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Dave Olsen [00:00:00]:
Hi, this is Dave Olson, and when I’m not mountain biking, I’m listening to John Garrett on What’s Your “And”?.

John Garrett [00:00:16]:
Welcome to episode 681 of What’s Your “And”?. This is John Garrett and each Wednesday I interview a professional who, just like me, is known for a hobby or a passion or an interest outside of work. And to put it another way, it’s encouraging people to find their and the things above and beyond your technical skills, the things that actually differentiate you when you’re at work. It’s the answer to the question of who else are you beyond the job title. And if you like what the show’s about, be sure to check out the award-winning book. It’s on Amazon, Indigo, Barnes and Noble Bookshop, a few other websites. All the links are at www.WhatsYourAnd.com. The book goes more in-depth with the research behind why these outside-of-work passions are so crucial to your corporate culture.

John Garrett [00:00:55]:
And I can’t say how much it means that everyone’s reading it and writing such great reviews on Amazon and more importantly, changing the cultures where they work because of it. And if you want me to read it to you, that’s right, this voice reading the book, look for What’s Your “And”? on Audible or wherever you get your audiobooks. And please don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss any of the future episodes. I love sharing such interesting stories each and every week. And this week is no different with my guest, Dave Olson. He’s the founder and CEO at Nimbl out of Salt Lake City, Utah. And now he’s with me here today.

John Garrett [00:01:26]:
Dave, thanks so much for taking time to be with me on What’s Your “And”?!

Dave Olsen [00:01:28]:
Yeah, thanks for having me. I’ve been looking forward to this.

John Garrett [00:01:31]:
Yeah, this is going to be a blast. It’s, it’s cool that you’ve seen me speak at Bridging the Gap Conference and, and so you, you get the message. And I saw Your post on LinkedIn about your mountain biking and I was like, yeah, man, get on here, let’s do this. So this is going to be awesome. So 17 rapid-fire questions. Get to know Dave here. Favorite color?

Dave Olsen [00:01:51]:
I’d say blue. Both my high school and college were the blue and white cougars, so I’ll go with blue.

John Garrett [00:01:56]:
Oh, and cougars. Okay. All right, Even better. Yeah, there you go. How about a least favorite color?

Dave Olsen [00:02:00]:
I’d say red because my arrival in high school and in Utah is red.

John Garrett [00:02:07]:
Exactly. There you go. How about a favorite activity in gym class when you were a kid.

Dave Olsen [00:02:12]:
High jump. I loved high jump.

John Garrett [00:02:14]:
Really?

Dave Olsen [00:02:14]:
Wow.

John Garrett [00:02:15]:
Okay. That’s awesome. Yeah. I could not do that, so that’s great.

Dave Olsen [00:02:20]:
I’m not saying I did it well, but it was fun, right?

John Garrett [00:02:23]:
It was still fun. Yeah. That is cool. How about a favorite actor or an actress?

Dave Olsen [00:02:27]:
Oh, that’s a good question. I love the Bourne series, so I’ll say Matt Damon’s one of them.

John Garrett [00:02:31]:
That’s a great pick. Toilet paper roll. You go over or under?

Dave Olsen [00:02:34]:
I grew up under, but now I’m over my wife covered. To me.

John Garrett [00:02:40]:
You chose wisely. Probably on that one.

Dave Olsen [00:02:42]:
Exactly. Not that I had a choice, but.

John Garrett [00:02:44]:
Yeah, right. That’s the whole rest of your life. How about chocolate or vanilla?

Dave Olsen [00:02:48]:
Definitely chocolate.

John Garrett [00:02:49]:
Chocolate, yeah. Yeah. How about puzzles? Sudoku, Crossword? Jigsaw puzzle? I don’t know. Wordle? I say tax returns should be a puzzle, but I. Puzzle.

Dave Olsen [00:02:59]:
Yeah. I’d say just a good old fashioned thousand piece cardboard puzzle.

John Garrett [00:03:04]:
Yeah, the jigsaws. There you go. I like it. All right. Star wars or Star Trek?

Dave Olsen [00:03:10]:
Am I allowed to say neither?

John Garrett [00:03:11]:
You’re absolutely allowed to say neither. That totally works. Probably the Bourne series would be the series. I guess when it comes to some sort of trilogies or whatever.

Dave Olsen [00:03:19]:
I’ve never seen Star Trek. I probably saw Star wars the first time when I was about 30 and yeah, I just. I guess I didn’t grow up on it, so I didn’t. Didn’t quite get into it.

John Garrett [00:03:26]:
Right. Yeah, no, that works. Your computer, you go PC or Mac?

Dave Olsen [00:03:29]:
Definitely Mac.

John Garrett [00:03:30]:
Mac fancy. All right, I like it. How about a favorite animal? Any animal at all.

Dave Olsen [00:03:36]:
So when my kids are young, I told them I love monkeys and they haven’t let that down. So they’re always giving me. I’ve got monkeys all over, all over the place here. So I’ll go with monkey.

John Garrett [00:03:46]:
How can you not? I mean like, maybe we should get a pet monkey, everybody. Like, maybe we should just do this.

Dave Olsen [00:03:52]:
My kids would. Would love that.

John Garrett [00:03:54]:
Right? Exactly. Yeah. And then your wife, not so much. So that’s why we don’t have a pet monkey. Are you more talk or text?

Dave Olsen [00:04:01]:
Definitely text.

John Garrett [00:04:01]:
Text. Okay. All right. So this is going to be a weird podcast, everybody.

Dave Olsen [00:04:05]:
But I’m exercising my talk muscle here, so.

John Garrett [00:04:08]:
Right. I appreciate it. For the month. I love ice cream. You go ice cream in a cup or in a cone?

Dave Olsen [00:04:14]:
Definitely a waffle cone.

John Garrett [00:04:15]:
Waffle cone. All right.

Dave Olsen [00:04:16]:
The upgrade, preferably chocolate dipped.

John Garrett [00:04:18]:
Chocolate dipped even. Okay. All right. All right. How about a favorite animated character? It could be Disney or cartoon or whatever.

Dave Olsen [00:04:25]:
Oh, that’s a good question. Disney movies are big in my house. I’d say Moana is one of the. One of the more recent favorites. My. My kids and kids and I love that show.

John Garrett [00:04:34]:
Yeah, no, it’s good. It’s a good one, that’s for sure. You go balance sheet or income statement?

Dave Olsen [00:04:38]:
Balance sheet.

John Garrett [00:04:39]:
Balance sheet. Okay.

Dave Olsen [00:04:40]:
I like to know net worth.

John Garrett [00:04:42]:
There you go. All right. I just like to know that it balances. So then I did it. Right.

Dave Olsen [00:04:47]:
That works too.

John Garrett [00:04:48]:
But that’s probably not the right season, to be fair. Do you have a favorite number?

Dave Olsen [00:04:54]:
I’ll go with five. My wife and I have three kids, so we’re a family of five. And they’re all young adults now, so that could change over the next few years, but I’ll go with five for now.

John Garrett [00:05:02]:
Yeah, I like it. Okay. Pens or pencils?

Dave Olsen [00:05:05]:
Definitely pens.

John Garrett [00:05:06]:
Pens. There you go. And last one. The favorite thing you have or the favorite thing you own?

Dave Olsen [00:05:11]:
Oh, that’s probably a good segue. Mountain bike’s one of my favorite things.

John Garrett [00:05:14]:
Absolutely. That goes right into it. Totally. What kind of bike do you have? Your mountain bike?

Dave Olsen [00:05:19]:
Right now I have a Trek Top Fuel. I’ve gone through a few. A few different versions, but yeah, Trek Top Fuel. I think it’s a 2023 if I remember correctly.

John Garrett [00:05:26]:
Nice. Okay, so, yeah, so let’s talk mountain biking. Is it something you did as a kid or did you get into it later in life?

Dave Olsen [00:05:32]:
It’s not. It was later in life. I had a neighbor when I was going to BYU who was big in mountain biking. And, you know, BYU is right at the foot of the Wasash Mountains and incredible trails just right in our backyard. So he actually bought a bike to commute to my job because my wife and I just had one car and she had to commute to her job. So I bought a bike to ride a few miles to work, and he convinced me to take my Walmart bike out on the trails. And it didn’t hold up after the first. First, first ride.

Dave Olsen [00:05:59]:
So I upgraded and rest was history from there. Took a few years break. I moved away from Utah for about 10 years and went and moved back to Utah, got another bike and been loving it ever since.

John Garrett [00:06:08]:
And so what was that like to have, I guess the non mountain biking Dave versus, you know, the. The mountain biking Dave now?

Dave Olsen [00:06:16]:
Oh, the. The mountain biking Dave’s a lot happier, a lot more grounded. I guess it’s my. Kind of my release and my. My therapy and my practice for intensity, I’d say in general, I’m pretty, pretty chill, pretty, you know, quiet. Don’t talk a whole lot. But my, my intensity comes out when I’m, when I’m on the trail. So it’s a, it’s a good, A good release.

John Garrett [00:06:36]:
Yeah, it’s awesome. And it’s one of those things where we think it’s just, you know, a byproduct or a side thing or whatever, but then, you know, when it’s gone and then when it comes back, I feel like it. There’s a whipsaw where it’s. I needed this more than I thought.

Dave Olsen [00:06:50]:
Exactly. I didn’t realize what I was missing out on.

John Garrett [00:06:52]:
No. That’s incredible, man. That’s super cool. So do you have any stories that come to mind or rides that come to mind other than the first one on a Walmart bike? That’s pretty memorable right there.

Dave Olsen [00:07:02]:
Yeah. Yeah, clearly that stood out. It picked up the pieces and at least I was willing to go back to it. So that was an awesome start. I would say. I really got serious about it in 2019. I had a friend of mine who was big into bikes and he knew how to find good deals on good bikes. So he helped me find a nice bike in 2019 and he also got me into road biking at the same time.

Dave Olsen [00:07:21]:
So kind of had this, you know, for quite a few years. I’d kind of been aware of both and done dabbled a bit, but that’s when I really, really dove into it and he, he challenged me to do the Lodja race. I don’t know if you’ve heard of that, but it’s.

John Garrett [00:07:35]:
I haven’t. What is that?

Dave Olsen [00:07:36]:
L O T O J A so it’s Logan, Utah to Jackson, Wyoming.

John Garrett [00:07:41]:
Wow.

Dave Olsen [00:07:42]:
Yeah. So it’s a 200 mile road race. And so it worked out perfectly because it was fall of 2020 when the race was gonna happen, and I had plenty of time to train that year as, as, as the world shut down for the, the summer of 2020. So, yeah, so I, I rode a whole lot. Um, it was kind of my, my Covid therapy and as I working on getting back in shape and losing some weight, and that was just a good time to be out, out on the road a lot. So I trained all summer and then, yeah, In September of 2020, we. It was a friend of mine, a couple other friends as well, and we were. Did that race.

Dave Olsen [00:08:13]:
So, yeah, 2, 200 miles. It was a. Quite an accomplishment. Took us about 10, 10 and a half hours and wow.

John Garrett [00:08:20]:
Yeah, that’s, that’s wild. And I, I thought you were going to be like, I trained. And then because of COVID it didn’t happen. And I’d be like, no, like, you know, so that’s great, man. That’s, that’s incredible. I mean, that’s, I mean, when you start in one state and end in another, I don’t even care if it’s like Rhode island to Connecticut. Like, still, I’m like, what? Like, that’s amazing. 200 miles.

John Garrett [00:08:39]:
So that’s. Wow, that’s impressive.

Dave Olsen [00:08:41]:
You know, as you know, you’re kind of in the, in the, the Rocky Mountain area too. Just the, the scenery in that area is just incredible. So, yeah, it’s a great ride. That’s, that’s been part of my, my journey on a bike is, is training for, looking forward to those, those big adventures. And they’re really systems of training for life and business, like just to be able to attack something like that and prove I can do it. And the next year we challenge ourselves. This was. We went to mountain bike.

Dave Olsen [00:09:04]:
This time there’s a. I guess this is kind of halfway between or partway between you and I. And in Moab, Utah, there’s a. Do you know about the White Rin Trail?

John Garrett [00:09:12]:
Oh, I’ve heard of it. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

Dave Olsen [00:09:14]:
Yeah. So it’s, it’s a hundred mile kind of mountain, jeep road kind of mountain bike, jeep road kind of trail. And one of the big, big challenges out there is to do it in one day. So we got up early in the morning a year later. So it was September, October 2021. Yeah, I got up early and rode a hundred miles mountain on the trails in a day again. Took us about 10 hours and. Yeah, just another rewarding accomplishment.

John Garrett [00:09:35]:
Yeah, that’s awesome, man. Those are such great stories and like, things that, I mean, if people could see your face, I mean, you’re, you light up, you know, when you’re talking about this. You know, if I was like, hey, can you tell me your favorite, you know, Excel macro? It’s like, ah, well, you know, I’m not going to light up as much or maybe a little bit, but, you know, not that much, you know, and those are memories and all the great moments with friends. That sounds like, you know, that you were doing these things with, which is cool too. And that’s so powerful, man. That’s really, really cool. And I love how you said that. It’s, you know, you snuck it in there.

John Garrett [00:10:05]:
But go back to, you know, it was training for life and business. I assume then that there’s a skill set that comes from the road bike and the mountain bike that translates to work accidentally. You know, that’s not why you do it. But I’m sure that there’s some sort of skills that, that you bring to, to your work.

Dave Olsen [00:10:22]:
For sure. Yeah. A lot, a lot of different things I could talk about there. One is just the, you know, as I’m picturing myself like part of my training, I train outside as much as I can, but being in Utah, sometimes the weather’s not, doesn’t cooperate. And so I’ve got an indoor train, an indoor trainer. It, it’s very structured so you can do, you know, certain intervals at certain intensities. And so I did a lot of my kind of my high intensity training in that way and I use a program called Trainer Road. And somehow they know how to push you to your limit but still make it possible to finish.

Dave Olsen [00:10:53]:
And so, you know, hour, hour and a half ride. I know that once I get to that, you know, that 55 minute mark or that one 25 mark, like I’m dying, like I don’t think there’s any way I can possibly finish. And somehow it’s, it’s, it’s. I don’t know if it’s psychological or if it’s just so SoHo dialed in that I go, you know, beyond what I, what I think I could possibly do. And so I often think about that when I’m in those moments. It’s like when we’re in a business moment, it’s not necessarily the physical intensity, but it’s the, the mental intensity of the challenge. It’s like I don’t know how to handle the situation, how am I going to get through it? And you know, somehow, somehow I know that I can make it through. So I feel like those intense moments are training for those challenging moments.

Dave Olsen [00:11:32]:
Whether it be a, you know, challenging discussion at work or a fire that comes up, or even in a family personal situation, if you have kind of a high stakes situation with kids or something like that, it gives me the confidence, yeah, if I can handle this intense ride, I can handle this situation.

John Garrett [00:11:48]:
No, I mean, it’s absolutely true. It’s a muscle that you’re exercising outside of work and then, you know, when you need to use it at work, it’s like, oh yeah, I got this, you know, type of thing. And I would think as a non cyclist that 99% of it’s mental. I would think, you know, when it comes to that, you know, you hear 200 miles, it’s like, oh, man, you know, that’s really. No, but if you embrace the challenge, if you look at it a different way and if you train up for it, then, you know, I, I think it is a mindset thing for. It’s got, it’s gotta be a lot of it.

Dave Olsen [00:12:18]:
Oh, for sure. I heard this, and this is definitely not scientific, but I think the lesson is, is accurate. That, and I can’t remember even where I heard this from, but in training, in physical training, when you think you’re done, your brain tells you like, time to quit. You can’t, you can’t make it. You’re really only about 40% of the way. There’s. You still have a lot. Your, Your brain’s keeping a whole lot in reserve for your survival, but there’s really, if you dig deep, there’s a lot left.

Dave Olsen [00:12:41]:
So that, that’s really guided me in my, in my training, but also in my, you know, business when I think I can’t. Can’t go any further. Funny story. When my, My daughters, they did mountain bike racing for their, for their high school and my. One of my daughters was struggling with training and just didn’t think she could do it. And I told her that, I told her that story or that stat. Like, yeah, if you, if you’re brainstorming, you’re done. You still.

Dave Olsen [00:13:00]:
That’s. You’re only 40% of the way. And I kind of said it kind of offhand, I didn’t really think it would sink in. But the. She had written on her, on her leg with, with a Sharpie. 40%.

John Garrett [00:13:10]:
Wow.

Dave Olsen [00:13:11]:
She said for the rest of her career of, of racing, that went through her mind like, yeah, 40%, I’m only 40%. I can, I can keep going. And so, and then that’s also translated to other areas of her life too.

John Garrett [00:13:21]:
So it’s so cool how, you know, these ands we do because it’s things that we can’t not do, you know, it’s just part of who we are really. You know, and then the work that we do is, is just the work that we do. That’s not really who we are. It’s what we do. So we get money so we can go buy cool bikes and go do mountain biking things like that’s what it is. And so it’s so neat to hear how it just magnifies all the other areas of our life because it’s at the core of who we are, you know, so of course, everything else gets Better because it touches everything, you know, it’s at the center of you.

Dave Olsen [00:13:57]:
Yeah, you mentioned me lighting up when I talk about mountain biking and I kind of feel that same effect when you know, I in a ride and I’m really enjoying it. But when I come back to work the, the next day or later that day or whatever, I feel like I’ve lit up about work, like I feel refreshed. I feel like I’m ready to tackle this. And so I, I feel like I’m a much better and I show up to my family. I just, I show up much better when I’ve taken that time. So it’s really not, you know, it’s easy to say that I go out on a few hour bike ride and you know, wasted that time. I, I could have got further ahead in work or I could have spent time with my family or things like that. But you know, it’s just really clear to me that I show up as a much better business leader.

Dave Olsen [00:14:30]:
I show up as a better husband and father when I’ve, when I’ve had that time to refresh and reset.

John Garrett [00:14:35]:
Yeah, no, I mean that’s exactly it. I mean you’re there in body but you’re not fully there. You know, the energy isn’t there. And yeah, I mean that’s, that’s so cool that you’re able to, to recognize that and realize that. And I mean is this something that you talk about at work or you have over your career and you know, you come across colleagues or clients that might accidentally also be into bikes?

Dave Olsen [00:14:57]:
Actually the guy who found me the bike in 2019, we actually hired as our first sales leader and about a year, about a year later so that to a close relationship there also part of our culture in Nimbl. So we’re, we’re, you know, I’m based in Utah, but we’re a remote company across the US and the Philippines. But part of our people experience that we’ve defined is we strive to find alignment between the company needs and individual goals and pursuits. And so just ingrained in our culture that yeah, we, we work hard, we perform well, we have a business mission to, to fulfill on, but we want to do it in a way that also fulfills on individual needs, family situations, hobbies, whatever their end is. So we build that right into our, right into our culture and in our people experience.

John Garrett [00:15:40]:
This is awesome to hear. Man, that’s so great. And I mean how does that play out? Is it, is it like goal setting? Like people have outside of work goals that they that they share or how does this look like?

Dave Olsen [00:15:51]:
Yeah, that’s part of it. We. We’re also intentional about not kind of infringing on that personal situation. Like people don’t want to bring it up or don’t talk about it. That’s fine. It’s not a requirement. But we want to create that space for, you know, to be. Have that be discussion.

Dave Olsen [00:16:06]:
Part of what we do is we have career plans for our team. Each one, each one of our team members has a documented career plan. Like, what. Where do I want to go in my career, my role? It’s also supposed to include personal goals as well. Like, how can this career plan also fulfill on my personal goals, whether it be, again, family situation, hobbies, health, whatever that might be. And again, that part isn’t necessarily required, but it’s, you know, encouraged part to make sure that we are taking into account the whole holistic person and not just. Not just who they are at work.

John Garrett [00:16:33]:
And how important is that, do you think? I mean, you know, we’ve all worked at places where that wasn’t the case, you know, and so, you know, how important is it that you look at a whole person as, you know, a leader where it’s, well, you know, we got to be getting numbers, we got to be, you know, meeting our deadlines. We got to all those things. Like, how is it that you’re able to see it a little bit differently?

Dave Olsen [00:16:56]:
Yeah, I mean, I think that’s. It goes back to why I started the company in the first place. I wanted flexibility. I didn’t want to be locked into a certain, you know, certain schedule or a certain. Just commuting a long ways. That’s why I built a remote company so I have to commute. I really built the company around the life that I wanted to create for myself and been looking to recruit people who think in a similar way. So it’s.

Dave Olsen [00:17:15]:
It’s. From the time the company was just me, it’s. It’s been who I. The company I intended to build. So. And I wouldn’t say we’re perfect at it or, you know, all that, but I just don’t know how you can do it in any other way other than take into account that, you know, work being just. Just a part of somebody’s life. It just doesn’t make sense to.

Dave Olsen [00:17:32]:
And it wouldn’t be. Be pretty empty to me to have a really successful, profitable business where the people aren’t. Don’t feel like they can be the. They’re the whole person they want to be. While they’re doing it.

John Garrett [00:17:41]:
And I mean I, I would think that they’re not delivering their best work if they’re not living their best life, you know, and, and yeah, it’s so wild how so many, you know, business minds are, are their goals, are so short sighted where, you know, it’s like, oh, well, we have to, you know, be profitable. And it’s like, well, if you go past that and if you make sure your people are living their best life, then you’re going to have to be profitable. I promise it’ll happen. You know, like you’ll have to pass go, you’ll have to collect $200. It’ll, it’ll be good. But they stop at this first goal instead of, you know, seeing that, that further one and then good things just happen.

Dave Olsen [00:18:20]:
Yeah, I feel like we’re able to recruit the best of best of people because they see that the role they have is much more than the money that they, we’re not, we’re not competing on money. Like yeah, we can, we have to provide a fair salary and we want to do that, but it’s not going to be the whole picture. We’re not going to compete against another company that provides a horrible lifestyle but pays a whole lot. Like over and over again people tell us that yeah, money is a necessary hygiene factor, but it’s not going to make the difference. As long as I’m making enough and it’s fair, then I’d much rather have the flexibility and the life, the lifestyle than maximize what I could make. And then when people are living like that, they’re going to, like you said, they’re going to be a lot happier, they could perform a lot better, they’re going to stick around a lot longer. Turnover is expensive. So yeah, part of the long term view is having people around for, for a long time.

John Garrett [00:19:02]:
And I mean, and like you said, it’s the reason why you started the business and it’s just, it’s just good, it’s good karma, it’s good everything, you know, it’s just good stewards of everything, all the things. So, you know, that’s, that’s so cool to hear, man. And, and was this something that, that you shared your hands? Like even when you, before you had Nimbl, before you had your own company, did you feel like sharing or did you feel like I better not because people don’t care or people are going to judge me or who knows what.

Dave Olsen [00:19:27]:
Probably say it’s been a journey for myself, you know, when it was just me, I Don’t know that I really talked about it much with clients or with people I worked with. And even early on in building the company, I, I guess I was intentional about building this into the culture, but I was still felt this little kind of guilt or self consciousness tugging at me where I didn’t want to. Like, if I talked about going out on a long bike ride, like, are people going to think? Like, are you paying attention to the business? Are you working? Like, what’s going on here? Even my clients. You hear that? It’s like, yeah. Am I, you know, paying you too much? Yeah, you’re able to take the time and able to do that. So there’s, there’s that little bit tugging at me, but I think, you know, as I’ve matured and grown and seen the benefit of it, I think it’s, it’s just kind of gone away. It’s just, it’s just part of life. Like, you know, in any team meeting we have, we start with about five minutes of the segue for the, from the, the EOS structure for those who are familiar with it.

John Garrett [00:20:17]:
Oh, right. And yeah.

Dave Olsen [00:20:19]:
Just to remind each other that we’re humans and that we have lives outside of work. And what do you do on the weekend? What’s. What’s going on? Your family. And it’s nice to have that catch up and that banter before to. Yeah. Just to make it okay to not be all business.

John Garrett [00:20:32]:
Yeah. And did you ever have a client say anything by chance or was this 99.9% in your head or 100%? I guess?

Dave Olsen [00:20:39]:
Yeah, yeah, 100 in my head. As long as they’re getting what they promised and I’m responsive, then, yeah. Why do they care? What else say to you?

John Garrett [00:20:45]:
Yeah. I’d almost be disappointed if you didn’t have something. I’d be like, well, come on, man, like, what, am I giving you too much work? Calm down. You’re going to, like, peter out on me. You got to stick around.

Dave Olsen [00:20:57]:
Or this. Nobody wants to work with a boring robot either. So that’s part of the.

John Garrett [00:21:00]:
Totally. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, and you’re good at your job and you know what you’re doing, but there’s other parts to who you are. And it’s so cool that you realize that, but then you realize it for the people around you, so then they feel safe and secure and that they know, oh, this is real. And you’re living it by example as well, which is really cool. And so do you have words of encouragement to anyone listening that that has an and but thinks that no one cares because it has nothing to do with my job.

Dave Olsen [00:21:29]:
Yeah, I’d say, I mean if you’re working with the right people, they’re going to care. If they really don’t care, then it’s good to discover that early on so you can find the.

John Garrett [00:21:38]:
Maybe during the interview process. Then I don’t even have to start with you.

Dave Olsen [00:21:42]:
Exactly, exactly. But yeah, I think it’s easy to forget and it sounds obvious, but we’re just, we’re all human. We all have lives, we all have more than just work. We all have insecurities and fears and joys and things we look at forward to is we’re just all human. And I think the more we can, more we can be open about that, the more comfortable and happy everybody’s going to be around us.

John Garrett [00:22:00]:
No, I love that. That’s, that’s absolutely perfect. And you’re so right. I mean you’re, you’re a human who does accounting or you’re a human who does engineering. You know, you’re not an engineer, you’re a human being that does that for a little bit and then you take that outfit off and you put on, you know, another thing, you know, and you know, the mountain biking or whatever, don’t allow it to consume all of who you are.

Dave Olsen [00:22:23]:
Yeah, I think it’s, it’s so helpful for long term identity as well because professions are going to change. You can change professions, retire, sell a company. I mean there’s all kinds of things that can change over a career and when we get too locked in on that identity, then it can really leave yourself empty. Like, you know, there’s a lot of data around, you know, health declines as people retire because they, their identity so wrapped up in their work that they no longer have that. Then you know, what else is there to live for? And I think the more we can become that well rounded person and I would say even like as a biker too, if I just, you know, identified as a biker and that was, you know, the most important thing in my life and I got injured or for some reason I couldn’t bike anymore than that, that could throw my identity off either. And so I love mountain biking and I love working, I love my family. It’s all these, all these dimensions to my life are important to develop and yeah, it just doesn’t work to, to leave any of those important areas out.

John Garrett [00:23:15]:
No, it’s so true. I mean people I become friends with that were professional athletes, when they leave, it’s, I Mean, that’s a huge drop because you’ve been. You’re doing that since you were five, you know, type of thing, or stay at home, parents, then when their kid goes away to college, their identity is gone, you know, and so it’s. It’s so many other people that I never even thought of, you know, when I wrote the book or when the message, you know, came through me. And so it’s like, all right, this is really impactful. And so it’s. It’s awesome to hear that, you know, at a place like, Nimbl people can be all of these things, and that’s encouraged. So that’s so cool, man.

John Garrett [00:23:53]:
Well, I feel like it’s only right since I peppered you with questions at the beginning that I turn the tables. We make this the Dave Olson podcast and I’m all yours as your first guest. I booked myself, so thanks for having me on. But, yeah, whatever you got, man. I’m in the hot seat.

Dave Olsen [00:24:09]:
Yeah. What’s the most unique and that you’ve come across as you’ve talked to so many people?

John Garrett [00:24:15]:
It’s funny because people ask these questions and, you know, like, what’s your favorite? What’s the most? And it’s like, who’s your favorite kid? And, you know, maybe you have one, I don’t know. But like, you know, but it’s. They’re all. They’re all awesome in their own way. I had just recently a. A Zen priest, like, as an aunt. I had, you know, like stained glass. That’s kind of a unique one.

John Garrett [00:24:38]:
Like, ones that have been sort of like one off, you know, type of thing. I had a guy that does business development for a tech company, and he started in large farm animal sanctuary. He has like hundreds of animals that are like rescues, basically. And so those are all pretty unique. Where. I don’t know, we’re going to have another one of those, you know, on the show. But. But all of them are awesome, you know, that being said, they’re all cool to hear because when you’re talking about it, you light up, you know, like, I want.

John Garrett [00:25:11]:
Yeah, I want to hear more about this, you know, and even if I don’t know what it is or there’s no way I’m riding 200 miles on a bike, but hearing you talk about it, I will listen to that all. All day, you know, probably for ten and a half hours. So maybe I could have done the ride. But. So, yeah, so it is. It is fun when you come across unique ones, but even regular ones, you know, that that other people also do are still fun too, I guess.

Dave Olsen [00:25:37]:
Along that theme, if you had multiple lives, what are some other ends that you would. You would want to take up?

John Garrett [00:25:42]:
Gosh, yeah. I mean, I’d love to. Like, private pilot’s license. When I was 16, I did a lesson and, you know, flew a Cessna for, you know, a bit and all that. And that was super cool. But, yeah, I mean, that’s expensive and we. We didn’t have that. Yeah.

John Garrett [00:26:00]:
Kind of resources. So it was just kind of like, I just decided, yeah, that’s probably not. Not great. But, you know, that would be still cool. You know, go something like that or, you know, it’s. It’s basically just like living life, you know, like, we’re here for a really short time when we think about it. So go live it. I mean, what are you doing? You know, and.

John Garrett [00:26:21]:
And we get so wrapped up in upside down priorities that, you know, the world spins us around and makes us dizzy and then we forget what we’re doing. And so it’s, you know, stuff like that. Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, I’ve done the skydiving. That was cool. Scuba diving, I’ve done. Yeah, maybe more of that. I mean, why not? You know, those are.

John Garrett [00:26:39]:
Those are cool. I guess if I had multiple lives, maybe I would use one of them on a running or a biking kind of a thing because, you know, like, it’s gonna be a short one, so, like, you go, go, go ride it out. But yeah, because, I mean, it’s just, you know, getting out in nature and, you know, seeing. Seeing the world, you know, type of stuff. So. Yeah, I don’t even know if I answered.

Dave Olsen [00:27:01]:
Yeah, but maybe I heard a few. A few things in there, like a private pilot’s license. That’s. That’s one that resonates with me. I’d love to do that in a. Maybe in a different life, but. What’s the favorite place you’ve traveled to?

John Garrett [00:27:12]:
Oh, man. Yeah, that’s a trick question because I’ve been fortunate to go to a lot, but probably Cape Town, South Africa, has been one of my favorite places because it’s. It’s such a hodgepodge of a variety of things, you know, I mean, you have the residual effects of apartheid, but then because of that there’s an infrastructure and a grid that, you know, European influence, but then, you know, nature. And you want some monkeys, go down there, like Cape of Good Hope. They’re running around all over the place. And, you know, there’s wine country nearby and, like, yeah, it’s just a really cool mix of, you know, food and music and culture and. Yeah, it’s deep. Yeah.

John Garrett [00:27:55]:
So that’s probably one of my favorite places that I’ve been. If I had to pick one.

Dave Olsen [00:27:59]:
Nice. I’ll have to add that one to my list. I haven’t.

John Garrett [00:28:01]:
Yeah, it’s. I mean, you really got to want to go because it’s far, but it’s worth it. I promise, if you get there, it’s worth it. That’s for sure. Well, I appreciate it, Dave. Thank you so much for being a part of What’s Your “”And”?. And, yeah. For creating Nimbl and allowing, you know, people there to be humans that do the work.

John Garrett [00:28:19]:
So thank you so much for being a part of this.

Dave Olsen [00:28:21]:
Yeah, thanks for having me on. Yeah.

John Garrett [00:28:26]:
And everybody listening, if you want to see some pictures of Dave on his bike or connect with him on social media, be sure to go, go to www.WhatsYourAnd.com all the links are there. And while you’re on the page, please click that big button. Do the anonymous research survey about corporate culture, and don’t forget to read the book. So thanks again for subscribing on Apple podcasts or whatever app you use and for sharing this with your friends so they get the message that we’re all trying to spread that who you are is so much more than what you do.