Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00:00 Ladies and gentlemen, boys, and girls of all ages. Welcome to the most amazing interview show on the information super highway. Now zooming to you live and simultaneously from two secret studio bunkers in dual time zones are located somewhere South of Alaska, East of area, 51 North of Guantanamo. And if we give you one more clue, we'll all be in deep trouble. It's the amazing twin namesake separated at birth. The two most famous guys, not in witness protection. It's coffee with Jim and James.
Speaker 1 00:00:37 Good morning, everyone. Welcome to another exciting episode of Cochran, Jim and James. I have to say that I am feeling much safer today. Very safe. And I think a main reason is because we are sharing the screen with this industry icon, Mr. Roger Cox, who we will introduce in a second, but before I do as always my partner that James out of the Jim and James, Mr. James Cross, James, are you feeling safer today? Absolutely. If it was possible to feel safer than we are, it's due to Mr. Roger cock. Roger. Good morning. Thanks for joining. How are you? I am thrilled to be with you guys. Maybe I'm the only one that don't feel safe. So I don't know what that means. We all know what that means.
Speaker 1 00:01:28 Roger. We've known each other for years by friend and we go way back and, um, you probably know more people than I know in the industry, which is saying a lot, but for those people that maybe don't know all of everything, can you give us a little insight into your world and the organization that you run please? Well, yeah, thanks. Yeah, we have known one another for a long time and it's been a joy on my side. I'll tell you. It's awesome. Um, we, we started this company kind of almost by accident back in 2007, had a, um, in Mississippi, Sam Johnson, y'all both know Sam. Uh, they were trying to get some legislation passed and he asked with, uh, uh, help him try to figure out the best way to do that. So really, uh, aligning change to succeed, which is what ACS stands for, uh, was formed to help Mississippi get legislative effective enforcement passed.
Speaker 1 00:02:32 It was a five-year plan. Uh, the eight one, one magazine was born out of that. It was a way for him to get a consistent message across the state. Other States saw it like the model, um, contacted this we'll know when we do that for them. And so we've grown the eight one, one magazine into what it is today. And then the damage prevention summit was the second tool we provided Sam Johnson and Mississippi. And, uh, we began having an annual event in Mississippi. We had other folks come to Mississippi to see that they wanted us to do the same thing for them. So as you guys know, we've, uh, moved that pretty well across the South. And, um, and it's, uh, it's still growing. So we're excited for the opportunities. It's about damage prevention, but it's really about people and, and, uh, and our passion is taking care of people and that means helping them be safe and trying to introduce them to people. They don't know. That's, that's my favorite thing in the world to do is introduce you to somebody you don't know. And have you guys have a meaningful conversation? Roger, let me, let me jump in.
Speaker 2 00:03:50 So you mentioned relationships and again, I, we know it. Can you expound a little bit on that? How, how important do you think it is to our industry? The relationships that we all have and how we interconnect and how we share messages, um, how do you think that impacts our safety culture as an industry?
Speaker 1 00:04:11 Well, I, I think, I think it's everything. I think the culture that we're trying to achieve is not possible to achieve without relationships. You, you can serve on committees and you can, you know, you can have all the round tables, discussions, new oral you want, but if you don't trust the people you're sitting with, you're likely not going to be motivated to, uh, work with those people outside the cameras. And we have to build relationships. Now, both of you guys know that, uh, the book that I wrote alone more than any other book in the world about relationships is the Bible fad, uh, fans, anybody, I apologize, but I don't believe we can go to heaven by ourselves. I know we won't go to hell by ourselves and I'm convinced we can't be successful in life without one another.
Speaker 2 00:05:01 I remember that Roger. So, so saying people is an important part. Uh, I know we've talked before, you know, Jim, and I know you really well, but some people, you know, there might be two or three people left on this earth and within our industry that don't know you as well as we do maybe too. What about Roger? Tell us a little bit about you and, and you know, what, what are you blessed with and a little more personal about you. And we understand the companies and we understand the initiatives, but what is it about Roger that makes people want to connect?
Speaker 1 00:05:39 Well, I don't know this about me as much as it is about what I try to represent and try to create an environment that people are comfortable with. I've been married for 52 years. Uh, um, I've got a lot of grandchildren and I've got almost seven one on the way great-grandchildren that, uh, I'm thrilled to be with on the weekends mostly. Uh, but really I'm blessed with a super great team to work with ax team. Uh, ya'll met Ms. Carrie Brown and we have a team of, we have a team of folks here who are working. You don't know, they're just as great. And she is, uh, we, we all work together. We don't, we don't feel like that I've done my job and I'm going home. We feel like, Hey, before I go home, is there something else you need us to do? But that's just kind of the way we are.
Speaker 1 00:06:33 We're a family. And then beyond that guys, I mean, you, you're on my extended family anywhere I go. If I see one of you guys or see some of the great friends that I've made over the years, I, I just feel lucky and blessed. I was raised in orphan. I grew up with a chip on my shoulder somewhere along the way I found out that wasn't getting me where I wanted to get. And so I began to try to make a change in the way, I think not the way I acted. I knew that if I changed the way I thought the actions would follow. So I began to think about how blessed I was and the next thing I knew, I was blessed, not great, how that works.
Speaker 2 00:07:18 Roger, going back to, uh, the damage prevention summit. We, uh, we've, we've been blessed to be a part of those for quite some time, um, in different capacities and different places, we try to support them and all the States, uh, we, we always say, you know, our, our vision at AWN is to make the world a safer place to work. And for us, um, that begins with damage prevention. And so, as we began, you know, or as, as we take part in these events and, uh, learn really what that culture is like, and that, that safety culture is like, and, and then it's more, more than just the event. It's more than just, you know, people are going to attribute, Oh, what's the event they tell you to call eight one one, you know, absolutely. Right. That's a no brainer, but there's so much more to all that. Uh, do you want to kind of expand on that a little bit for those that maybe haven't taken part in those damage prevention events?
Speaker 1 00:08:20 Sure. You know, each state's a little bit different, although the model is the same and what makes it different is what the one call system or the regional common ground Alliance group that we're putting this on for what they're trying to accomplish. So what, what I do when I go to a state is I try to talk to those folks who have a reason to have an event like this. Uh, the thing that's exactly the same every time is that we liked meeting new people. We liked seeing her old friends. And as I said earlier, it's about networking and it's about building meaningful relationships. So, uh, as people get in the exhibit hall and I'm in there, I'm usually looking around the room to see who looks like they're lost or looks like they hadn't made any friends yet.
Speaker 3 00:09:21 <inaudible>
Speaker 1 00:09:32 Just a joy to be able to introduce those folks to people like y'all because y'all are heroes to people that don't know you. And so I got an outcome. I was, Hey, have you met James? Have you met Jim? Or have you met this person? You need to meet him, come on, let me introduce you. And it just thrills him to death. So I believe we just need to treat people like they're important because they are people that will be successful.
Speaker 3 00:09:56 Yeah, absolutely. Roger, let me, you know, me at conferences, you know, whenever, whenever I met one of the summits, you know how I am, I'm like all over the place now COVID has put a little bit of a damper on some of the damage prevention summits. I think we were talking the last one that you and I were together was in tennis ski. That was like two days before the United States had to shut down, so to speak. Um, how, how was the summer, spring and summer been for you so far? And then what do we have coming up in the fall and winter that, you know, God willing, we're going to be back to, uh, whatever our new normal is. Give us your thoughts on and share some, uh, what's coming up for the fall with us, if you would.
Speaker 1 00:10:42 Sure. Well, uh, as you, as you know, from all the other events that we might see one, another hat, other than the summits, uh, they've mostly been canceled, including the Arkansas summit was rescheduled this year. Typically it would be an April, uh, and because it was at the very high of all the concerns everybody had, you know, everything just shut down. Yep. So it's, it's been, it's been a very interesting experience if I can pull myself out of the frustration has been very interesting, just, uh, just to look at the dynamics and to see the uncertainty, uh, that there is, I think for the most part, people I talk to, whether it be at church or at work, I think we've gone through a couple of cycles where people were just really afraid and then they're, they're tired of being afraid. And so they started getting out more.
Speaker 1 00:11:40 And then when testing really began to get ramp it again, and the numbers got higher. Now I'm seeing people get afraid all over again. And, and, and I don't blame him for being concerned. Uh, there are some things we look at that in my mind and all the drivers to move forward, but I will tell you that looking forward in the fall, we do have some summits that are scheduled. And right now we intend to have them, uh, Alabama, for example, September the 22nd through the 24th of this year will be our first summit following everything shutting down. And then as I mentioned, Arkansas got rescheduled from April to October the 12th through the 14th, right on the heels of Arkansas as New Mexico and New Mexico is October the 20th or the 22nd. And then of course, Mississippi, which was our very first summit ever way back in 2008 is scheduled for November the fourth through the sixth.
Speaker 1 00:12:42 Now what we intend to do at all these events and we're our team is so talking about how best to handle that. So we've, we've lined up with the hotels and the convention centers that we're talking to to find out what they're doing, uh, to ensure maximum sanitation and safety for the attendees. Uh, we're looking at spreading out the room so that we would minimize how many people get in a room. Those kinds of things, whether we have shields at the registration table, uh, we're going to be given out mask. Of course, we expect the hotels and convention centers to, to, uh, uh, work with us, to provide, uh, as a safe and environment. The good news is these convention centers, hotels, nobody wants to be safer and more secure than they do. So we've really feel good about the environment. Um, we're just gonna, instead of me coming up and hugging your neck, I might not do that. And what I may do is L elbow bumpy at her high five, you from a distance
Speaker 2 00:13:52 I heard this is the new handshake. You got a place in my heart. It's better than nothing. I think,
Speaker 1 00:14:03 I think so. And, uh, personally, I like it better when we get back and we, you know, hug one, another lock, we lock one another. Cause we do. But at the same time, we don't set a bad example for other folks. And, you know, I think, I think it's critical that we set the right kind of example.
Speaker 2 00:14:21 Yeah, I agree with that. I agree. Absolutely. We can't go out there in a safety first environment. Like we are talking about things like damage prevention and then be reckless in the process. So I like what you're saying, you know, there's the logistics that every company I think right now is, you know, hashing their way through and trying to figure out what that looks like to come back, come back stronger, you know, what does it look longterm? So that there's a lot of logistics. I appreciate you guys really focusing in on that. Roger. One thing that one of the first conversations I had, and I have this, this lesson to remember a lot of interaction. So I don't don't apologize if you don't. Uh, but one of the first things I remember talking to you about, um, when we kind of prepped for this call and we brought it up too, is, you know, th the same focus that you were putting towards these logistics for this events, there's a, there's kind of a, I'll call it kind of a backend, uh, approach also that you guys use for these sort of these events.
Speaker 2 00:15:29 And we talked about relationships and that's a big part of it, but one of the things that rang true for me, which I'm a big proponent of as well, is the amount of trust and integrity. Like these words that just poured out of you, that, you know, getting the right people in the rooms. And as it's all about having people with their hearts in the right place and having that trust and integrity, uh, and that really struck a chord with me because that's, that's a personal commitment that I have, not just to the industry, but the way I lived life, the way I raise my children. And hopefully something that people will remember is I have those interactions as well. So you want to speak on that a little bit and how important that is for damage prevention as a whole and, and for our industry as a whole.
Speaker 1 00:16:19 Well, I think it, uh, thank you, by the way. I think it speaks to the, the future of our nation. Um, you know, the kind of the kind of people in the, in the kind of mindsets that we have in my estimation lends itself to success in any endeavor, whether it's a national or state or an industry perspective, the church, it doesn't matter if you've got people together and you don't trust one another. You're not likely to work well together. And I think at the end of the day, every organization in the world is driven by compliance of something, to something. And I, and I guess that's okay, but you know, if it's something we have to do, because we have to do it, we're likely not going to be as committed to doing more than we have to do. And what I, I like to do is I like to align myself with people.
Speaker 1 00:17:27 And there are a lot of great people out there, by the way I know right now I'm hearing people say there's just not many good people. If I don't believe that I believe the original, Oh, a world full of good people and just white and the bust out. They need somebody to help them bust out and give an opportunity to bust out. But I learned a long time ago from an old fella, that's been dead for many, many years. And he told me don't get caught up in what you know, because, uh, everybody knows something. And he says, what you will learn is, is that long after people forget what you told them, they'll never forget how you made them feel when you told them good points. So I think it's critical that when people see us there is I have this good feeling. They just, they don't know where it comes from.
Speaker 1 00:18:19 I said, Oh, there's Jim or there's Jane, man. I really liked that guy. And I can't tell you why, but they really like it. And the reason they lock is because of how you treated them, you treated them with respect. You they've told you something and said, Hey, don't tell anybody. And you didn't. So they've learned to trust you. And that's critical that that component guys, none of us can be very successful. That that's how, that's how we try to run our magazine. That's how we try to run our, our summits. We want you to have a good time. We want you to learn something, but more importantly, we want you to know that we treated you like you were somebody.
Speaker 3 00:19:00 Wow. I got to say, I touched my heart. As you were saying that, and James, you cried a little bit. That's okay. It's just a quarantine. Cried happens. It's normally we finished with final thoughts, but yeah. Roger, do you have any final, why don't you give us your websites? Because I do know that you're going through some website migration, um, let's those off, or if you could say those, so our audience, and then what I'll remind about the LinkedIn. So we could probably connect the dots through the LinkedIn. So, yeah,
Speaker 1 00:19:43 Sure. Well, years ago when we started ax and we had a website called www.aligningchange.com, and we found out that when we invoice folk for a summit or for an eight one, one magazine, they'd never heard of ax. And so they'd reject the invoice or the credit card charge, you know? So we had to go back and go for in, you know, they're always glad to pay, but they just know who ax was. So we developed two other websites one's called www dot eight one, one magazines.com developed one that said www dot damage prevention, summit.com. And they become the parent websites. And that's what people really knew us as well. Two years ago, we, um, we came up with a new logo and it incorporated the eight one, one magazine, the summit and the ax logos all into one logo. And because we develop a lot of training as well, you probably don't know, cause we don't tell anybody we don't want, we don't want to turn the world upside down the training. So what we're doing now is we're rebranding our whole company. We're bringing everything back into one website and the, and we're shooting for July the sixth as a turn on day for the new, uh, aligning change.com website.
Speaker 3 00:21:09 All right. Wait, is this the platform that we're announcing this to the world, James?
Speaker 2 00:21:15 Yes. You know, it's going to be announced his engagement on here a few, few weeks overshadow anything, but Rogers is a pretty big deal too.
Speaker 3 00:21:33 That's that's fantastic. Roger. I can't, we can't thank you enough for your time. You know, uh, being friends, it's great to see your face. Uh, we can't wait to get to the summits this fall, God willing there. Uh, everything's smoothed out by then. We're going at it. I want all of our audience. If you're interested in it, please connect with both, uh, James and myself, as well as Roger on LinkedIn. When you connect with Roger, you can, uh, see all of his, uh, accolades. And I would imagine too, that links to the website are probably in the LinkedIn of not, you can find them easy. Um, you know, but please do we, uh, and we hope to see you at one of these summits in the fall time. I believe, uh, quite honestly, James and I are planning on both attending as many as we can. They're great events. They're uh, they're very fulfilling in so many aspects, learning education, networking relationships, all of it, safety.
Speaker 2 00:22:30 No, we're we're, we're hoping we can speak again for you. Roger. So keep us.
Speaker 3 00:22:37 Yeah. Well, well, you know, James and I kind of liked to speak now and then, so, uh, 45 minutes might not be enough for us.
Speaker 2 00:22:47 That's why we started the show is because we didn't have any money to talk to them. It's frowned upon if you talk to yourself for long periods of time.
Speaker 3 00:22:55 Yeah. Trust me. I know. Anyways, we want to wrap it up. We thank you audience for listening tuning in today. We hope you got something out of it. We again want to thank our so special guest and friend, Mr. Roger Cox. Thank you so much, Roger, for joining us, you are always a pleasure, sir. Um, and we want to tell our industry to be safe. Uh, may God bless our industry and may God bless you and have a safe and wonderful day until next time. It's the gym of the Jim and James show signing off and saying, be safe out there. Everybody have a good day. Ooh, I like it.
Speaker 2 00:23:33 Thank you, Roger. Thanks Ryan. Thanks.
