Christina: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Taking the Lead podcast where we empower people to be unstoppable. I'm Christina Hoeppner with my co-host Leslie Haskins and Timothy Kun. So we have not given an update on future Leader Dog Graham in quite a while. He's already one years old. Oh my goodness. He is like 70 pounds. He's huge.
He's such a big boy. And he is so sweet. Yeah, he's such a sweet boy. He comes back in August for formal training. Mm-hmm. Which is so fast.
Mm-hmm.
Leslie: How has it been all of you guys? Still co raising everything? Yeah, still going well. Yeah.
Christina: All six of you. All six of us. Think about six women raising one dog. I mean, what a lucky dog.
Yeah, so he has all the moms, all the support and it's been great to like work together as a team and see what we're working on with him. And we're all communicating. We have our own group chat, all the pictures, all the fun things. Um, [00:01:00] but he is wonderful. I like, love this face he's in because he's, you know.
So calm at home, so relaxed. You don't have to watch his every little move. And he's doing so well. Like I took him to Home Depot and he just, he just settles so nicely while, you know, you're doing all that home shopping, I should say. That's cool. So he's really good.
Timothy: How do you guys determine who gets the dog, say this past Easter or Christmas or New Year's Day without fighting?
Christina: So it's funny. I'm typically the one who's like, I don't want him for holidays because I have two dogs of my own. Yeah. So we actually, we meet once a month and we go through, he has his own calendar. Oh my God. So we go through the calendar and we assign who will have him for each time, and then we're, um, who can take him to what classes and all of that.
So he's got his own calendar, like he is an organized. Boy for sure. Uh, but yeah, it's [00:02:00] usually based on like if someone's traveling for holidays, then there's always someone who's willing to have him. But there's never been any fighting over who wants him for what holiday? 'cause I am the one who's like, I don't want him.
Yeah. Because I have my two dogs. So, um. And so you're saying you're content with two dogs.
Leslie: Christina's always looking at puppies and I'm like, knock it off, Christina. I I'm a sucker for like
Christina: rescuing a dog. Yeah. Both of my dogs are rescues and I. Johnny told me that we can't foster dogs because he gets as attached as I do.
So like one day we'll probably end up with like all the rescue dogs, but we would have to have a lot of land in them. But you know. Oh my goodness.
Leslie: Well, it's good to hear that Graham is doing well. He's such a good boy. I love being Auntie Leslie, and he gets to come in the office and he always lays right where I cannot move.
Yeah. So he really tucks me into my seat, which I appreciate He loves, uh. People. He's such a people dog. [00:03:00] He's a good, good boy. He's definitely
Christina: a golden in that aspect. Yes.
Leslie: Wonderful. Well, it's great to hear that Graham is doing well. Um, and we'll look forward to an update once he comes back into formal training and hopefully goes on to be a leader dog.
Christina: Yes, that is the hope. I mean, he. It's doing so well so far. So hopefully he comes back and wants to do the work.
Leslie: Yes. And anybody who's interested in learning more about puppy raising, please go to our website@leaderdog.org to check that out. Yes. But we are gonna move along today because we have a very special guest here who's here to give us a little bit of the behind the scenes perspective at Leader Dog.
Christina: Yes. John Reed is the founder and chief relationship officer of Rain, BDM. A business development and marketing consultancy where he and his team help clients with branding and positioning, content development, strategic planning, graphic design, training and coaching. A former practicing attorney, John hosts his own podcast, sticky Lawyers, where he interviews remarkable lawyers doing remarkable things.
John officially assumed [00:04:00] the role of Leader Dogs for the Blind Board Chair in January of this year, 2025.
Timothy: Wow. John, it's nice to have you on the podcast this morning. Is there anything else you want to add that everybody needs to know about you?
John: I'm a little speechless. Um, I, I sound more impressive than I am, but I have to say longtime listener, first time guest, and totally fanboy here over you, Timothy, I see Christina and Leslie with you.
You know, I'm in a little awe here, so.
Leslie: Well, we're happy to have you, and you've been a long time supporter of the Taking the Lead podcast. Yeah. So thank you, first of all for all of that and being a real push behind the scenes to get this initiative going. It's been fantastic. We've had such a good run.
We're continuing to share client stories that are so important and talk about the free services that we have to offer here. Yeah. To a much broader and accessible. Audience. So this has been absolutely fantastic. So thank you for that and being such a huge role at Leader Dog. Um, do you mind telling us to get [00:05:00] started here?
What really motivated you to get involved at Leader Dogs for the Blind?
John: This actually goes back 50 years, believe it or not. Um, when I was a kid, we had a black lab and she had puppies, and we gave one of the puppies to lead her dog. Oh, wow. Wow. Was when you could do that. Yeah. Before it was a closed breeding stock.
I don't know. Whatever happened I, if, if she was our dog, she probably didn't make it through the system. Um, but after that, we regularly got communications from Leader Dog, so it was always a presence in our family and our house and. Later on in life, when I was looking at places to get involved, I thought Leader do.
And they're like, I was like, no way. Are they gonna let me get involved? And here I am now. And it's, it's fantastic. And, and just so I, it's, it's important to me personally, this has kind of filled my soul a little bit. Yeah. With what, what I get to do here. Um, but the importance to my family and, and, uh, has filled the void.
Christina: Those stories of people finding out when they were little and then [00:06:00] it just, sticking with them is just always mind blowing to me because it's just, you never know what's going to impact you when you're younger and stick with you throughout the years. So after kind of getting involved, learning more about the mission, what does the mission mean to you to help our clients?
John: You know, the word that I like most in the mission statement is empowerment. Yes, leader dog service is a very important community, blind and low vision. Um, and yes, it's about independent travel, but I just like that word empowerment. 'cause I'm finding with all the stories, again, we'll talk a lot about stories, but with all the stories we hear about, about clients and families of clients and whatever.
It's so much more than just independent travel, and it's very inspiring and I learn something new every time I come on campus. I learn something new every time I talk to a client, and it just totally reinforces that idea of the empowerment benefit I.
Leslie: I love that 'cause we talk about that so much more.
Like one of my taglines when I do a [00:07:00] presentation is always more than dogs. Right? More than guide dogs. Yeah. Because we are so much more, not only in the services that we provide, but the impact. Right. It goes so much further. So I love that and I'm glad that you are here and I'm so, that's so funny. I had no idea that your story went back so many years.
I love that. 'cause we also talk to. Kids and students all the time, and you just don't know the impact. So it's good to hear that that's worth their time.
John: Yeah, a absolutely, and, and what was great was, you know, I, I knew about the donation of the dog, but then I'd be walking around whatever local town and there's a leader, dog van and training.
It's like, and so the connection just kept getting reinforced and reinforced along all those years.
Timothy: So, John, you're on the board. So what does the board do for Leader Dog and how does that impacted your life being on the board?
John: You know, the board is very special because number one, it's an incredible group of talented, experienced, knowledgeable people, and we all come together to do oversight.
And I, I want to be really clear on that. The amazing team at Leader Dog, they're the [00:08:00] experts. They're, they have the subject matter expertise, so we. Stay in our lane. We don't get into operations. We don't tell people how to do their jobs too much. And, and, and so we're kind of in an advisory role, which is great.
So I think that the board, you know, it does all the governance types of things too, but I think we're continually learning about the organization as well. We're, we're not the experts. We'll never be, but we enjoy learning more and more about what's going on here.
Christina: And for people who don't know where a board is, like how many people sit on the board and what different type of expertise does the board bring?
John: Yeah, I'm glad you asked that question. One thing I wanna point out about Leader Dog's board, there are a lot of nonprofits where board members are big donors and that may be a qualification for them sitting on the board. Um, we have. Experts on the board. We have finance experts, investment experts, uh, human resources experts, [00:09:00] incredibly smart people, some of whom also happen to be clients.
Mm-hmm. So we also have that lived experience component on the board too, which is just so critical for the whole governance of the organization.
Leslie: Yeah. I think that's fantastic to know, right? That we. Didn't just throw random people in on this board. Like it's people who have these incredible backgrounds who are helping us make really good decisions as an organization because we are ran on donor dollars.
So we wanna make sure that every dollar counts and we're using it in the best way possible. So to have all these experts, and again, clients with a lived experience, it's bringing so many perspectives together. And I will share that I absolutely love in the fall of last year when we did the board retreat.
Talk about the investment of the board, everybody coming together for a full day to learn, like you said, it's lovely.
John: It was such an impactful watershed moment. I think there was a belief on the part of the team, and you can jump in and speak to that, that the board was a little distant and remote and [00:10:00] inaccessible and, and.
From the board's perspective, we have our meetings on campus. Mm-hmm. You know, we come to events, but we're not here on a day-to-day basis. So the, the bridge building, the relationship building that happened at that breakfast was magical. I, I think every person walked away. Um. Uh, having had their expectations exceeded and then some, um, just because of the interaction.
So that, that was great. And, and I'd say that's actually kind of a, a foundational element for what I wanna accomplish during my, my board chair term is to keep that going and finding more ways for us to break down any perceived barriers and, and have more connections.
Christina: Absolutely. And so you are the board chair you said.
So for people who don't know, what is a board chair? I.
John: Ask me again in about a year and a half.
That's fair.
John: You know, it's funny, I'm not the typical board chair. Um, there've been a whole list of CEOs and powerful [00:11:00] people and whatever, and then there's me. And so I guess I am somebody that brings people together for conversations.
Make sure that everybody has a voice, make sure that everybody has input, and when we need to bring in people from the organization or outside the organization to educate the board. I do that as well.
Leslie: I. And that has really shown, I know right now we're going through all the strategic planning and talking about, you know, what does the future of Leader Dog look like?
What are our goals? What do we wanna do? And one thing that you have been consistent in is showing up to those meetings, right? It's an opportunity that you've been able to learn about what we do here, and then kind of hear what are our goals and help form those into actual strategic initiatives. How has that process been?
John: I'll say this, I take very seriously and I, and I try to impress it on all the other trustees I take very seriously my role as an ambassador for the organization, and that's both internal and external. So in the community, we wanna get the word out about Leader dog, but I also wanna be an ambassador for [00:12:00] the board within the four walls.
So the strategic planning opportunity, number one, it's so great 'cause it's a bottom up exercise. Mm-hmm. It's not the board coming in and dictating what's gonna happen. Instead, it's every department having a say, every department making a contribution and creating a wishlist. Um. And if anything, the board is there to maybe hone it and shape it a little bit and ultimately say there are or are not enough dollars to pay for it.
Right. Sorry,
Leslie: we've got big dreams.
John: But again, I'm a sponge. I come into any meeting on campus, but particularly the strategic planning meetings and I just learn so much and I'm a better representative of the organization because of it.
Timothy: So what are some of the biggest challenges that Leader Dog is facing right now?
John: Yeah, I, and I, I like that word challenge 'cause I don't think we've got any problems. I mean, I'm sure there are problems, but I choose to ignore them. Um, I'd say challenges are, um. People [00:13:00] related and dog related, people related in the sense that we wanna continue to bring in top talent at Leader Dog. Um, there's a shortage of qualified people and luckily we have, um, you know, cachet here to attract those kind of people.
Um, dogs. There is a worldwide shortage of, uh, guide dogs, service dogs. Um, it's an issue facing. All the other guide, dogs, schools, um, and internationally, as I said. So how do we continue to provide that service and support to the community, uh, of the blind and low vision community? And so I think when you.
You take dogs outta the equation. What other services can we provide? What other support can, can we give? And there's this term that we've been using, the whole person or the whole client. Um, and if you think about the journey and boy Timothy, you know it better than anybody else, but if you think about the journey from diagnosis [00:14:00] to getting a guide dog, that vision rehabilitation timeline we call it, there's a lot of places where we could.
Invest and be active on that timeline, but we have to be mindful of our resources and our talent to do that.
Leslie: Which the, the fact that you know all that, right. I just, I love that in our board that you have really taken the time to come and learn and explore the whole client journey and their perspective.
And we had clients come in and share their perspective and what they've experienced so that you could all learn and absorb and really think about it, and then come to these strategic planning meeting with that idea behind it and that education. But also bring in all of your expertise. So it's been a really fun process and I've had the honor of sitting in some meetings with you and watching your, your wheels turn and then challenge us with some other questions of like, how actually can you execute this?
Right? Like, 'cause we do, we dream big here. We have a lot of goals, we have a lot of things we wanna accomplish and we wanna help the whole client in every aspect. So it's been really fun to do that. What has been the board's perspective? 'cause I know you've been involved. How have you been able [00:15:00] to communicate all.
All of these conversations back to them.
John: I don't feel it's my role to be the, the sole communicator, but I, I try to do that. I attend, I, I think I've only missed one. I attend every board committee meeting. Mm-hmm. And, and I should explain, we have 19 members on the board and then the board has committees Yeah.
On which trustees and actually other volunteers who are not trustees serve as well. I go to every one of those committees to learn, occasionally to speak. Hopefully not a lot. 'cause I want other people to, to do all the talking. So that is a, a way to share that information. Um. And you bring up something interesting too is, is this year, 2025 is the year of education for the board.
I've kind of personally designated this is the year we wanna make the board smarter. So I appreciate the compliment about knowing a lot what's going on. That's the goal. Mm-hmm. But not just for me, for, for every trustee.
Leslie: I just love everybody getting so involved and, and the board has continuously been involved.
But like you said, I think that that. Education piece is really coming into play most recently. [00:16:00]
John: Yeah, I, we had issued a challenge for dinner in the dark where we. Uh, said, Hey, every trustee, every board member, we want you to participate in some way. If you can't be there, then donate a bottle of wine for the wine pool.
Mm-hmm. Or make a donation or place a small ad. If you can purchase a table, great. If you can just purchase a ticket for yourself or team up with another, uh, trustee and, and buy a couple tickets, do that. It's more important to me personally that we have board participation than. Board trustee donations.
Mm-hmm. Yeah. And that goes back to that whole idea of we want the presence and the, and the, the, the knowledge and the talent and not, the dollars are good, don't get me wrong.
Christina: Yeah. Um,
John: but that's not the only qualifier I.
Christina: Yeah, and I think it's great to have that outside perspective because sometimes we're in it every day doing the daily grind, and so to have someone come in from the outside and say, Hey, take a wider look at this, is so helpful I think for every department in this organization.[00:17:00]
So kind of going through this strategic planning, is there any projects or initiatives that you're really excited about and looking forward to pushing forward?
John: So I, I can't take off my marketing hat. My, my mantra and, and, uh, anybody who will stop and talk to me here knows it, I'm all about the stories.
How do we capture all of the stories and not just client stories? I. Team member stories, family stories, donor stories, volunteer stories. Of course, they're everywhere and they're so powerful and so meaningful in so many different ways, and this podcast is a tremendous vehicle for getting those stories out.
So kudos to you guys for being so successful with it. But how do we take those stories, get them out to as many people as possible, both within and outside the organization, and build awareness for what Leader Dog is doing? I think that's exciting. There's some capital things we wanna do. That's the time that we take a look at the residents.
For example, for the clients who come on campus, technology and a big word, it's got a [00:18:00] couple different contexts, technology. Internally. Mm-hmm. So for the organization, for doing your jobs, having the right systems to do that, but also technology for clients and assistive technology runs the gamut from.
Affordable to completely unaffordable for our clients. And so how do we be good stewards of that technology? I say we, I'm not doing any of this, you guys.
Yeah.
John: Uh, how do, how do, how do we be good stewards for that and make recommendations and hopefully even put technology in the hands of our clients so that they can benefit.
Timothy: Well, as a client, I, I want thank you on the board because you do listen to the clients. Uh, last year had the opportunity to come up and speak to the board, I mean, with other clients. And y'all, listen, it was about the unmet needs part and, uh, that place was packed out. So I wanna thank you the board for including some of the clients and your, uh, discussion.
John: I'll admit to something Timothy, the, the most, truly, the most intimidating. Thing that I've encountered as a [00:19:00] board member is being able to use the right language and say the right things, not say dumb things. Like, Hey, take a look at this. Or you, you know, it's, it, you, you can see this the point, can't you? I mean, you, you know, and you can't help some of those things.
But also, and I don't mean to joke about that, it's not a joke. But I mean, but also using the right language. And I think when you have the perspective of, of clients and other experts and you know, people in in the medical field who can comment too. When you learn from them, you develop that vocabulary and that understanding.
Leslie: I couldn't agree more. I think, you know, people are so nervous a lot of times to interact with clients or do the wrong thing or say the wrong thing. And the more we bring Timothy, you and other clients in the room and at the table and, and have those discussions and open and honest conversations, the better everybody is.
And I think that's what's so great about our board and our team and everybody is that, you know, Melissa Weiss, as she's been in CEO role, she's been, who's not at the table, and I, we, we talk about it a lot on the podcast, but it's so important [00:20:00] and at every single level she's saying that and challenging everybody.
So I think it's fantastic and that the board has adapted that too and recognized the importance of it.
John: Yeah. You know, one of the things that Melissa and I have done, I wanna give a shout out to her, is. We start every board meeting, we used to start with something called a mission moment.
Mm-hmm.
John: And we would hear, you know, success stories from clients and others.
And this year we changed direction a little bit and, and we're calling it the Leader Lesson. And instead of a success story, we're learning about a different challenge that clients are facing. And it might be, I think you've talked about this on previous episodes, abuses and Ride shares. Uber and Lyft and things like that may be technology as a barrier.
It may be the cost of of having a dog. We're, we're learning about all those things. Yeah. So the feel good stories are great and I love 'em, but it's more important for us to learn about the barriers and the obstacles.
Christina: Yeah, absolutely. Especially because our clients are only here for a week or three weeks where we go out and provide those services to them, and we're [00:21:00] only.
With them for a small portion of their lives. There's so many other things that are happening, and Timothy, I know you can talk on this more than anybody, but there's so many other things happening in their day-to-day lives that we wanna help support and be there when they're not here on campus.
Timothy: Yeah, every day's a different thing.
Technology laws that's being passed are not being passed. It changes every day and so you gotta keep up with it. And it's hard for Leader Dog, you know, like you said, just a small portion of their lives, they're there. So I appreciate Leader Dog.
John: I don't know if you feel it, although I'm sure you do. It's scope creep.
That's a technical term. It's maybe not appropriate here. But what that means is there's so much we could. Sure. Get involved with mm-hmm. In terms of unmet needs and in that whole person, that whole client. So that's just a, a question of resources, but I think everybody here, board included, wants to be of more service and support and we just can't yet.
Leslie: I think that's such an important topic because yes, [00:22:00] everybody is so passionate here and we wanna be able to fill all of these needs that our clients are experiencing and the challenges and, and everything's intertwined. So we can make somebody the best independent traveler, but. Great. When they get in the restaurant, they don't have the tools or resources to, to order correctly or use the technology, read the, the menu and all these things.
And we've had this conversation before, but what I do love is that we're having it, right. We're identifying and recognizing we don't just want to to check one box, right? Like we're looking at the whole person and client. Eric and client and Timothy, you sharing your personal story has been incredibly impactful for the board, for team members to really understand.
You are a great independent traveler, but as you shared, you missed a lot of other additional services that could really impact your life.
Timothy: Yeah, I have. So, uh, I'm grateful where I am right now though, I tell you
Leslie: that. Absolutely. Yeah. And our goal will be to continue to explore those options and see what we can do, but doing it in a strategic and, and yeah.
Way that it's attainable and successful, which is important. Yes, [00:23:00] absolutely. So as we're kinda wrapping up here, John, any other thing that you wanna say? What if somebody is like interested in getting involved at a board level, what would you recommend?
John: So we have a really, I think, tremendously cool system for the board.
I call it the farm team. So I mentioned earlier. That the board has committees and we have non trustees, non-board members sitting in those committees. That's how I started. I came to the organization, said, I'm interested, the CEO At the time, Sue Daniel said, great, I've got a place for you in this committee.
And it was a two-way audition. It was a chance to see is this the right fit for me? Do I want. Move into the organization and it's also, you know, the opportunity to audition for leadership on the board to say, Hey, how, uh, involved is this person and, and are they really demonstrating that, that level of engagement and, and commitment.
So I would say if you've got an interest, wherever your skills are. We'll look at what you do and we'll try to deploy you in the right committee and then let's see where it goes from there. But if you don't wanna do that, go to the [00:24:00] volunteer page. Find a different way to get involved. Yeah, there, there's just an, an endless number of ways that you can support the organization, whether it's in governance or or even giving your own time and have an effort.
Leslie: Yeah. We always
Christina: need puppy raisers.
Leslie: And I think it's important too, which you've really shown throughout this episode that. It's not just like a resume builder, right? Like being a part of our board or any part of our organization or community. It's really time consuming and we want people who are really gonna be dedicated and involved and, and show up basically.
So I love that about our board and that everybody wants to, right? Everybody who is involved with Leader Dog wants to be involved in Leader Dog and sees the impact of our mission. So we're just really lucky to have the, the community that we do have board volunteers, team members, donors, clients.
Everybody makes up the leader dog family. Um, but thank you, John, for being here today out of your busy schedule with all the things you have going on to share with us.
John: It's my pleasure in the, as I said, or I should say, this is one of my top two favorite podcasts. [00:25:00]
I always love that disclaimer.
John: Yeah. And, uh, you know, every time I'm, I'm on campus, I get a, a chance to walk over and look at the puppy aquarium mm-hmm.
Um, in the lobby and see the puppies. So that's a real, uh, uh, high point of my day. So you've given me that opportunity again.
Christina: Yeah. Well, you know what? There aren't puppies there today, but there are, um, plush puppies in there.
Leslie: They did put some of the little plush puppies. This is actually really cute.
Christina: Yeah, because,
Leslie: oh, we just crushed John, so, yeah.
I'm sorry.
Christina: You can go look at the plush puppies. We will find a dog for you to love him before you leave this campus today.
John: Well, I'm, I'm always afraid that somebody's gonna find a dog for me before I leave this campus. I
Christina: mean, there's a lot of 'em.
John: Yeah. That's especially a puppy who needs raising. Yes.
That's what I'm most concerned about.
Leslie: Exactly. Yes. Which again, puppy raisers, we need you. Um, but thank you everybody for listening to the Taking the Lead podcast. I'm Leslie Hoskins with host Timothy Kyo and Christina Hepner. We hope you enjoyed learning about John and his important role with the Leader Dog Board.
Please join us next time [00:26:00] as we continue to dive into the world of blindness.
Christina: If you'd like to learn more about applying for free services or becoming a volunteer, you can head to leader dog.org or call us at eight eight eight. 7, 7, 7, 5, 3, 3, 2. Don't forget you can reach us at taking the lead@leaderdog.org with any questions or ideas.
If you like today's podcast, make sure to hit subscribe and check us out wherever Podcast Street.