The Power of Tenure in Your Career and Company with Rob Diplock

Rob reflects on how workplace trends have shifted, whether long-term careers still offer the same benefits, and what companies gain—and risk losing—with employee retention. He closes with insights and wisdom for people considering a long-term career with their current organization, highlighting how to grow, stay fulfilled, and make a lasting impact.

 

Visit Kumon to learn more about they work they do and explore Rob's book recommendations:

 

00:00 - Show intro
00:33 - Welcoming Rob
01:06 - Why have you stayed so long with one company?
02:35 - Japanese company/culture
04:04 - Bart lists off stats about employee retention
05:40 - The pros and cons of staying in the same organization
07:33 - Forge lasting relationships
08:14 - Bringing your authentic self to work 
08:44 - New roles and titles come slower
09:27 - The longer you stay, the more important growth becomes 
10:10 - Advantages for the company with retention
12:21 - A team of company experts
12:46 - Breaking down silos
13:36 - Common shared experience and alignment
14:55 - Bart talks about his experiences on retention
16:17 - People stay by default...
17:15 - The COVID example
18:49 - Slow-moving, conservative culture
19:02 - A new culture of innovation
22:29 - Advice for people mid-career
24:51 - Focus on what you're great at, etc. 
25:19 - Advice on dealing with high turnover
26:09 - What pushes employees and what doesn’t pull them in?
27:17 - Mission-driven businesses
28:22 - Can't go wrong focusing on the mission 
29:02 - Book recommendations from Rob
30:43 - Will you stay with Kumon till you retire?
33:29 - Important to be growing yourself
33:57 - Thank yous
34:11 - Outro

 

Show Transcript 

Rob Diplock: The longer you stay with an organization, the more important it is for you to have self-advocacy. Because when you're moving roles between companies, I think there's built into the hiring process. There's an opportunity to advocate for yourself. But when you're sticking around with the company for a long time, you're more likely to need to have some self-advocacy there. Of course, on the flip side, as an organization, if you want to cultivate long-term talent, you want to think about how to make it easy for people to advocate for themselves.

Bart Egnal: Welcome to the Inspire Podcast, where we examine what it takes to intentionally inspire. I'm your host, Bart Egnal, president and CEO of The Humphrey Group. And if you've ever asked yourself how can you develop an authentic leadership presence, or how can you tell stories that have people hanging off every word, well, then this podcast is for you. And it's not just for executives. This is a podcast for anyone who wants to influence and inspire others in their work, but also in their life. So my guest on today's episode of the Inspire podcast is Rob Diplock. And, Rob, it's a big title for a big job. Rob is Senior Vice President of Office of the CEO and Materials Development for Kuman North America. And if you don't know Kumon, if you're a parent who's serious about your kid's scholastic development, you probably will use Kuman at some point. Kumon has 25, more than 25,000 locations around the world, and it is the number six for franchise numbers in the world behind Rob. Who do you trail? Only a few small companies people may have heard of.

Rob Diplock: We're still chasing, you know, like McDonald's, 711, subway, KFC. But we'll get there one day.

Bart Egnal: Well, one day, the day when instead of eating, you know, high calorie dense, processed food, we're improving our brains and minds. You will have won. So Rob joins me from Toronto. Welcome to the Inspire podcast.

Rob Diplock: Thank you, Bart. Great to be here.

Bart Egnal: Yeah, great. Great to have you. And, when we were preparing for this, we had a great conversation where I think we realized something very unique about you. And it's particularly unique in today's day and age, which is that you're really a lifer. you've been at Kumon quite a while. How long have you been at Kumon? And in one sentence, why have you stayed so long?

Rob Diplock: So it will be 16 years and a little bit more than a month. I started Kumon one week after I got married. They wanted me to start one day after I got married, but I, negotiated the extra week. So that means I never forget one or the other. They kind of reinforce each other.

Bart Egnal: And you're still happily married, and you're still happily at Kuman. So you're two for two.

Rob Diplock: Two for two. One sentence. I would say that I'm very aligned with the mission of the company, and I feel like I can continue to make an impact on us achieving that mission, and that's why I'm still there.

Bart Egnal: And I think that's. That's really at the heart of what we're going to talk about. I mean, I think, you know, I've had a lot of guests on the pod in the last couple of years where we've talked about how your journey is actually quite antithetical to where people seem to be taking their careers. People are increasingly willing to switch careers. They often feel they have to move to move up. They feel that, hey, I got to get a job somewhere else to show the value. And the concept of employment for life has seemed to become an anachronism. I thought it would be really worthwhile to have you on to talk about your journey and also talk about Kumon, because I know you're not unique in Kumon, that the leadership in Kumon, and maybe you could just speak a bit about that leadership in Kumon, is also quite tenured. Is that fair to say?

Rob Diplock: Yeah, very tenured. I mean, we come by it honestly. we're a Japanese organization for over 60 years. As an organization, we were founded in 1958. And as you may know, the concept of a job for life in Japan is kind of the standard, the common standard there. It is changing and evolving somewhat, with the times, but that's the culture that we imported, as we expanded globally. So there's kind of a natural connection to that. And I think, as well, when you're aligned with our m mission and you're focused on working with children and supporting their growth and development, you just tend to get a lot of nice people, a lot of really kind, caring people, and so you tend to really like the people you work with, and that can make something really sticky. But, yeah, our leadership around the world, including in North America, is very much born and raised in Kumon. I was at, one of our, executive team meetings, our in-person executive team meeting in New Jersey in August, and I think there are probably around 40 or 45 of us there, approximately. And I believe there were two. I think two people who weren't born and raised in Kumon and came in more mid-career. So what are we looking at? 5%, right. 95% of the team is kind of born and raised in Kumon and has a very significant history with the company, kind of starting from the bottom.

Bart Egnal: Which is really remarkable. I’m just pulling some statistics here from the Bureau of Labor. This is in the US, but I’m sure it’s the same in Canada. As of this year, the median tenure for employees was 4.2 years and that's actually down. It was two years ago, it was 4.3 years. And that's for men and for women it's 3.6 years. So your experience is not only rare, and Kumon as a company is very rare. And so that's why I wanted to have you on, because I think for people listening, first of all, it's fascinating for people to understand what has led you to have this career and what could they take away from it. You know, second, we tackle, we can tackle, what are the pros and cons of longevity? I mean, and there are both, and I think you, you're uniquely positioned to talk about this. And then third, you know, for people listening who are leaving, how should they think in this day and age about longevity? Should it be pursuit? Should they aim to have, you know, this, this kind of lifetime employment? How should they lead long-tenured employees? And I think it's just a topic we haven't delved into, but I think one that's very relevant. If you were giving advice to someone early career, who's thinking about, hey, I might want to stay and have a long career in one company, what would you say the biggest pros? And let's assume that they follow the path of you, which is they remain connected to the mission and they continue to have opportunities to advance that mission that match their ambitions and capabilities. What are the pros of a career spent predominantly with one organization and what are the cons?

Rob Diplock: So I think one significant pro is that as you go through life, there are ups and there are downs, and I've had a number of times where I've been able to support colleagues who are going through challenges or just going through really happy times. They've welcomed a new member into their family. And the longer you stay with a company, I think the easier it is for the company to support you as you go through those ups and downs, because, you know, people can't always be giving 100%. Sometimes it's going to be a little bit lower, and sometimes it's going to be higher. But when you're with a company for a long time and you have that corporate culture, it's easier to get that kind of support and realize that you can't bring your A game every day, but sometimes you're really going to knock it out, the arc for them. And then, when you need to dial it back a little bit, they'll be there to support you in that. So I think that's a really important opportunity.

Bart Egnal: You kind of build up political capital that you can cash in when you need it.

Rob Diplock: Yeah, for sure. I also think connected to that is you forge lasting relationships with your colleagues. And actually, there's. I actually have very few colleagues that I socialize with outside of work. But in work, I feel like I have so many, let's call them friends. I have so many friends. You know, in work, so many people that I just love working with. So, you know, we're not necessarily going out after work and getting a beer, but I love talking to them. You know, I love collaborating with them. I love working with them. I love seeing how their brain works. And when you get to know people for a long time, you just, you can really develop a nice working rhythm with them and get to know the real person. And I think there's, there's a lot of value at that, and it allows you, it's more likely that you can bring your, your authentic self to work. And, I think that's even more important for a lot of people right now to really feel like they can bring their true selves to work. And I think the longer you're with an organization, the more likely that is to be true.

Bart Egnal: Okay, so those are two great pros. Now, a couple of the cons.

Rob Diplock: Okay. So especially in what I'd say are kind of flat organizations. But even in organizations with a fair degree of hierarchy, it's likely that new roles and new titles and formal responsibilities are going to be slower coming. So you have to have patience. A lot of people trade up through the hierarchies by moving jobs. and it's harder to do that when you're within one company. Even within my organization, we have expectations that if you're looking at an internal transfer, we want you to be in your current position for at least two years as a minimum, as we're trying to develop these kind of company experts. And so, that can be looked at as a limiting factor. I was reflecting, before this talk, and I think the longer you stay with an organization, the more important it is for you to have self-advocacy because when you're moving roles between companies, I think there's built into the hiring process. There's an opportunity to advocate for yourself.

Bart Egnal: Yes.

Rob Diplock: But when you're sticking around with the company for a long time, you're more likely to need to have some self-advocacy there. Of course, on the flip side, as an organization, if you want to cultivate long term talent, you want to think about how to make it easy for people to advocate for themselves. But I think that's an important thing. And the third part, these go together, is it's easy to become too comfortable. And then if you become too comfortable, you could become stagnant. And then if you can become stagnant, then you might end up being, you know, frustrated. So, on the flip side of that, you really need to pursue your own potential. And I don't mean that, like, the company's not supporting you, but, you know, it's just, it's easy to get complacent. And so if you're going to stick within one company for a long time, you have to challenge yourself. To find those outside opportunities, or development opportunities, and bring them into the company. Or on the other hand, make sure you're putting your hand up all the time to try to make an impact on your own company. Kind of relating back to what I said before, but you have to do the job before you get the job. To find the job you want to do and then do, do those things.

Bart Egnal: I think it's a great point on the advocacy. I mean, you know, people do. And the need to, to do to really drive it yourself, because too often people feel I have to leave to be recognized because they do get comfortable. The flip side of that political capital and that you're trusted is that you don't advocate hard for yourself. And sometimes you do have to go. But sometimes I think you're right. More advocacy, more effort could get you to the next position internally. Great points. Okay, so let's look at the company. Obviously, you're a senior leader at Kumon. You've worked with this, and you work closely with the senior leadership. So there, there are great advantages, like holding on to you for all your career, for companies that can have this kind of tenure and this culture. I mean, it's really culture that creates tenure. If you had to summarize a few of them, like, and let's just talk, Kumon, what would be some overall benefits of creating a culture of tenure in your company.

Rob Diplock: So one significant benefit that I would highlight is you create a team of company experts. I'll just use myself as an example, but there are many people like me in the organization. So I was able to operate a center, I was able to directly consult with our franchisees, I was able to work on the branding side of things and think about how we are rolling out new marketing campaigns, how are we dealing with physical things like signage, and then going into the training aspect of things and thinking from a global perspective. You start to identify potential problems and potential solutions that are kind of, let's say, cross-functional, use a trendy term. So like, like any company, It's easy for us to become siloed, right? We have our different teams in different departments and having more company experts, both from a relationship perspective and from a pure knowledge perspective, just helps to naturally break down those silos. I was in a meeting the other day with another senior executive who's leading our branding team right now in addition to other departments. We were talking about how our associates are supporting our franchisees and what we can do on the backend to provide them with the analysis tools that they need. And she’s able to draw on her previous experience leading directly in the field and leading directly our associates who were consulting and saying, well, when I was doing this just a few years ago, these were the pros, but these were the challenges. Are you still experiencing these challenges and do we need to do more to solve them? If she didn’t have that experience, she could’ve asked questions, but that visceral experience of yes, this worked really well, or no, that was really frustrating, makes such a difference in terms of solving problems and coming up with solutions within the company. So, for me, I think that's one of the most significant benefits that we realize from developing long-tenured employees.

Bart Egnal: Yeah. And it is, it's almost like a team of generalists but who also have specialization. It's the kind of combination of both.

Rob Diplock: Exactly, yes.

Bart Egnal: What would be another benefit that you've observed?

Rob Diplock: I think having that common shared experience makes it more likely that we're aligned almost on an emotional level towards what we're aiming for. So we have a, you're more likely to be sitting in a meeting with people who are all at the end of the day desiring the same thing, and they're not thinking short term.

Bart Egnal: Right.

Rob Diplock: And I think that makes it easier to make decisions. Like, we all know that our decisions ultimately are focused on what's best for the student, and if we maybe come up with one level, what's best for the customer, and then what's, what's best for our franchisees. But keeping people around for a long time really helps to inculcate that culture. You don't have to constantly redefine it for new associates. You can build up that culture and keep it strong, which has a flip side I can comment on afterwards. But I think there's a significant strength that we can lean on in that, especially in times of challenge.

Bart Egnal: Okay, now the flip side. The flip side is before everyone says, my gosh, we need to keep our employees forever. Never let anyone go. And I should just say it because I'm curious. Before you share your too, my views on this have changed. When I took over owning The Humphrey Group and building it, my initial hypothesis was, I want Kumon like employees. I want a team of lifers who share main qualities you described, who share my commitment to the mission, the work, and want to do this forever. My thinking has really evolved and what I've seen, and maybe it's really just the second piece of what you've said, which is that sometimes, even though the shared commitment to the mission is there, the ambitions, capabilities, and growth that those people need can no longer be matched by the company. And so, in those cases, I've had to say, this doesn't work, or they've had to say, this doesn't work. With that, share with me the limitations or ramifications of a culture of tenure.

Rob Diplock: I'm going to start by doubling down on what you said there. And our one challenge is creating that culture of long-term employment means it's easier for people to stay out of default, and they're not really actively choosing to stay. They're passively choosing to stay. And just like you said, you get to that point where you think, is this company still the right fit for this person? And it could be that we are a great fit, but they're just looking for someone else, or it could be that what we're looking for and what they're looking for in terms of mindset, skill set, or just, you know, right place, right time aren't matched. And having too much of that can be a bad thing. I remember when we lost a manager who went on to a totally new field, totally new opportunity. And when I was really disappointed to lose them. But I was so happy for them as a person, because they just decided they were excelling. They've done a great job within Kumon. They've been recognized within the company. and they have potential to be a future leader within the company. But they decided, you know what? I'm going to pursue a different career path. And I thought, you know what? It's so awesome that you're so brave to do that. And I like setting it as an example for people, because if people do get frustrated by a flat organization, I want them to know that, if they decide to leave and pursue greener pastures that's okay. That's okay for them. And so I think that can be a challenge that kind of passively staying with a company rather than actively choosing to stay with the company. The other side of it, I think, comes from the strength of the culture. And so I can actually use Covid as an example.

Bart Egnal: I was going to ask you if this has changed since COVID Yeah, this is. Maybe that's a good segue to this.

Rob Diplock: Yeah, it's a significant change. So we're, a more than 60 year old Japanese franchise. So we are conservative by nature. Right. And that means things don't move very quickly. Changes aren't very aggressive, and status quo is the name of the norm. It's the norm. Status quo is the norm. Change is not the normal. And then Covid comes along. So imagine you're a very old franchise who's focused on paper-based, in-person learning. And all of a sudden, especially in North America, everybody's at home, there's no paper being produced. It's very difficult to deliver the paper, never mind actually facilitating the actual program. What do you do?

Bart Egnal: Nothing. Nothing. It's worked for countless years.

Rob Diplock: So, needless to say, we pivoted very rapidly to continuing to paper-based but online learning, using Zoom like everybody else in the early days, and offering online classes. But that challenge was a pressure to survive as a company and so that pressure not only led to us successfully pivoting for the time that we needed to pivot before we could resume in-person classes again. It unlocked an innovation culture within the company and such a significant appetite for change and improvement.

Bart Egnal: And it probably took Covid, I mean, one of the limitations when you have a long tenure workforce is that's how it's always been done. That's how we should keep doing it. And I've seen that, you know, I've clients in the industrial space, I'm thinking of one hugely successful company, you know, real operational discipline, and yet people are like, this is how it's done, and if you're not there for 15 years, you're, quote, new in the company.

Rob Diplock: Yep.

Bart Egnal: And so it's very difficult to get off of the doctrine and to embrace change. It almost took shock therapy at some point, so that probably did take Covid to accelerate and change. Is that fair?

Rob Diplock: Yeah, absolutely. If we hadn't experienced that challenge, we would not be where we are today, both from a cultural perspective and specifically from a product perspective, because we'd, of course, debated for a very long time about how we're going to move forward with technology. But we put a high, high value on our worksheets, incredibly high value on our worksheets. And so there's a real tension there. And so the move towards a digital platform, I don't know when it would have actually happened if we hadn't experienced that challenge, but now we have a very successful digital platform where now more than 50,000 students in North America are studying our worksheets, the same very time tested and well-proven worksheets just on a tablet. And so they’re still putting pencil to paper, but it’s a stylus to digital paper. And there significant benefits to the consumer, significant benefits to the instructor, and significant benefits to Kumon. But I don’t think we would have got there without Covid. Just so along with that, we developed this culture of innovation where really, like, innovators within the company can really seize the moment to drive change. And we're not talking about change is going to happen tomorrow, but really drive change and to come back to the challenges. The challenge is that's not our culture. And so, you know, you can imagine we have associates who are maybe frustrated with where we are right now, just like I'm frustrated with where we are right now in some aspects of our operations, but they feel like we're at a place where they're not happy with our performance, but they can't affect change. And so a lot of my communication over the past few years is actually, we can make change. I know it hasn't been like this the last 15 years, but now it's different. But that's a more challenging conversation in our company because we have the weight of history.

Bart Egnal: It's the flip side of that deep expertise and deep connection to the mission.

Rob Diplock: Exactly.

Bart Egnal: The deep connection to how it's always been done.

Rob Diplock: Yeah. So it acts like an anchor, and I think that anchor can be good or bad. It depends on the situation. Right. Because that anchor can also stop you from making silly changes that would negatively impact your company. I think the most important part, especially from a leadership perspective, is to be aware if you have that anchor and then to leverage it to insulate you from bad decisions. But when you know you want to move forward with something, to recognize that there's going to be a cultural shift that you need to encourage. And so it's going to take time and effort, and it's going to take a lot of conversations to move everyone in the direction that you need to move.

Bart Egnal: That's a good segue, then, to the last topic, which is advice corner. You've highlighted some great advantages and things to keep in mind for individuals, for businesses in, terms of pursuing or not pursuing this kind of ultra longevity. So let's look at some advice, and I'm going to give you a group, and then you give your one piece of advice to this group on this topic.

Rob Diplock: Okay.

Bart Egnal: So first, what advice would you give to people who are mid-career and are feeling a bit stuck in a big company where they could stay, they've built the political capital, or they could go and start fresh? What would you advise them to do based on your experience?

Rob Diplock: Okay, I'm going to make you give me two. The first thing I want to say is, and this isn't from me, I forgot where I got this from. But focus on what's the intersection of what you're passionate about, what you are great at, and what others will pay you to do. What's the intersection of those three things? Passionate about, what you're good at and what others will pay you to do? And then you have to look to confirm that that's within the company that you're at. And then if it is, don't think about titles. Don't think about roles. Think about learning opportunities and impact opportunities. And whenever there's an opportunity, just grab onto it and go for it, and then the success will come.

Bart Egnal: Love it. Okay. All right, next, you've got a manager who is finding that employees are coming and going quickly in that, let's go with that Bureau of Labor Statistic, on average every four years and isn't sure, is this a good thing or a bad thing? What advice or perspective would you give that manager?

Rob Diplock: Well, I think, first of all, they need to decide whether it is a good thing or a bad thing, depending on their business. Because you imagine some businesses, maybe you do want to cycle people through for a few years and then put them out, to contribute to the world in another way. Maybe that's the way your business is set up, but in other cases, that could be sounding the death note of your business in the future. So you really have to be clear about what your needs are from the people that you're bringing in. Maybe you need one out of every four to stick around for a while, and the other three can just cycle through, and it's no problem because you can bootstrap them up and bring them up to speed within a couple of weeks. So I think it really depends on the culture that you have, and then if you identify is a problem. I don't want to go to the just immediately thinking about exit interviews and things like that.

Bart Egnal: Right.

Rob Diplock: But really just, you have to dig into it and find out, well, why are these people leaving? The real reason? And I think you could look at it from two perspectives. One is what's pushing them out or what's not pulling them in. And I think, again, depending on the situation, the push or the poll could be more important.

Bart Egnal: And then lastly, someone who is, let's imagine an entrepreneur who's in the early days of building a company, and the company's growing, and, they have to think about the philosophy. Would you advise them, obviously there's some gradation, but to lean towards a mission-driven, tenure-based company where you accept some of the limitations that you talked about, stagnation, maybe slower, ability to adapt in exchange for the subject expertise, company domain knowledge and tenure, or would you advise them to lean towards the opposite with all the benefits and challenges, what would you, based on your experience, what would your advice be in today's day and age?

Rob Diplock: Yeah, caveat of it always depends on the industry. I lean to more mission-driven businesses because that's where you're going to get people who have the passion and put in the time and effort, and that may or may not translate to a long tenure. Tesla is famous for short tenure of high performers because they put their blood, sweat and tears, they put their heart and soul into the company. And then five to eight years in, they think, I need a break, I need to step away from this. But it's an incredibly mission-driven company. And so there's a slight disconnect between your tenure and the mission-driven nature of your company, depending on your industry. But I don't think you can go wrong with focusing on the mission because then you're going to attract people who are going to bring everything to bear, all their skillset to bear to try to help your company achieve what you want to achieve.

Bart Egnal: Rob, I love your answers, because I don't know quite what I expected when I asked you these questions. But it's certainly what stands out to me is it's not just a dogmatic tenure is good. What you're really talking about is, you have to ask yourself, as a company, you have to be aware of the benefits and limitations. And as an employee for your own career, you have to think about connection to the mission. But also, can the company, can my skills and ambitions match? And if those things align, then tenure makes sense, but if not then not necessarily. And so I think it's a really kind of nuanced portrait of tenure, and in some ways, is all the more remarkable with what Kumon's done in terms of being able to match tenure, mission, culture, and just enough advancement to continue to keep you engaged. And it's a great example of a very different organization and very different career. So I really appreciate you sharing your journey with me.

Rob Diplock: Thank you very much, Bart. It's been great, to talk to you today, and even just going through this with you as an opportunity for me to reflect on where our company is at in this regard and what we can do next, or what we can do better to help develop our associates.

Bart Egnal: So, Rob, people listening, I know you're well-read. What do you recommend on this topic for anyone who wants to delve deeper into tenure and career longevity?

Rob Diplock: So I had to think about this question a bit because I feel like I read too many books, and then all of a sudden, I keep forgetting them. So I had to reflect a little bit, and I really tried to think from a first principles perspective or think about what's inevitable in the future, what's inevitable about human nature, and move towards that. So I noted three books. One is lessons, of history by Arian and Will Durant. They talk about the scope of human history and the forces that have moved it, and even thinking about what's the role of human nature, and the role of macroeconomics so that I'm not spitting into the wind when I'm trying to make a change. So that kind of keeps me grounded there. Another book that I really enjoyed was leading by Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United fame.

Bart Egnal: Back when they won, back when they were good.

Rob Diplock: I'm in no way a football aficionado or soccer in any way. So I read this, you know, with a very open mind, and I found it very inspiring. I grabbed a quote from it that that I liked, that I thought applied to this. It was the work of building a team, and a culture of success is never ending. You have to keep at it all the time. So even if you have that long tenure, you still have to maintain it, you still have to encourage it, you still have to nurture it. And the last one I think you'll like. Bart, I hope I turn you on to a new author, it’s an author called Dan John. He’s got a diverse life. I believe he was a religious studies teacher, at a university, a high school teacher. He's written all kinds of books, but this one is called 40 Years with the Whistle: life lessons from the field of play. And again, it's that thinking about humans as humans. And just one small example he talks about the exercises he assigns to high school groups because he's training, like, 40 kids at a time. And he's like high school kids, you always train the front squat because you eliminate the ego and you eliminate the injuries. And it's a self-correcting, self-limiting exercise. You can't give them a back squat because they're going to hurt themselves. But if you do the front squat, it's perfect. He just cuts through, you know, the bs so well. And I think all his lessons apply to everything, and he weaves life into it as well. So, anything by Dan John is fantastic, but I like this. 40 years with a whistle.

Bart Egnal: Great recommendations, and we'll link to them in the show notes. Final question. Do you think you'll be with Kuma until the day you retire?

Rob Diplock: It'll come back to what extent can I continue to impact the mission. So, I mean, I don't know.

Bart Egnal: We should share this with your CEO so they can make sure there are continued new opportunities for you. Right?

Rob Diplock: There you go. As long as I can still make a strong impact. And actually, one caveat I should have added there. And I should have even added the beginning. Is it along with making an impact, it's important to be growing yourself. So I should have put that in the beginning. So aligned with the mission, making an impact, and finding opportunities for self-development. So, as long as I have that they've still got me.

Bart Egnal: I love it. Thanks so much Rob.

Rob Diplock: Thanks Bart.

Bart Egnal: I hope you enjoyed that episode of the Inspire podcast and the conversation that I had with our guest. And hopefully, you left with some really practical, tangible tools and tips that you can use to be more consistently inspirational. If you're enjoying the pod, I'll ask you a favor. Please rate and review it. Love the comments, appreciate the reviews, and the visibility allows others to discover the pod. It's really how word of mouth has spread The Inspire Podcast to so many listeners and helped us keep making this great content. Stay tuned. We'll be back in two weeks with another inspiring conversation. Thanks so much for listening. Go forth and inspire.