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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
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Stories That Stick. Skills That Scale.
David Shaft: Rock Bottom always has an expiration on it.
Hello everyone, welcome back to Conversations That Count.
Thank you for joining us for another episode.
I come to you today to talk about being at Rock Bottom.
You know, what a lot of people don't realize
is that Rock Bottom has a date on it.
And you just never look and find out
when the end date is or when the expiration date is.
You know, Tom Hanks, I don't think he made this quote,
but he's the one I heard say it.
I think he actually got it from the Bible.
But either way, it's simple.
It's this two shell pass.
This two shell pass, right?
We always think that when we're at the very bottom
or at the very top, we're gonna be there forever.
Or maybe you're like me
and the second you get to the top and you feel great,
you're like, oh my gosh, this could be over tomorrow.
I have to go do something else great
to keep the greatness going.
But at the same time when I hit Rock Bottom,
I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm gonna be at Rock Bottom forever.
I don't think I'll ever get out of this.
And you know what?
Like I've said in past videos,
we all have 100% survival rate
for every bad thing we've been through.
Think of all the times you've been at the bottom, right?
Think of all the times you've been at the bottom.
And how every time you've gotten out of it
and you've gotten better and you've improved.
So we're gonna draw ourselves,
I feel like a rock shouldn't be purple, right?
It's kind of weird.
A little purple rock is strange.
So instead, I'm gonna draw ourselves a little rock.
It's gonna be a little lumpy.
Kinda looks like one of those Easter island heads.
Doesn't matter.
We're gonna draw this rock here.
And you know what?
A rock is gonna go
and it's gonna head towards the bottom.
Because sometimes we hit Rock Bottom, right?
But you know, I think there's a law of gravity, right?
Then anything that comes up must go down.
Or anything in motion must stay in motion.
I think those are two different laws.
Doesn't matter.
What is important about this though,
is that when this rock goes down,
it has to come back up
because it can only go down for so long.
It only gets so far to rock bottom.
And then, you know, you just gotta flatten out.
All right, once you just go so far towards the bottom,
you hit it and there's really nowhere else to go but up.
And you know what's funny?
You always have to go back up
because you're gonna only get so far to the bottom.
Life will get better.
Everything gets better.
Everything improves.
Nothing stays at the bottom forever.
And now don't get me wrong.
Maybe your trajectory isn't like this.
You know, maybe you hit another rock bottom,
you hit it again and maybe your trajectory
only goes like here and you're back.
But sometimes what happens is you go up a lot.
Maybe you go down a little bit
and then you go up a lot more, right?
And I could do this for days.
I could do this forever.
Just this little path of life
and our little Easter egg island rock.
I guess not Easter egg,
our little Easter island rock, right?
You could do this forever.
So saying that to say rock bottom
always has an expiration on it.
Now, what we do get the choice of doing
is we get to decide when it expires.
We can't always decide when we end up there.
Sometimes that's just out of our hands.
But with the right action,
this too shall pass.
We can go back up sooner rather than later.
We don't have to stay at bottom forever.
It's what really happens is it takes us realizing
that we don't have to stay here.
Cause the longer we like sit in dwell and we're like,
man, I'm at the bottom, like I'm so sad,
like I'm really hit here.
It all kind of sucks.
Like the longer we sit there and we think about that,
the longer that's where we're going to stay.
But the faster we can get from there
and just remember that we don't have to stay here, right?
Once you remember that like, you know what?
This too shall pass and I can get back up here
once we do that, we actually leave rock bottom pretty quickly.
And it's a beautiful thing.
But we can also stay at rock bottom for a very long time.
And the expiration date,
you know, you can put it in the freezer
and it can stay good for a very long.
Or you can take it out, you can put on the counter,
take off the plastic and it'll expire pretty fast.
Put yourself in the sun, right?
You make it a sunny day.
And all of a sudden that expiration date
moves up much quicker like a old ham.
You put that ham in the freezer,
it's my grandma put it in the freezer
and you know what that ham is ready for the next holiday.
Obviously on cook, my grandma's,
she cooks out safe food.
But what I am saying is she'll put it in her deep freezer
when she gets it, the ham,
the same way being at rock bottom,
it's gonna be, it's gonna stay,
the expiration date's gonna last forever, right?
Till the next holiday.
But if instead you take the ham out of the freezer,
you let it thaw, you put it in the sun,
you put it out in the open, you give it a chance.
You know what, that expiration date might just move up
and before you know it,
you're not at rock bottom anymore.
You're headed right back up to the top.
So again, don't let yourself get dragged down
into being at rock bottom and staying there.
You're gonna get there.
But don't get dragged down and like,
don't let bottom go further.
Like you're already there, stay there.
Instead, know this two shall pass and you'll be fine.
It's gonna expire but put,
but you gotta put it out in the sun.
You gotta move that expiration date up.
Check the date, be like, damn, you know what?
Do I really need a ham?
It's December 31st.
Do I really need a ham until next Christmas?
Do I really need a ham from December 31st of 2026
until December 31st of 2027 or December 25th?
Am I gonna hold it till then?
My grandma might, she might hold that ham that long
but you don't got to, you don't have to stay at rock bottom
that long.
Instead, take the ham out on December 31st,
put it in the sun and you know what?
That ham might be ready to eat by January 2nd.
All of a sudden, you're no longer a rock bottom.
That expiration date moved up a lot.
So with that being said, I'm done talking about hams
and we're gonna stop looking at my Easter Island rock.
And instead, we're just gonna take ourselves,
remember this two shall pass.
So thank you all for joining.
Again, this is Conversations That Count.
We had the most important conversation.
We had a conversation together.
I hope this was therapy for you like it's therapy for me.
So let's go out there, let's win, let's have some fun,
make sure to describe on Apple Spotify and YouTube
anywhere that you can hear a voice,
go hear my voice and go subscribe.
Thank you all, I look forward to winning with you.
Thank you everyone for watching another episode
of Conversations That Count.
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So again, thank you all for tuning in.
Thank you for watching.
And I look forward to seeing you in the next episode.