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Most professionals spend 80% of their workday communicating — and almost none have a system for getting better at it. Conversations That Count changes that.
Hosted by David Shaft — President's Club Banker at Rocket Mortgage, Dale Carnegie graduate, and Detroit storyteller — CTC delivers real conversations with executives, industry leaders, and everyday professionals who break down the communication skills that actually move careers forward.
New episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. Professional multi-camera video production on YouTube. Full audio on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
What you'll learn:
• Workplace communication: better meetings, tougher feedback, and difficult conversations that don't blow up relationships
• Public speaking and presentations: how to open strong, handle Q&A, and keep any room engaged
• Professional networking: small talk that leads somewhere, LinkedIn outreach that gets replies, follow-up that builds real relationships
• Storytelling: how to tell your story in 60 seconds and communicate with impact in any room
• Leadership communication: negotiation, influence, and the Dale Carnegie principles that still work today
CTC is syndicated on the Mission Matters Network and features professionals across automotive, finance, tech, healthcare, and Detroit's growing entrepreneurship scene — because great communication looks different in every industry.
Whether you're a mid-career professional chasing a promotion, a manager who needs to run better meetings, or anyone who wants to communicate with more confidence, credibility, and impact — this show was built for you.
Free resource: Download the free Communication Playbook — 10 frameworks, scripts, and exercises to help you communicate like a pro. Get it at: https://ctcpodcast.media/free-playbook
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube — and never miss an episode.
Stories That Stick. Skills That Scale.
David Shaft: When I felt the most emotion was usually when I made the most money.
Hello everyone. Welcome back to Conversations That Count.
As your host once again, David Shaft, and today I'm going to bring you a concept that I think
we're all going to love. And it's the idea that you can turn your emotions into money.
Now, I know a lot of us have been taught. For example, most studies show men are actually worse
at regulating their emotions than women. We all believe that we should be making way more money
and doing more and trying harder. And the beauty is women were raised to understand that emotions
are good. You should feel them. You're an emotional being. And in turn, ladies, you can actually use
that control of your emotions to make more money as well. So keeping that in mind, men
listen up because you'll be able to learn how to better regulate your emotions, which we're not
taught, we're taught not to feel them, which is the worst thing ever because we actually feel
them very strongly. And that's why it's more likely that men are violent offenders because they have
no way to regulate their emotions. And they don't know how to direct it correctly. So it goes everywhere.
Women, on the other hand, no one taught you that because you are so much better at regulating
your emotions, because you were taught to regulate your emotions, that actually if you directed where
you want it, you can conquer and have anything you want. So we're all going to learn that together,
both male and female. And here's how it starts, right? Starts with the money. That's embarrassing.
That's not how you spell money. But it does start with money. And it also starts
with emotion. We're going to use pink because sometimes pink gets a bad rap. And no one's going
to judge me for anyone who's watching and not just listening. No one's going to judge me
on how I write because I know it's not good. It doesn't have to be. I'm great at other things.
So speaking of which, also just making it clear, my gram is very proud of my handwriting. So
again, that's not why we're here. But money and emotion, right? We've always been taught
that to have one means you cannot have the other, or we've been taught that business is
emotionless, that it's been taught that saying, Oh, it's just business. It's never just business.
Everyone has feelings about the transaction. There's actually a book I read.
Can't remember what it's called for the life of me. Everyone's probably heard of it. It's
probably on this shelf actually. Let me see which one is it? It is. It's not on this shelf today.
It's not. It does heartbreaking. And I can't remember what it's called. But everyone knows the guy,
more or less. You'll be able to Google it after this. But it's by a hostage negotiator.
He used to work for the CIA. And he talked about that in any great negotiation,
everyone should kind of feel like they're getting, I was just going to use a word I shouldn't. But
everyone should feel like they're kind of getting a raw deal, right? Everyone should feel like they're
both winning and losing in the best negotiation possible. And if that doesn't make you feel emotional,
you probably are psychopath. So because of that, it's keeping in mind emotion and money actually
run hand in hand. So the idea that you can't have one without the other is completely false.
In fact, you know, just to make it more clear, completely false thinking you can't have one
without the other. Actually, to turn it around, the entire thing on its head to feel emotion
is so important that it will turn in to money. I don't know. I stopped using my green. Yes,
I'm very big on color coding sometimes to get used to it. So to feel emotion, you can actually
turn into money. When I think back on some of the best deals I've closed, best clients I've worked
with, chances are at some point on the phone, they were crying. And at some point on the phone,
I was trying not to cry or on the zoom call. I was trying to hold it in. However, I met them,
right? They've been doing deals a long time. So either way, when I felt the most emotion
was usually when I made the most money. And it wasn't just about making money off of them.
It was about creating a better future with them. And usually that didn't just equal me making more
money, equal them making more money, saving more money, having more money at some time in the future.
That's how the best deals were made every single time. But to get there, they made me feel a lot
of feelings. They made me go through a lot of emotions. And I went through my own emotional roller
coaster. The difference is I took that emotion, I guided it and told it where it needs to go. I
controlled that emotion. I said, you know what, right now my heart is crying out for this person.
I have to help them. I can't do it for free because people don't take anything you do for free
seriously. And I have to feed my family the same way they have to feed theirs. But I have to provide
them the most amount of value because they made me feel the most amount of feelings. I have to
make sure value is provided through this, whatever we're doing here. And because I made sure that
the value was above and beyond anything someone could pay for, they always wanted to pay me a lot
of money. And sometimes they felt like they were ripping me off. And in a way, I didn't even want
them to pay me. I almost felt like I was ripping them off. Because I'm like, man,
I would do this for free because they need my help. And they were like, man, I would pay you more
because you helped me so much. And that emotion turned into more money. And then before I know
what I'm helping their family, I'm helping their friends and referrals are through the roof without
me even asking because my emotions were so strong. And I felt them, but I directed them. And that's
where we make the mistake. We don't direct our emotions. What actually happens a lot of the time
is we let our emotions go all over the place, right? I start feeling a feeling and I let that
feeling loose into the world. I let that energy go because emotion is the greatest energy that
we can generate. It's the thing we can all feel. And because you let that emotion just go all over
the place, what ends up happening is you never end up making money. Because what money does is as
the emotion is going all over the place. And a little bit of that emotion is chasing just the
money, right? Because you're everywhere, right? You're happy, you're sad, you're whatever, you're
angry. The money is like, whoa, whoa, whoa. I can't do that because you can't control yourself. You
can't regulate yourself. I can regulate me. If you can't control your own emotions,
you can't manage me. You can't manage yourself. It's important that we have those emotions under
control. Because if we don't control those emotions, we can't manage our money. And in turn, we end
up with none of both. Sorry, that's actually untrue. We end up with a lot more of this. We
end up with a lot less of this. And we end up we never get a relief from those negative emotions.
Instead, they just spiral because I never learn to control them. But once I learn how to control
the negative emotions, the sadness, the pain, the anger, I can then guide it towards things
that provide me money. And a lot of the time for me, what makes me feel better when I'm angry
is if I make someone else's life better, they get a lot more of what they want. And I end up with
a lot more of what I want. And you know what? For some reason, lo and behold, I end up feeling
a lot less negative emotions. They end up all over the place a lot less. And instead,
I end up making more money. And when I do get sad, I can go buy myself some candy,
some chocolate, ideally some Reese's saying, if you're not crazy, they aren't sponsored by the
way, I just really like Reese's. But I end up turning my emotions into a lot more money.
So, remember emotions are a great thing. Emotions are one of the greatest gifts that God could
have given us. And a lot of people, they think that money and business, emotion and business
don't mix. My favorite business partners and people to work with are people that made me like
them, that made me feel really good. They made me feel really great emotions. And in turn,
I want to keep working with them. Even when a deal doesn't go well, because they made me feel
great emotions, I still want to work with them anyway. I still want to try again. I'm okay with a
bad deal as long as it wasn't on purpose, right? You don't want people to screw you over because
you like them. But I'm okay if a deal didn't work out for me and a partner, as long as I know I can
still trust them on the other side of it. Because sometimes business isn't going to go our way.
Sometimes we're going to lose money, even if all of our emotions are in the right place. But
if you guide your emotions and you control them, that's the other good news is even when you lose
that money, you never double down on the loss because you controlled the emotion. You knew
where I was going. Instead, you're like, man, I took that loss. That's okay. I'm going to get
back up and I'm going to go make more money. And then you end up always on the plus side. You
always end up better off than where you were before. So with that being said, emotion is the greatest
way to make money. And I want to leave you with this last thought, right? If we think of some of the
most influential, most powerful people, maybe just in your life, right? Don't even think like
on TV. Think of your boss when they walk into a room. And just about everyone feels a lot of
emotion. He has a little bit of anxiety. The best boss is that you probably might feel excited to
see them. Chaos is happening. You're the right person walks in the right leader. There's a little
relief that washes over us. Because we know that they're going to inject a positive emotion, a calm
emotion. And they have a lot of feelings inside. Guaranteed. I've let a lot of people. When I was
working on being the calmest I could be, when I was working on trying to maintain everything
outside, I was a storm in here. I was feeling all types of feelings. But I was like, you know what,
working to direct those emotions at the problem. So ladies, use that beautiful gift you have
that you were taught that emotions are a great thing and direct them. Keep using them. Keep
feeling them. They're great. Emotions are the best thing ever. The difference is,
remember that you were gifted with the ability to control them. Now direct them towards what you
want. It doesn't have to be money. But money is what this video is about. And money is what we all
always want more of. Guaranteed. So you can turn those emotions into money and men. Anyone who
told you not to feel emotions to numb yourself. They don't know what they're talking about.
Truly look at their life and ask, would I ever want to trade places with that person? Not just
because they have nice things. Look at their entire life and ask yourself, would you want to trade
places with them? Nine times out of 10, probably not. A lot is falling apart even if the money looks
good. There's a lot more behind it. Instead, take those emotions, feel them. Truly embrace them.
And granted, it'll hurt sometimes. It'll hurt a lot. But also, the highs will be amazing.
The best dopamine you'll ever have without doing drugs or having sex, I promise.
All because you felt some emotions. And then you controlled those emotions and you guided them
to what you wanted. You guided them to what you wanted and you got it. All because you controlled
them. You didn't let the rage control you. You know, let the sadness or the pain. You said,
you know what? I feel this. Where can I direct all of this energy I have at? Because again,
emotion directed is just energy. So thank you all for joining. Go out there now,
feel a lot of feelings and then go direct it at what you want. Go direct it at money.
Make more of it. Go out there and win. Go have fun. Again, remember, we're on Apple. We're on
Spotify. We're on YouTube. We're anywhere that you can stream and that you can listen to someone talk,
which make it me. And thank you all. Talk to you soon. Thank you everyone for watching another
episode of Conversations That Count. Sometimes what we find is YouTube will unsubscribe us
from our favorite channels. As well as when we finish an episode, we'll have enjoyed it so much.
We'll forget to hit the subscribe button because we'll be so caught up with it. My ask is so that
we can keep the channel free so that I continue bringing you amazing guests,
continue bringing you amazing practices that improve all of our skills as we go into every day
and every week. If you can hit that subscribe button, if you can like, share, it goes a very
long way to again, keeping the channel free, allowing us to continue providing you amazing
content. And my promise is I will only continue to improve the content, improve the guests,
and improve the best practices every single time. I will make sure every week and every month
that it only gets better for you. So again, thank you all for tuning in. Thank you for watching.
And I look forward to seeing you in the next episode.