Author Richard Hinkie featured on the talk show Briggs on Books [10:02-15:08]

an understanding of some other departments that are around that as well, so then you're basically getting out there to network and educate yourself about that. Absolutely, to use, I'm sort of a Star Wars nut, so Obi-Wan Kenobi, by the way, is retired in Sun City, Arizona, and he has hired me to be old-be Rick Kenoli, his Italian cousin, and I do public appearances for him, so, you know, I'm teasing, of course. But the idea is, if I am sort of Luke Skywalker, sort of a hero in my own area, right, yeah, wait a minute, you know, where's Obi-Wan, where's my coach, you know, where are these other people, you know, I gotta get along, so one of the other things is, and most people don't think about this, but almost every organization, nonprofit, or for-profit, belongs to some kind of state, regional, or national association, okay, well, I was in the energy business, excuse me, way back, so I got involved in the American Gas Association with other people like me in utilities from across the country, and ultimately that involvement, I learned more about my own company, and I learned about the industry, and so then I was more useful back at my own job, because I had kind of the bigger picture, so that's another tip, so to speak, and it's easy to find out what your company's connected to, usually on your website, a lot of employees never even go to their own company website. And you know, it is interesting because companies do have specific, I would call, civic outreach programs that are a very big part of what goes on in the internal, and that is important for people to have a great understanding, you know, these employees, you know, it's not just that one specific thing, get to know the broader picture, because you never know which direction you might be going in a career. Oh absolutely, yeah, I mean one time I was, I volunteered to help with Habitat for Humanity event in Minneapolis, and it was a golf tournament, and it really went well, and we had a lot of sponsors and what had you, so the president of the other company, not mine, happened to be having lunch with my president, and he said, you know, that Rick guy really did a great job at the convention, you know, we had blah, blah, blah, and my president's going, who? You know, so the point being, there are ways, you know, and I didn't do that on purpose, I did it, it was the right thing to do, but these things do pay off, and they are specifically addressed, you know, in the book, their options, the book's not trying to tell you to do anything, it's just these are things that work for others, so depending on where you are, maybe, some of these ideas will help you, so that's the answer. Absolutely, suggestions never hurt, I mean suggestions, ideas, they never hurt. One thing before we leave, I just wanted to share with the viewers, what I find very heartwarming is that the funds that you are receiving from the seven keys of a satisfying future, do not go to you directly, that you have a special fund, and I think the viewers would love to hear about that. Okay, well thank you for that, I mean it, our state, and I don't mean to be negative about Arizona, but it's not one of the better states for funding public education, and I live in a town that has the oldest continuous rodeo in America, so it's mixed between retirees of some success, and, you know, practical everyday hardworking people, right, so, but the high school doesn't have any advanced placement courses, so the young people can't get a head start on college, and for most of them four years of college is out of the question anyway financially. Okay, but some smart local folks have formed an organization that gathers in donations, and like the one I'm doing from the book, and those donations go to pay so the high school kids during the day can go to the community college. And what a great thing to do because truly, they can use those college credits when they go to a four-year institution, and they're one step ahead of the game, and it's so nice that you're providing those scholarships to the students who really need it most, because there are children who are just so extremely bright gifted, if you will, that need to have that accelerated type education, so that's wonderful that you were providing that for them. Well, we just had breakfast with about 200 of them, and one of the young women that was at our breakfast table, you know, said, hey, I'm going to Arizona State University as a junior from high school, and she said, no way, there's no way I would get there. And then ironically,