Advertise on podcast: Interesting ideas with Stan Hustad

A two-word command can change the way a person leads, works, and lives: "Don't fret." In this edition of the Jesus Entrepreneur podcast, broadcaster and performance coach Stan Hustad explores an old-fashioned word with urgent meaning for a worried world. His challenge is simple: anxiety may feel like responsible thinking, but unchecked fretting can slowly rob people of their courage, energy, dreams, and willingness to act. Drawing on Psalm 37, which repeatedly urges readers not to fret, Hustad asks listeners to consider the heavy invisible load they may be carrying: worry, stress, fear, doubt, endless "what ifs," and overthinking. These burdens can bend a person under their weight long before any real crisis arrives. He makes the message personal. His own mother, shaped by the hardships of the Great Depression, worried deeply about those she loved. Hustad admits that he inherited some of that tendency. Like his preacher father, who said his sermons were first messages he himself needed to hear, Hustad presents this episode as a reminder for himself as much as for his audience. The lesson comes alive in a story from Hustad's coaching career. After he reported a troubling staff issue to a successful business leader, the executive closed his notebook, ended the meeting, and immediately gathered his team. He addressed the problem graciously, clearly, and firmly. He did not allow the issue to linger beneath layers of hesitation. He made a decision and acted. That example exposes a familiar trap: people sometimes call their delay "due diligence" when fear is really keeping them from deciding. Careful judgment matters, but there comes a point when more deliberation becomes avoidance. Strong leaders recognize that moment and move forward with conviction. Hustad recalls broadcaster Earl Nightingale's insight that people often need reminding more than educating. Most already know that worry cannot build a business, repair a relationship, or fulfill a calling. Yet they still need to hear the truth again: do not let fear take command of the future. For the Jesus Entrepreneur Collective, the message reaches beyond business success. The goal is to help men and women in the marketplace live with purpose, serve their families and communities, and become people whose work reflects their faith. The call is not to abandon responsibility or ignore real concerns. It is to face them without surrendering to paralysis. THINGS TO REMEMBER "Don't fret" is a biblical invitation to trust and act, not a command to pretend that problems do not exist. Overthinking can disguise fear as preparation. Discern the difference between wise care and endless delay. Fretting can be fatal to initiative, confidence, relationships, and dreams—even when it is not a literal threat to life. THINGS TO SHARE Ask a colleague or friend: "What important decision have you postponed because of worry?" Share the example of a leader who handled a difficult situation promptly, firmly, and graciously. Pass along the memorable challenge: "Do it. Do it right. Do it now." THINGS TO NOTICE AND ACT UPON Notice the recurring "what if" that is draining your attention. Name it honestly. Identify one decision that has enough information behind it. Take the next responsible step today. Read Psalm 37, pray for wisdom, and choose a concrete act of courage and service. THE CLOSING CHALLENGE A life of faith and meaningful enterprise cannot be built entirely in the waiting room of worry. The invitation of this episode is to exchange fretting for trust, indecision for thoughtful action, and fear for purposeful service. The future will always hold uncertainty. The next faithful step can begin now. The Jesus Entrepreneur Collective, presented by WIT Radio, helps people live better, do better business, and make a stronger difference in their communities. For speaking, coaching, or collaboration, contact Stan Hustad at [email protected].

The storm is coming. In this timely edition of Inconvenient Ideas, veteran broadcaster and business performance coach Stan Hustad uses an approaching coastal storm as a living metaphor for the forces already gathering around individuals, leaders, businesses, and institutions. His message is neither an invitation to panic nor a promise of easy escape. It is a call to prepare: to become spiritually grounded, emotionally resilient, technologically capable, and creatively ready for a world in which yesterday's methods may no longer be enough. The episode moves from the Jewish holy days to the shoreline, from world affairs to artificial intelligence, and from the power of naming to the future of streaming digital media. At every turn, Hustad returns to one central conviction: storms reveal what people have built inside themselves. Those who learn to face the waves with wisdom, insight, truth, humility, and courage can do more than survive. They can create the kind of transformation the coming year will require. A Pause for Reflection and Gratitude Hustad opens after several days away from the camera and microphone. The pause came during a meaningful season in the Jewish calendar. He reflects on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, and looks toward Sukkot, the harvest festival associated with gratitude, hospitality, shared provision, and the temporary shelters that remind worshippers of human dependence on God. For Hustad, the sequence matters. Reflection and repentance are followed by thanksgiving and shared celebration. Before confronting the world's turbulence, he pauses to remember simple gifts: food, harvest, friendship, hospitality, and the ordinary goodness of life. That posture is not sentimental. Gratitude steadies the heart. It reminds people what is worth protecting, what is worth sharing, and why courage matters when public life grows loud and confused. The episode also responds to the recent United Nations address by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and to the walkout by some delegates. Hustad strongly objects to what he sees as moral inconsistency in public institutions and shallow interpretation in contemporary media. Whether listeners agree with every political conclusion or not, his deeper challenge is unmistakable: do not outsource moral judgment. Listen carefully, examine competing claims, understand the larger story, and refuse to let headlines do all the thinking. One line becomes a hinge for the entire program: "We will win because we have to." Hustad turns the statement toward the listener. What must be faced because failure is not an acceptable destination? What calling, responsibility, relationship, or mission now requires a new level of resolve? Lessons from the Water After the holiday pause, Hustad traveled with friends to the Carolina coast. He has long loved the ocean. Walking the shoreline restores him spiritually and physically, while swimming and boarding in moving water test both skill and humility. The sea teaches quickly. A person can learn the waves, read the currents, and grow stronger, yet one poorly judged moment can still end with a hard collision against the sand. Hustad tells that part of the story with broadcaster's humor. After being knocked face-first by a wave, he jokes that a "face made for radio" can survive the experience. Beneath the laughter is a serious lesson: confidence without humility is dangerous. The goal is not to conquer the ocean. It is to respect its power, develop the right capacities, recover from mistakes, and keep learning. The group left the coast early because rough weather was approaching. That literal storm gives Hustad the central picture for the program. Human beings do not control when every storm forms, how strong it becomes, or where it finally lands. They can, however, pay attention, prepare, make wise decisions, and refuse to confuse denial with courage. The Storm Beyond the Forecast The most consequential storms ahead may not appear on a weather map. International conflict could intensify. Political systems may become more volatile. Economic assumptions may change quickly. Artificial intelligence will continue to alter how knowledge work, communication, employment, creativity, and competition are organized. At the same time, audiences are moving toward streaming digital media as a primary place to discover ideas, evaluate leaders, form trust, and decide whom to follow. These forces do not arrive one at a time. They compound. A business may face new technology, changing customer expectations, economic pressure, and a communications challenge in the same season. An individual may be expected to learn unfamiliar tools while also making difficult decisions about purpose, work, faith, and identity. The storm is not simply one event. It is the collision of many changes that arrive faster than established habits can absorb them. That is why Hustad warns against relying on yesterday's formula. What worked in the past may not work well in the immediate future, and the immediate future has already begun. Preparation must reach deeper than purchasing a new device or opening another social-media account. It requires the ability to interpret change, choose wisely, communicate with humanity, and create something genuinely different in kind, not merely a slightly improved version of the familiar. Name It Claim It and Perform Up to It One of the episode's most practical insights concerns the power of naming. Hustad observes that the person who names an idea often gains influence over how others understand it. Names create frames. They signal purpose, shape expectation, and make a project easier to remember. This is true for a book, podcast, course, business, campaign, or movement. His advice is concise: name it, claim it, and perform up to it. A strong name is not decoration. It is a promise. Once a leader gives a project a memorable identity, the work must justify the language. The title should call the creator and the team toward a higher standard of clarity, consistency, usefulness, and courage. For business owners and communicators, this is an immediate assignment. What is the work called? What change does the name promise? Can the audience repeat it? Does every episode, product, meeting, and customer experience honor the claim? In a crowded digital marketplace, vagueness disappears. A clear identity earns the chance to be noticed; trustworthy performance earns the right to be remembered. The Communication Storm Is Already Here Hustad's central business warning is direct: it will no longer be enough merely to write a book, possess expertise, or hold a good idea. Leaders must learn to perform and communicate the ideas inside their work. Streaming digital media is becoming a premier channel for public trust, education, influence, and business development. People want to hear the voice, see the conviction, experience the personality, and understand the practical value behind the message. This does not mean every expert must become a celebrity. It means every serious leader is now in the communication business. A credible presence may include video, audio, live conversation, short teaching segments, interviews, visual storytelling, and a body of work that audiences can discover over time. The task is not simply to publish more. It is to communicate so people can follow, trust, and remember. The people who prepare now will enter the new year with an advantage. They will have practiced speaking clearly. They will understand how to turn one important idea into a program, article, audio episode, video, and useful conversation. They will build repeatable production habits rather than waiting for inspiration. Most important, they will learn how to make technology serve a human message instead of allowing technology to flatten the message into noise. Artificial Intelligence and the Need for Wisdom Artificial intelligence intensifies the challenge. Hustad acknowledges that AI has already been helpful to his own work, while also admitting that its speed and power can be unsettling. That combination of usefulness and unease is honest. The technology can expand research, writing, design, production, analysis, and personalization. It can also disrupt established roles, magnify error, imitate authority, and accelerate decisions before wisdom has caught up. No single person, company, or nation can determine how every actor in a global marketplace will use powerful technology. Rules will matter, safeguards will matter, and ethical leadership will matter, but none of them will remove the need for personal discernment. Leaders must learn what the tools can do, where they fail, what should remain human, and how to maintain responsibility for the final work. The answer is neither blind enthusiasm nor fearful retreat. It is informed engagement: learning the tools, testing their output, protecting truth, developing judgment, and strengthening the qualities machines cannot supply on a leader's behalf - moral courage, accountability, relationship, lived experience, spiritual depth, and wise purpose. Learning to Walk on Stormy Water Hustad describes the necessary response as learning, spiritually and emotionally, to walk on water. The image is deliberately larger than technique. In a stormy world, resilience cannot be reduced to toughness alone. People will need knowledge, but also wisdom. They will need speed, but also discernment. They will need creative power, but also a moral center strong enough to direct that power toward worthy ends. Spiritual fortitude gives people a place to stand when circumstances refuse to stand still. It creates the capacity to live with confidence without pretending to possess certainty, to act decisively without losing humility, and to remain generous when fear encourages self-protection. When people connect with the right truths and the right companions, Hustad argues, clarity and creative confidence can gro

Artificial intelligence may be changing the world, but Stan Hustad believes the most important question is far more personal: What will it change in you, and what will you choose to do with it? In this timely edition from the What It Takes Radio Company, Stan the Radio Man steps into the controversy surrounding artificial intelligence with curiosity, humor, faith, and a broadcaster's instinct for asking the question beneath the headlines. Will AI improve human performance or diminish human purpose? Will it expand creativity or encourage intellectual laziness? Will it help people serve their audiences more effectively, or merely fill the world with more noise? For Stan, the answer will not be determined by the technology alone. It will be determined by the wisdom, character, imagination, and intentions of the people using it. Between Fear and Fascination The program was recorded during the Jewish tradition's Days of Awe, the reflective season between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. It is a time associated with examination, repentance, forgiveness, and the determination to live differently in the coming year. That spiritual setting provides an appropriate background for a conversation about AI. Artificial intelligence is already provoking its own kind of awe: sometimes wonder, sometimes fear, and frequently confusion. Some predict that AI will solve extraordinary human problems. Others warn that it will threaten employment, distort truth, consume enormous resources, and possibly become dangerously difficult to control. Stan does not dismiss legitimate concerns, but he resists the temptation to surrender to panic. History reminds us that almost every significant technological change has produced both exaggerated promises and exaggerated fears. The automobile, radio, television, the internet, and social media were all expected either to save society or ruin it. None fulfilled every promise. None produced every predicted disaster. Each became a tool whose consequences depended substantially upon the people, purposes, and systems directing it. AI may become extraordinarily powerful, but power is not the same thing as wisdom. From Artificial Intelligence to Human Performance Stan proposes a constructive shift in the conversation: move from merely discussing artificial intelligence to considering human performance. The best question may not be, "What can AI do?" It may be: What can AI help human beings do better? Used wisely, AI can help people research, organize, compare, question, revise, illustrate, and communicate. It can assist entrepreneurs in developing ideas, teachers in preparing lessons, broadcasters in extending programs, and authors in transforming spoken insights into published work. But AI cannot decide what a human life should be about. It cannot determine whom a person is called to serve. It cannot substitute information for integrity, automation for imagination, or production for purpose. Stan's challenge is to use artificial intelligence in the service of human flourishing. Technology should help people become more thoughtful, creative, capable, generous, and fully alive, not merely faster. Everyone Has an Audience One of the program's central ideas is Stan's enduring conviction that everyone has an audience, or at least a potential audience. That audience should not be treated simply as prospects, customers, clients, or statistical targets. An audience is a community of people who might be informed, encouraged, helped, challenged, or transformed by what someone has learned and is willing to share. Finding that audience begins with two questions: Who are you called to serve? How can you help them become better, happier, wiser, braver, more capable, or more fully alive? AI can assist in reaching those people, but it cannot answer the calling question on a person's behalf. That requires reflection, self-knowledge, spiritual discernment, and a willingness to listen. Success begins not with attracting the largest possible audience, but with becoming genuinely useful to the right one. Become Someone People Trust Remember and Follow Technology may create visibility, but visibility does not automatically produce credibility. Stan draws upon ideas he has studied throughout his career, including the enduring principles associated with Dale Carnegie, to describe the kind of communicator worth becoming: a person whom others can trust, remember, and follow. Trust is earned through truthfulness and consistency. People remember those who communicate with clarity, personality, and genuine concern. They follow those who have demonstrated that their ideas can lead somewhere worthwhile. AI may polish a sentence or improve a presentation, but it cannot manufacture a trustworthy life. The communicator must still do the inner work. Anyone hoping to transform a business, organization, audience, or community must first be willing to experience some transformation personally. That may involve the discomfort, even the trauma, of questioning familiar assumptions, abandoning ineffective habits, confronting personal limitations, and beginning again. The Seen the Unseen and the Limits of Knowledge The program also moves beyond technological questions into something deeper: the mystery of how little human beings truly know about themselves and their world. Stan reflects on the difference between what is seen and what remains unseen. People naturally place great confidence in what can be measured, displayed, calculated, or explained. Yet some of life's most powerful realities, including faith, love, courage, memory, imagination, motive, and spiritual influence, cannot always be placed neatly on a screen. Human beings also understand only a portion of what is taking place within themselves. Talents may remain undiscovered. Fears can operate below conscious awareness. Unexamined desires can influence decisions. Shadows, selfishness, and destructive tendencies can coexist with remarkable generosity and courage. Artificial intelligence can reveal patterns in enormous collections of information. It may even help people notice patterns within their own work. But it does not eliminate the need for humility. The beginning of wisdom may be the admission that neither the machine nor its maker knows everything. A Touch of Immortality Stan then introduces one of the program's most provocative and engaging ideas: the possibility of achieving a touch of immortality. He is not suggesting that human beings can avoid death. His meaning is both simpler and more demanding. A person gains a touch of immortality when something they create continues serving others after they are gone. During a long life in broadcasting, teaching, coaching, and entrepreneurship, Stan has produced thousands of radio programs, videos, articles, interviews, and presentations. Many remain online. Some may be discovered years from now by people he has never met. The same opportunity is increasingly available to others. A book, recording, course, podcast, letter, lesson, or story can preserve hard-earned wisdom and carry it beyond the limits of one lifetime. The goal is not simply to leave behind more digital material. The internet already contains more material than anyone could consume. The challenge is to create something true and useful, something capable of helping another person live, work, believe, or serve more faithfully. As Stan reminds his audience, it may not be what a person completes or achieves that finally matters most. It may be what that person starts. From Books to Broadcasting and Back Again Stan sees a powerful relationship between publishing and broadcasting. Someone who wants to write a book may begin by speaking it. Teaching, recording, interviewing, and telling stories can uncover the natural voice and central ideas that eventually become chapters. A microphone can also help an author introduce and distribute a completed book. The book supplies depth and permanence; broadcasting creates presence, personality, and connection. The process works in both directions. A book can become a broadcast, podcast, course, or video series. A collection of broadcasts can become a book. A spoken story can become an article. A lifetime of experience can become a body of teaching that continues serving others. AI can assist with transcription, organization, editing, summarization, and adaptation. But the lived experience, conviction, wisdom, and human voice must come from the person. The machine can help shape the material. It should not replace the soul of it. Entering the Transformation Zone Stan places this conversation within his larger understanding of the stages, or zones, of a meaningful life. People begin in the Curiosity Zone, where they explore, question, discover, and learn. They move into the Impact Zone, where they must create value, earn a living, serve others, and produce meaningful results. Experience can then lead into the Wisdom Zone, where lessons are examined, tested, and better understood. From wisdom comes the possibility of entering the Transformation Zone: the place where a person becomes capable of creating changes that are profound, lasting, and genuinely important. Transformation is more than improvement. It is not merely doing the same thing a little faster or decorating an old idea with new technology. Transformation changes what a person, organization, or community is capable of becoming. AI may participate in that process, but it cannot lead it alone. Transformation still requires people who possess moral imagination, spiritual depth, practical wisdom, and a genuine desire to be the cause of good things. Things to Remember Artificial intelligence is a powerful tool, but it is not a source of ultimate wisdom, purpose, or calling. The essential question is not only what AI can do, but what it can help human beings do better. Everyone has a potential audience: people they may be ca

September 1 was Transformation Day. September 3 may be even more important. Because declaring a day is relatively easy. Living a transformed life is something else entirely. In this special edition of What It Takes Radio, broadcaster, coach and entrepreneur Stan Hustad follows the first annual Transformation Day with a very personal invitation: THIS IS FOR YOU. It is an invitation to enter what Hustad calls The Transformation Zone — a growing community and conversation for people who are no longer satisfied merely making things a little better. They want to become different. And perhaps help make their businesses, organizations, communities and world different as well. From Transformation Day to the Transformation Zone On September 1, Hustad and a colleague informally declared the first Transformation Day — a day intended to become an annual opportunity to stop, think and ask whether this might finally be the time to pursue meaningful transformation. Transformation in a life. Transformation in a business. Transformation in relationships. Transformation within a person's circle of influence. Perhaps even transformation that reaches far beyond that circle. It is an ambitious idea. Hustad readily admits that declaring a new international observance with two people may sound slightly audacious. But then again, most movements don't begin with a committee of 10,000. They begin with somebody. Sometimes two somebodies. And then somebody else decides to join them. That is the invitation of this program. Better Is Good. Transformation Is Different. Hustad makes an important distinction between four ideas that are often treated as though they mean the same thing: BETTER  →  IMPROVEMENT  →  CHANGE  →  TRANSFORMATION Almost everyone wants something to be better. Most people are willing to consider improvement. Change becomes more difficult because change usually costs something. It interrupts routines, challenges assumptions and occasionally moves the furniture in our lives without asking permission. But transformation goes considerably further. Transformation is not simply becoming different by degree. It is becoming different in kind. A transformed business doesn't simply sell 5 percent more of the same thing. It may discover an entirely new way to create value. A transformed professional doesn't merely become slightly more efficient. That person may discover an entirely different understanding of his or her work. And a transformed life isn't merely a better-organized version of yesterday. Transformation is difficult. But difficult things have an annoying habit of being where many of life's most important opportunities are hiding. Four Questions at the Entrance Hustad has spent many years coaching people who wanted something to change in their lives or businesses. Before getting very far into strategies, techniques, goals and plans, he learned to ask more fundamental questions. In this program he offers four of them as a kind of entrance examination for the Transformation Zone — not one that anyone passes or fails, but one that requires an honest answer. 1. Are You Serious? This is where transformation begins. Not: "Wouldn't that be nice?" Not: "I've been thinking about doing something someday." But: Are you serious? Transformation requires intention. It requires enough commitment to move an idea from something interesting into something important. Hustad's coaching experience taught him that he could not do the work for another person. He could encourage, challenge, teach, coach and accompany them. But ultimately the person seeking transformation had to decide: I am serious about this. 2. Who Are You? Years ago, when teaching people to become broadcasters, Hustad would tell students that there was one person they absolutely had to meet if they wanted to become successful communicators. Naturally, they wanted the name. Who was this important broadcasting personality? The answer was: You. Before someone can communicate authentically, lead effectively or create something genuinely new, that person needs to begin understanding himself or herself. Most of us know our job titles. We know our schedules. We know what other people expect from us. But those aren't necessarily answers to the question: Who are you? Transformation requires self-knowledge — sometimes uncomfortable self-knowledge — because it is difficult to intentionally transform a life one has never seriously examined. 3. What Is True? Then comes a question that has occupied philosophers, theologians, leaders and ordinary people for thousands of years: What is true? What do you believe so deeply that you are willing to build your life around it? What principles are not negotiable? What would you defend? What would you advocate? What have experience, faith, wisdom and reflection taught you to trust? A transformed life cannot be built entirely on whatever happens to be fashionable this week. It needs foundations. And that requires deciding what is true. 4. What Do You Want? Finally comes a deceptively simple question: What do you want? Hustad points to this as one of the powerful questions Jesus repeatedly asked people who approached him. It is powerful precisely because many people cannot answer it clearly. They know what happened to them. They know what they're supposed to do Monday morning. They know what other people want from them. But what do they really want their life to become? What do they want to create? What difference do they want to make? What relationships do they want to deepen? What work matters enough to deserve part of their remaining lifetime? Transformation requires direction. If you don't know what you want, it becomes remarkably difficult to recognize whether you're moving toward it. Transformation Is Already Coming There is another reason these questions matter. Transformation is not politely waiting for us to decide whether we're interested. It is already happening. Artificial intelligence is transforming industries and professions. Streaming media has transformed broadcasting. Communication bears remarkably little resemblance to the industry Hustad entered decades ago. Businesses are discovering that assumptions that worked yesterday may not work tomorrow. Some transformations are chosen. Others arrive without an invitation. Sometimes they even arrive through disruption, disappointment or trauma. Will transformation merely happen to us, or will we participate in shaping it intentionally? That is what the Transformation Zone is intended to explore. Welcome to the Transformation Zone The Transformation Zone is not being presented as a place for spectators. It is for people willing to become change makers, difference makers and transformation makers. People who want to make more money — and make more meaning. People who want greater influence — and greater impact. People who would like to have more fun while doing work that actually matters. And people humble enough to recognize that genuine transformation rarely happens alone. We need teachers. We need coaches. We need friends. We need colleagues. We need communities. We need people willing to challenge our comfortable assumptions. Sometimes we simply need somebody to ask us the right question at the right time. THINGS TO REMEMBER Transformation is not the same as improvement. Better is worthwhile. Improvement is valuable. Change is often necessary. But transformation asks whether something needs to become different not merely by degree, but different in kind. Transformation begins with seriousness. Interest alone rarely transforms anything. You are part of the transformation. Before transforming a business, organization or community, spend serious time discovering the person doing the transforming. Know what you believe is true. Transformation without foundations can simply become motion. Know what you want. You cannot intentionally travel toward a destination you refuse to identify. Transformation is already happening. The question is whether you will merely react to it or participate in shaping it. THINGS TO SHARE Are you serious? Who are you? What is true? What do you want? Share these questions with a friend, colleague, spouse, business partner or team. Don't rush the answers. Spend an hour discussing them honestly. The conversation could be uncomfortable. Good. It might also be transformational. THINGS TO DO RIGHT NOW Take a blank sheet of paper and write four headings: SERIOUS — SELF — TRUTH — WANT. Under each heading, write one honest paragraph. Identify one transformation you want to begin during the next 30 days. Not twelve. One. Name it. Write it down. Tell somebody. Take one visible action toward it within the next 24 hours. Transformation becomes real when intention finally becomes action. THIS REALLY IS FOR YOU There was a reason Stan Hustad began this program with those four simple words: This is for you. After decades in broadcasting, business and coaching, he has learned that communication becomes powerful when it stops speaking vaguely to everybody and begins speaking intentionally to somebody. If something in your life, work, business, relationships or calling needs more than another small improvement, perhaps it is time to enter the Transformation Zone. Hustad and the developing Transformation Zone community are inviting serious people to begin exploring how they can live transformed lives, build transformed businesses, create meaningful work, increase their influence and help bring worthwhile transformation to others. READY TO BEGIN? Contact Stan Hustad [email protected] Tell him what you want to transform. Better yet, be prepared to answer four questions when he responds: Are you serious?  •  Who are you?  •  What is true?  •  What do you want? September 1 was Transformation Day. September 3 is an invitation to do something about it. W

What Does Jesus Look Like? Dolly Parton understood something that every entrepreneur, broadcaster, leader, and communicator eventually learns: Image is not everything—but it is the first thing. In this timely and thought-provoking edition of the Jesus Entrepreneur Collective, Stan Hustad—"Stan the Radio Man"—begins with the passing of one of America's most recognizable performers, entrepreneurs, and generous public figures. Dolly Parton died on August 25, 2026, at the age of 80. The media response was immediate and enormous. Her passing became one of those major stories that, in broadcasting language, "takes all the oxygen out of the room." That observation becomes Stan's first practical lesson for anyone trying to communicate through modern media: every message enters a crowded marketplace. Even an excellent program, article, podcast, product, or proposal competes with hundreds of other stories for the public's attention. Good communicators therefore must pay attention not only to what they say, but also to when they say it, how they present it, and what is already occupying the audience's mind. Stan wisely waited a day before releasing this program. After more than 50 years in broadcasting, he knows that timing is not a minor production detail. Timing is part of the message. But Dolly Parton also provides the starting point for a much deeper question: What does Jesus look like? Dolly Parton and the Power of a Distinctive Image Dolly Parton did not become unforgettable by accident. She developed a public image that was colorful, distinctive, warm, humorous, and unmistakably her own. The hair, the rhinestones, the voice, the clothing, the stories, and the self-deprecating humor all worked together. She created an image that attracted attention, but she supported that image with genuine talent, disciplined work, business intelligence, generosity, and service. Dolly never walked into a room wondering whether anyone would notice her. Beige anonymity was apparently not part of her business plan. Yet the image alone would not have sustained a seven-decade career. Behind it were thousands of songs, countless performances, careful business decisions, Dollywood, publishing interests, motion pictures, charitable projects, and the Imagination Library. Her image opened the door. Her character, competence, creativity, and generosity kept people in the room. That is an important distinction for every Jesus entrepreneur. A manufactured appearance without substance eventually becomes an empty costume. But genuine ability and character that are never communicated may remain undiscovered. The challenge is to bring appearance, message, conduct, and service into alignment. Dress for Leadership—and Then Live Up to It Stan encourages entrepreneurs and professionals to "dress for leadership." That does not necessarily mean wearing expensive clothing or attempting to look like someone else. It means presenting oneself with intention. A leader's appearance, voice, energy, preparation, surroundings, website, business card, podcast artwork, and personal behavior all communicate before the formal presentation ever begins. The goal is not vanity. The goal is congruence. A Jesus entrepreneur should develop a distinctive and appealing presence—and then complement that presence with even greater grace, personality, competence, generosity, and service. The clothing cannot substitute for the calling. The logo cannot replace the labor. The photograph cannot compensate for a lack of faithfulness. But image can become a visible invitation into a much greater story. What Did Jesus Actually Look Like? The honest answer is that no one knows with certainty. The Gospel accounts do not provide a detailed physical description of Jesus. No authenticated portrait painted during his lifetime has been discovered. Although many artists have pictured him, those images usually tell us almost as much about the artist and the artist's culture as they do about the historical Jesus. Across centuries and continents, people have pictured Jesus through the faces, clothing, symbols, colors, and artistic traditions of their own communities. European artists often portrayed a European-looking Jesus. African Christians pictured him through African features and experiences. Asian, Latin American, Middle Eastern, Indigenous, and other communities have done the same. Human beings naturally attempt to picture Jesus in a way that places him within their own world. The important warning is this: people must not confuse their preferred picture of Jesus with Jesus himself. A familiar image can help someone think about Christ, but it can also become limiting. The Jesus of history and faith is always greater than any portrait, painting, movie, church window, or AI-generated illustration. Jesus in the Marketplace The Jesus Entrepreneur Collective is attempting a form of contextualization. It presents the message and person of Jesus within the contemporary cultures of communication, commerce, entrepreneurship, leadership, performance, and business. That does not mean changing Jesus to make him fashionable. It means helping people recognize that his teaching applies beyond the walls of a church. Work and calling Leadership and responsibility Money and stewardship Risk and courage Creativity and innovation Service and customer care Reputation and integrity Failure, forgiveness, and restoration Success and its temptations The proper use of influence and power The Jesus entrepreneur looks to Jesus as more than a distant religious figure. Jesus becomes teacher, mentor, master, model, and—if the word is properly understood—boss. The entrepreneur is therefore an apprentice. The central question is not merely, "What would Jesus look like if he entered my business?" The more demanding question is: What should my business—and my behavior—look like if I truly belong to Jesus? The Lost Poster and a Continuing Search Stan recalls an important visual discovery from his years in missionary broadcasting in Europe. While working with Trans World Radio and maintaining connections in the Amsterdam and Hilversum area of the Netherlands, he encountered a remarkable Christian poster. The poster contained approximately 40 different pictures of Jesus, each reflecting how Christ had been imagined within a different country, culture, or community. It became one of Stan's prized possessions, but it was eventually lost during the many moves and transitions of life. Now, some 30 or 40 years later, he is searching for it again. The poster represented more than an interesting collection of religious art. It demonstrated how people encounter Jesus through the culture, history, hopes, suffering, and imagination of their own place and time. Stan invites listeners, international broadcasters, missionaries, artists, historians, and members of the Christian community to help locate the original poster or identify the organization that produced it. Recovering it could become an important project for the Jesus Entrepreneur Collective—and perhaps the foundation for a new contemporary collection showing how people around the world picture Jesus today. You May Be the Only Jesus They See The program then moves from portraits of Jesus to the living picture presented by his followers. "You may be the only Jesus they see." That is both a privilege and a sobering responsibility. People may form their impressions of Jesus by watching those who claim to follow him. They observe how Christians conduct business, treat employees, respond to criticism, handle money, keep promises, serve customers, admit mistakes, forgive people, and behave when no applause is coming. A Jesus entrepreneur is therefore always communicating an image of Jesus—even when no sermon is being preached and no Bible verse is being quoted. The question is not whether an image is being presented. The question is whether it is a faithful one. Do people encounter arrogance or humility? Do they experience manipulation or service? Do they see fear or faith? Do they discover condemnation or grace? Do they receive religious language without dependable work—or someone whose faith makes that person more honest, creative, courageous, compassionate, and trustworthy? Stan concludes with another memorable instruction: "Play it well." If a person is going to represent Jesus in the marketplace, that role deserves preparation, humility, excellence, and wholehearted commitment. Things to Remember Image is not everything, but it is the first thing. Every message competes with other messages for public attention. Timing is an important part of media communication. A distinctive image must be supported by ability, character, and service. No one possesses a completely certain physical portrait of Jesus. Every artistic picture of Jesus contains elements of the culture that created it. Jesus should not be confined to a church building or a religious category. A Jesus entrepreneur treats Jesus as teacher, mentor, master, and leader. People may judge Jesus by what they see in those who claim to follow him. The most compelling Christian image is still a life of grace, courage, competence, and loving service. Things to Share Share this program with: An entrepreneur trying to distinguish a business in a crowded marketplace A younger leader developing a professional identity A pastor interested in faith and work A broadcaster, podcaster, or communicator learning how media attention works An artist who has explored cultural representations of Jesus A missionary or former missionary who may remember the Dutch poster A business owner who needs to align appearance, message, conduct, and service Anyone wondering what it means to represent Jesus in everyday work A useful conversation starter might be: "When people do business with me, what picture of Jesus—if any—do they receive?" Thin

September 1 has a new designation. At least it does if Stan Hustad has anything to say about it. The longtime broadcaster, teacher, business performance coach—and increasingly self-described "Transformation Man"—has decided that September 1 should become Transformation Day. Call it T-Day. Not an official government holiday. No banks will close. The mail will probably still arrive. And nobody is required to buy a greeting card. But perhaps it is a day worth taking seriously. In this special edition of What It Takes Radio and The Transformation Zone, Stan makes the case that September 1 is an unusually appropriate moment to stop, look at our lives, and ask a deceptively difficult question: What needs to be transformed? WHY SEPTEMBER 1? There is something naturally transitional about the beginning of September. Summer vacations are ending. Schools are reopening. Businesses begin moving toward the final stretch of the year. Labor Day reminds us about work and those who do it. Autumn approaches. For many people, September feels almost like a second New Year. Stan believes we should use it that way. Instead of simply returning to "normal," perhaps September should invite us to consider whether normal is actually where we want to go. Maybe we should not merely resume our lives. Maybe we should transform them. That is the idea behind Transformation Day. September 1 becomes a marker—a chance to declare that the coming season will not simply be more of the same. DIFFERENT NOT JUST IN DEGREE, BUT IN KIND One of the most memorable ideas in the program comes from an observation made years ago by a Jesuit scholar Stan knew. Speaking about the small percentage of people who seem to discover the deeper principles of successful living, the scholar observed that such people eventually become: "Not different by degree, but different in kind." That is a powerful description of transformation. Transformation is not simply doing five percent more. It isn't buying another planner, downloading another app, attending another seminar or making another list of resolutions destined to disappear beneath the paperwork by October. Real transformation changes something fundamental. It changes how we see, how we think, how we work, how we serve, how we relate to other people—and ultimately, perhaps, who we are becoming. Improvement asks, "How can I do this a little better?" Transformation dares to ask, "What could this become?" And perhaps the even more uncomfortable question: "Who could I become?" WELCOME TO THE TRANSFORMATION ZONE Transformation Day also marks the beginning of another experiment: The Transformation Zone Collective. Stan describes the Transformation Zone as a gathering place for people who want to learn together, challenge one another, share what works, and help create meaningful transformation in life, work, business, service and relationships. The idea has also been influenced by Stan's continuing conversations and work surrounding Joe Pine and the emerging Transformation Economy. The Experience Economy helped businesses understand that customers increasingly wanted memorable experiences rather than simply goods and services. The next question is bigger: What if people increasingly want experiences that actually change them? That possibility extends far beyond business. People want transformed careers, transformed organizations, transformed relationships, transformed communities, transformed ways of working—and, increasingly, transformed lives. Stan's interest in that subject did not begin with a business book. It has run through much of his life—as a teacher, missionary broadcaster, communicator and business performance coach. Behind those different occupations has been one continuing ambition: Help people become different because the encounter happened. Not manipulated. Not merely motivated. Transformed. TRANSFORMATION MAY BEGIN WITH FORGIVENESS The program then takes an important turn. Transformation isn't always about adding something new. Sometimes transformation begins by finally putting something old down. Stan points toward the Jewish High Holy Day tradition surrounding Rosh Hashanah, the Days of Awe and Yom Kippur as reminders of reflection, repentance, forgiveness and renewal. That suggests another possibility for Transformation Day. Perhaps September 1 could also become a personal Forgiveness Day. Forgive someone. Ask someone to forgive you. Stop rehearsing an old injury. Admit an old mistake. Accept forgiveness when it has been offered. And perhaps do one of the hardest things of all: stop allowing yesterday's failure to dictate tomorrow's identity. Transformation sometimes begins not with acquiring something, but with releasing something. THE WORLD IS TRANSFORMING WHETHER WE ARE READY OR NOT There is also urgency behind this conversation. Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming work, communication, media, education and business. Careers are changing. The media environment has already changed dramatically. Entire professions may be reshaped. The question is therefore not whether transformation is coming. It already is. The better question is whether we will simply have transformation happen to us, or whether we will learn how to participate intelligently and intentionally in it. Stan argues that this requires more than technology. It requires wisdom, knowledge, discernment, courage, compassion, and people willing to help one another navigate unfamiliar territory. That is part of the purpose of The Transformation Zone. LIVING A TRANSFORMED LIFE There is a danger in talking about transformation until it becomes another attractive business word. Stan's challenge is much more personal. A transformed life should eventually become visible. Someone should be served differently because of it. A relationship should improve. A habit should change. A decision should be made. Something should be forgiven. Something worthwhile should begin. Something destructive may need to end. And somebody besides ourselves should eventually benefit. Because perhaps one of the finest reasons to live a transformed life is this: Transformed people can become transforming people. They bring courage into discouraged rooms. They bring possibility into stuck organizations. They ask better questions. They help others see alternatives. They become examples rather than merely instructors. And sometimes they simply become the person who says to someone else: "You don't have to stay where you are." That may be one of the most important messages of Transformation Day. THINGS TO REMEMBER • Transformation is more than improvement. Getting better is worthwhile. Becoming different in kind is something deeper. • September can become a second New Year. Don't simply return from summer. Decide what the next season of your life is going to mean. • Transformation begins with awareness. You cannot intentionally transform something you refuse to examine. • Forgiveness can be transformational. Some of the baggage we carry into tomorrow belongs in yesterday. • The world is changing whether we participate or not. AI, media, careers and business are already being transformed. Wisdom means learning how to respond rather than merely react. • A transformed life should eventually transform something beyond itself. The ultimate test may be whether somebody else is better because of what is happening in you. THINGS TO SHARE Ask someone you care about: "If September 1 were Transformation Day for you, what would you want to transform?" Share the idea with a colleague, friend, family member or team. Instead of asking only, "What are we going to accomplish before the end of the year?" try asking: "What could become fundamentally different before the end of the year?" And perhaps share this idea: Don't merely survive change. Learn to become someone capable of creating worthwhile change. THINGS TO TAKE ACTION ON Choose one area of your life that deserves transformation. Name it. Write it down. Then ask three questions: • What needs to stop? • What needs to start? • Who can help me make it happen? Next, identify one person you might help. Transformation becomes far more powerful when it moves from me to we. And finally, consider the forgiveness question: Is there something—or someone—you need to release before you can move forward? Do something about it. Not someday. Transformation Day seems like a pretty good day to begin. AND IF YOU NEED A GUIDE INTO THE ZONE… Transformation is personal, but it doesn't have to be solitary. For decades, Stan Hustad has worked as a teacher, broadcaster, business performance coach and guide to people seeking meaningful change in their work and lives. His invitation is simple: Contact Stan. Start a conversation. Bring the problem. Bring the possibility. Bring the dream that has been sitting on the shelf. Bring the business challenge, career question or nagging feeling that something in life needs to become different. Then explore together what a genuinely transformed life, business or way of working might look like—and what it will take to begin making it real. Because September 1 does not need congressional approval to become Transformation Day. It only needs a decision. September 1 is T-Day. Transformation Day. And perhaps the most important question is not whether the world will recognize it. The question is: Will you? WELCOME TO THE ZONE. The Transformation Zone • What It Takes Radio • Stan Hustad

There was a time when a very young Stan Hustad climbed onto the kitchen counter and peered behind the family radio. His mother asked what he was doing. He was looking for the people in the radio. He could hear their voices. Surely they had to be in there somewhere. Decades later, Hustad became one of them. That childhood story opens this edition of Inconvenient Ideas, but the program is not really about nostalgia. It is about the future - and an inconvenient proposition: In an AI world, perhaps more people need to learn how to be "radio people." Not necessarily professional broadcasters, but people who can tell a story, communicate an idea, speak into a microphone, look into a camera, create an audience and make themselves heard. RADIO'S SECRET WEAPON Hustad's fascination with radio began in childhood, grew through shortwave and amateur radio, and eventually helped change his career. After more than a decade as a teacher, he went to broadcasting school at night and began a journey through international radio, television, the BBC and podcasting. That experience produced a useful career lesson: when considering a major change, investigate your early loves. Childhood curiosity sometimes leaves clues. Radio also has a secret weapon: the human voice. Hearing a story brings tone, timing, emotion, humor and personality into the message. Technology changes. The human hunger for stories does not. RADIO DIDN'T DISAPPEAR - IT MULTIPLIED Radio became television. Television became digital. Digital became mobile. Today the device in your pocket streams audio and video, records programs and can broadcast to a global audience. Now AI is beginning another transformation. For generations, ambitious people were told to learn public speaking. Dale Carnegie and Toastmasters understood that communication mattered. Hustad believes the assignment has expanded. Today we need to communicate through media - in front of the camera and behind the microphone. CREATE YOUR OWN PERSONAL ECONOMY AI is changing careers, businesses and the value of many traditional skills. Education still matters, but perhaps it should prepare people not only to ask, "How do I get a job?" but also: How do I create value? How do I build something? How do I communicate what I know? How do I build an audience? How do I create my own opportunities? And perhaps most importantly: How do I create my own personal economy? That is why Hustad argues that entrepreneurship and modern communication should become basic educational skills. DON'T JUST LEARN TO SCROLL A physician communicates. A teacher communicates. An entrepreneur communicates. So do salespeople, pastors, consultants, coaches and business owners. Increasingly they do it through microphones, cameras, podcasts, videos and digital presentations. The question is no longer simply, "Should I start a podcast?" The better question is: "Am I capable of communicating effectively in a media-driven world?" Hustad's challenge is direct: Don't merely watch. Produce. Don't merely scroll. Speak. Don't merely follow audiences. Learn how audiences are built. Don't merely consume ideas. Develop ideas worth communicating. Good broadcasting is a craft. So are interviewing, storytelling and listening. THINGS TO KNOW, LEARN AND DO Know that radio is now much bigger than traditional radio. Communication is increasingly an economic skill, story remains powerful, and AI may make distinctly human communication more valuable rather than less. Learn to tell a good story, speak clearly, interview and listen, understand microphones and cameras, use AI as an assistant rather than a substitute, and make your message memorable. Then practice. Record a three-minute story. Turn on your phone camera and explain one idea you know well. Interview someone. Listen back. Notice your voice, pace and clarity. Then do it again. The objective is not becoming famous. The objective is becoming communicatively capable. ONE FINAL INCONVENIENT IDEA Perhaps the little boy looking behind the kitchen radio was asking a better question than anyone realized: Where are the people in the radio? Today they're everywhere - on podcasts, YouTube, Zoom and whatever comes next. They're teaching, building companies, telling stories, creating audiences, using AI and building their own personal economies. So perhaps National Radio Day should not merely remember radio's past. Perhaps it should be a day to think about your future. The next important voice coming through the radio, podcast, smartphone, computer or television might need to be yours. The people are still in the radio. Perhaps it's time to join them. INCONVENIENT IDEAS & UNCOMFORTABLE CONVERSATIONS Ideas that may rattle us, shake us up and make us think - and perhaps help us make our mark in life and business.

A Jesus Entrepreneur Collective Commentary with Stan Hustad   There is a version of Jesus that almost everybody can live with. Gentle Jesus. Welcoming Jesus. Compassionate Jesus. Jesus with the children gathered around him. Jesus healing the sick, feeding the hungry, forgiving sinners and telling frightened people not to be afraid. That Jesus is real. But he is not the whole Jesus. And in this challenging edition of the Jesus Entrepreneur Collective, Stan Hustad asks his audience to confront another side of Jesus—the strong, courageous, sometimes confrontational Jesus who was willing to say things that made powerful people uncomfortable. This is Jesus, the Man of the Millstone. And his warning concerning the vulnerable—especially children—is difficult to dismiss. Jesus said that whoever causes one of the "little ones" to stumble would be better off having a great millstone hung around his neck and being cast into the sea. Those are not gentle words. They are not politically convenient words. And they certainly do not sound like the harmless, perpetually agreeable Jesus sometimes presented by modern culture. They are the words of someone who took the protection of the vulnerable with extraordinary seriousness. Jesus Was No Wimp Hustad begins the program with an observation he has made repeatedly throughout his years of broadcasting, teaching and coaching: Jesus was not weak. He was compassionate without being timid. He could welcome a child, touch a leper, forgive a sinner and comfort a grieving family. But he could also challenge religious authorities, confront hypocrisy, overturn tables and stand before political power without surrendering his convictions. Hustad recalls the famous scene from the classic film Ben-Hur. A Roman soldier attempts to prevent Jesus from giving water to the exhausted prisoner. Jesus simply rises and looks at him. No speech. No violence. No threat. Just presence. And the soldier backs away. Whether or not the cinematic scene tells us precisely what the historical Jesus looked like, it captures something important about him: Strength does not always have to shout. Real authority does not require bullying. Courage does not require cruelty. And conviction does not require hatred. That distinction becomes especially important when Christians enter the difficult moral arguments of their time. Don't Mess With the Children The program then moves directly into one of the most contentious issues in American public life: abortion, particularly political efforts to permit abortion very late in pregnancy. Hustad makes no attempt to hide his position. He believes unborn children possess profound human worth, and he believes Christians should speak clearly in their defense. But the challenge goes deeper than a political argument. His question is: What does Jesus' warning about protecting the vulnerable require of people who claim to follow him? That question cannot simply be handed to politicians. It belongs to pastors, business leaders, entrepreneurs, parents and grandparents, teachers, broadcasters and communicators, and ordinary Christians sitting quietly in church pews. The millstone passage is disturbing precisely because Jesus intended it to be disturbing. He deliberately chose an image his listeners would understand: an enormous grinding stone, potentially so heavy that an animal was required to turn it. Then Jesus attached that image to a warning about harming or corrupting the vulnerable. Whatever one's politics, those words should stop a follower of Jesus long enough to ask: Do I take the protection of vulnerable human life as seriously as Jesus apparently did? That is the challenge. Not hatred. Not harassment. Not threats. Not personal condemnation. A challenge of conscience. Conviction Without Cruelty There is another challenge here for the Christian entrepreneur. It is possible to believe something strongly and still behave badly while defending it. Christians do not receive permission to become cruel simply because they believe their cause is righteous. Jesus demonstrated another way: strong convictions, courageous words, compassion for people. Those three belong together. The Jesus Entrepreneur Collective therefore does not call people to attack those with whom they disagree. It calls people to become courageous enough to speak, thoughtful enough to listen, disciplined enough to understand the issue, and compassionate enough to remember that every person in the argument remains a human being. The unborn child matters. The frightened mother matters. The father matters. The physician matters. The person who profoundly disagrees with you matters. Truth and love are not competitors. The difficult task of Christian leadership is learning to practice both. Jesus the Marketplace Man Hustad then returns to one of the recurring themes of the Jesus Entrepreneur Collective: before Jesus became an itinerant teacher, he spent many years in the ordinary world of work. He knew customers. He knew deadlines. He knew workmanship. He knew expectations. He knew what it meant to make something useful and have another person judge its value. Whatever modern occupational title we apply to the ancient tekton, Jesus knew the marketplace. That matters to Hustad because Christianity should never be confined to Sunday morning. If Jesus is Lord, then Jesus belongs in Monday morning too—in the office, in the shop, in the sales meeting, in the boardroom, in the classroom, behind the microphone, and in the difficult public conversations that respectable people would sometimes prefer to avoid. The Jesus Entrepreneur Collective exists in part to recover that connection between faith, courage, work, enterprise and public responsibility. Become an Apprentice Perhaps the most important word in the program is not entrepreneur. It is apprentice. Christians traditionally call the followers of Jesus "disciples." Hustad suggests that modern people might better grasp the idea if they thought of themselves as apprentices. An apprentice watches the master. Studies the master. Practices what the master does. Learns how the master thinks. Makes mistakes, receives correction and tries again. So Hustad poses a far more demanding question than simply, "Do you believe in Jesus?" He asks: Are you apprenticed to Jesus? Are you learning his courage? His compassion? His way of dealing with people? His willingness to challenge conventional wisdom? His concern for the vulnerable? His ability to combine strength and grace? And his willingness to accept the consequences of telling uncomfortable truths? That is considerably harder than simply claiming a religious identity. What's Your MOU With the MOU? Hustad closes with one of his memorable plays on words. Businesspeople know the term MOU—Memorandum of Understanding. So he asks: What is your MOU with the MOU—the Master of the Universe? What exactly is your understanding with Jesus? What have you agreed to do? What responsibilities come with calling yourself his follower? What happens when his teaching conflicts with your politics, your profession, your comfort, your financial interests—or even your friends? Perhaps every Christian entrepreneur needs a personal memorandum of understanding: This is what I believe. This is whom I follow. These are the people I will protect. These are the principles I will not sell. This is how I will treat people who disagree with me. And this is the courage I intend to practice when remaining silent would be easier. That may be what apprenticeship to Jesus looks like in the modern marketplace. And perhaps that is why the image of the millstone still matters. It reminds us that the Jesus who welcomed children was also fiercely serious about what happened to them. Grace was real. Love was real. And so was accountability. THINGS TO REMEMBER Jesus was compassionate, but he was not weak. His love included courage, confrontation and moral seriousness. Protecting the vulnerable is not merely a political issue. For followers of Jesus it is a matter of conscience and discipleship. Conviction does not excuse cruelty. Christians should be able to defend what they believe without dehumanizing those who disagree. Christianity belongs in the marketplace. Faith that disappears when business, money, reputation or controversy enters the room is worth examining. A disciple is an apprentice. Following Jesus means more than admiring him. It means learning to live differently because of him. THINGS TO SHARE Share this program with someone who believes Jesus was merely "nice." Share it with a Christian business leader who is trying to determine how faith should influence difficult decisions. Share it with someone who disagrees with Stan. In fact, that conversation may be particularly worthwhile. The goal should not be to create another shouting match. The world already has plenty of those. The better goal is to create an uncomfortable but honest conversation about human dignity, courage, responsibility, children, conscience and what following Jesus actually requires. THINGS TO DO Before criticizing somebody else, examine your own MOU with the Master of the Universe. Ask yourself: Where am I remaining silent because speaking might cost me something? Where have I confused being loving with being agreeable? Where have I confused being courageous with being angry? Who are the vulnerable people around me whom I have a responsibility to protect? If someone watched my business life for a month, would they discover evidence that I am actually apprenticed to Jesus? Then choose one action: Speak. Serve. Protect. Give. Apologize. Learn. Challenge. Encourage. Or simply refuse to remain comfortably indifferent. AND NOW, A CHALLENGE Stan Hustad has made his argument. You are welcome to challenge it. If you believe he has gone too far, tell him. If you believe he has not gone far enough, tell him that too

There is a whole lot of worrying, waiting and wondering going on. After taking something he rarely takes—a real vacation—Stan Hustad returned to Inconvenient Ideas with five days away from television, computers and the daily digital noise. The occasion was a significant wedding anniversary, celebrated with his wife, Karen, along the North Carolina coast. It also came after a difficult season marked by loss, uncertainty and reminders that life can change very quickly. Perhaps that is why a few days away produced something more valuable than rest: perspective. Stan returned not pretending that the world had suddenly become easier, but recognizing that, despite difficulties, obstacles and a few genuinely frightening possibilities, he was still living in what he calls a POA—a Place of Opportunity. And then he turned the television and computer back on. Welcome back to the world of worrying. Worrying, Waiting, Wondering—and Wishing Stan noticed four activities consuming an extraordinary amount of human energy: Worrying. Waiting. Wondering. Wishing. People worry about their jobs. They wait to see what happens next. They wonder what artificial intelligence will do to their profession. And they wish somebody—or something—would make the uncertainty go away. But wishing is not a business strategy. Worrying is not a career plan. And waiting for the world to become predictable may require a very long wait. The more useful question is: What can you create? That question becomes especially important when so many people feel they are reacting to life rather than creating it. Certainly, much of life is outside anyone's control. But there remains an enormous difference between admitting that reality and surrendering one's ability to act. That distinction may become one of the essential survival skills of the AI age. What Is Real? Artificial intelligence introduces another inconvenient question: What is real? Stan has encountered videos, music, images and performances that seemed completely authentic—until closer examination raised another possibility. Perhaps they weren't. AI is rapidly moving toward a point where ordinary viewers and listeners may have difficulty determining whether something was created by a human being, a machine, or some collaboration between the two. Stan describes the strange sensation perfectly: Sometimes something can seem too fake to be real—and too real to be fake. That changes the questions we may have to ask. Instead of simply asking, "Is it real?" perhaps increasingly we will also ask: Is it true? Is it good? Is it useful? Is it helpful? Is it beautiful? Does it make life better—or worse? That is an inconvenient idea indeed. Even the new Inconvenient Ideas studio provides a playful example. The glowing neon-style sign, the broadcast environment and the visual presentation can now be created with AI assistance. Is the neon sign "real"? Well, you're looking at it. And perhaps the more useful question is whether it helps Stan communicate an idea worth hearing. Become an Author of Ideas Stan also makes a personal confession. He has spent nearly half a century as a broadcaster and communicator. He talks. He teaches. He coaches. He interviews. And perhaps most importantly, he continually comes up with ideas. But traditional writing has never necessarily been his greatest strength. AI has helped him recognize a different possibility: Maybe he is not primarily an author who writes. Maybe he is an Author of Ideas. That changes the relationship with artificial intelligence. The human being supplies experience, judgment, imagination, conviction, stories and ideas. AI can help organize, edit, develop and distribute them. In that arrangement, AI does not necessarily replace the human creator. It can multiply the creator. And that may be one of the great opportunities of this technological revolution. But Beware of Trojan Horses Every gift is not necessarily good for you. The ancient Trojans learned that lesson the hard way. Artificial intelligence may become one of the greatest productivity tools ever created. It may also eliminate jobs, disrupt professions, destroy established business models and make some previously valuable skills considerably less valuable. Both realities can be true. The appropriate response, therefore, is neither blind enthusiasm nor paralyzing fear. It is preparation. Create Your Own Personal Economy Here Stan reaches the central challenge of the program. In an increasingly unpredictable economy, people should learn how to create their own personal economy. That does not mean everyone must quit a job tomorrow morning and launch a company by lunchtime. It means learning to think entrepreneurially. Can you recognize an opportunity? Can you solve a problem? Can you create something useful? Can you communicate its value? Can you develop relationships? Can you serve customers? Can you adapt when technology changes the rules? And can you create another source of usefulness and income when an old one disappears? Those questions are becoming important whether someone is 22, 42, 62—or 82. Everyone Is Also Becoming a Broadcaster There is another skill Stan believes people increasingly need. They need to learn how to communicate through modern media. You may never have a radio program. You may never call yourself a podcaster. You may never dream of becoming a YouTube personality. But we live in a mass-media marketing world. At some point, most professionals, entrepreneurs, leaders and creators will need to become comfortable behind a microphone, in front of a camera, on a screen or communicating through digital media. That makes broadcasting no longer merely a profession. It is becoming a life and business skill. The Four People We May Need to Become Stan's challenge can be reduced to four roles worth developing in this new world: Become an Entrepreneur. Learn to recognize opportunities, create value and build your own personal economy. Become a Broadcaster. Learn to communicate clearly, confidently and persuasively through modern media. Become a Transformer. Develop the ability to change yourself, your work and perhaps the lives of people around you. Become an Author of Ideas. Bring distinctly human experience, imagination, wisdom and judgment to AI tools capable of helping those ideas travel farther and faster. None of this guarantees an easy future. There will still be plenty to worry about. But perhaps there will be considerably less to fear. THINGS TO REMEMBER • Worry is information, not instruction. Fear may tell you that something deserves attention. It doesn't necessarily tell you what to do. • AI is both opportunity and disruption. Refusing to acknowledge either side leaves you unprepared. • Your ideas still matter. AI can generate words, pictures and possibilities, but human experience, judgment, character and wisdom remain extraordinarily valuable. • Entrepreneurship is becoming a basic life skill. You don't necessarily need to own a company to learn how to create value. • Broadcasting is becoming a basic communication skill. The ability to speak effectively through microphones, cameras and digital media will increasingly matter. • Transformation requires action. Waiting for certainty may simply mean waiting forever. THINGS TO SHARE Ask someone you care about: "If your present job disappeared because of AI, what useful thing could you create, teach, communicate or sell?" Then ask a second question: "What could AI help you do that you could not realistically have done five years ago?" Those two questions may start a far more productive conversation than another hour of worrying about artificial intelligence. THINGS TO TAKE NOTE OF Pay attention this week to the places where AI is already changing your life. Notice what it does extraordinarily well. Notice where it makes mistakes. Notice what frightens you. But especially notice where it gives you new capabilities. Instead of merely asking, "What will AI do to me?" begin asking: "What can I now do with AI that I could never do before?" That is the entrepreneur's question. THINGS TO DO Choose one idea you have been postponing. Write it down—or speak it into your phone. Use AI to help organize it. Turn it into something tangible: an article, presentation, proposal, podcast, video, course, business idea or conversation. Then put it into the world. Don't merely worry. Don't merely wait. Don't merely wonder. And don't merely wish. Create. THE INCONVENIENT CHALLENGE The AI digital world will undoubtedly produce disruption. Some careers will disappear. Others will change dramatically. New professions will emerge that hardly anyone can describe today. So the goal cannot be to make the future perfectly safe. The goal is to become the kind of person who is increasingly capable of meeting it. Stan Hustad has spent decades as an entrepreneur, broadcaster, communicator and coach. Today he is helping people learn how to become entrepreneurs, world-class broadcasters, transformational thinkers and Authors of Ideas who can work intelligently with artificial intelligence rather than merely worry about what it might do to them. If the new world has you worrying, waiting, wondering or wishing, perhaps it is time for a different conversation. Stan's invitation is simple: Learn to create your own economy. Learn to communicate your own ideas. Learn to use the new tools. Learn to become more useful. And learn to become less afraid of the future by becoming better prepared for it. Stan Hustad and What It Takes Radio are available to help. [email protected] Because in the end, the future may belong neither to the people who blindly embrace AI nor to those who desperately resist it. It may belong to the people who learn how to remain fully human while becoming remarkably good at using i

Why Seeing Jesus Through the Eyes of an Entrepreneur Could Change Your Life, Business, and Calling This expanded feature article is designed for publication, distribution, teaching, and discussion within the Jesus Entrepreneur Collective. It explores one of the central ideas of the episode: many people know Jesus as a religious figure but have never seriously considered Him as an extraordinary communicator, leader, craftsman, entrepreneur, and builder of people. A Remark Worth Remembering During a business presentation, a young businessman approached Stan Hustad and said, 'I didn't know Jesus was that smart.' What sounded awkward became a profound insight. Many people separate faith from the marketplace. This episode invites us to reconnect them. Rediscovering Jesus Throughout the program Stan argues that Jesus understood people, stories, leadership, influence, timing, service, courage, reputation, and purpose. These are not merely religious ideas; they are the foundations of flourishing organizations and meaningful lives. The Hidden Eighteen Years One of the most thought-provoking themes is Jesus' long period as a working craftsman before His public ministry. Those years remind us that ordinary work can become preparation for extraordinary influence. Why a Collective? A collective is more than an organization. It is a community of people united around a shared mission, encouraging one another while contributing their own gifts. Stan suggests that this reflects the way Jesus gathered people. A Marketplace for the Twenty-First Century The conversation reaches into today's world of AI, entrepreneurship, media, technology, and rapid change. The question is not whether technology matters, but whether timeless wisdom still has something essential to say. The program answers with a confident yes. From Success to Significance The closing challenge asks listeners to think beyond paying the bills. What if our greatest regret would not be failure, but unused opportunity? The invitation is to become the kind of entrepreneur who builds people as well as businesses. Memorable Quotations "I didn't know Jesus was that smart." "Great movements begin as communities before they become organizations." "Don't merely make a living. Build a life that outlives you." "The greatest venture you will ever build is your own life." Things to Remember Jesus belongs in Monday's marketplace as much as Sunday's worship. Leadership begins with serving people. Community multiplies influence. Purpose gives success lasting meaning. Things to Share Discuss the question: 'Was Jesus the greatest entrepreneur in history?' Share this episode with business owners, students, pastors, and leaders. Start conversations about integrating faith, work, and innovation. Personal Action Challenge For the next seven days, identify one teaching of Jesus that can be intentionally practiced in your work, leadership, or relationships. Keep a journal of what changes. Invitation The Jesus Entrepreneur Collective exists to help thoughtful men and women discover timeless principles for today's marketplace. Stan Hustad invites listeners to join the conversation, grow together, and become builders of organizations, communities, and lives that reflect wisdom, courage, service, and hope.

Two men about Stan's age died within days of one another. One was a lifelong friend. The other was his own brother. Their passing became more than heartbreaking news—it became a deeply personal reminder that every one of us is living on borrowed time. In this thoughtful and surprisingly hopeful episode of Inconvenient Ideas, Stan reflects on those losses and asks a question that most of us avoid: How do we become fully alive before our lives come to an end? Drawing on the wisdom of philosopher and theologian Howard Thurman, Stan explores the difference between merely paying the bills and discovering the work that truly makes us come alive. Rather than focusing on death itself, this conversation turns toward purpose, calling, relationships, and what may become the most meaningful years of our lives. Along the way he introduces a new idea—the upcoming Encore Zone—designed especially for those entering the later chapters of life who believe their greatest contribution may still lie ahead. Whether you are twenty-five or eighty-five, this episode offers an invitation to step back from the noise, rethink your priorities, embrace new tools such as AI and modern media, and begin living more intentionally. Death may be inevitable. Living fully is still a choice. Things to Remember Life is fragile, and none of us knows how much time remains. Success is not measured only by what we accomplish, but by how fully we live. Discover what makes you come alive—and do that. The world desperately needs people who are fully alive. Your Encore Years may become your most significant years. Things to Share Share this episode with someone who has recently experienced loss. Share it with someone approaching retirement or wondering what comes next. Share it with anyone who needs encouragement to live with greater purpose. Take Special Note Stan introduces the upcoming Encore Zone—a conversation for people who believe life still has another chapter to write. Ask not simply 'When can I retire?' but 'What am I uniquely created to contribute while I still have time?' A Life Challenge Set aside fifteen quiet minutes this week. Ask: What truly makes me come alive? Am I spending enough time doing it? If I had five more years to make a difference, what would I begin today? Connect with Stan Stan Hustad has spent more than four decades behind the microphone and more than three decades helping leaders, entrepreneurs, organizations, and communicators discover greater purpose, performance, and impact. Email: [email protected] Because a better future rarely happens by accident. Sometimes it begins with one inconvenient idea.   And if you'd like to watch the program on a video you can do so https://youtu.be/PfZa58OIUTU

The title tells it all that you need to know and now you need to listen to the show ... Because indeed if pain were water the world would drown and you might too!

"You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes." — James 4:14 By all public accounts, Senator Graham had returned from Ukraine, was planning to appear on television the next morning, had spoken with President Trump only hours before, and reportedly mentioned only that he was 'tired.' Within hours, he had died from what preliminary reports identify as an aortic dissection. That is what I have called a MOM — Moment of Mortality. The idea reaches far beyond a single event. MOM is a memorable acronym that could become a recurring feature. Almost every week there is some public event that reminds us how fragile life is—not to frighten people, but to awaken them. Farrah Fawcett is another powerful illustration. Millions remember the famous poster that hung on bedroom walls in the 1970s. She represented youth, beauty, fame, and success. Yet she died in 2009 at only sixty-two after a long battle with cancer. Her story reminds us that wealth, beauty, popularity, and influence cannot exempt anyone from mortality. A Powerful Contrast One died suddenly, with almost no warning. One died after a long struggle. Both arrived at the same destination. Neither could postpone the appointment. The Question We All Must Face Knowing that death is certain, how then shall we live? That is where transformation becomes so valuable. A Moment of Mortality is not primarily about death. It is about life. Questions Worth Asking Am I becoming the person I ought to become? Have I said what needs to be said? Have I forgiven those I need to forgive? Am I investing in people who will outlive me? If tonight were my last night, would I be at peace with the life I have lived? These are not morbid questions. They are deeply life-giving questions. Closing Thoughts A Moment of Mortality is God's invitation to a Moment of Clarity. Every Moment of Mortality is really an invitation to a Moment of Priority. MOM — Moment of Mortality has the potential to become a signature recurring radio feature. It is simple, memorable, emotionally engaging, and naturally opens the door to conversations about purpose, transformation, hope, faith, and living well before dying well.

There are certain phrases from sports that stay with us long after the game is over. One of those phrases is "high, hard, and inside." Baseball fans know exactly what it means. It is the pitch that comes fast. It comes close. It gets your attention. It makes you step back. And sometimes it changes everything. In this episode of The Transformation Zone, I share a baseball story that begins with a treasured baseball, moves through memories of growing up as a Chicago Cubs fan, includes an unexpected connection to Hall of Fame pitcher Juan Marichal, and eventually arrives at a powerful lesson about life itself. Because sometimes the things that transform us most are not the things we planned. Sometimes transformation arrives disguised as difficulty. Sometimes it arrives disguised as disappointment. Sometimes it arrives as a pitch that comes high, hard, and inside. A Baseball Story That Became a Life Lesson The program begins with family stories and baseball memories. There is the family legend that I attended my first Chicago Cubs game when I was only two months old. There are memories of growing up as a loyal Cubs fan through years when winning seemed almost impossible. There is also a remarkable connection to baseball great Juan Marichal, whom I once saw pitch as a teenager in the minor leagues before he became one of the game's legendary stars. What begins as a nostalgic baseball story gradually becomes something much more important. It becomes a story about life. Because baseball has often been described as a game that resembles life itself. It requires patience. It requires resilience. It requires strategy. And perhaps most importantly, it requires learning how to respond when unexpected pitches come your way. The Pitch Nobody Wants In baseball, a high, hard, inside pitch was often used to back a batter away from the plate. The purpose was not necessarily to hit the batter. The purpose was to shake them up. To make them uncomfortable. To remind them that they were not entirely in control. Life has a way of doing the same thing. Unexpected setbacks. Disappointments. Failures. Criticism. Health problems. Financial challenges. Broken relationships. Suddenly we find ourselves ducking for cover as something comes high, hard, and inside. None of us volunteers for those moments. Yet many of us discover that they become the very experiences that shape us. When Transformation Comes Through Difficulty One of the most thoughtful observations in this episode is the suggestion that transformation and traumatization are sometimes connected. Not because pain is good. Not because hardship should be celebrated. But because some of life's most important lessons emerge from experiences we never would have chosen. Many people can point to a difficult season and say: "I didn't want that experience." "I would never have chosen it." "But it changed me." Sometimes the setback becomes the setup. Sometimes the wound becomes the wisdom. Sometimes the pitch that nearly knocked us down becomes the moment that ultimately made us stronger. That is one of the central ideas explored in this conversation. Transformation is not always comfortable. In fact, it often begins with disruption. Humility, Growth, and a Better Perspective The program also explores another reality. Occasionally people need a wake-up call. Not a cruel one. Not a destructive one. But a reminder that there is still more to learn. A reminder that talent alone is not enough. A reminder that humility remains one of the most valuable qualities anyone can possess. Many successful people can look back and identify a moment when life gave them a gentle—or not-so-gentle—course correction. A high, hard, inside pitch. Something that caused them to step back, rethink their assumptions, and grow. The result was not defeat. The result was maturity. A Brief Look Into the Transformation Zone The episode concludes with a short introduction to a new podcast initiative connected to the ideas explored in Joe Pine's work on the Transformation Economy. The upcoming series, You Are the Transformation, is built around a simple but powerful concept: If we are living in a world of constant change, perhaps the most important transformation is the one that happens within us. The focus is not merely on changing circumstances. It is about becoming the kind of person who can thrive amid change and help others do the same. That larger theme serves as a fitting backdrop to the baseball lesson at the center of this program. Because transformation is not something that happens only to organizations, economies, or industries. It happens to people. It happens to us. Things to Remember • Life occasionally throws pitches that are high, hard, and inside. • Unexpected challenges often become catalysts for growth. • Transformation frequently emerges from experiences we would not have chosen. • Humility is often learned through adversity. • The moments that shake us can also strengthen us. Things to Share • Share a story about a difficult experience that ultimately helped you grow. • Discuss the idea that transformation and hardship are sometimes connected. • Encourage others who may currently be facing a "high, hard, and inside" season. • Share the reminder that setbacks are not always the end of the story. Things to Take Action On • Identify a difficult experience that taught you an important lesson. • Ask yourself what current challenge may be trying to teach you. • Look for growth opportunities hidden inside present difficulties. • Encourage someone who is dealing with a setback. • Decide to face life's next challenge with courage rather than fear. A Transformation Zone Challenge The next time life throws you a pitch that comes high, hard, and inside, don't assume the game is over. Take a breath. Step back into the batter's box. Look carefully at what the experience might be teaching you. The pitch may have surprised you. It may even have knocked you down. But it does not have to defeat you. In fact, it may become one of the defining moments of your life. Because some of the greatest transformations begin exactly where we least expect them—when life throws us a pitch that is high, hard, and inside. And when that happens, the challenge is not simply to survive it. The challenge is to learn from it, grow through it, and eventually use it to help someone else who finds themselves facing the same pitch. That's the Transformation Zone. And that may be where your next breakthrough begins. And if you'd like to see this presentation on a video you can go right here. https://youtu.be/WPktHSsWrLw

As millions of Americans celebrate Independence Day with fireworks, family gatherings, and patriotic festivities, broadcaster and transformation coach Stan Hustad invites listeners to see the holiday through an entirely different lens. In this warm and engaging episode of The Transformation Zone, a simple story about a frightened rescue dog becomes an unforgettable metaphor for the emotional and spiritual storms that every person eventually faces. The result is an episode that begins with laughter, moves toward reflection, and concludes with genuine hope. A Story Every Pet Owner Understands Stan begins with an observation familiar to almost every dog owner. While people eagerly anticipate fireworks, many dogs experience them as terrifying explosions. His own beloved rescue dog, Jackson, dreaded every Fourth of July until the family discovered a simple solution—a ThunderShirt (or 'thunder jacket'), a comforting wrap that gently calms anxious animals during storms and fireworks. The image is both humorous and touching. Listeners can almost picture Jackson waiting by the hallway where his thunder jacket hung, knowing comfort was only moments away. It is an entertaining story, but it is also preparing listeners for something much more significant. The Thunder Jacket We All Need The conversation then turns inward. Stan asks a wonderfully simple question: What is your thunder jacket? When life becomes frightening... When relationships become uncertain... When careers are shaken... When health changes unexpectedly... Where do you go for comfort? Who wraps around your life with reassurance? What beliefs, relationships, habits, or faith keep you steady when everything around you feels like fireworks? Rather than offering easy answers, Stan encourages listeners to identify those sources of genuine security before life's storms arrive. A Different Kind of Freedom Because the program airs during Independence Day weekend, the discussion naturally expands beyond fireworks. Freedom, Stan suggests, is much more than political liberty. Real freedom includes freedom from fear. Freedom to love. Freedom to serve. Freedom to live fully alive rather than constantly reacting to anxiety and uncertainty. It is a refreshing reminder that external celebrations are at their best when they awaken something deeper inside us. Lighting Up Our Senses One of the program's most memorable moments comes when Stan recalls a lyric from John Denver: "You light up my senses like a storm in the desert." Instead of simply admiring the lyric, he transforms it into a personal prayer. As we grow older, we often lose some of our physical senses. Perhaps, however, we can gain something even greater. Greater sensitivity. Greater awareness. Greater compassion. Greater attentiveness to people rather than projects. Greater appreciation for relationships instead of simply pursuing performance. It becomes a beautiful prayer that God would 'light up our senses' so we notice the people around us more deeply than ever before. Transformation Begins with Awareness Like many episodes of The Transformation Zone, this one reminds us that transformation rarely begins with dramatic events. It begins by noticing. Noticing our fears. Noticing our need for comfort. Noticing the people who may be quietly struggling beside us. Noticing opportunities to become someone else's 'thunder jacket.' That may be the greatest transformation of all. Things to Remember • Every person eventually experiences emotional and spiritual storms. • Comfort is not weakness—it is one of life's deepest necessities. • Freedom includes freedom from fear as well as freedom to serve. • Sensitivity is a strength that often grows with wisdom and experience. • Sometimes the smallest stories carry the biggest lessons. Things to Share • Share this episode with every pet owner preparing for fireworks weekend. • Talk with family members about what has become their own 'thunder jacket' during difficult seasons. • Encourage someone who may be quietly carrying anxiety or uncertainty. • Remember that simple illustrations often open the door to profound conversations. Things to Take Action On • Identify the people, practices, and beliefs that steady your life when storms come. • Become a source of calm for someone facing uncertainty this week. • Spend a few quiet moments asking God to 'light up your senses' so you become more aware of the needs around you. • As you celebrate freedom, consider how you can help someone else experience greater peace. A Closing Thought Fireworks are designed to light up the sky. This episode reminds us that perhaps our greatest calling is to light up someone's life. Whether through encouragement, compassion, wisdom, or simply being present, we all have the opportunity to become a kind of thunder jacket for another person—a reassuring presence in the middle of life's unexpected storms. As Stan Hustad often reminds us, transformation is not merely about changing circumstances. It is about becoming the kind of person who helps others navigate theirs. If the fireworks in your life—whether joyful celebrations or unexpected explosions—have left you searching for direction, encouragement, or a fresh perspective, Stan would be delighted to help. Through decades of experience in broadcasting, coaching, leadership, and personal transformation, he has walked alongside individuals and organizations facing both opportunity and adversity. Reach out, start the conversation, and discover how today's challenges can become tomorrow's transformation. After all, the very best fireworks are the ones that illuminate lives, not just the night sky. And if any of you would like to see the radio program on the video connection just click right here https://youtu.be/YnuZyEJC_uQ