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Explore the world of business and entrepreneurship in Wichita. Learn from local business owners from a variety of industries as they share their experiences with hosts and Evergy leaders, Don Sherman and Ebony Clemons-Ajibolade, who are also small business owners. You’ll learn how they have built and grown their companies and the challenges and opportunities they encountered along the way. This podcast is brought to you by the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce and is powered by Evergy.
Ep92_EdOMalley
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Don and Ebony: [00:00:00] Welcome to another exciting addition of the W C B A powered of course by Evergy first. Thank you for listening. Don't forget to like us love us. Share us. We truly appreciate you checking. Out Kansas Health Foundation is in the house. E that's what's up. We have Mr. Ed O'Malley in the house. How's it going, Ed?
Ed O'Malley: I am doing
Don and Ebony: I
Ed O'Malley: Thank you. Thanks for letting me be here.
Don and Ebony: Of course we he's a friend, you know, that was good. That was good. So he's one of your friends. Are you claiming him to be one of your friends? Yes. I'll let you have this one. Thank you. And I'll let you have this one. And do you agree that you're his friend?
Ed O'Malley: I am friends with both of you.
Don and Ebony: Okay. That that's a good answer. Okay. Good answer. I'll I'll take half, but probably Don longer because oh, wow. Okay. I get it. All right. So.
I
Ed O'Malley: an age joke,
Don and Ebony: Yeah, it was. You caught it. It, well, ed, you know, tell us everyone knows who you are. Number one. Yeah. But if you would please tell us who you are and what you do, sir.
Yeah.
Ed O'Malley: Thanks. Ebony ed O'Malley been in Wichita now for almost 16 years, just recently became the president and CEO of the Kansas Health Foundation moved here to Wichita 16 years ago to become president and CEO of the Kansas Leadership Center, which I had the, really the privilege of, of, of being the founding CEO.
But. Before that, Kansas city deep roots in the Kansas city area, don't hold this against me, used to serve in politics was a member of the Kansas house of representatives worked for one of our governors, governor, bill graves, before that. But, you know, Wichita has been home the last 16 years and what a great home it's been.
Don and Ebony: Oh, that is so wonderful. And you know, the 16 years you've been here, you've made so much impact in our community and it's just, you've just done wonderful work. I've watched you from afar, like, and it's just been great. I'm like, who's this guy, who's this guy coming in here making impact on day one,
Ed O'Malley: Well, I don't know if it was day one, but you know, but I'll tell you the team. I appreciate what you're saying.
And there's an incredible team of people connected to the leadership center connected to the Kansas health foundation, which is from the beginning has been one of the core funders of the leadership center. We might be able to get into some of that later, of course, but incredible group of people that have done so many incredible things.
So thanks for the, The compliments and it's an incredible group of people that have made this stuff happen.
Don and Ebony: So let's talk about this transition. How long have you been at, Kansas Health Foundation?
Ed O'Malley: Week number four.
Don and Ebony: Week four. So it's all fresh and new. Yes.
Ed O'Malley: You know, I'm at the point where not knowing is starting to where a little thin, right.
When you start a new job, there aren't many expectations cuz you're the new guy, but by week four you gotta start knowing some things. So we're there now, .
Don and Ebony: Okay. So now, you know, some things,
Ed O'Malley: A few, not many
Don and Ebony: So tell us what, so what is the mission? What, what do you do at the Kansas Health Foundation?
Ed O'Malley: You know, Kansas Health Foundation, by the way it got started in 1985.
Okay. Some of your listeners will know the story. Wesley Medical Center was a not for profit hospital.
Beginning in 1912 when United Methodist created the hospital. And then by 1985, the folks running the hospital realized it made sense to sell the hospital to a for-profit company, hospital corporation of America.
So that sale created $200 million and profit that became the Kansas Health Foundation. So that's, that's the origin story. And from the beginning, back in the mid 1980s, the health foundation has been focused. On, how do you improve the. Of all Kansans. And as the years went by, they discovered that health is so much more than healthcare.
In fact, healthcare is really the last piece of the equation. You know, your economic status, economic opportunity, your educational attainment, the amount of civic and social infrastructure in a community. All those things contribute to health. So for over 40 years now, the Kansas Health Foundation has been, or excuse me, almost 40 years has been building.
Initiatives programs and efforts that are designed to improve the health of all Kansans that work has evolved and looked different in different eras. And it's looking different even now, as we move forward, we can talk about that, but that's the goal improve the health of all Kansans.
Don and Ebony: [00:05:00] I love that. And that's ex you know, you, that's a great segue because, you know, I, I, I guess as we talk about that, that's pretty broad, huge. right. So what does that mean for the everyday person?
Ed O'Malley: Yeah.
Well, and what does it mean for the business community? I'm very conscious that we're here at chamber of commerce. I'm a proud member of the board here at the chamber have been connected to chambers my entire adult life to, to me, health is the number one super measure.
For how society's doing. And, and in business terms, we often look for those key metrics. Like what's a metric that tells you if we're winning or losing. And health. To me is, is one of the, if not the best super measure for saying how how's Kansas doing, how's Wichita doing how's my family doing? How's our community doing?
And back in the mid 1990s,
Kansas was in the top 10 healthiest states. Every year, the states are ranked from best to worst. We were consistently a top tier state when it came to the overall health of our population. Over the last 30 years, we have fallen and fallen and fallen. And now Kansas is in the mid to lower 30. That's just unacceptable. And to me, what that tells us is while we got a lot of good things going on in Kansas, if that's super measure that incredible metric of our health has declined that far, that tells me there's there are other, that's a symptom of other things. There are a lot of things going on.
We must not have the economic opportunity that people. Especially people who are facing the biggest disparities communities facing the greatest disparities. We must not have aligned our resources in way that in ways that create an outcome of health for our population, these are some of the types of things that we're gonna be working on as you might imagine.
But to me, it's an incredible metric. And imagine, imagine if Kansas was back in the top 10, what that might mean for the business. Imagine what it would mean for a company like Evergy for other small businesses, large businesses. If we were consistently one of the healthiest dates in the nation, you'd save money on insurance.
You'd have happier, healthier employees. You'd be more productive. my guess is the bottom line would be better. it matters health matters and it's not, it's not just, it's not just an individual issue. It's an issue for all of us to be thinking about.
Don and Ebony: I would agree 100%. And that was very well said. Mm-hmm you know, just trying to see how your organization help us improve the, the health of all cans. And I mean, that's a huge task.
Ed O'Malley: By all, by all means. And here's the deal. You don't climb those health rankings by helping healthy people get healthier.
Don and Ebony: Mm-hmm.
Ed O'Malley: That that's not gonna do it. The, the challenge is all about the disparities that exist throughout our state, those disparities based on, economic situation, based on race, best based on geography, they are leading to different outcomes, health outcomes.
And if we want. To improve the health of all Kansans. We have to break down and dismantle these disparities and help the communities, that, for lots of different reasons that we could get into in this conversation have not experienced the same type of health outcomes as other Kansans. We've gotta change that.
That's absolutely key to moving forward.
Don and Ebony: So when you talk about, you know, addressing some of these disparities, and in particular, when you talk about, economic or, you know, circumstances, how does the health foundation play a part in that?
Ed O'Malley: Yeah, I think that's what we're trying to discover. And as, as you know, there's been, there's been a lot of transition at the health foundation over the last few years.
what hasn't changed is a commitment to focusing on those disparities. What hasn't changed is the commitment to discovering how do we create more equitable access for all Kansans to have the type of health opportunities and outcomes that people deserve. We're going through a strategic framework, building process to answer more specifically, Ebony those, the, the question you're just asking what exactly will the initiatives and the efforts of the health foundation look like?
Ed O'Malley: I think that what we know is. it's about creating opportunity. It's about bringing more people into the conversation. It's about building power and opportunity at the grassroots level and helping align those efforts at the grassroot level, across our state with, key institutions and policy makers. To make sure key policies are aligning with what people on the ground need in order to live healthier lives. How that gets translated into specific programs, grant initiatives, and other opportunities from KHF will be discovering with the board and the staff over the coming months.
Don and Ebony: That's wonderful. That's, that's a fun thing to be working through.
Ed O'Malley: It's it's, [00:10:00] it's fun. It's also, it's also heady, you know, it's back in 1912, a bunch of Kansans worked really, really hard to build a hospital and they did that because they wanted to create an institution. That could help improve the health of people in this community.
I think about that a lot. I think about the opportunity we have at the Kansas health foundation as a gift from those Kansans. And we've gotta honor that gift and discover how do we use those resources in order to, you know, not just talk about this stuff, but make a difference in it.
Don and Ebony: And of course, there's a saying out there, I think is if it can't be measured, it can't be improved. Something like that. Help me understand. What happened? What were we doing right in 1980s to be in the top 10 when it come to healthcare, if you, yeah. How did, how, how did that happen?
Ed O'Malley: No, that's a great question. And that's one of the things in my first few weeks on this job, I'm trying to dig into and figure out my sense is though, from a big picture perspective,
Don and Ebony: mm-hmm
Ed O'Malley: we had more equitable opportunity for people.
That people for whatever reason were, were more able to access the types of opportunities in order to live a healthier lifestyle. And again, we know things like economic opportunity is the number one determinant of your health. We know educational attainment is a key determinant of your health. we know that, the, that the. The background and circumstances of an individual, their family, and a community has a massive influence. On what's happening with those health outcomes.
But we need to dig into the specifics and really learn. And one of my hopes is that Kansas Health Foundation, its broad network of partners will, inspire a movement of people asking the question you just asked, what were we getting right back then?
And what do we need to do differently now to get back to that? And again, we, we won't get there by helping healthy people get. We will get there by figuring out and listening to those who are facing the greatest health disparities and learning from them and alongside them and with them and making sure they have the resources to be empowered, to improve the health of their families, of their communities, of their organizations and of our entire state.
But your question is the key question. Bring me back on in six to 12 months and we're gonna have some great answers for
Don and Ebony: Excellent. Tassle. You got that. You got that down. I mean, cuz you know, as you said that the, and of course I was a kid, in, in eighties and nineties, but the one thing that I recall, being significant and, and a lot of our communities in 67214 was the opportunity to get trained for the skilled positions that was not available before, which helped.
Transform a lot of people's economic situation, because now you are able to have these high paying jobs and this skilled profession, which we still have today, but I, you know, what does that look like going forward in the future? How do we continue to, transform neighborhoods to give them those opportunities to, to make an economic impact for their family and for that community?
Ed O'Malley: Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's, it's a great question. And it, it might also not, it might not be that there were things we were doing that we quit doing.
It might be a lot of other factors that are. We might think of our, our out of our control. For example, Kansas is an aging state. We don't have the type of population growth in this state that, ensures that we, on average are a younger population, the older, the population of a state, the the less healthy that state is gonna be for obvious reasons.
So, you know, we've lost, Pohto what we've gained population, but we've lost percentage-wise population in the United States since the mid 1990s. But that shouldn't, that shouldn't excuse the ranking. It should actually rally us to discover well of the things we can control, like like dismantling disparities, like really asking ourselves.
How does race and the history of structural forces and structural racism, how does the history of inequities contribute to current day situations? Like asking us those questions and then, and then working together. To control and improve what we can control, unless there's a massive population. Boom, in Kansas, we're not gonna all of a sudden become a young state.
Right. So let's understand what of all the things that go into creating a healthy population. What can we control? And then let's make sure that we're knocking those things out of the park.
Don and Ebony: Gotcha. Let's get into small business owners. How can they assess overall health of their employees, their workforce?
Ed O'Malley: You know, a couple thoughts come to mind, a couple resources that could be useful for small business owners.
Number one, there's an organization called work. Well, Kansas. It's an organization that the Kansas health foundation has funded over the years work [00:15:00] well, Kansas, easy to Google, easy to find,
Don and Ebony: mm-hmm
work well, Kansas partners with work sites, small businesses, large employers. To help them discover exactly how to answer the question, Don, you just, you just asked, so that that's one resource.
I, I happen to know that a lot of the large insurance companies though, as well, blue cross blue shield and others have programming and resources designed to help, especially those smaller employers who can't afford to have employees on their staff were, this is their sole task, or this is the main thing they are focusing on.
Ed O'Malley: So there are a lot of resources from the insurance companies from work well, Kansas, and probably some others that are designed to partner with these employers, large or small that help them discern, the health of their workforce, but also more importantly, help them discover simple ways to improve the health of their, of their workforce.
Don and Ebony: Excellent. Just one more question before break. How does it feel to go across the hall to your new job? And it's not the same? Well, I know a KHF funded KLC, but how does that feel and what, what made you switch if I can ask?
Ed O'Malley: Of course, of course. Yeah. For those who might not Know the Kansas Leadership Center and the Kansas Health foundation are literally right next door to each other, it's, it's a shared
Don and Ebony: beautiful building.
and so, you know, it has been hard to remember each morning to turn left instead of
Don and Ebony: right. right.
Ed O'Malley: into make sure I go into the correct building. so it it's been, it's been strange and it's been also wonderful. And what I mean by that is the Kansas leadership center. The folks there are doing phenomenal things.
I think I had taken it as far as I could take it. You know, I love the work I was able to do there. It's time for them to identify the next permanent president and CEO and for her or him to take the Kansas Leadership Center to heights that I wasn't able to take to. I'm excited to watch that. So it was time.
It was time, but it has been a little strange to go on next door. I'm also though really excited to, to be in, in the role now of thinking about how to help this broad network of partner. Work together to improve the health of all cans, to work together, to reduce these disparities. So I'm still involved with the work of KLC.
It's just in a different way now.
Don and Ebony: Yeah. Excellent. And that's and I have to go per well, somewhat personal ed. I called him up on the phone when we were having a issue in the community with the Evergy pulse mm-hmm and I said, ed, I need your. And he was there. We put together, well, he helped me put together a community team that come up with a solution, how we could,fix something that what was not good for us.
And then he helped a lot. So thank you,
Ed O'Malley: Well, you, your, your humility through that whole process and, and your company's, ability to to, to learn and engage through that was really, impressive.
Don and Ebony: We put together a community engagement team and they led the process to, to, to somewhat rectify what had happened. So thank you for that.
So, yeah, that was huge. Yep. E all right, friends, it's time to hear a word from our sponsors. We will be back with Ed O'Malley in the Kansas Health Foundation.
Welcome back friends. Ed. So we've been talking a little bit about the work that you're going to be doing, here in your new position. So let's dig a little deeper if you will. So let's talk about DEI, right. This is a. Big subject matter. And some people are afraid to, to approach it. Some people don't understand the importance of why business or corporations should be in the business of fostering DEI, can you talk to us a little bit about that as it relates to health determinants,
Ed O'Malley: By all means. DEI, it is a big topic. And what I'm excited about is that more and more people are embracing and understanding of the need to create the most inclusive environments possible. And one thing I would start off by saying is DEI, diversity equity and inclusion DEI like, we cannot let it become a political issue.
Don and Ebony: Right.
Ed O'Malley: I have, I have good friends who are far, far, far to the left and they are major advocates for DEI, and I have good friends who are far, far, far to the right, and they are [00:20:00] major advocates for DEI, .
Don and Ebony: and I
Ed O'Malley: now those two groups of people might use different words sometimes, but like, I don't know many people who want people to feel excluded.
Don and Ebony: Mm-hmm
Ed O'Malley: For example, you know, so we can't let DEI become a political issue and I'm worried it is. And so I love the fact that the Wichita chamber and full disclosure, I'm the vice chair of the board for DEI.
So I work to support. Our amazing staff member, Ricki Ellison, who is on the front lines for the chamber, helping build the chamber strategies and activities to help advance DEI, I love doing whatever I can to help support her great work and the Chamber's great work.
It is so critical. And you imagine if if Wichita was seen as one of the most experienced as one of the, the most inclusive places for people with different backgrounds, whether that's on race or, any dimension.
Imagine what that would mean for our business community, you know, as the, the Latino and Latino population, for example, skyrocket. Don't we want this to be a place that attracts the best talent and that population is growing like crazy. You know, we need to retain our incredible talent, our, our young professionals. And if this is a community where. Young black professionals or young professionals of any color, see as a place for them to thrive and be included.
We all win. It helps all of us. So one of the big things on my mind is how we just, we cannot let this become a political issue.
We can debate the best ways of creating more inclusion. To create, to creating more equitable access, to taking advantage of the diversity that we have, but we can't let it become political.
And I, I love how the chamber has been on the front lines of advancing DEI in a way that I think everybody can connect to which I really love.
Don and Ebony: Oh, I love the work that you are doing and I appreciate you being so passionate about the discussion. So as we talk about the framework for growth or how we are trying to grow and, become this inclusive city, how do we.
You know, not politicize it. How do we begin conversations? And I think shout out to Ricki. She's doing a wonderful job and I'm excited to see that work, but how do we engage in those conversations in a way that seemed to be more meaningful? So that cuz you know, you said that we have used different language to describe it.
So are there some tricks of the trade that we may
Ed O'Malley: well, to me, the, the, the first thing that comes to my mind is. To trust people.
If people are articulating that they don't feel included
Don and Ebony: Mm-hmm.
Ed O'Malley: And that might be articulated through surveys, polls, through conversations in a workplace. And that's what we are hearing. That's what in our society. People of color, LGBTQ communities, people have been expressing that they have not historically felt as included as they would like to. So I think the first piece of advice is to trust them if that's their experience, trust that it's their true experience.
Don and Ebony: Mm-hmm.
Ed O'Malley: And when we do that again, I, I, no matter our politics, my experiences. Almost all of us want people to be included. And so if we trust them that they're not feeling included, that should take us pretty quickly down a road of, well, what can we do to help people feel more included?
And we, we might not have the answers. We might have to listen and partner and empower other people to discover the answers. But to me, the, the first mindset is a mindset of, of trust. There is something here. .And I think the second thing on my mind is, you know, as I watch the DEI conversation unfold across our country, what I'm noticing often is people reacting emotionally to the way in which somebody else is talking about it.
And then the debate or the discussion is about how we're talking about it, not the underlying issue.
Don and Ebony: Bingo. Yeah. That's it. Bingo.
Ed O'Malley: You know, so we've gotta catch ourselves from that. We gotta catch, like don't fall trapped into the trap. Don't fall into that trap. Don't fall into the trap of reactionary politics, which, you know, the politic politic politicization.
I don't think I still got that. Right. But I did the best I could, of all things in America. Is all around us, but when it comes to advancing DEI, and if we want Wichita to win, if we want Wichita to be a place that thrives, we have got to be on the correct side of us.
Don and Ebony: Mm-hmm.
Ed O'Malley: We have to. And so we can't let it become politicized.
We've gotta trust people and we've gotta then sit down together [00:25:00] and say, well, what can we do. To make this place more inclusive to create more equitable access. It's just absolutely critical. I feel like I'm rambling, but.
Don and Ebony: You no, yeah, this is good.
This is really good. You know, so if employers, as employers, if we can help improve equity within our walls, how could that support the broader health discussions throughout the state?
Ed O'Malley: Yeah. Yeah. I think it's all connected again, going back to like what creates healthy people? Well, the, the number one determinant of your health is your economic status.
So if, if companies and, and small businesses, large employers, if they can be more successful, They can help their people be more successful to share in that economic prosperity ,that will change our health trajectory as a state.
You know, it's the number one thing we can do is help give people access to economic opportunity. And I don't wanna. I don't wanna say that other efforts to improve health are important, other, efforts to help people understand the importance of healthy eating and healthy behaviors, but these core underlying fundamentals like access to economic opportunity, access to quality education, access to systems and structures where people have asked themselves.
Are there still inherent systemic inequities built into the structures. And if so, have we dismantled them or are we dismantling them? Those types of things are critical and we need to still encourage people to, you know, drink your green smoothie and get enough veggies and get enough exercise of course.
But you know, all that stuff is a lot easier when you have economic opportunity and you're in a system that isn't working against. And there's a lot to that. We could unpack a lot of
Don and Ebony: Yeah. That's a, that's a whole nother conversation in itself,
Ed O'Malley: it's also like the conversation, right? It's the conversation and which is why I I just, I fear if we let DEI become politicized, it keeps us from getting to these real conversations.
and I surprise people on the left and the right sometimes when I say.
Ed O'Malley: that, I know folks on the far, far left. And I know folks on the far, far, right. Equally passionate about advancing DEI. You can be passionate about it and be in lots of places along the political spectrum. Let's not let it become politicized, feel so critical.
Don and Ebony: That's awesome. I love that.
And so the last question that I would have for you is just really, what can the Kansas Health Foundation do to support business owners or what, what type of resources can they tap into?
Ed O'Malley: So I mentioned work well, Kansas before a phenomenal organization funded by the Kansas health foundation in order to partner with small businesses and employers all across Kansas.
So I would encourage Chamber members, businesses to look into Work Well Kansas number one, I, I would also say there are other assets that the Kansas Leadership, excuse me, the Kansas Health Foundation. Hey, it's week four.
Don and Ebony: It's
Ed O'Malley: Exactly.
But there are other assets that the Kansas health foundation has created that exist in Kansas things like the Kansas Leadership Center.
things like the Kansas Health Institute, which is based in Topeka, Kansas, and helps mainly policy makers, but I'm sure they would be happy to work with businesses as well, to think through health research and health outcomes related to decisions that policy makers and businesses make. So I would encourage business owners to, to think about those resources and to stay in, stay.
Ed O'Malley: Stay in touch. what I know from my experience is you don't make game changing progress on a massive issue, like climbing those health rankings without leveraging market forces, without leveraging the business community.
Don and Ebony: Exactly.
Ed O'Malley: So my hope is that we'll have more opportunities and resources for the business community, but my request would be.
Those in the business community, let me know. And my team know what would help you.
Don and Ebony: Mm-hmm.
Ed O'Malley: elevate the importance of the health of your people. And if I can hear that and learn that maybe the health foundation can find ways to partner with the business community to, to drive us back where we belong into the top 10 of these health rankings.
I let's not be I'm, I'm a K-Stater.
Don and Ebony: That's
Ed O'Malley: I want Don don't hold on. against me, Don.
But you know, we want our football team to be, regularly in the top 25 and ideally back in the top 10 on a regular basis, why wouldn't we want. For our health outcomes as well. Absolutely. You know, we want Shocker basketball up there in the top.
We want KU basketball to stay up there at the top. Ebony, that can be hard for some of us
Don and Ebony: It is, but it's okay. I support
Ed O'Malley: Exactly I'm with
Don and Ebony: You. You do what? Not gonna repeat that.
Ed O'Malley: Somebody scrubbed that from the recording. But, you know, I mean, to me, let's think that way with, with health, because if we win. On those health rankings, that [00:30:00] must mean we're winning on so many other things. Economic opportunity, engaging young professionals, keeping people here, advancing diversity, equity and inclusion.
It's all connected.
Don and Ebony: Got one question before we get into some fun here.
So what happened to us? And this is just me talking, I mean, We slipped into health rankings. We slipped in our entrepreneurship mojo during the nineties, the thousands, maybe the tens. Did something systemic happen to us, or is it something that happened to every community or what's your thought on that? I know it's an off the ball question, but this is Don.
So you gonna get that,
Ed O'Malley: Don it's it's a great question. And, and my guess is it's a type of question where all we really have are hypotheses. You know, we, we we nobody knows exactly, but, so it could be interesting to think about, you know, what are the different interpretations about why it's happened?
And, you know, there could be some pretty benign interpretations, like, well, we, we just haven't kept up with the right type of community programming and educational programming to keep entrepreneurship, for example, right in front of people.
Don and Ebony: Mm-hmm
Ed O'Malley: But there could be more systemic, more provocative interpretations as well. You know, who was it working for back then?
We love the in Wichita, we love our great entrepreneurial success stories. Was that entrepreneurial success evenly distributed across the community or, not our community has become, and this is something to celebrate more diverse over the last 30, 40 years. So one more provocative interpretation is maybe the way we were set.
Allowed us to do a lot of great things as Wichita in Kansas, in the eighties and nineties, ,but maybe we didn't adapt and ensure the same type of opportunities. For an increasingly diverse population. You, that that's much more provocative, right? Right. my guess is we need to explore all these different interpretations.
And my guess is it's a mixture. Like the the actual reason is a mixture of a lot of these different things. but it, it could be, you know, some communities, some parts of our country have been able to adapt faster, have been able to be even more welcom. And maybe we need to think about that. So there, there could be some deeper systemic, more provocative interpretations that contribute to a lot of these things.
Sliding, you know, our health ranking sliding our entrepreneurial mojo, ,you know, sliding a term that I've heard used used before. These things could be connected. And let's explore that together as a community.
Don and Ebony: All right. You've dealt with, I have to say myself and E this time long enough. There's time for some, fun on this word association. I give you one word to gimme one word back. It's not wrong, cuz it's your word. ready?
Ed O'Malley: Makes me nervous. I think so.
Don and Ebony: This this is child's play for you.
Here we go. Leader.
Ed O'Malley: Activity.
Don and Ebony: Success.
Ed O'Malley: I just get one word.
Don and Ebony: You're Ed O'Malley. You can have two
Mobilizing others.
Don and Ebony: There you go. College. Oh God. Why did I
Ed O'Malley: Kansas State Wildcats. I should enough.
Don and Ebony: Did I do that? Failure.
Ed O'Malley: Needs to happen all the time so we can learn.
Don and Ebony: Nice. Entrepreneur.
Ed O'Malley: Somebody willing to take risks.
Don and Ebony: Wichita.
Ed O'Malley: Home.
Don and Ebony: Vacation.
Ed O'Malley: Mexico.
Don and Ebony: Hero.
Ed O'Malley: I've been blessed with a lot of incredible mentors, locally, something like Jan Davis.
Don and Ebony: Oh, wow. Yeah.
I could land a bunch of others, but I'm, I'm gonna tell you that.
Ed O'Malley: Jan Davis is one of my heroes,
Don and Ebony: Davis. Excellent. She's amazing. Chamber. Wichita Chamber.
Ed O'Malley: On the leading edge.
Don and Ebony: Family.
Ed O'Malley: Love more than anything.
Don and Ebony: Fun.
Ed O'Malley: All right. I, oh, fun.
Don and Ebony: Ed's having a struggle.
Ed O'Malley: I know. I'm well, I'm kind of boring. I read,
Don and Ebony: That's fun.
Ed O'Malley: I read, I work out, hang out with family.
Don and Ebony: There you go. Last but not least. And, please tell the truth about this one. Beverage.
Ed O'Malley: Preferred beverage of choice is a Manhattan on the rocks measured just perfectly the way my grandmother used to measure them.
Don and Ebony: Oh, wow. My man. See, I knew he'd I knew he'd come through while friends we've reached that time. It's the end of our segment. If you would, please make certain that you share this with people who you think may find value in this and leave us a note. Let us know who you wanna hear from next till next time.
Peace.
My gosh, this was [00:35:00] not a therapy session. although, although this have been a day of recording.
Y'all do bloopers on this.