons. And that's my roadmap when I face challenges and even opportunities. That, hey, what's the right thing to do? What's the right time to do it, the right way to do it, and what are the right reasons for doing it? And that keeps me grounded and focused.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

I I find that to be really insightful.

Mental Health Adversity And Reaching Out

SPEAKER_00 19:00

You you talk about your son 11 years ago passing away in the military and it being devastating, and and then you over I don't want to say you overcome it, but you have a way of being that's figured out how to accept it, where it's for the better, I guess, of life. And now I run a group where they they talk openly about adversity, but you know, the mental health that we're dealing with now in the country is is is I think it's at a place where it's just bad. And when we talk about mental health, by the way, it's not just mental health, it's that people don't want to be on the earth, that people give up, that the job situation is shifting and changing, people's incomes are changing, life is becoming more money while we have less money. The adversity of family dynamics, friendship dynamics are all shifting and changing. And you're saying that we have to go through this as a team, but I'm going to encourage those listening or watching this that you actually have reach out. Every community has someone that you can reach out to. They have organizations that are designed for this. And I talk openly about adversity too, because I think that when people live in a little bit of a bubble of just a couple people in their life, they don't realize that no matter how we look and what we do, we all have adversity. It looks really pretty on the outside. My life on Instagram looks like it's the greatest life that ever existed. But I still live a life and I still have stuff that shows up because just I shared a day or two ago, there's a guy with road rage, and I have to observe it because I'm the person getting yelled at. Not me the person I'm behind the person getting yelled at, and and I'm watching this and I'm starting to get on unnerved. I'm getting unnerved. Like, what am I gonna do? Right. And and and so so part of this whole leadership thing is to be able to learn how to be a good listener, to learn how to ask good questions, to be okay reaching out to people, to reach out to people on LinkedIn, which I know a lot of people don't use, but believe it or not, a lot of people do use it, to find people on social media, and I also know there's a lot of people that are addicted to watching YouTube. And so we're being watched, and and I want to put out there that we're speaking and communicating for this 30-minute podcast because we want to be able to share with you with passion and compassion that you're not alone. And not only you're not alone, but today could be the first day that you become great. So I shared with everyone, right in you, that in fourth grade I was my first classroom, remedial, through high school. And and I learned through mentors and guides how to overcome, how to learn. And then people planted seeds to become an entrepreneur, financial advisor. I failed at more stuff that I would that I succeeded at, but The failures, every single one of them, I would do again, help me get to where I am today. And I studied upwards of a year to take the license exams. I took every test twice because I learned that I take every test twice because 68 is not a pass, but a 72 is. And today, if you look behind me, I have these awards up here that like a weatherman that are because I've learned how to be in the top percentile of my industry because I'm I'm empathetic, I care, I communicate, I'm proactive, and I've learned how to know how to be an expert at what I do. And I would like to encourage everyone out there that it's never too late to want to become an expert, just like for yourself, even though you were a JED and a prosecutor, you then were able to become an officer and move up the ranks. And then today you're actually still practicing law and giving back to the community that way.

Leadership Service Ego And Listening

SPEAKER_01 22:59

Yeah, and I think the the big takeaway from what you're sharing is that leadership is about impacting and influencing other people. It it's actually it's not about you. If you're if you want to be a leader so you can get all the accolades and and all the medals and all the you know pats on the back and everything, you're you're you're not a leader. If you're doing it for yourself, if you're doing it to serve and put the wants and needs of others before your own, to that other people's success is more important than your own success. And I can still get the accolades and the that attaboys and and the thank yous, but I realized that the great book by Ryan Holliday, ego is the enemy. And that's one of the hardest things. Uh yeah, literally being full-blooded Irish. I took the 23andMe because my one of my daughters insisted because she did it. She goes, Oh, Dad, I got all these different. I go, Well, you got that from your mom. I'm I'm 100% Irish. And she goes, Nobody's 100%, nobody's 100% anything. So she I took it only because she bought the box of you know, the kit for me and my wife that each got a kit. And I I'd sent it in and it came back 100% Celtic, and they even narrowed it down to the exact county that I'm from, because I was born down in Dublin, but that's not where I'm from. I'm from another county. And and I showed it to my daughter, and I go, see, I'm 100% Irish. Now that has some downsides, and one of them is that I can't keep my mouth shut, especially when I see something that's not right happening. And the other thing is I have a very uh sarcastic sense of humor. And one of the things that being a cop taught me was to be a better listener and to listen not for with the intent to respond, but to listen with the intent to learn what is their problem, how can I help solve it? And not to simply be a law enforcer, but to be a problem solver. Now that didn't happen overnight, and and I failed a lot of times. I was in a lot of fights as a cop uh and some pretty significant uh critical incidents, but I learned as I was going through those experiences all the things that I now talk about in my writings on the podcast, in keynote speaking, and doing one-on-one mentoring or coaching with people. And so you're absolutely right. Yeah, I had a guest yesterday, in fact, I'm dropping the episode tomorrow because it's a tough love. We had this tough love conversation about being a man in today's society, uh and particularly in America, and that we don't know how to be men, manly men of God, that we're we are so isolated as men that most men in America, the vast majority, have less, and I statistically I don't, it's weird because they do the math. We have each of us have less than one very close male friend. And and because of that isolation, because of that confusion and fear of offending people, if we stand up for our values and our faith and our families as a as a man, the suicide rate amongst men is like four to five times higher than it is with women in the United States. So we have all this negativity going on, and we sit around drinking our little meme, you know, uh Kermit the Frog with the Lipton tea, taking a sip, going, Oh, it's none of my business, or I hate this saying, it is what it is, and we're surrendering our ability to take control of our safety, our security, our prosperity, and control of our lives. And that's that's what our podcast is about. That is what our coaching and mentoring is about, and and my keynote speaking is don't be afraid to like as you say, stand up and today's gonna be my first day. I'm gonna do something great. And that something great may be something as simple as telling your server at the restaurant, hey, I really appreciate how you took care of my me and my family today, because they never hear that, and they think that's great. And I think I agree. It's so simple, so

Where To Find Pat And Close

SPEAKER_01 27:59

simple.

SPEAKER_00 27:59

And on that note, how do we find you, Pat? I see that we have the email down below. Where else can we find you?

SPEAKER_01 28:06

Everything, Pat Welsh, is gonna be on the the Warrior Servant Leader Podcast.com. My books, everything, my calendar, everything's right there. One one stop shopping, the warrior servant leader podcast.com.

SPEAKER_00 28:20

Absolutely love it. I always love interacting with you. I think you're fantastic. I always have fun with it. And at Chad Co-financial Group, we're here interviewing great leaders and trying to bring content that helps you become better at whatever it is that you choose to become better at. Thank you. And until next time, here's our disclosure, and we'll see you soon.